The excitement was palpable as a crowd poured off the trolley early Saturday morning for downtown San Diego’s 54th annual Comic-Con convention.

Soon, attendees were packed shoulder-to-shoulder, meandering the convention center’s maze-like exhibit hall floor. But this year, instead of hunting for famous actors, people were pointing out unique comic exhibits or shouting admiration for homemade costumes.

As they spoke with the throngs of people passing by their booths, vendors and artists were evidently excited, too.

Many of the veterans who have worked the convention for decades agreed Saturday that the event seemed to have gone back to its roots amid the absence of almost all major studios this year.

With actors and writers striking, most of the convention’s usual stars didn’t show up. Vendors and attendees said that gave them more time to explore other, sometimes forgotten, aspects of Comic-Con.

“The fandom is so much more than celebrity panels,” said Tony Kim, founder of Hero Within, a pop culture apparel company featuring exclusive Star Trek merchandise. “People come because they want to be together, not just because they want to see some big name on stage.”

Tony Kim chats with patrons during San Diego Comic-Con International at the San Diego Convention Center on Saturday.

(Meg McLaughlin / The San Diego Union-Tribune)

Fans who spoke with the Union-Tribune Thursday seemed to agree, many coming to a consensus that they were there for the experience, not just the celebrities.

Kim said he’s continually impressed by the resiliency of Comic-Con fans, who were as ready to adapt to change this year as in years past. This was evident in their commitment to the convention, which stayed sold out ahead of its start.

Tickets were still going for more than $1,000 on secondary markets ahead of the weekend. By midday Saturday, even most resale sites were sold out of tickets.

The growth of Comic-Con into a Hollywood juggernaut happened rapidly in the early 2000s, as the biggest actors began to grace panels and fans filled all 6,500 seats in Hall H.

But before the convention’s first sellout year in 2007, there were four decades where the nation’s most popular comic book convention was just that: A comic book convention.

Artist Brianna Garcia said this year’s Comic-Con feels as if it gravitated back to the event she fell in love with as a 14-year-old, first-time visitor.

“It truly feels like a callback to the old days,” Garcia said, looking up from her sketchbook at her booth in Artist’s Alley. “I’m grateful to be here.”

As he put the final touches on his Wolverine drawing, artist James Pascoe said the mood at this year’s convention is really good.

“A lot of the so-called ‘big names’ … aren’t here, but I think that’s brought a lot of people back to the original spirit of the convention: Meeting artists and writers and creative people,” said Pascoe, a thirty-plus-year Comic-Con veteran. “I’ve really felt a lot of positive vibes about that.”

Blackstone Publishing is only in it’s second year exhibiting at Comic-Con, but even a newcomer can sense a difference, according to Rachel Sanders, director of marketing.

“We are getting so much enthusiasm from people … which sounds insane to say because last year was nuts too,” Sanders said.

Although Sanders said it’s evident convention-goers are committed fans, regardless of Hollywood’s presence, the studios’ absence has allowed them to spend more time on the exhibit floor than they would’ve if they’d been waiting in line for panels.

People wander the exhibit hall during San Diego Comic-Con International on Saturday.

(Meg McLaughlin/The San Diego Union-Tribune)

For Pamela Jackson, co-director of San Diego State University’s new Center for Comics Studies, the change has been a bit overwhelming.

“I’ve never been in Hall H, so for me it’s kind of like, ‘Who are all these people,’” she said, laughing. “But that’s the joy of Comic-Con, there’s so much you can do.”

Jackson and co-director Elizabeth Pollard have been studying how comics tackle social justice issues, using the SDSU library’s growing collection of comics, which is now at over 120,000.

“Comics address literally every diversity, equity, inclusion… issue that the world faces in an intense and emotive way,” Pollard said. “We realized, ‘Oh, wait, maybe comics do save the world.’”

Jackson also helped Comic-Con document the oral history of its founders for the convention’s 40th anniversary, which she said helped launch the creation of SDSU’s center.

“What stuck with me from those founders’ stories was that they felt like outsiders… and they found their community within Comic-Con — and comics have the ability to do that,” she said.

Although Pollard says she enjoyed and participated in what she called the “Hollywood bonanza,” she believes this year’s convention has reminded attendees why they all started coming in the first place.

“It’s got lots more people on the floor, reconnecting with their comic roots,” she said.