On Wednesday 6th March 2019, at the work-in-progress Comic-Con Museum facility at Balboa Park, museum director Adam Smith as well as Robin Donlan, the current interim Executive Director of Comic-Con International welcomed visitors to the opening of THE ART OF COMIC-CON exhibition, showcasing some of the phenomenal artwork and paraphernalia that has featured promoting the event over the last fifty years, from flyers to Souvenir Guide cover art work and much more. […] On Wednesday 6th March 2019, at the work-in-progress Comic-Con Museum facility at Balboa Park, museum director Adam Smith and the current interim executive director of Comic-Con International welcomed visitors to the opening of THE ART OF COMIC-CON exhibition, showcasing some of the phenomenal artwork and paraphernalia that has featured promoting the event over the last fifty years, from flyers to Souvenir Guide cover art work and much more.
Our ‘man on the ground’ Dan Berry was in attendance and was able to look around and take some shots of the features that have been installed in the Exhibition, as well as be in the audience for an amazing presentation by Charles Brownstein (Executive Director, Comic Book Legal Defense Fund), Scott Dunbier (Director – Special Projects, IDW Publishing) and Jackie Estrada (Eisner Awards Administrator, CCI). This panel served as part of the celebration of Will Eisner Week, which ran from Friday 1st to Thursday 7th March, and covered many aspects of Eisner’s distinguished career, with all three panelists working with him in one capacity or another over the years. (Yesterday – Wednesday 6th March – would have been Will Eisner’s 102nd birthday.)
The COVER STORY: THE ART OF COMIC-CON exhibition itself looks to contain many of the features that were on display at a limited run presentation at the San Diego Library in 2015, with original artwork from the likes of Jack Kirby, Frank Miller, Bill Sienkiewicz, Colleen Coover, Jim Lee, Cliff Chiang and Dave McKean all given pride of place.
This fixture, however, appears to be more of a permanent presentation and, I suspect, will form a cornerstone of the Museum, well into its official opening in coming years – while the doors are open on these free-standing exhibitions, the Museum has yet to secure its full funding and will be in full working operation when that happens, which we all hope will be sooner rather than later.
Here, Dan presents a couple of shots from his time at last nights festivities, as well as a short video of the ceremonial cutting of the ribbon to allow visitors through the doors. Enjoy.