Review: The Art Of Comic-Con Exhibition, San Diego Public Library

UPDATE (20th August 2015): Excellent news if you haven’t had the chance to check this exhibition out yet and you thought you might miss it – Comic-Con International have announced that they have arranged with the San Diego Public Library an extension of the exhibit for one additional week, until Sunday 6th September. Hopefully that’s enough time to let you check this out if you happen to be in the area…

I know that this is supposed to be a review of The Art Of Comic-Con Exhibition, currently running at the San Diego Public Library until the end of this month, but in writing it, it’s become something a little more personal. Let me explain.

Attending San Diego Comic-Con today, I’ve always had the fear in the back of my head that I’m a ‘fake fan’, certainly not to the level of dedication of some that I’ve met at the Con; that I’ve only been attending for six short years and I am embracing the Comic-Con culture for reasons I can’t quite justify. That perhaps I’m just doing what I do to validate something missing in my life and, because I’ve started to attend just as the pop culture bubble has exploded into the mainstream, I’m just riding the wave with no real experience to back it up. Do I really belong here?

I even have those doubts as a comics fan. True, I’ve been reading comics for as long as I remember; yes, I know some artists and writers names. I can just about recite some second-hand comics history and, push come to shove, I can talk a good talk with the best of them but I can’t admit that I know as much as those calling themselves a ‘hardcore fan’. It’s even harder to look myself in the mirror and call myself any kind of expert. Sometimes it’s the sneaking and lingering self-doubt I have as a DJ, paid handsomely for my so-called opinion on the structure, dynamics and history of music when, truth be told, I can’t play a goddamn note.

Click on the images in the galleries for full size images:

Walking through the impressive architecture and rising to the 8th Floor of the San Diego Public Library to find this exhibition of rarities and curios from the Comic-Con International vaults, I had that fear nagging in the back of my head, and a question: why was I doing this? Was I attending to qualify myself, to add another string to my bow to justify myself as a ‘true’ Comic-Con fan? Would I be just looking at the artworks on display and not fully appreciating them for the works of true art that they are?

All of this self-doubt and introspection fell away as I walked through and drank in the artefacts of this exhibition – you start to realise that the people behind Comic-Con International may be the level-headed administration of the event but that doesn’t stop them being the most dedicated, full-blooded type of fan: they’re hoarders.

The Exhibition is located in one room and your first thought as you scan the floor is that you will get around the whole thing in a matter of minutes. It’s only when you look closer and examine the richness, the detail and the artistry involved, especially in the original pieces that attendees will recognise from the covers of the SDCC Souvenir Guides and the sketches that have featured inside, that you realise that there is so much more to explore.

The whole thing is made of distinct sections: a celebration of Comic-Con event through the history of the iconic SDCC logos, a selection of the famous banners that line the streets of San Diego during the run of the Con, exhibits showcasing the orignal artwork that would become the covers of the SDCC Souvenir Guides and, in display cabinets running down the centre of the room, sketches, commissioned Souvenir Guide interior artwork, and notes and knick-knacks passed on to the organisers in camaraderie.

This exhibition is one that celebrates not only the rich history of San Diego Comic-Con – begun by Shel Dorf all those years ago as the Golden State Comic-Con and held in the U.S. Grant Hotel. It also recognises that the whole thing simply wouldn’t have taken off at all if it wasn’t for the continued and enthusiastic support of the special guests invited… and, wouldn’t you know it, they’re all fans, too – of the con, of the attendees, of the community of creatives. How else could you explain the unbridled celebration that pours off the paper of these sketches and artworks, pulled from the archives of Comic-Con International?

Full of detail and private in-jokes, the pieces on display are incredible to see first hand, especially the Frank Miller / Lynn Varley 1993 cover, the Marshall Rogers and Howard Chaykin team-up for the 1994 Souvenir Guide and the intricate Sergio Aragones black and white ink triptych that would later become the cover of the Comic-Con: 40 Years Of Artists, Writers, Fans & Friends book. (Dustjackets for this book were signed by Aragones himself at a special event at the launch of this Exhibition.)

And, of course, the stand-out element of the whole Exhibition is the blown-up version of the Aragones piece which fills the entire back wall of the Gallery, allowing you to really get in and see all of the detail that the acclaimed artist put into the work. (Can you identify yourself in the mass on display? I’m certain I could identify with a few characters, littered throughout.)

One piece that stood out for me, personally, was the Dave McKean multimedia ‘Sandman’ piece for the 2013 Souvenir Guide; I never imagined that I would get the opportunity to see this artwork up close and it’s remarkable to examine the intricacy and artistry that McKean applies at close quarters.

I came away from the Exhibition, thinking that it didn’t matter whether I felt like a fake SDCC fan, or whether I really did deserve to call myself a true Comic-Con enthusiast: it ended up being just an honour and a privilege to get to see these masterpieces in person, for that’s exactly what they are. The San Diego Public location that the Gallery is located is wonderfully contemporary, sending the message that San Diego Comic-Con is a young, vibrant event and, with forty-five years under its belt and with all this history on display, it is only just getting started. Plenty of time for a newbie like me to get properly acquainted.

THE ART OF COMIC-CON EXHIBITION

Admission is free. The Art Gallery at the San Diego Central Library @ Joan Λ Irwin Jacobs Common is open:

Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday: 12:00–5:00; Thursday: 2:00–7:00; Saturday and Sunday: 12:00–4:00.

The Gallery is located on the 9th floor of the Central Library, 330 Park Blvd., San Diego, CA 92101