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[展会]. Although the setting was small， the big names[知名人士] were still there. The first panel boasted[有引以为荣的事物] 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[剧院的] release. To appeal to these comic-book lovers， George Lucas commissioned[委托] comic book artist Howard Chaykin注2 to design an exclusive[专属的] poster， and sold it for a mere dollar seventy-five. When Star Wars opened a year later it smashed[大破（记录）] box office[票房] records and established a marketing template[样板] for future movies.

1970年8月1日，300名动漫迷在美国格兰特酒店的地下室齐聚一堂，参加当时的“圣迭戈漫画展”。尽管场面并不盛大，依然有不少业界名人出席。第一位坐镇发布会的大人物正是作家雷·布莱伯利。六年后，好莱坞也来掺一脚了——一位年轻的导演在展会上放映了他的科幻新作《星球大战》，比电影的上映时间整整早了一年。为了吸引这些漫画迷，乔治·卢卡斯让漫画家霍华德·沙金绘制了一张限定版海报，售价仅为1.75美元。《星球大战》在一年之后公映，横扫票房纪录，为日后的电影设定了一个市场标杆。

Gradually the convention opened its arms to other art forms including graphic novels[绘本小说]， anime， video games and， yes， cosplay[角色扮演]. Attendance[参与人数] boomed， nearly quadrupling[变成四倍] by the 90s， and Hollywood took an even greater interest in the convention. Today the convention has grown to more than 400 seminars[专题讨论会]， workshops[研讨会] and panel[讨论会] discussions with devotees[热心者] camping out days in advance[提前] to attend the most popular events. Eventually organizers capped[设定上限] 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.

该展会后来逐渐扩大到其他艺术表现形式，包括绘本小说、动画、游戏——没错，还有角色扮演。参加人数迅速增长，到上世纪90年代翻了将近两番，就连好莱坞也越发热衷于参与其中。时至今日，圣迭戈动漫展已经扩展为一个拥有超过400场活动（包括见面会、研讨会、发布讨论会等）的盛事。为了参加人气最高的活动，铁杆粉丝们甚至提前好几天就开始露宿蹲守。最后，动漫展组织方将参加人数上限设定为12.5万人，但动漫迷依然络绎不绝。从2008年起，每年的展会门票都会

售罄。

尽管今天的圣迭戈动漫展已经和它最初的样子大异其趣，其核心却一直没变：一场为我们所爱的事物高歌喝彩的盛会，让我们得以与心目中的超级英雄并肩而行。