SDCC 2026 Opens Today: Trading Cards Take Over Comic-Con With Topps Marvel Mint, KAYOU, and a 300-Box Exclusive
San Diego Comic-Con runs July 23-26 and trading cards are everywhere: Topps debuts 2026 Marvel Mint at Booth 2934, KAYOU brings an offsite, PSA hosts panels, and one exclusive is limited to 300 boxes worldwide. Here is the collector's guide to the show.
Comic-Con Is Now a Card Show
San Diego Comic-Con 2026 opens its doors today, July 23, and runs through Sunday, July 26. For years the show was about panels, film trailers, and Funko lines. In 2026, it is impossible to walk the floor without tripping over trading cards. Topps, PSA, Cryptozoic, KAYOU, and a wave of smaller makers have all planted flags in San Diego this week, and several of the most limited card products of the year will only exist inside this building.
Topps: Booth 2934 and the Return of Marvel Mint
Topps is set up at Booth #2934 with a lineup of exclusives and debuts, headlined by a first look at 2026 Topps Marvel Mint, the follow-up to the Marvel Mint set that debuted at SDCC 2025. The catch: convention exclusives require a reservation through Comic-Con's Online Exclusives Portal, which opened in mid-July. If you are on site without a reservation, check the portal early each morning for released inventory.
Topps is also collaborating beyond its own booth. Officially licensed Garbage Pail Kids glow-in-the-dark enamel pins featuring Dead Ted and Jay Decay each come paired with an exclusive SDCC promo trading card, and a partnership with Bull Airs and Atomic Toybox has produced Adam Bomb Radioactive Sneakers complete with a 3D Adam Bomb lace charm and mushroom cloud artwork.
The Scarcity Story: 300 Boxes Worldwide
Among the convention-exclusive card releases this year, one drop is limited to just 300 boxes worldwide, making it one of the rarest convention collectibles ever released. Numbers like that turn a convention purchase into an instant secondary-market event. Expect flips on eBay before the weekend is over, and expect graded copies to surface by fall.
Who Else Is Playing
- KAYOU, the Chinese card giant, is bringing an offsite activation, meetups, and a booth presence as it pushes harder into the US market.
- PSA is on site with exclusives and panels, continuing its push to meet collectors where pop culture lives.
- Cryptozoic is launching trading cards for the New-Gen comics universe, that franchise's first consumer products line.
- tokidoki co-founder Simone Legno signs today from 12 to 2 pm, limited to 200 fans, each receiving an SDCC-exclusive Stellina promo card.
What It Means for Collectors
SDCC exclusives have a well-worn price cycle: a spike during the show, a dip two to four weeks after as supply hits eBay, then a slow climb for the items that turn out to be genuinely scarce. If you want one of this year's exclusives to keep, the smart buy is usually in that late-August dip. If you are flipping, sell into the hype this weekend.
The bigger signal: every major player in the hobby now treats a pop culture convention as a card show. The line between the two is gone.