A menacing Bare Bones robot at Comic-Con.
(click for image gallery)

I've been going to Comic-Con for about 10 years now, and I've been amazed recently at how huge it's gotten in that time.

It's been a big event for San Diego and science fiction fans for the whole decade, but now it's more than that -- it's a show-business blockbuster, seemingly an anchor of the annual festivals and awards season, a geeky peer of the Oscars and Cannes. This year's event, which ran July 22-26, drew 125,000 people.

How did Comic-Con get so big? Partially, I expect it's part of an ongoing trend. Science fiction has become mainstream. Pulitzer Prize-winning authors Michael Chabon and Junot Daz are self-confessed fans, and science fiction movies are 19 of the 20 top-grossing pictures of all time.

This year's Comic-Con featured presentations about upcoming movies by James Titanic Cameron, Tim Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Burton, a sequel to Iron Man, hit TV shows such as Lost and 24, and -- of course -- comic book writers and artists galore. Many of the Hollywood presentations featured big stars.

I like to walk the exhibit hall and check out the merchandise and costumes. Click through for a photo gallery.

Note that the images include scantily clad women and men, and a doll making a one-finger gesture -- don't look if you don't want to see that kind of thing.

To see the full gallery of photos, click here.

To step into the way-back machine and see photos from Comic-Con 2008, click here.