Well, folks, here we are:  the end of Comic-Con 2012.  The booths are being disassembled, the nerds are flocking to the exits, booth-babe pictures are being stored on hard-drives, and poster-tubes packed with sweet, sweet limited-paper goodness are being carried triumphantly from the San Diego Convention Center.  What screenprints were we able to score before fleeing the SDCC for the safety of the San Diego airport?  Oh, nothing special:  just a few more awesome Mike Mitchell pieces from Mondo’s ongoing Adventure Time series and a Jay Shaw print autographed by none other than Guillermo del Toro.

Read all about ‘em after the jump, my fellow poster-geeks.

Comic-Con 2012 has been an absolute beating, a brutal pilgrimage to the dark heart of geekery that left many of us under-rested, overspent, and in desperate need of about fifteen back-to-back showers (the rumors you’ve heard about “the Comic-Con smell” are not to be disbelieved).  On the upside, though,   Comic-Con 2012 allowed me to meet and spent quality time with artists like Olly Moss, Daniel Danger, Jock, Mark Englert—all of whom are total sweethearts-- and I was also able to get my grubby mitts on a number of limited-edition screenprints that would’ve cost me hundreds on the secondary market had I not been here to collect them myself.   In the end, the lack of sleep and permanently-damaged bank account are more than worth it.

While the last day of Comic-Con is—traditionally—a bit more of a low-key affair than the days that preceded it, it turned out that the gentlemen at booth #437 still had a few tricks up their sleeve for those that bothered sticking around until the very end:  not only did Mondo release two more Adventure Time prints—a regular and variant edition Mike Mitchell set—but it also rolled out the latest installment in their ongoing Guillermo del Toro “Director’s Series”….and had the director on-hand to sign that print for anyone who purchased it.  Let’s go through ‘em one at a time, in the order in which they dropped:

  • Adventure Time by Mike Mitchell
  • 8x24”
  • $40 regular edition of 275
  • $65 variant edtion of 100

Of the many, many predictions that poster-enthusiasts made regarding Mondo’s potential Comic-Con drops, I don’t think anyone was predicting an entire new wing to be added to the company’s Adventure Time series.  A month or two ago, Mondo held an entire gallery show devoted to Pen Ward’s whimsical-yet-awesome animated series…and quickly followed it with a very special marathon screening featuring some of the series’ very best episodes.   Many expected that to be the beginning and end of Mondo’s involvement with the Adventure Time license, but obviously the Mondo crew was far from finished with that series.   For me, the standout piece was the Olly Moss Finn screenprint, but these Mitchell pieces are also pretty damn snazzy.

A few hours after unleashing that pair of prints on the Comic-Con crowd, Mondo announced another surprise via Twitter:  a Jay Shaw Mimic screenprint.  Perhaps the least-expected print to debut during SDCC 2012, the Mimic poster came with yet another bonus:  an appearance/signing by Guillermo del Toro, director of Mimic.  Del Toro sat and signed every poster sold, chatting with friends and generally being the hyper little teddy bear he’s always reported to be.  Here’s the poster, along with the specs:

  • Mimic by Jay Shaw
  • 18 x 24”
  • $40 edition of 200

With that, Mondo’s run at Comic-Con 2012 came to a close.  It was a long week—both for the Mondo crew and the assembled crowd of collectors who desperately attempted to keep up with them throughout the week.  Right now, it seems like the reigning champs from Mondo’s Comic-Con run are the one-two punch of Olly Moss’ Princess Mononoke and The Dark Knight Rises, Martin Ansin’s Game of Thrones print, and Francesco Francavilla’s Creature From The Black Lagoon, but it really feels to me like just about everything that Justin Ishmael & company released this week was damn impressive.

It’s already been mentioned in our previous bits of coverage, but let’s say it again—one more time—just for posterity:  even though Comic-Con 2012 has come to a close, we’ve still got a ton of coverage headed your way.  I’ve got exclusive interviews (either already conducted or lined up) with Daniel Danger, Olly Moss, Jock, Jason Edmiston, Mark Englert, and others, as well as a big-ass writeup specifically covering the biggest drop of the Con (Moss’ Dark Knight Rises variant) that’ll include video interviews with the Mondo crew, some of the people standing in line, and exclusive photos from the signing and reveal of that print.  I’ll also have a “Limited Paper @ Comic-Con:  In Review” piece for you once I’ve had a minute to collect my thoughts…in addition to all the other poster-related shenanigans you’ve come to expect from us here at Limited Paper headquarters.

Special thanks go out to Mo Shafeek, Justin B, Justin I, Brandy and Ryan Fons, Dacyl at Fons PR, Olly Moss, Jock, Kevin Tong, Daniel Danger, Mark Englert, Fernando Bueno, Jason Edmiston, every Expresso Beans member in attendance (except the D-bags that seemed determined to cut in line:  not cool, guys), and—last but not least—Comic-Con itself for allowing such an amazing parade of posters to be unleashed upon an unsuspecting (well, OK, somewhat suspecting) populace.

I’d also like to thank you, the Limited Paper readers of the world, for making this column such a smash hit:  it’s great to know that there are more poster-fanatics out there who love geeking out about this stuff, and if you guys didn’t show up so regularly to hear what I have to say about the industry…there’d be no column.  Keep those emails coming at LimitedPaper@gmail.com (sorry I couldn’t get to all of you during the Con:  if you email me questions or comments this week, I promise I’ll get back to you quicker).  Everyone else is encouraged to sound off below!  I’ll be back early this week with more Limited Paper goodness, so stay tuned!

Finally, if you've missed any of our Limited Papers from Comic-Con, click here.