The world famous San Diego Comic Con event brings in thousands of fans from all over the world. However, the San Diego Comic Con Museum is a different story. Here is a brief San Diego Comic Con Museum review.
Overview:
Intro
Initial Impression
Entry Fees
My Experience
Final Thoughts
Comic-Con museum is located in San Diego, CA inside their famous Balboa Park. For all comic, movie, anime and nerd fans alike, this is could be a worthy museum to visit. It all depends on what expectations you have before visiting the museum. Although I have not attended San Diego Comic-Con, I have attended large fan conventions that, I assume are similar, so for those who have attended the world renowned San Diego Comic-Con but have not visited the Comic-Con museum, I warn you that these are two separate experiences!
To preface this review, we visited the San Diego Comic-Con museum at the end of February 2024 which means, exhibits may have changed since it's opening in November 2021 and since this posting, thus I can only speak on what I experienced during this visit.
Initial Impression:
Upon arriving to the museum and without doing any research, I was hyped to see what I would see inside. As you enter the museum, you land in the middle floor and are greeted by an employee who is prepared to answer any questions. To the left of the greeter, is the gift shop and ticket desk. At first glance, the museum looks humungous considering that there are three floors. I got eve more excited!
Entry Fees:
Obviously, because I am a fan of the fictional universe, I didn't mind paying $25 for the museum. Honestly, I was ready to pay at least $35 per adult. Below are the current entry fee's for 2024.
Adult (18+) - $25
Senior (65+) - $18
Student - $18
Junior (17-18) - $18
Youth (6-12) - $12
Under 12 - Free
However, before paying the full fee, look for discounts online. Luckily I went during a time when all museums in Balboa Park were 50% for the week I was visiting.
My Experience:
Upon arriving to the museum, I did not know what to expect but I kept an open mind and was prepared to treat it like any other museum; see a display and read about it. I started my tour on the mid-floor since that's where the entry was. This floor included all things sci-fi, space, robotics or "Popnology" as the museum call it. There were a few exhibits that were interactive such as driving a mini land rover, flying a virtual spaceship or matching discs to play sound effetcs and music. Some displays worth mentioning include the recreated Delorean from Back to the Future, the Invasion of Home Robots and of course the Popnology exhibit.
After exploring the mid-floor, I made it down to the first floor where Stan Lee and all Marvel were celebrated. This was a quick walk through that show cased original comics, original art, and the history of these comics. There was also a small theater on this floor that was playing an anime movie which I personally thought was a lost opportunity to play something related to Marvel.
After only spending about 20 minutes exploring the Marvel exhibit, I made it up to the third floor which included a combination of themed displays. There was one small room that displayed and shared the information on the history of color, inking and the evolution of comic book color. The remaining of the third floor included art work from Cowboy Bepop, mythology artwork from Colleen Doran and carboard models created by the youth. Additionally, there was a large room that included a small reading area, which offered free comics and also utilized for arts and crafts.
Spending only about 90 minutes in this museum, we checked out the small gift shop which didn't include nothing too unique except Wonder Con and Comic Con branded merch. Everything else could be found at a Box Lunch or online.
Final Thoughts:
Overall, it was an "alright" experience. If I were to rate this museum out of five stars, I would rate it at three out of five stars. I noticed that there was a lot of wasted space and missed opportunities but considering that this museum was opened in 2021, maybe they kept the space as open as it is due to Covid concerns. As mentioned, this museum could be great for some and bland for others, it all depends on what a fan is into. Obviously, Initial Mile is inspired by Japanese Anime, so I would have liked to see a littre more anime content. Would I go again? Most likely not unless there was a specific exhibit for anime. Should you visit the museum at least once? If you can find a discount, just so happen to be in San Diego for another event and are close by to Balboa Park, yes.