The Art of Comic-Con at the San Diego Central Library Downtown
Our first ever gallery exhibition, The Art of Comic-Con, debuts in just 2 short weeks on Saturday, June 20 in the Art Gallery on the 9th Floor of the San Diego Central Library @ Joan Λ Irwin Jacobs Common at 330 Park Blvd. in downtown San Diego. A reception is planned on opening day from 12:00 to 2:00 PM. The exhibition and reception are open to the public and admission is free.
If you can’t make the opening day reception on Saturday, June 20, don’t worry … the exhibition will run during through Sunday, August 30, including during Comic-Con, July 7–12. What will you see at The Art of Comic-Con? Some incredible pieces of original comic book art from more than 60 artists, all of which were created exclusively for Comic-Con over the last 45 years. The exhibition includes a number of “process” pieces, which showcase the process of creating a finished piece of art, including original sketches, thumbnails, pencil and ink art, and final color art. As we ramp up to June 20th, we’ll give you a sneak peek at some of the art appearing in the show.
Justice League by Jim Lee (pencils), Scott Williams (inks), and Alex Sinclair (colors) TM & © DC Comics
This week’s sneak peek features Jim Lee’s incredible original art for Comic-Con’s Souvenir Book in 2011, inked by Scott Williams (the final cover was colored by Alex Sinclair). Jim Lee started his comics career in 1989 at Marvel and went on to pencil such titles as Alpha Flight, Punisher War Journal, and the Uncanny X-Men. In 1992, he helped co-found Image Comics with his WildStorm imprint, which was based here in San Diego. Lee sold WildStorm to DC Comics in 1998. In addition to his own creation, WildC.A.T.s, Lee co-created Batman: Hush for DC in 2003 and went on to draw Superman: For Tomorrow, All Star Batman and Robin, the Boy Wonder, Superman Unchained, and Justice League. In 2010, Lee was named co-publisher of DC Comics with Dan DiDio. The company launched their “New 52” initiative in late August of 2011 with the first issue of Justice League, written by Geoff Johns and drawn by Lee and Williams. This is (as far as we know) only the second Justice League image that was revealed at that time, showing the new costumes of Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Green Lantern, Aquaman, and Cyborg. Alex Sinclair’s incredible colors made for an amazing Souvenir Book cover and an awesome official T-shirt for Comic-Con 2011! (Jim also has an equally awesome Superman piece of original art in the exhibition, from the 2013 WonderCon Anaheim Program Book!)
The Art Gallery at the San Diego Central Library @ Joan Λ Irwin Jacobs Common is open:
Regular gallery hours (June 20–July 7, July 13–August 30): Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday: 12:00–5:00; Thursday: 2:00–7:00; Saturday and Sunday: 12:00–4:00.
Extended hours during Comic-Con: Wednesday & Thursday (July 8 & 9): 10:00–7:00; Friday, Saturday and Sunday (July 10–12): 12:00–6:00
Admission is free. The Gallery is located on the 9th floor of the Central Library, 330 Park Blvd., San Diego, CA 92101