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Comic-Con at the Library

Comic Con at the Library

Comic-Con at the library attendees holding up coming books

Graphic novels help foster a love of reading and can also be an important part of building and improving literacy skills. The San Diego Public Library uses Comic-Con's unique place in San Diego's cultural landscape to explore the connection between graphic novels, literacy and education.

 

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Comic-Con® Conference for Educators and Librarians

4 panelists for a session at Comic-Con® Conference for Educators and Librarians


Since 2018, Comic-Con International and San Diego Public Library have teamed up to present a FREE five-day conference that takes place annually at San Diego Central Library during the San Diego Comic Convention and is open to the public.

CCEL programming begins Wednesday, July 23 - Sunday, July 27. Explore the role comics play in promoting education and literacy for all ages. Those in the library and education fields are invited to learn creative and exciting ways to incorporate comics and other popular arts into their work. Through presentations and panel discussions, the Conference hopes to engage the community and promote comics as a medium for learning.

 

CCEL Registration and Schedule: 

Junji Ito holding his jacket open to reveal the artwork on his shirt

Registration is highly recommended for interested attendees each day they plan to take part in CCEL. Please note that space is limited and registration does not guarantee seating at each panel.

 

 

CCEL 2025 Full Panel Schedule

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Featured Library Programs

People dressed in Salor Moon costumes posing in a group.

Cosplay Repair Station!
July 24 - July 26 | 11a.m. - 5 p.m. San Diego Central Library | IDEA Lab

Cosplayers finding themselves with a missing button, broken strap, a last-minute add and more can walk into the 4th floor IDEA Lab for quick fix solutions to common cosplay woes.   

IDEA Lab are also offering free comic themed makes, trivia and photo ops while supplies last. 

The Central Library IDEA Lab will provide basic equipment and materials.

  • Equipment and tools: sewing machines, 3D printers/pen, laser cutters, desktop cutters, soldering irons and more.
  • Sewing supplies: needles, thread, seam rippers, scissors, safety pins, etc.
  • Various adhesives: hot glue guns, wood glue, tacky glue, super glue, duct tape, electrical tape, transparent tape, etc.

 

Digital illustration of a film projector pointing towards the words “Picture This!”

Picture This! Book to Film Edition: The Princess Bride

Saturday, July 19 | 11 a.m.-12:45 p.m. | La Jolla/Riford Library

Join us for a matinee feature of The Princess Bride: A bedridden boy's grandfather reads him the story of a farm boy-turned-pirate who encounters numerous obstacles, enemies, and allies in his quest to be reunited with his true love.

 

Digital illustration of the title “The Legend of Zelda Day!” with a sword and cloth banner.

The Legend of Zelda Day

Monday, July 21| 4 p.m.-8 p.m. | Mira Mesa Library

Enjoy crafts, mini-games, and puzzles taken from various Legend of Zelda games, and Zelda themed trivia events with varying levels of difficulty. Channel your inner Hylian and uncover treasure from the Mira Mesa IDEA Lab while supplies last!

 

Photo of library mascot ODI cosplaying in a jedi robe holding a lightsaber in front of a row of book shelves

Cosplay with Odi Day!

Monday, July 21| 4:30 p.m.-5:30 p.m. | Pacific Highlands Ranch Library

Dress up as your favorite character or in your favorite fandom attire and join us for a short comic themed storytime for all ages. Then, meet Odi the Coyote, the San Diego Public Library mascot who happens to love... cosplaying! Can you guess what Odi will dress up as?

 

Graphic of two superheroes shaking hands with the word ”family” in a bubble in between.

Unmask the Superhero in your Family!

July 24-26| 10 a.m.-4 p.m. | Central Library | Special Collections (9th floor)

Fly up to Special Collections on the 9th floor and begin saving your genealogical tree. Your heritage depends on YOU! Volunteers are there to help guide you in your research. No appointment necessary. First come, first served.

 

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Comic-Con Commemorative Library Cards

Each year San Diego Public Library, Comic-Con International and local artists partner up to present a limited-run commemorative Comic-Con library card. This exclusive library card is the only one to be licensed by Comic-Con International and is available, while supplies last, at the SDPL library booth on the convention floor, starting with Preview Night.

This year’s limited card design will be announced Monday, July 21 and is available in limited quantities at all SDPL locations starting Thursday, July 24.

