It’s Comic-Con season again! Nowadays, there are countless programs to choose from in all parts of the country and even the world. But at one time, the only way comic book fans could connect with each other was to scour the letters columns of sci-fi magazines for the addresses of fellow fans in the hopes of finding an interested pen pal. If you were lucky, you might have some fans at your school to join you.
This level of isolation may seem incomprehensible in an age when communication is instant, and sci-fi is a cool and popular thing. This is why it is so important to preserve and remember the history of the early days of geek culture. Pop culture historian Matthew Klickstein has made it his mission to keep that history alive.
Klickstein has already told the story of San Diego Comic-Con (SDCC) – the world’s largest comic-con – in multiple media. There is a podcast, comic-con begins. Then there is a book, See You in San Diego: An Oral History of Comic-Con, Fandom, and the Triumph of Geek Culture. A Documentary based on this book Is in the works. And will be on Thursday 23rd July 2026 informal oral history panel At Bards & Cards Game Shop in San Diego. The event, which gives attendees a chance to hear from many of the people who were there at the SDCC debut, is free to everyone, including those without a Comic-Con badge.
When I spoke to him via email, Klickstein was both enthusiastic and enthusiastic about his work.
“This is our shared history,” he says, “our heritage as weirdos, eccentrics, fools, and artists. And I want to make sure it is carried into the archives correctly, accurately and without any filters so that future generations can better understand how we got here and how to create a revolution again in the future that apparently worked quite well.”
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While Klickstein didn’t go to San Diego Comic-Con growing up — “I used to go to a lot of small, independent card/action figure/comic ‘conventions’ with my dad” and attended his first SDCC as an adult, he explains — he’s always had a deep appreciation of how the event changed everything, especially for the geek community:
“[T]he culture, the goodwill and the community behind it all, that flow through its veins and are such an integral part of its essence, are and have been (a major part of my life) since I was a kid.”
SDCC is now a very large, very corporate event in many ways. There are pros and cons, but the sense of community that Klickstein talks about was the driving force behind the creation of the event in the 1970s. The efforts of dedicated volunteers kept it going through the early years, with a strong sense of improvisation and an “anything can happen” spirit. The ability to connect personally with like-minded fans has led to many long-term and lifelong friendships – and is what enabled Klickstein to create this comprehensive oral history project.
This is evident from his relationship with Wendy All. He was introduced to All, one of SDCC’s early contributors and committee members, by the host of another program related to the book. She “instantly became a close friend”, so that by the time he came up with the idea of preserving SDCC’s history, he was able to reach out to her for ideas and assistance. “He immediately connected me with about 50 of my old Comic-Con friends and colleagues,” says Klickstein, “and that’s how it started.”
The result has been a comprehensive, highly informative oral history that helps nerds everywhere, including those who have never seen SDCC in person, to understand and appreciate the efforts that went into building the global community that we are now a part of. Thanks in part to SDCC, which promoted outrageous stories and characters that were once appreciated by a select few, but formerly marginalized people have largely gone mainstream. What started as an almost intimate gathering has become The pop culture event that thousands of people around the world look forward to every year.
Klickstein says, “I’m not the first person to say this, but I agree that we no longer need to use the qualifier ‘pop’ to talk about these areas of creative expression and artistic vision.” “Why say ‘pop culture’ when we can actually say right now in 2026 what it is: ‘culture’.”
“Everybody’s got their thing, man,” he later added. “And that’s really what SDCC and the fan community is all about. That’s it in a nutshell. Do your thing, man. And have fun. Why not? The alternative sucks.”
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