Lalo goes to Comic-Con International 2025

Another third week in July can only mean one thing, Comic-Con International has zoomed through San Diego! Because I am a professional cartoonist and native San Diego nerdo, I never miss one, and have continuously attended this massive OG pop culture con since the late 90s, and this year was no different.

Well, except for one thing: I had to navigate the crowds and exhibition halls and long treks to the free shuttles with a cane, as I had a surgery that limited my mobility. I even got my ADA sticker so I could sit in the Disabled Lounge, taking breaks in between limping through the San Diego Convention Center and its myriad of books, artworks and cartoonists. Bad news for anyone at this walking-intense event, but we got through it with a grin.

But fear not, mortals! What I usually do each year has not changed.

Along with being on panels, drawing artwork and signing autographs, I try to report on the growing amount of Chicano/Mexicano/Latino cosplayers at Comic-Con. You see, I grew up here in San Diego, and despite its location minutes from the U.S.-Mexico border, it has always been a city in denial of its location.

To paraphrase a famous saying by Mexican dictator Porfirio Diaz, “Poor San Diego, so far from God, so close to Tijuana.” Fortunately, for culture’s sake, the number has been growing for decades, and I had close encounters of the brown kind each day at Comic-Con International! Enjoy the photos!