On August 1st of 1970， 300 fans gathered in the basement of the US Grant Hotel for what was then called the San Diego Comic Book Convention[展會(huì)]. Although the setting was small， the big names[知名人士] were still there. The first panel boasted[有引以為榮的事物] author Ray Bradbury注1， and six years later， Hollywood came calling when a young director presented his new sci-fi[科幻的] film， Star Wars， to the convention， a full year before its theatrical[劇院的] release. To appeal to these comic-book lovers， George Lucas commissioned[委托] comic book artist Howard Chaykin注2 to design an exclusive[專屬的] poster， and sold it for a mere dollar seventy-five. When Star Wars opened a year later it smashed[大破（記錄）] box office[票房] records and established a marketing template[樣板] for future movies.

1970年8月1日，300名動(dòng)漫迷在美國(guó)格蘭特酒店的地下室齊聚一堂，參加當(dāng)時(shí)的“圣迭戈漫畫展”。盡管場(chǎng)面并不盛大，依然有不少業(yè)界名人出席。第一位坐鎮(zhèn)發(fā)布會(huì)的大人物正是作家雷·布萊伯利。六年后，好萊塢也來(lái)?yè)揭荒_了——一位年輕的導(dǎo)演在展會(huì)上放映了他的科幻新作《星球大戰(zhàn)》，比電影的上映時(shí)間整整早了一年。為了吸引這些漫畫迷，喬治·盧卡斯讓漫畫家霍華德·沙金繪制了一張限定版海報(bào)，售價(jià)僅為1.75美元?！缎乔虼髴?zhàn)》在一年之后公映，橫掃票房紀(jì)錄，為日后的電影設(shè)定了一個(gè)市場(chǎng)標(biāo)桿。

Gradually the convention opened its arms to other art forms including graphic novels[繪本小說(shuō)]， anime， video games and， yes， cosplay[角色扮演]. Attendance[參與人數(shù)] boomed， nearly quadrupling[變成四倍] by the 90s， and Hollywood took an even greater interest in the convention. Today the convention has grown to more than 400 seminars[專題討論會(huì)]， workshops[研討會(huì)] and panel[討論會(huì)] discussions with devotees[熱心者] camping out days in advance[提前] to attend the most popular events. Eventually organizers capped[設(shè)定上限] Comicons attendance at 125，000. But the fans kept coming. Every convention since 2008 has sold out completely.

Today， although Comicon may look a lot different than when it first started， at its heart it remains unchanged； a celebration of the things we love and a chance to walk among our personal super heroes.

該展會(huì)后來(lái)逐漸擴(kuò)大到其他藝術(shù)表現(xiàn)形式，包括繪本小說(shuō)、動(dòng)畫、游戲——沒錯(cuò)，還有角色扮演。參加人數(shù)迅速增長(zhǎng)，到上世紀(jì)90年代翻了將近兩番，就連好萊塢也越發(fā)熱衷于參與其中。時(shí)至今日，圣迭戈動(dòng)漫展已經(jīng)擴(kuò)展為一個(gè)擁有超過(guò)400場(chǎng)活動(dòng)（包括見面會(huì)、研討會(huì)、發(fā)布討論會(huì)等）的盛事。為了參加人氣最高的活動(dòng)，鐵桿粉絲們甚至提前好幾天就開始露宿蹲守。最后，動(dòng)漫展組織方將參加人數(shù)上限設(shè)定為12.5萬(wàn)人，但動(dòng)漫迷依然絡(luò)繹不絕。從2008年起，每年的展會(huì)門票都會(huì)

售罄。

盡管今天的圣迭戈動(dòng)漫展已經(jīng)和它最初的樣子大異其趣，其核心卻一直沒變：一場(chǎng)為我們所愛的事物高歌喝彩的盛會(huì)，讓我們得以與心目中的超級(jí)英雄并肩而行。