Jeri Jacquin
The final day is here and to once again say it all flew by so fast is an understatement. Packed with panels and activities, the final days is always a chance to catch up to things I didn’t get to see earlier in the week and spend a little time watching the kids come and explore as families have an opportunity for free fun. My own family did their part to participate with granddaughter Jaycie dressed as Coraline and daughter Jenise dressing as Other Mother. They were well received and spent a lot of time having their picture taken!
Me? Well, I was here for one thing and one thing only. The panel for the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art and the last for Hall H. Everyone there wanted to be a part of something unique and iconic as George Lucas arrives to the loud cheer and love of fans. Trust me when I say 7,000 people is LOUD. Queen Latifah began his introduction saying, “he revolutionized film making, not just through spectacle but through a deeply human lens. His magnum opus STAR WARS has saved our lives for generations and taught us to trust our instincts. One person can change the course of history and the Force is always within us. His imagination has led the path for generations of fans and filmmakers alike – he’s the reason we are here today. Please welcome for the first time, ever, at Comic Con, give it up for the one, the only George Lucas!!
Of course, there were light savers everywhere and a warm welcome from Queen Latifah, Guillermo del Torro who is a board member for the Lucas Museum, along with illustrator and production designer Doug Chiang. He came to talk about the museum where so much of the work he has kept with him will finally have a new home for all of us to see opening in 2026 in Exposition Park on 11-acres which 81-year-old Lucas, himself, calls a “cultural fantasy”. The audience was treated to a tour of what it will look like inside and narrated by who else – Samuel L. Jackson. There will be works by Norman Rockell, Frida Kahlo, Jack Kirby and R. Crumb along with drawings from 1934 and Flash Gordon and original Peanuts sketches from the 50s and 60s. My favorite is a 1968 drawing of Iron Man and Black Panther.
Don’t think for a moment he forgot his loyal and generational Star Wars fans as there will be a Naboo starfighter and speeder bikes and I’m hoping THAT will be interactive because me on a speeder bike has to happen! The past 50 years, Lucas has collected quite a bit and says, “I’ve been doing this for 50 years now and it occurred to me, what am I going to do with it all. I’m not going to sell it. I would never do that. It’s not what art is … It doesn’t work that way. If you have an emotional connection, then it’s art.”
He continues, “I’ve worked with hundreds of illustrators in my life and they’re all brilliant, but they don’t get recognized for anything. This museum is a temple to the people.” There will be a section of the museum for science fiction artworks. “It’s one thing that this kind of art will celebrate because of science fiction. Science fiction is a myth, but we have made it real. Humans made it real because of science fictions books and art that makes people say, ‘Oh we could go to the moon’, and once that idea is implemented, then we believe we could do it.”
Reflecting on Lucas, Chiang says his own work will be in the museum halls as “George leads from the heart, and this museum is him. My hope is that it will inspire the next Rockell or Frazetta.” Del Torro spoke of the wildfires early this year in Los Angeles that came “frighteningly close” to his own at-home collection adding, “Now that the museum exists, a lot of it may go there. Comics were the first one to punch Nazis before movies” saying the political importance of comics has been their since the beginning.
I found myself being quite moved sitting so close to someone who changed my life and view of films in so many ways back in 1983 when STAR WARS hit theatres. The scope and visuals of what was on the screen, the depth of storyline and characters became engrained into my being and I passed that on to my family and grandkids. It must be said that my collection of ‘toys’ has not been altered one bit. Over the years, there have been additions and as more stories came to the little screen, my Yoda has a companion sitting next to him in Grogu. Since they all mean something to me, I suppose that means they are my art. The person responsible for that is George Lucas and I will forever be grateful to him.
