If you love San Diego Comic-Con, you’ll love Black Comix Day!
All this Valentine’s Day weekend, artists, writers and publishers of African descent will be showcasing their work at the WorldBeat Cultural Center in Balboa Park. The annual event is free, and it will blow your mind!
The last two years at Black Comix Day I met dozens of friendly creators. This year I saw quite a few new participants.
Together they have produced fantastic comics, graphic novels, books, animation, films, figurines, posters and more. Much of the work is informed by their unique experiences as artists of African descent.
Many of the participants come from outside San Diego. Most are self-publishing entrepreneurs with big dreams. Some of the artists have worked professionally or won prestigious awards.
Everywhere you turn, both outside and inside the WorldBeat Cultural Center, there’s something new and very cool. Science fiction, fantasy, horror, Afro-futurism, superheroes, just about anything the human mind can imagine. It’s pop culture heaven!
Read the photo captions and click links to learn about some stuff I saw…
Defiant: The Story of Robert Smalls is the Civil War story of a man who escaped enslavement. He’d go on to make a huge impact on American history. There’s a graphic novel, and a major motion picture is in development! Click here.Buy some great books at this outdoor table and you’ll support the Malcolm X Library in Valencia Park!Derek Johnson wrote the noir supernatural horror The Caretaker. He’s a Las Vegas filmmaker and comic creator! Click here to support his work!Mike Haynes-Pitts created The Surge Series! It’s about Afrofuturistic, cyberpunk Africa hundreds of years in the future! His Instagram is here.Smiles at the Wingless Entertainment table. They publish comic books, coloring books and more cool stuff. Click here!The Agents of S.O.U.L. and creator David Phillips have many adventures! Check out the DP Comix website here.New Creation Comics is an independent Christian Publisher. Look at all the cool superhero-like covers! Their website is here.Vampires! Blade! Vampirella! Look at the cool pop culture images created by Attiba Royster at his website here!Bryttney-Mischele Salvant was creating a beautiful surreal expressionist piece at her table. To see more, visit her Poetic Artistry website here!More smiling creators! It’s cartoonist and printmaker Lyssette Williams, and Annika B., who wrote Current Objective and was busy creating a business card!What would happen if you turned the Frankenstein monster into a werewolf? To find the answer, check out this website by Eisner Award winning editor, writer and producer Chris Robinson!
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Today, February 4th, is the birthday of civil rights icon Rosa Parks. San Diego Metropolitan Transit System (MTS) is honoring her heroism by reserving a seat for her on every bus and trolley!
MTS has been doing this for years.
Back in 2022, also on February 4th, I photographed a seat on a bus that was reserved for Rosa Parks. Today, I found a seat on a San Diego Trolley just for her!
Of course, I had to take a photo.
The legacy of a courageous citizen lives on. This sign on a trolley seat is a small but important reminder that one individual with a single act of courage can change the world.
During my walk yesterday through SDSU Mission Valley River Park, I was surprised to see members of San Diego State Aztecs Rugby Club getting ready for a game. They would be playing UC Davis out on a wide swath of the park’s grass. It was the second game of their 2026 season.
I remained at the sidelines for a while to watch the beginning of play. Other fans would gradually gather with their lawn chairs and umbrellas.
SDSU Aztecs Rugby Club competes in Division 1-A in the California Conference. Founded in 1958, the team has a long and proud history. They won the 1987 National Collegiate Rugby Championship.
The action I observed was fast and exciting! I don’t know too much about rugby, but perhaps I’ll have to become a fan! The Aztecs would go on to win 31-38.
If you’d like to watch this victory on YouTube, click here.
To go to a future game, you can follow SDSU Aztec Rugby at this website.
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Muchas Manos de San Diego, a group of hand embroidery enthusiasts, is celebrating their 50th Anniversary with an exhibit inside the Mission Valley Library. The library’s large display case is filled with carefully stitched examples of very beautiful embroidery!
If you’d like to join the supportive group and have fun creating amazing, exquisite objects like these, here’s their website! They meet once a month.
The San Diego Museum of Art is celebrating its centennial in 2026. First opening in 1926 as the Fine Arts Gallery, the world-class museum has grown and experienced many remarkable moments over the past hundred years.