Comic-Con cards distributed at the convention center must be activated by staff at any SDPL location. Card replacements made in July are offered for free.

 

2025 Featured Artist and Design

Picture of the 2025 Comic-Con card featuring an astronaut reading a book in space with a picture of the artist, Sarah Wilkinson in the lower left corner.

The 2025 Commemorative Comic-Con Library Card is here! Illustrated by Sarah Wilkinson, this latest card design is a demonstration of the transportive and transformative power of good story.

Sarah is a fine art oil painter, who has a passion for dream-based surrealism with a focus on interpersonal human emotion. Sarah has worked in the entertainment illustration industry for over 20 years as a freelance artist. She creates unique fanart, with Art Deco and Art Nouveau visions of our world. She uses popular fandoms to create a sense of wonder and larger than life archetypes and brings her own enthusiasm to the subject matter. Sarah is an enrolled member of the Sault Ste. Marie Chippewa Indians. View more of her work here!

Comic-Con Library Card Designs

  • Title: San Diego Public Library Subtitle: Comic-Con 2013 High angle/birds eye shot of Central Library Dome. A woman styled as a superhero flies out carrying a large stack of books. Discover your next chapter is written inside an energetic comic-book style bubble. Illustrated in pen and marker. 2013 themed Comic-Con library card illustrated by Thomas Vineberg.
  • A futuristic (in midcentury modern/fifties stylings) San Diego cityscape with the iconic Central Library, pedestrian walkway and other buildings in the distance. Flying ships in the sky and hover cars on the ground. Illustrated in pen and marker. San Diego Public Library signage hovers at an angle above the buildings. Text: Discover your Next Chapter and Comic-Con International 2014 on the top and bottom of the design. 2014 themed Comic-Con library card illustrated by Thomas Vineberg.
  • Bold text: San Diego Public Library Subtitle: Discover Your Next Chapter A vector rendering of San Diego Central Library a, with googly eyes and a mouth on the dome. A blue book beside it reads Comic-Con International 2015. In 2015, e3 Civic High School—whose campus is located within San Diego Central Library—held a library card design contest. The winning design became that year's themed Comic-Con library card.
  • A Watercolor rendering of a cartoonish octopus sitting on top of the San Diego Central Library dome, reading a book. Words in a stylized, bold, dripping, horror-inspired fonts surround the illustration. Top text panel: Tales from the San Diego Public Library 2016 Side text panel, typewriter style: San Diego Comic-Con International 2016 Bottom text panel, bold: Discover your Next Chapter! 2016 themed Comic-Con library card illustrated by ToshWerks, a San Diego art and design studio.
  • Closeup portrait of a cyborg with purple hair, nails and makeup, reading the book “Neuromancer” by William Gibson. A nighttime, futuristic rendering of the City of San Diego, with the Central Library Dome and One American Plaza building is seen in the background. Futuristic Title: San Diego Public Library Opportunity, Discovery, Inspiration Subtitle on bottom: Comic-Con International 2017 2017 themed Comic-Con library card illustrated by Attiba Royster, one of three possible options. Designs were created by members of the library’s Comic-Con International Graphic Novel Book Clubs.
  • Digital illustration of a young boy with robotic accessories sitting down while reading “War of the Worlds” by H.G. Wells with a young girl in hijab and carrying equipment and a older cyborg youth looking over his shoulder. A silhouette outline of San Diego Central Library with a rainbow-hued shadow is in the background. Title in futuristic font: San Diego Public Library Subtitle: Opportunity, Discovery, Inspiration Side Text: Comic-Con International 2017 2017 themed Comic-Con library card illustrated by Vince Alvendia (a.k.a. EggdropRamen), one of three possible options. Designs were created by members of the library’s Comic-Con International Graphic Novel Book Clubs.
  • Digital drawing of a sitting robot in profile reading “The Great Gasket” with the San Diego Central Library entrance rendered in 3D. A stack of books and hovering tablet with “Opportunity, Discovery, Inspiration” on display is in the foreground. Title: San Diego Public Library Bottom Text: Comic-Con International 20172017 themed Comic-Con library card illustrated by Robert McKeone, one of three possible options. Designs were created by members of the library’s Comic-Con International Graphic Novel Book Clubs.
  • A bespectacled boy with Harry Potter-Universe stylings garbed in black robe, striped tie and blue shoes flies away on a broom carrying a stack of books. In the background, a roaring dragon with wings sitting atop the Central Library building can be seen. Official 2018 Logo of Comic-Con International Text: Opportunity, Discovery, Inspiration San Diego Public Library “No Restricted Sections,” the 2018 official San Diego Comic-Con International library card illustrated by Lucas Turnbloom, an award-winning cartoonist.
  • Where’s Waldo holds a tall stack of books with various colored covers in front of a heavily stylized photograph of Central Library overlayed in light blue. Text: Opportunity Discovery Inspiration San Diego Public Library Official Comic-Con 50 year logo. 2019 official San Diego Comic-Con International library card designed by Candlewick Press.
  • A donkey boy reads while riding a donkey-zebra with a star-filled red background that displays the distinctive Arco del Milenio (Milennium Arch) of Tijuana and the San Diego Central Library. These buildings are labeled with a TJ and SD, respectively. 2022 San Diego Comic-Con International logo Spanish text surrounds the characters. Biblioteca Pública de San Diego (San Diego Public Library) Oportunidad, Descrubrimiento, Inspiración (Opportunity, Discovery, Inspiration) Leer Sin Fronteras (Read without Borders) “Leer Sin Fronteras” (Read without Borders), the 2022 official San Diego Comic-Con International library card. Created by Charles Glaubitz, a visual artist and illustrator based in Tijuana, Mexico, its design reflects the close ties between SD and TJ. Spanish is used throughout and the main subjects, niño-burro (boy-donkey) and burro-zebra, are characters frequently featured in his work.
  • Odi the Coyote is dressed in blue and yellow garb wearing a mask and cape emblazoned with the City of SD logo on their chest and belt buckle. Odi, Defender of Books holds their library card in one hand and a book under their arm. Odi is superimposed over a background of various comic-book styled panels that show off the Central Library Dome, Library self-checkouts, SDPL card and a book. 2023 San Diego Comic-Con International logo A comic-book style nanel writes in comic book text: Opportunity, Discovery, Inspiration above San Diego Public Library in bold. “Odi, Defender of Books,” 2023 official San Diego Comic-Con International library card illustrated by Rachel Murray. This alter ego of Odi the Coyote (the mascot of SDPL), is masked up and ready to fight against book bans.
  • Comic-Con Special Edition Library Card 2024 design by John Jennings

