Salinas Valley Comic Con appears to be another victim of Covid.

On Friday, Feb. 17, Salinas-born illustrator Rick Law posted on Twitter that he is “sad to hear that it sounds like Salinas Valley Comic Con in my hometown of Salinas is not to be again.” Law, best known for his career with Disney, wrote that he “had discussions to appear at the next event, but the pandemic arrived, derailing plans, and now informed reviving the show ‘doesn't look likely." 

Law will not be the only one disappointed with the news since SVCC was a local treat attracting comic book fans from all over the region, celebrating comics, graphic novels, literacy, gaming, zines and pop culture. An event for the whole family, the event gathered local authors, artists and illustrators in an “artists' alley,” offering drawing workshops and costume contests. 

“We have not been the producers of Comic Con for the past several years and do not have any plans to take it back up again as we move forward past the pandemic,” confirms Cat Harper, assistant to the director at the National Steinbeck Center, in an email. NSC was the main organizer of the event, with Salinas Public Library as the co-organizer. According to Harper, the last edition of the SVCC took place in 2019.

“The library is not doing a Comic Con event,”  Luis Manzo, Salinas library director says by email. He offers Nerdville in Watsonville, focused on Anime and Graphic Novels as a cheer up prize. (Nerdville will take place on Sunday, June 25, at the Watsonville Public Library.)

But before being picked up by the NSC, SVCC was taking place at Current Comics, a comic book store in Salinas (with another location in Monterey). While Harper says that she heard that someone had produced a small version of the event in 2022, she wasn’t sure who that person or business owner would be. It is not Current Comics, as both locations confirm.

“We have no plans to pick it up again,” Harper says.

Law wrote in his tweet that he is “disappointed by the news because I know how inspirational comics and meeting other creatives were for me as a young person: Popular arts being a window for learning.” He added he believes this is a loss for the community.

For all the saddened comic-book lovers the Salinas Toy-Anime-Comic Con will take place 10am on Sunday, March 26, in the Spreckels Veterans Memorial Hall, 90 5th St, Salinas. $7. Kids under age 10 enter free.