That history is remembered in a free exhibition titled SDMA 100 Years. The exhibit opened yesterday in the museum’s Galleries 14/15, which are accessible to the public through a door at Panama 66 in the museum’s sculpture courtyard.
SDMA 100 Years features a timeline of photographs that document the museum’s evolution, from the building’s construction in Balboa Park right up to the present day. There’s also a short documentary video and a display case full of ephemera.
Visitors can observe how the San Diego Museum of Art had its origins in the 1915 Panama-California Exposition, had its successful grand opening in 1926, served as a naval hospital during World War II, and how west and east wings were added for significant expansions.
You’ll see photos showing museum contributions to art education and the San Diego community over the years. You’ll see renowned artists who’ve contributed their work, and relive major exhibitions. You’ll envision what the museum plans for their future, too!
You are invited to contribute to the exhibition! Anyone can submit their personal memories and photographs of the museum. To participate, look for the link at the bottom of this webpage!
SDMA 100 Years will be displayed through 2026, right up to February 2, 2027.
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A fascinating exhibit at Balboa Park’s Japanese Friendship Garden will soon be ending. It concerns the history of Japanese American gardeners in San Diego. You can view the exhibit through Thursday, January 22, 2026.
Composed primarily of historical photographs from the early 20th century through World War II and beyond, the exhibit shows how first generation Japanese immigrants, with limited opportunities, brought beauty to San Diego through gardening.
It includes a look at Japanese Americans held as prisoners in Poston, Arizona during the war and their efforts to bring beauty into an ugly situation.
Photographs take the viewer into the present with amazing gardens in Balboa Park and Japanese inspired landscapes in San Diego.
The exhibit is made possible by the Japanese American Historical Society of San Diego.
Alpha Project is collecting donations right now in Balboa Park’s Recital Hall. The urgently needed donations can be dropped off from 10 am to 6 pm.
Their shelter was flooded by the recent storms and had to be evacuated. Your donations of clothing, undergarments and hygiene items will benefit the homeless people who were affected.
You can email info@alphaproject.org if you have any questions.
Have you seen the tokidoki exhibition at San Diego’s amazing Comic-Con Museum? If your answer is no, you have several weeks until the exhibition closes. TOKIDOKI: Twenty Years of Kawaii & Chaos goes away at the end of January.
Meanwhile, people who love tokidoki collectibles have the opportunity to attend a free trading event at the museum! The “kid-organized meetup” will be held on Saturday, January 24th, 2026 inside the Comic-Con Museum’s café! Everyone is welcome. Bring any tokidoki figures or merch you’d like to possibly trade!
I visited the museum today and saw the event announcement. As I wandered about the tokidoki exhibition, I “collected” a handful of cool photos…
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A KPBS film crew was in Balboa Park this afternoon. Why? Up on the stage of the Spreckels Organ Pavilion, three San Diego musicians were performing for a series now in development by KPBS!
The local musicians were Divina Jasso, James Spaite and Shua. I listened to the first two. They had amazing voices. These photographs show Divina Jasso.
I was told that the music series, whose official name is not yet determined, will be available on the podcast The Finest. Here’s the link to The Finest. Videos of these performances will also be available on YouTube and elsewhere in the future.
Right now, the nascent music series is operating a bit like a pop-up. Today’s performance was unannounced. The audience in Balboa Park simply walked up–like me!
Very cool!
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By purchasing a game ticket via the Gulls Star Wars Fundraiser, $5 dollars will go to supporting a special Star Wars Book Night on May the 4th at the Ronald McDonald House!
The event is organized by the good people who operate the non-profit Char Car. Char Car is a cool Pokémon tribute car and program that promotes literacy.
The supported event at Ronald McDonald House will include members of the San Diego Star Wars Society reading to the kids and posing for pictures. Grogu (Baby Yoda) ears will go to all the participating kids!
Learn more about Char Car at their Instagram page here. You can buy a Gulls Star Wars Fundraiser ticket there, or by scanning the Venmo code on the event flyer photo that I’ve posted above.
Here are photos from past Star Wars Book Nights at Ronald McDonald House…
Photo credit Ron Luis Valles.Photo credit Ron Luis Valles.
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Cool San Diego Sights! 