Comic-Con at 50: Bigger than ever, but at what cost?

No one expected their culture would ever become mainstream when a few hundred comic book and science fiction enthusiasts and creators gathered in the basement of a San Diego hotel 49 years ago for what would become known as the first Comic-Con.

Except Jack Kirby.

"A long time ago he said, 'One day Hollywood is going to come to Comic-Con to get its ideas,'" co-founder Mike Towry said. "That seemed pretty far-fetched to us, but Jack Kirby was pretty visionary."

As the 50th Comic-Comic kicks off Wednesday, with a big Marvel Studios panel on Saturday that's sure to be the hottest ticket in town, and Spider-Man and the Marvel Cinematic Universe dominating the box office, Kirby proved to be right. But it took a while for Comic-Con to really "go Hollywood."

"We were just looking to get together with our fellow comic fans and some of the people who created the comics and science fiction we enjoyed," Towry said of the early years. "Comics back then were looked down on by pretty much everyone."

Roy Thomas remembers being part of one of the first "real movie events" at Comic-Con. In the summer of 1976, the artist and two other panelists took the stage to preview an unknown sci-fi property that wouldn't hit theaters for another 10 months.

It was, of course, "Star Wars" and he was working on the promotional comics that Marvel would put out prior to release.

"We had a few posters. But we didn't even have any footage," Thomas said. "All we could do was sit there and talk about it and show a poster."

He remembers the PR guy, Charles Lippincott, trying to sell the posters later for $1 apiece.

"He didn't even sell them all," Thomas laughed. "He ended up giving some of them away."

Compare that to 28 years later, when Lucasfilm revealed the title for the final Star Wars prequel, "Revenge of the Sith." Germain Lussier, a staff writer for the websites io9 and Gizmodo, remembers it being "electric." Some 7,000 screaming people jumped out of their seats and made a mad dash to the showroom floor to get one of the T-shirts available at the Star Wars booth.

The success of the original Star Wars may have a wake-up call for Hollywood.

"It made Hollywood sit up and take notice," Towry said. And, he thinks, it began the slow evolution of the convention into what it is today.

For most, the real tipping point for Comic-Con and Hollywood came in 2008 when "Twilight" descended on the Gaslamp District. The "Twihards" took fandom to a new level when they camped out overnight to secure a spot to see the panel. That had never been done on that level.

Since then, Comic-Con has been a madhouse. Nowadays, some 135,000 people descend on the San Diego Convention Center and surrounding Gaslamp District every year. There are lines everywhere for fan needs (panels, toys, autograph sessions, events) and human ones (food, bathrooms, transportation). Tickets are hard to come by, as are hotels and parking, and everything is expensive.

There are still artists on the showroom floor and off-the-beaten path panels in the spirit of those first few years. But look around the Gaslamp District where every inch of space has been branded by a movie, TV show, tech company or corporate brand (even down to the hotel key cards and elevators), and it's clear that Comic-Con has become one big advertisement.

"You could feel it when Hollywood really started figuring out that that this was a major publicity opportunity and targeting it," said film critic Drew McWeeny, who started attending in the early 1990s. "For me that was the end of it."

For McWeeny, the intense focus on movie trailers and tidbits teased by those involved in the major panels at Comic-Con, "reflects the problem with overall culture beautifully: Our conversation about films happens 99% before they come out and 1% after they come out. The film is almost inconsequential. Our cultural conversation is about marketing."

For others, Comic-Con holds value in that filmmakers get face time with fans. "It" director Andy Muschietti is returning this year with some cast and new footage from "It: Chapter Two," which Warner Bros. and New Line will premiere at its Wednesday night ScareDiego event.

"It's huge. You're really getting in contact with the fans, even for a brief moment," Muschietti said. "The fans have the opportunity to meet the cast there that they love so much and get an autograph. I think it's great."

Lately, it's become a bit of a mixed bag with just how involved Hollywood movie studios, which can fluctuate based on what there is to promote. Marvel Studios has sat out before, and this year Warner Bros. is not bringing any of its DC properties.

"I suspect a lot of studios realized that having movies at San Diego Comic-Con costs a lot of money and I don't know if it's worth all that money in the end," said Perri Nemiroff, a senior producer for Collider.com and host of the YouTube series Movie Talk. She also noted that studios like Disney have their own brand-specific conventions like D23 and Star Wars Celebration.

