Ever since Comic-Con 2012 kicked off this past Wednesday, the word ‘round the campfire has been that Mondo’s biggest release—the one everyone would be talking about after the Con, the one that everyone was going to be determined to get their hands on, the one print to rule them all—would be dropping on Saturday night.   There didn’t seem to be any concrete info to support this suspicion, but that didn’t keep poster-nerds the world over from repeating it whenever they got the chance.  And ya know what?  Even though limited-paper enthusiasts are generally 5/10 when it comes to predicting drops, they were absolutely right about tonight’s release of Mondo’s The Dark Knight Rises print by Olly Moss.Read all about that—and the rest of Mondo’s Saturday-at-Comic-Con output—after the jump.Believe it or not (“I’m walking on air…”), Comic-Con 2012 is already nearing its conclusion.  It seems like only yesterday that 100,000+ people were boarding flights en masse on their way to the San Diego Convention Center.  As it turns out, that was actually four days ago, a realization that perfectly illustrates that old saying:  “Time flies when you’re spending way, way too much money on colorful pieces of paper”.And we’ve certainly been doing plenty of that here at Limited Paper.  Over the past few days, we’ve picked up a slew of prints, including stuff from Tom Whalen (whose Land of The Lost print popped up at the Huckleberry Toys booth on preview night), Mark Englert (whose Alien-themed You Are My Lucky Star print debuted at the Gallery1988 booth), Jason Edmiston (whose Hand of Ming print finally popped up in a non-$10,000/giclee print format at Edmiston’s own SDCC booth), and—of course—virtually everything released by the dapper gentlemen over at booth #437.That booth, of course, belongs to Mondo, and has been the source for some of the biggest lines drawn at this year’s Comic-Con.  All week long, Comic-Con security has been struggling to figure out how to deal with the Mondo-poster demand, even as the passersby unfamiliar with the Mondo phenomenon have struggled to figure out why 500 people might have appeared out of thin air to spend $50 on a single movie poster.  Big stories and footage reveals might be coming out of Hall H every hour on the hour, but on the exhibitor’s floor, Mondo’s presence has been the big story of Comic-Con 2012.And today, they prove that all of the attention is deserved, starting with Martin Ansin’s long-awaited Game of Thrones poster.   The print—the third in a series started in conjunction with the fine folks over at HBO’s smash-hit fantasy series—was one of the biggest draws of the Con thus far, resulting in a line of hundreds that stretched out, around, and away from the Mondo booth as far as anyone could see.  Let’s take a look at that print now:

  • Game of Thrones by Martin Ansin
  • 24x36”
  • $50 edition of 430
  • SOLD OUT

In case it’s not obvious from the photo, the silver inks on that pint are metallic, causing the image itself to pop right off the page when you’re looking at it dead-on (Note:  one of the most amusing-slash-heartbreaking things about Comic-Con 2012 has  been watching flippers and n00bs trying to figure out how to roll their Mondo posters on the already-packed floor of the SD Convention Center;  if you’re buying one of these off someone on eBay, make sure to ask them if the print’s in mint condition before you fork over your cash).  Of the three Game of Thrones prints released thus far, this is easily the most striking, and is sure to be the hardest to obtain once the Con wraps.

A few hours after this piece went onsale, Mondo upped the ante by introducing the next set of prints in their just-announced Lord of The Rings series:   a three-print set put together by Mondo regular JC Richards (whose Fortress of Solitude remains one of the coolest Superman-related prints we’ve ever seen).   Let’s take a look at all three prints in that set now:

  • Lord of The Rings (3 print set) by JC Richards
  • 12x30.75”
  • $150 edition of 390
  • SOLD OUT

It’s going to be stunning to see what fans do with this particular set of prints once they get them home, framed, and up on their walls:  looking them over, I’m getting a slew of framing ideas.   All three in one frame, matted, and up on the wall?  Or perhaps separately, and done in descending (or ascending) order down one wall in someone’s staircase?  There’s a lot of potential-for-greatness here, and I’m genuinely jazzed to see what you guys do with yours (once you’ve got your set framed, feel free to send me some pics here at LimitedPaper@gmail.com:  we’re going to have an entire edition of this column devoted to awesome frame-jobs at some point in the future, and these would be ideal candidates for that piece).

