San Diego Comic Convention (SDCC), the non-profit that runs Comic-Con International in San Diego, has begun work on the Comic-Con Museum, which will be installed in the Federal Building in Balboa Park. The work is planned in two phases, with the opening of the first phase scheduled for November 26, 2021, coinciding with Comic-Con Special Edition (see “San Diego’s November Con Gets a Name, Dates”).

The museum will operate year-round and will host exhibits of comics, popular art, and comics-related images. Two classrooms will also open in November, one of which is the Cox Innovation Lab, sponsored by Cox Communications.

After the museum opens it will continue to expand its exhibit and educational spaces to fill all three floors of the space. The second phase is scheduled to be completed next year, with the grand opening scheduled for July 2022. 

The Federal Building was constructed in 1935 as the U.S. government’s exhibit space for the 1935 California Pacific International Exposition. It has served a number of purposes over the years, most recently as the sports museum Hall of Champions, which closed its doors in 2017. Comic-Con has had a long-term lease for the property with the City of San Diego since then.