Every year, pop culture fans descend on Southern California in late July for San Diego Comic-Con. The long-running convention is a battle of attrition to see who’s strong enough to make it through four days of lines, crowds, and permanently late shuttle buses to emerge victorious, con exclusives in hand, on Sunday evening. It’s a real-life anime tournament arc condensed into one hot and sweaty weekend. San Diego Comic-Con 2026 runs from Thursday, July 23, through Sunday, July 26. According to io9 reporter Cheryl Eddy, who’s on the ground with fellow io9 reporter Germain Lussier, the crowds are already looking livelier than last year, when many major studios, including Marvel, skipped the convention. This year, there are quite a few big panels to look forward to. Avatar Aang: The Last Airbender and an Aliens 40th Anniversary panel anchor the day on Thursday. On Friday, Prime Video kick-starts the day with an early Blade Runner 2099 / The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power combo panel. Common Side Effects, The Vampire Lestat, President Curtis, and Lanterns all get their moment in the spotlight in the middle of the day, while Spaceballs 2 and Pan’s Labyrinth take over Hall H—aka the big one—a 4:00 p.m. PT and 5:15 p.m. PT, respectively. And sandwiched right in between everything, at 2:30 p.m. PT, is a panel called “Creature Feature Reboot: Monsters of Horror.” It’s a conversation between horror authors Max Brooks, Shane Hawk, TJ Payne, and Marshall J. Moore, and it’s moderated by our very own Cheryl Eddy. We’re extremely proud.