“Get Out of Hell free” cards were being handed out as we entered the 2015 San Diego Comic-Con this past Saturday morning, and while those will probably come in very handy, I couldn’t help but think that “Free Parking” passes would have been a more popular giveaway.
In fact, it was the logistical nightmare of parking in downtown San Diego during the convention that prevented us from getting into any of the cool Hall H happenings this year; nevertheless we still had a lot of fun on the third day of the Con.
We started off the day with a Dark Horse signing event for their new Tarzan graphic novel, Jungle Tales of Tarzan, which has 12 stories, based on the original Edgar Rice Burroughs book of the same name, and illustrated by 12 different artists.
Several of the Jungles Tales artisans were on hand to sign copies of this ape-tacular new book, including Thomas Yeates, Sergio Cariello, Carlos Arguello-Sullow, Mark Wheatley, Daren Bader, Steven E. Gordon and the graphic novel’s art director, Diana Leto.
While wandering the convention show floor, I stumbled into the Sideshow Collectibles booth, where I came across one of the coolest art exhibits I’ve ever seen. They had multiple pop culture renditions of Star Wars’ R2-D2, created by artisans “from across the galaxy” for an exhibition called R2-WE2.
There was everything from a Disco R2 (by Matt Hawkins) to a Zombie R2 unit (by Brian Dooley). My personal favorite was the Ed “Big Daddy” Roth-styled unit created by Steve Riojas.
A Sideshow Collectibles representative stated that in a few months the little R2 art pieces will be auctioned off, with all proceeds going to charity. (If we hear any more information on the auction we’ll be sure to pass it on to you – just don’t outbid us.)
I also ran into a live painting exhibition by Rob Prior, who was working on an incredible new Star Wars original at the Acme Archives Limited booth. See Rob in action in the Twitter video we shot HERE.
No San Diego Comic-Con visit would be complete without seeing the amazing Stan Lee. I barely made it into this packed panel room, and, as you can tell from the photo, my seating location was less than optimal.
It was still fun to see Uncle Stan, who is now 92 years old and still excitedly promoting himself, his illustrious past and his current projects, which include an Indian superhero (Chakra: The Invincible) for his POW Entertainment company. Stan Lee quote of the day: “I don’t know what the hell Deadpool is!”
SDCC Gallery: Saturday, July 11, 2015 (click an image to see the large version):
See all of our SDCC 2015 coverage HERE! Follow our coverage “live” on Twitter @Nerdvana.
