The long-anticipated Comic-Con Museum will finally be opening this November. The announcement came last Thursday, Aug. 26, that construction has begun and should be completed by Nov. 26, 2021. Plans for the museum started as early as 2017, but the project was severely sidetracked by the COVID-19 pandemic. Joining other museums such as the Veterans Museum and the Natural History Museum, the Comic-Con Museum will be the first to open in nearly the past two decades.
The museum will include two art galleries, rotating exhibits, and a theater for presentations, coupled with a cafe with outdoor seating and a gift shop packed with exclusive merchandise. Located in Balboa Park, the city’s “crown jewel” as May Todd Gloria calls it, there are plenty of downtown San Diego condos nearby to choose from.
The pandemic has done more than stall development of the museum. It forced the organization to cancel their in-person Comic-Con two years in a row. While this was a major hit to the organization’s revenue, San Diego’s tourism industry also suffered. The announcement of its inauguration was welcoming news to all.
Fundraising efforts for the museum have not gone exactly as planned as only half of the $34 million goal has been reached. Comic-Con spokesman David Glazner recognized that fundraising wasn’t at the levels they had hoped. Fans and large corporations such as AT&T, DC Comics, and U.S. Bank, amongst others, have all contributed to the project’s development.
While the museum is set to open Nov. 26, visitors during the week of Thanksgiving will only be seeing the first phase of the project. This will include comic book art exhibits, part of the education center, and atrium, and artwork featured in past conventions. The project is expected to be fully completed by July, 2022, with parts of the museum remaining open as work continues.