"I do think to some degree it's rolling back," McWeeny said. "The best thing that can happen is Hollywood just gets bored of it and it becomes something that is really for fans again."

Plus there's just the hassle of getting and being there. And perhaps "missing out" is no longer a fear: Fans can see most of the footage online soon afterward.

"It's become so huge now, it's almost like Yogi Berra said: 'Nobody goes there anymore, it's too crowded,'" Thomas said. "That's why I stay away. I do like it, but I just feel like maybe it's better to stick with my memories."

Follow AP Film Writer Lindsey Bahr on Twitter: www.twitter.com/ldbahr

WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States on Wednesday imposed new sanctions on hundreds of companies and people tied to Russia's weapons development program, more than a dozen Chinese entities accused of helping Moscow find workarounds to earlier penalties, and individuals linked to the death of Kremlin opposition leader Alexei Navalny.

The actions by the departments of Treasury and State target Russia’s military-industrial base, chemical weapons programs and people and companies in third countries that help Russia acquire weapons components as its invasion of Ukraine has entered its third year.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said the action “will further disrupt and degrade Russia’s war efforts by going after its military industrial base and the evasion networks that help supply it.”

The Senate, meanwhile, gave final approval to legislation barring imports of Russian uranium, boosting U.S. efforts to disrupt Russia’s war in Ukraine. Democratic President Joe Biden is expected to sign the bill into law.

About 12% of the uranium used to produce electricity at U.S. nuclear power plants is imported from Russia, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

A spokesperson for the National Security Council said Wednesday that Biden shares lawmakers’ concerns about U.S. reliance on Russia for low-enriched uranium to support its domestic nuclear fleet.

Included in the administration's announcement are importers of cotton cellulose and nitrocellulose, which are used to produce gunpowder, rocket propellants and other explosives. The penalties also target Russian government entities and people tied to Russia's chemical and biological weapons programs, companies related to Russia's natural gas construction projects and three workers at the penal colony where Navalny died.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has railed against earlier rounds of U.S. and Western penalties, claiming they are “illegitimate sanctions” on his country.

A group of 16 targets in China and Hong Kong, most of which are related to Russian procurement workarounds, are named by the Biden administration.

Yellen traveled to Guangzhou and Beijing last month to warn Chinese officials that they “must not provide material support for Russia’s war and that they will face significant consequences if they do."

China has said it is not providing Russia with arms or military assistance, although Beijing has maintained robust economic connections with Moscow, alongside India and other countries, as the West imposes sanctions.

Companies in China, Azerbaijan, Belgium, Slovakia, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates were accused of helping Russia acquire technology and equipment from abroad. The penalties aim to block them from using the U.S. financial system and bar American citizens from dealing with them.

Biden last week said he would immediately rush badly needed weaponry to Ukraine as he signed into law a $95 billion war aid measure that also included assistance for Israel, Taiwan and other global hot spots.

The upcoming uranium ban is also expected to impact Russian revenues by at least $1 billion. The U.S. banned Russian oil imports after Russia invaded Ukraine in early 2022 but did not against uranium, despite frequent calls to do so by U.S. lawmakers in both parties.

Wyoming Sen. John Barrasso, the top Republican on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, called the import ban “a tremendous victory” and said it “will help defund Russia’s war machine, revive American uranium production and jumpstart investments in America’s nuclear fuel supply chain.″

“Wyoming has the uranium to replace Russian imports, and we’re ready to use it,″ Barrasso added.

West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin, a Democrat who heads that Senate committee, said it was "unconscionable” for the U.S. to help make it possible for Putin to “finance his unlawful war against Ukraine” through U.S. reliance on Russian uranium.

Besides the import ban, the legislation frees up $2.7 billion in previously authorized funding to ramp up domestic uranium production.

FILE- This June 6, 2019, file photo shows the U.S. Treasury Department building at dusk in Washington. The United States has imposed new sanctions on hundreds of firms and people tied to Russia’s weapons development program, more than a dozen Chinese firms accused of helping Russia find workarounds to sanctions and individuals tied to the death of Russian dissident Alexey Navalny. The sanctions imposed Wednesday by the Treasury and State departments target Russia’s military-industrial base, chemical weapons programs and people and firms in third countries that help Russia acquire weapons components as its invasion of Ukraine has entered its third year. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, File)