The SDCC Souvenir Book cover is everything we want but can't have

23 JUNE 2020

Today CCI did something cruel and beautiful: it reminded us of the Comic-Con we'll never have this year, but it also depicted what might happen to nerds after we die - Ray Bradbury riding up on a dinosaur to welcome us to the afterlife.

I'm talking about the 2020 Souvenir Book cover. This is always a sizzler of a reveal - sometimes with less than enthralling art, but still signaling an important pre-SDCC milestone. It says, Comic-Con is almost here. But this year it's bittersweet. I think we can all agree that nothing satisfies like "a long section devoted to Ray Bradbury" - but there's also a special section for Ray Harryhausen, which is almost more than my deprived quarantined heart can take.

CCI also promises it will feature "amazing ads, featuring exclusive products that would have debuted at Comic-Con, that you can order directly from the exhibitors!" In other words, we can go on a spending joyride while reading. The SDCC 2020 Souvenir Book is truly the issue of my dreams.

So it's a bit upsetting to read that this will be a free PDF but not necessarily available in print. We all want a print Souvenir Book, right? It will make late July a little less melancholy to have at least one physical piece of SDCC in our hands. Hopefully CCI will spot an income stream and make print copies available for purchase. (Yes, these are covered in the cost of our badge but our 2020 badges now cover 2021, including the 2021 Souvenir Book, so I'd expect to pay for this one.)

We'll see. They may not want to bother, which would be a shame, but understandable. Stay tuned as we get closer to Comic-Con@home.

And on another topic - remember that 1 July is the deadline to request a badge refund. If you don't want your 2020 badge to transfer to 2021, request a refund now. But remember that the next SDCC you'll probably be able to go to will be in 2022 - and at our current global pace, a new pandemic/doomsday cult/leviathan may have swallowed us up by then.

Stay safe, stay nerdy, and stay tuned. We can still make (parts of) this year a good one.