DC and Dark Horse drop out of ECCC 2020 over coronavirus concerns

Emerald City Comic Con, which has taken place annually in Seattle, Washington since 2003, is the latest event to be disrupted by the outbreak of coronavirus. Set to run from March 12 - 15, major publishers are pulling out of the event last minute due to concerns over the health of staffers.

© Photo: Suzi Pratt/Getty Images

On Tuesday, DC Comics announced that it would cancel all appearances at comic book conventions for the rest of the month, including at ECCC.

Dark Horse Comics also made the decision to bow out of ECCC, with plans to return for the 2021 convention.

Star Wars publisher Del Rey joined in the decision, acknowledging the importance of conventions for the fans, but also citing the concerns of the situation.

China first reported cases of the novel coronavirus disease to the World Health Organization in late December. According to Vox.com’s latest updates, there are more than 92,000 confirmed cases of the virus worldwide, with outbreaks in mainland China, South Korea, Iran, and Italy. Since the recognition of the outbreak, there have also been 100 cases reported in the United States. As of March 4, 27 cases of coronavirus and nine deaths due to the outbreak have been reported in Washington state.

In late February, programmers postponed the sprawling 2020 Game Developers Conference after a number of high-profile withdrawals, including Sony, Microsoft, Epic, and Blizzard. The 2020 SXSW festival is also finding major companies canceling plans to attend the event, with Facebook and Amazon both pulling out with only weeks to go. As of this report, ECCC has not announced plans to cancel the event.