    2024 official San Diego Comic-Con International library card designed by John Jennings, an Eisner award-winning graphic novelist, author and professor.

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Find us at Comic-Con

Visit San Diego Public Library in the Convention Center at Booth 5523 by the entrance to the exhibition floor between the B1 and B2 lobbies. Pick up a limited-edition Comic-Con commemorative library card, learn more about library services and other goodies. The booth will also have special appearances from SDPL mascot Odi the Coyote, the 2025 Comic-Con Card artist and authors J.P. Takahashi and Samuel Teer at select times.

Library staff posing with a banner that reads "The Dating Game"

 

Blind Date with a Book, Chapter 4: Always and 4ever
Saturday, July 26| 10:00 a.m.-11:00 a.m. | Central Library | Neil Morgan Auditorium

The librarians are once again at Comic Con to find you an un4gettable match in the fourth iteration of Blind Date with a Book! Join San Diego Public Library librarians Vanessa Gempis, Melissa Barbour, Christina Wainwright, and Maureen Meadows, along with host Scott Ehrig-Burgess of the Library Shop as they help 3 lucky audience members find love in all the right pages! Comic-Con Badge is required to attend.

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Transportation Information

Please note that special event rates will be in effect in the library parking garage. The lot will likely fill up early in the day for the duration of Comic-Con.

Due to the increased traffic downtown, taking public transit is highly encouraged. San Diego Central Library is one block from the Park & Market Trolley Station (Blue and Orange Lines). MTS Bus Routes 12, 901 and 929 stop in front of the 11th Avenue library entrance. For those riding bicycles, racks can be found in the parking garage and by the Park Boulevard entrance.

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Booklists

For more information, please email San Diego Public Library Adult Programming at SDLB_Adult_Programming@sandiego.gov 

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Comic-Con® and the Comic-Con logo are registered trademarks of San Diego Comic Convention.
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