Informa began acquiring comic and entertainment conventions in North America in 2013. The first acquisition was Hobby Star Marketing, the organizer of Fan Expo Canada in Toronto, originally called the Canadian National Comic Book Expo. Subsequently, the company started using the Fan Expo brand for its North American conventions and renamed most of its new acquisitions.
By 2022, Informa had acquired fan conventions in Boston, Calgary, Chicago, Cleveland, Dallas, Denver, Edmonton, New Orleans, Orlando, Philadelphia, Portland, St. Louis, and Toronto, rebranding most of them as Fan Expo. That year, Fan Expo HQ also started launching new conventions from scratch. One of these was Fan Expo San Francisco, which was first held from November 25 to 27, 2022.
Fan Expo San Francisco is a three-day event for fans of comics, sci-fi and fantasy, horror, anime, manga, gaming, and all things pop culture. It is held at the Moscone Center, San Francisco’s largest convention and exhibition venue, which has three halls with a total of 1,500,000 square feet of exhibit hall space and can accommodate hundreds of thousands of fans over three days.
As with most other conventions, celebrity guests are one of the main attractions at Fan Expo San Francisco. For instance, the 2025 guest lineup included Gillian Anderson, John Boyega, Peter Facinelli, Danny Glover, Christopher Lloyd, Brandon Routh, Christina Ricci, Mark Sheppard, Karl Urban, and even Peggy the Dog, who is known for portraying Dogpool in Deadpool and Wolverine. In addition to actors known for roles in science fiction, fantasy, and horror films and television shows, the lineup includes voice actors from animation and video games, as well as comic book creators and cosplayers.
Events involving guests at Fan Expo San Francisco include Q&A sessions, where guests share behind-the-scenes stories and answer fan questions, autograph sessions, and photo ops. However, the convention program is not limited to guest appearances. There are plenty of exciting events and activities for fans of all ages, including panels on anime, comics, gaming, sci-fi, fantasy, horror, and cosplay, Idolfest, film screenings, sketch duels featuring comic artists, Artist Alley, workshops, cosplay showcases and competitions, a gaming zone, D&D sessions, fandom meetups, a kids’ zone with fun activities, a shopping zone, and after-hours events such as Comics Xplosion and Anime After Dark.
Fan Expo San Francisco offers several types of tickets: multi-day (regular three-day, Ultimate, and VIP), single-day, and family single-day passes for two adults and up to four children aged six to 12. There are also youth single-day tickets for teens aged 13 to 17 and child passes for children aged six to 12. Tickets for celebrity autographs and photo ops must be purchased separately and require an entry ticket.
