The San Diego Comic-Con Málaga, shortened as SDCCM, ended last night after four days in which more than a hundred thousand people congregated in the Palacio de Ferias y Congresos in the Andalusian city to make a historic convention a reality: the first to leave the United States with the stamp and backing of the Californian edition.
The headlines in the press and the messages on social media have been, from the first day until now, dominated by a recurring controversy: the organisational and logistical problems that have spoiled the enjoyment of many of those fans, especially at peak times, especially on the penultimate day (Saturday 27th). At the other end of the spectrum, those attendees who found good times for fun did so in style, with content that, in retrospect, was indeed up to the task and with a truly beautiful, moving, shared communal passion. Perhaps because heroes only unite like this in times of difficulty. Perhaps because emotions were running high.
Once the avalanche of hate and flame (sometimes excessive or out of context, as also tends to happen in social for profit) and, above all, formal complaints have been processed, the organisers should take good note to make the second edition - SDCCM 2026, dates yet to be announced - an exemplary one in the aspects that have failed. More and better access and exits, a smarter flow of people, minimum services such as water and food well available and, essentially, a wider and more distributed distribution of activities. A sense of order, control and security.
The idea of the "Village" (the outdoors area converted into a playground) cannot be seen solely as a way of putting in more for the same. The large central pavilion (Exhibitors Hall) was well thought out, but it was only one hall (of stands and booths, if you take out the Collectors Hall), and at other conventions and fairs having several halls that divide up the highlights creates a smoother flow.
No one will say that the original SDCC or the 25th COMICON Napoli are exempt from eternal queues (the latter, which we attended in May, had similar "I can't walk" moments), and naturally being close to the most beloved talent will always require at least an hour and change of waiting - at Super Nintendo World you're not even guaranteed entrance with your pre-purchased ticket! But in Malaga it was clear that there was a lack of deterrents and that the activities in the Village fell short. Will it be possible to build a second pavilion as a marquee and attract more attention from outside? Probably both, together with the multiplication of accesses, will make the FYCMA and its surroundings a more appropriate place. Because neither the organisation nor the attendees will want the capacity to be reduced.
Another key was commented to us by several talents, and it is the same that is seen in other shows such as the Lucca Festival in Italy or the very Cannes Festival in France, which we also covered this year. The event should transcend the space of the fair and spread throughout the city of Málaga. One that, by the way, some of the guests were not even able to visit briefly and get to know, as they were confined to the main venue. "Málaga has a very unique setting for Comic-Con and has so much more potential, because you can spread into the city like San Diego in California - it takes over the whole city. There're activations all over downtown and it's not just the convention centre", said veteran cosplay star Yaya Han in her interview with Gamereactor.
"So I already see that they have this big outdoors area with activities, but I'd love to see more. I'd love to see you take advantage of this 2,800 year-old city and these locations, like, host a cosplay event by the Cathedral! Right? Bring Comic-Con into the city of Málaga, because that's something that San Diego in California cannot compete with!" - Yaya Han
The queen of cosplay has one of the keys to make it work better next year, and also to give a much more Malaga, Andalusian and Spanish flavour to the event within the historical-cultural context. And the organisation already has a string of complaints to know the things it needs to fix in the first instance.
However, Yaya Han herself, many other special guests, and a large number of fans agreed on something very positive. "The spirit is actually very similar," she told our microphone about the great moments of the people and the human quality. "The enthusiasm, and the passion and dedication that people have coming to San Diego as well as Málaga has been very similar". It was evident, and from Gamereactor we saw it in the faces of many attendees and in the scenes of communal love among a first-class audience, that this first SDCCM also provided them with unforgettable experiences.
And in that vein, in what did work, we have to admit that the content itself, as difficult to access as it might have been, was up to the standard of a first edition, despite the initial doubts and the deliberate delay in the final stretch of announcements. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who might seem a bit old-fashioned or alien for the younger generation, won over 3,000 enthusiastic fans across the entire age range, both for his valuable filmography memories, his chemistry with neighbour and friend Antonio Banderas, and also for his clear nod to the most helpful, kind and proactive policies regardless of party, advocating environmental protection and criticising hatred of rivals.
The other Hollywood presences also went down well, from a very appropriate Norman Reedus now that he is facing the hordes of zombies in Spanish towns in TWD: Daryl Dixon, to a Jared Leto who, apart from his over-the-top eccentricity, knew how to captivate the audience on the eve of Tron: Ares.
A pity, however, that one of the best panels of the whole programme, the one starring Gwendoline Christie, Natalia Dyer, and Dafne Keen, powerfully defending that girls are true warriors, sharing a strong message about three top examples of energetic, multi-faceted, and exemplary women in different roles, universes and genres, remained just that, their time on stage, without lending themselves to spreading the word and telling the press even more. Whether it was their strict contracts or the short-sightedness of others, in the end it seems a wasted opportunity, and it was thanks to veterans of superheroic feminism such as the celebrated and ever-willing screenwriter Kelly Sue Deconnick that there was more of a representative impact.
Also outstanding was the content of video games and role-playing and tabletop games, all encompassed under the more gaming facet of the SDCCM. In fact, this pillar fulfilled its promise of turning the Malaga stage into the largest ever dedicated to the interactive side of entertainment, given how the traditional version was mainly focused on comics and cinema. Names like Nobuo Uematsu, John Romero, Brendan Greene, Ian Livingstone, Josef Fares, or Jeremy Crawford, as well as panels as sought-after as they were fascinating, proved that gamers should also mark this event in their calendars, because it is no longer insufficient for them.
Animation, VFX, cosplay, figurines, collectibles... there was something for everyone. And the comics that originally gave the convention its name? It's impossible to criticise a line-up that brings together Jim Lee, C. B. Cebulski, Jeph Loeb, Jorge Jiménez, Pepe Larraz, and many more, but being picky, or rather asking for an opening of the spectrum for the following editions, it would be positive to recognise more of the multiverses that exist outside Marvel and DC. It's fantastic, of course, that the works of Belén Ortega, Álvaro Martínez Bueno, or David Rubín, like more and more Spanish cartoonists, are published by the two most recognisable imprints in the world, just as it was nice to have the signatures of Matt Fraction or Joe Kelly on the narrative side to know more about the background of Batman, Superman, Spider-Man, Avengers, or X-Men. But I would like the European Comic-Con, again as a future request, to look more north and east, and not so much west, when it comes to going outside the Spanish borders. More French-Belgian or European comics, more manga and manhwa. More anime, now that Demon Slayer is bigger than Superman in the cinema.
All in all, it's fair to say that the whole package of content with all the fields and guests was rounded off and satisfying, and that this, together with all the ancillary or "on the road" experiences, certainly made it worth the struggle to attend and queue for a good part of the attendees. For those whose day was all but ruined, however, more answers and action are needed now.
