There’s a lot to like about San Diego Comic Con. The extensive and stunningly comics-centric programming at its heart. Its sheer size and scale. The entertaining events around every corner. The warm and walkable area it takes place in. Heck, even the plethora of quality breakfast burritos within blocks of the convention center stands out. Its plusses massively outweigh its minuses.

Perhaps tops amongst the many positives about the event, though, is the staggering number of individuals from comics that go to it. Comic creators, folks from publishers, retailers, journalists, podcasters, comics-adjacent celebrities, and beyond all dot the landscape of this people-heavy convention. That isn’t uncommon for these types of experiences, of course. But SDCC seems to draw more of them and a greater depth of each type. While literally “everyone” isn’t there, it feels like everyone is there.

That’s why I decided to use this past year’s edition as an opportunity to get some feedback about what I do at SKTCHD and Off Panel from people in the industry. There’s probably not a better place to get a bevy of perspectives from people in comics, so why not? And amidst those conversations, there was one note that stood out the most, both to me as the person behind the site and as a reader of comics. It was quite simple, and something I’ve recounted here before. The person, who admittedly works in this space, gave it some thought before responding with a few words, which I’m paraphrasing.

“There’s very little manga.”

This stood out for two reasons. First, it was honest. You always hope that will be the case, but you never really know. Second, and most importantly, was that it was true. Both SKTCHD and Off Panel have almost never focused on manga historically, despite the fact that the Japanese side of comics is a) an incredibly robust part of this world and b) the most popular section of it as well. It’s a genuine failing for yours truly, and something I’ve long carried self-doubt about even as I continued to not read much manga at all.

Now, there were a number of ways I could have responded once this comment was made. One was I could ignore them and walk away, electing to forget about it right then and there. Another is I could lash out like a big ol’ baby, because the truth hurts and saying varying things like “How dare you?” and “You’re wrong!” can feel great in the moment. Lastly, there was the most painful option imaginable: I could say they were right. That’s what I did. And from there, I made a decision. I needed to read a lot more manga.

And that’s how 2024 became the year of manga for me, one where I realized both how magical it is and just how different (and similar) it is from the comics I was already reading.