Recap and photos by Shawn Richter / Lisa Lower-Richter
New achievement! The apocalypse was televised live from San Diego Comic-Con 2026! From a multitude of panels, offsite events, exclusive merchandise and cosplay abound, Dungeon Crawler Carl was seemingly everywhere!
Audible Level Up Lounge (open to fans on Saturday): While the offsite was not 100% DCC specific, it definitely offered a wide variety of activations for the Dungeon Crawler fans. There was a personality test, make up stations, and a message board to start the session out. Fans could complete tasks and earn XP points to later cash in for real take home prizes (loot). We joined the Borant Corporation and got a fun kaleidoscope photo op. There were listening centers where you could listen to any of the 8 books currently on Audible. We really enjoyed the sound proof sound booth, where we recorded a secret message, heard it played back to us, and had it sent to our inbox. There was a nice spread of themed food and free drinks at the bar. Top it all off with meeting the king of narrators himself, Jeff Hays! Both Jeff and Matt were on site to greet fans and participate in the fun activities on Saturday!
Audible Dungeon Crawler Panel (Saturday, Indigo Ballroom): Matt Dinniman was on a total of five panels at SDCC this year, but the Saturday morning panel was the only panel that had both Dinniman and Hays (Jeff did crash Matt’s panel on Thursday, however). What a treat for those that were able to attend this panel! Moderated by Maude Garrett (who was a fantastic moderator), the panel was full of energy and had a perfect amount of fan service. We were able to hear Matt touch on his creative process and get a few hints of what’s to come in the next books. He plans on writing the next book as one big story, split into two books to make a total of 10 books in the series. Dinniman said that he plans on having both books completed before the television show releases on Peacock.
One of the most exciting things during the panel was watching narrator Jeff Hays do a cold read of a chapter for the upcoming book nine – something that Hays had not seen, and hadn’t been released on Dinniman’s Patreon yet! Watching Jeff create voices for new characters on the spot was so much fun, especially when he had to pause so that Dinniman could whisper a certain detail in his ear. Hays instantly started laughing and then whipped out a fun new female voice to read, which sparked fan speculation all over the internet as to Mordicai’s newest form. Fans were also shown the world premiere of the Dungeon Crawler pinball machine that will be released this August.
Garrett and Hays did one of Jeff’s famous rounds of Different Characters from DCC say “God Dammit, Donut!” which was hilarious as always.
Round Table Interview: During our round table interview with Matt and Jeff, I was able to ask them to give us their official take on the use of AI. Both Dinniman and Hays have been very vocal about their distaste for AI. So I gave them the opportunity to address it in their own words.
Question – AI is a huge character in Dungeon Crawler Carl. What is your official take on AI, and how does that match what you have written in your books?
Matt Dinniman – He mentions his other book Operation Bouncehouse, where the reasons that he hates AI are more clear. He then talks about while there are amazing applications for AI, what he doesn’t like is that the corporations are seeing AI as a way to save money, which causing people to lose their jobs. “But when it comes to art – fuck AI!” Dinniman continued. “There are so many arguments against it – how it was trained in the first place, the environmental impact…What is the point of art, if it wasn’t done by a human? Art is us seeing something through the artist’s eyes. If there is no artist in the equation, then what is the point? Sometimes it’s fun to look at something. How else are you going to get Pee Wee Herman riding a Mastodon, shooting an RPG at Mr. T or something…It’s funny for a second. But it leaves a film on my soul every time I look at it. So…no. I’m not a fan.”
Jeff Hays – “When it comes to important matters where lives are at stake…if we can use AI to make people’s lives easier in that way or save lives, great. But when it comes to art…just why? If you remove the work, then you remove the point. The toil that an artist goes through is voluntary”.
Cosplay meet up (Friday): Cosplayers had an epic meet up to showcase their take on the Dungeon Crawler characters. This series features a plethora of characters to choose from, there is definitely something for everyone. One of the cosplayers even set up his very own Desperado Club and handed out “Virgin Dirty Shirley’s”, complete with extra cherries! There was a nice display of Carl and Donut Coplays, but also some amazing representation of the supporting characters in the series such as Samantha, Ellie, Prepotente, and Imani! The meetup was held on Friday in front of the Marriott Marquis hotel and was organized by a fan.
Donut Truck (Friday): Sadly we did not make it to the food truck ourselves, but there was essentially an army of Carls there, and Dinniman and Hays were both on hand at one point to hand out free donuts to fans.
San Diego Comic-Con Merchandise: The UCC booth had a super cool 6” action figure of Carl that fans gobbled up. We also saw several DCC tee shirts at various booths, and several artists offering Dungeon Crawler Carl art prints.
2026 has been The Year of Dungeon Crawler Carl for sure! Even though the book series started in 2020, for a number of reasons the series has really taken off in 2026. However, from what we saw and heard at SDCC, there was very little talk about the television series, aside from the obvious – Jeff Hays was announced as the voice of GC, BWR, NW Princess Donut the Queen Anne Chonk…as much as fans are eager to learn more about the show, it’s just too soon. But we fully expect that to be the focus for crawlers at SDCC 2027!
