The San Diego Comic-Con begins a new stage in Malaga, a city that for the second time will host the local edition of the main popular culture event in the world from October 1 to 4. The event was announced this Thursday by Fernando Piquer, general director a few weeks ago, along with other details of this phase: “Expand the spaces and contents to offer the best experience” within the Malaga Fairs and Congress Center (Fycma), which will once again be the venue for the meeting. Piquer spoke as a fan rather than as a director and assured that “last year left very concrete learnings” and that “there were things that did not go as expected.”
The event faces its next edition while still dragging controversy and discontent among the public who attended its premiere. Complaints focused on long lines for hours, the feeling of overflowing capacity and the lack of prior information about the programming, with guests announced when many had already purchased their tickets. A combination of factors that now marks the context of this new stage.
Piquer is “very clear about this after speaking with many people.” “I assume that responsibility to elevate the fan experience and take better care of the details,” he said in a Madrid Matadero guarded by imperial soldiers of the saga. Star Wars and assistants in cosplay of video games and comics, and in which he pointed out one of the evils of the previous edition: “The queues; I had to say it at some point in this presentation.” To address this, the venue will double its surface area, going from 10,800 square meters to 19,600 thanks to the incorporation of a second outdoor pavilion. As a consequence, the number of stands will also increase. Even so, he warned that “there will be queues, if everyone wants an autograph, but it will be a problem that we will enjoy,” Piquer joked.
In addition to the increase in space, Piquer announced that they will offer an exclusive pre-sale for those who “trusted in this project since last year.” “We want them to be the first to experience this new stage.” The dates to get the tickets have not yet been finalized, but since last year it was known that the price will rise from 50 to 80 euros (320 euros in total), according to the organizing company, Dentsu. So far, the total number of passes is unknown. The last edition put 120,000 on sale, something that sparked the debate whether the capacity of the Fair Palace, limited to about 30,000 daily visitors, had been exceeded.
It has also not been detailed whether this year it will be announced to the guests before getting the tickets. Hence, the first complaints from users, in the last edition, focused on the fact that they were asked to spend 50 euros per day without there being a single guest or activity announced. Even so, tickets for three of the four days were sold out in just 24 hours.
In 2025, the 300 hours of content featured a list of international stars headed by Arnold Schwarzenegger, who was accompanied by Antonio Banderas by surprise. Actors and actresses such as Natalia Dyer, Aaron Paul, Gwendoline Christie, Dafne Keen and Taz Skylar also attended, participating in talks and debates. Some also took photos or signed autographs for their fans for a prior payment of between 66 and 90 euros. Added to them was the presence of faces of Spanish cinema, such as Ester Expósito, Óscar Jaenada, Belén Rueda or Juan Antonio Bayona, in addition to a list of directors, illustrators, comic book authors and video game creators.
It should be remembered that the San Diego Comic-Con – the main convention – also does not reveal the guests (or not all of them) until a few weeks before it starts. However, it is difficult for the annual event in Southern California to disappoint fans after 56 years of history—an event that revolved around comics and became an exhibitor of action and fantasy series and films (Marvel, DC, Disney franchises)—.
It is true that these are two different events. But the comparison was made when the first San Diego Comic-Con Málaga was presented by the then director, Javier Barbera: “(San Diego and Málaga) are, in addition, two very similar cities: border, southern, very cultural with a similar climate. All the bases were in place for this to be the ideal location for a product like this.” The staff of Dentsu – a company of Japanese origin that has obtained the license – traveled to the birthplace of Comic Con to observe “its philosophy and its capacity for growth,” Barbera said.
The San Diego Convention Center – whose metropolitan area exceeds three million – has an official capacity of around 125,000 people, which is the number of visitors that the fair receives over the four days. Compared to the 20,000 people that Fycma can accommodate in Malaga – a city of 599,063 inhabitants.
The Malaga proposal received the approval of the event’s director of communication and international strategy, David Glanzer. And this Thursday he once again gave his blessing to the San Diego Comic-Con Málaga —and will do so at least until 2027—, which he described as a success. The event had an impact of 44.3 million euros and 95,784 confirmed attendees over four days, in addition to consumer associations (Facua and OCU) who claimed to accumulate more than 550 queries to file complaints.