A new Martin Ansin print’s always reason to celebrate.  A 3-print set of Lord of The Rings prints is also worth getting excited over.  But the biggest news out of Mondo country arrived this evening around 5pm, when Olly Moss’ “Holy shit”-inducing print for The Dark Knight Rises made its long-rumored appearance.  There was a big twist to this print, but before we get to that…let’s see what she looked like.

  • The Dark Knight Rises by Olly Moss
  • 16x24” regular edition
  • 24x36” variant edition
  • $40 regular edition of UNLIMITED (for 24 hours)
  • $100 variant edition of 180 (SOLD OUT)

Mondo-Comic-Con-Olly-Moss-Dark-Knight-Rises-Regular

As you’ve probably already heard, Mondo did something wildly unexpected—and, unless you’re the type that hates “timed editions” out of principle—totally kick-ass for those that weren’t able to attend Comic-Con 2012:  they are currently offering the regular edition of Moss’ The Dark Knight Rises print in “open edition” form.  This means that very soon—probably in the next day or so, and then for the next 24 hours only—you’ll be able to head over to the Mondo website (mondotees.com) and order yours without fear of it already having sold out.  However many people order this print, that’s how many are going to be released (whether it’s 100 people or 100,000 people).  This is a major step for Mondo, something that many fans of the company’s posters predicted that they’d never do.  Indeed,  the debate surrounding the idea of a Mondo timed edition is complicated, and probably worthy of its own article (look for that sometime next week, after the edition size has been finalized and more details have been released).

One thing worth pointing out, public service announcement-style:  dirtbags are already attempting to sell the regular, timed edition on eBay as the variant edition.  At the time of this writing, I’ve had no less than four people write in to tell me that a giant douchenozzle (I’m not going to link to either his/her eBay account nor use their username:  seems like a really good way to get into some lame-ass, internet-based squabble) is using jpgs of the variant edition in their online auction for the timed edition.  People who might have waited 24 hours or so to order a version of the print for $40 are getting suckered into paying $350+ for this thing, so…buyer beware.

As it happens, I was on-hand at the Mondo booth throughout the sale of Moss’ Dark Knight Rises variant, observing the drop and asking questions for a piece that we’ll also be running sometime next week.  In short, I’ve been dying to know what the average poster drop is like from the Mondo perspective (What’s it like when a wave of humanity assembles directly in front of you, thrusting money in your face and asking the same questions over and over again?  How stressful is it for the Mondo guys to keep up with the immediate demand of the line itself?  How hard is it to keep things organized and running smoothly?), and you can look forward to that exclusive report…er, also next week.  That one’s going to take a minute to assemble, and we’ve still got one more day at Comic-Con before we can start cranking out the really complicated stuff.

Speaking of which, it’s worth noting that Limited Paper’s Comic-Con coverage won’t stop when the Con closes tomorrow evening:  all next week, we’re going to be bringing you interviews with a number of big artists (guys like Olly Moss, Kevin Tong, Daniel Danger, Mark Englert, and Jason Edmiston) as well as some exclusive Q&A action with the guys from Mondo.  Yes, Limited Paper’s SDCC coverage will be a two-week affair, so prepare thyselves for an overabundance of print-related content in the days ahead.

For now, be sure to swing by the Mondo website to pick up your regular edition of Olly Moss’ The Dark Knight Rises print, and also be sure to drop us a line at LimitedPaper@gmail.com if you’ve got anything you’d like to share:  got photos from the Con you want us to use?  Hot tips regarding upcoming prints?  Want to suggest ideas for upcoming editions of the column, or point us in the direction of an artist you think is particularly awesome?  We want to hear about it, so drop us a line today!  In the meantime, everyone else is encouraged to hit the comments section below to talk about today’s major drops:  namely, we’re wondering what you guys think of the decision to make Olly Moss’ Dark Knight Rises an open-edition poster—good or bad?  Why, why not?  Keep things civil and we’ll be happy to hear you out!

Stay tuned, folks:  much more is coming from Limited Paper tomorrow, next week, and in the months ahead!