Comic-Con 2012 kicked off several days ago, but so far there seems to be no indication that the tidal wave of awesome screenprints is anywhere close to slowing down:  so far, we’ve seen a jaw-dropping Princess Mononoke print from fan-favorite Olly Moss, an absolutely amazing piece of The Dark Knight Rises-related artwork from comic book superstar Jock, and—earlier this morning—Mondo released one of their most highly-anticipated posters of the year:  the latest entry in their Universal Monsters series, Creature From The Black Lagoon.  But there’s plenty more to come, and today’s other trio of releases proves that the gentlemen at booth #437 still have plenty of tricks up their sleeve.

Wanna see the three new Mondo posters that dropped at Comic-Con today, along with an enormously impressive piece of Alien-related artwork from Mark Englert?  Sure ya do.  Meet me after the jump, my fellow limited-paper enthusiasts.

It’s been a long couple of days here at Comic-Con 2012, but the poster-avalanche is still coming on strong…with no signs of slowing down.  There might be a parade of superstars, tween actors, CGI-heavy film trailers, and geek-friendly movie directors rocking audiences over in Hall H, but here on the Comic-Con exhibitor’s floor, the real superstars of SDCC 2012 are made of paper—the limited kind.

For instance, this morning Mondo kicked things off with one of the year’s most highly-anticipated prints, the latest in their long-running (and beloved) Universal Monsters series:  Creature From The Black Lagoon.  The print was the first one out of the gate today, and premiered right here at Limited Paper.  If you missed our writeup on that piece, check it out over here.

A few hours later, Olly Moss made his second Comic-Con 2012 appearance at the Mondo booth, signing and numbering the print below, Finn, which is Moss’ first poster for Mondo’s Adventure Time series of prints:

• Finn by Olly Moss
• 24x18”
• $50 edition of 380

The poster’s got a great “silent movie” feel to it, and the subtle shadow-work that appears all over the print—particularly in the details at the bottom, underneath the mountain Finn’s triumphantly standing on—are really impressive in-person.  This is, of course, a Comic-Con exclusive, but if you can get your hands on one I can virtually guarantee that you’re going to be impressed with the results.  Can’t wait to see what this one looks like in one of the thick, black frames that we’re partial to here at Limited Paper HW.  As expected, the print sold quickly.

Meanwhile, a few rows down the exhibitors floor,  the Gallery1988 booth—being manned by the infamous scoundrel known only as “Jensen”—had their own smash-hit on their hands:  Mark Englert’s You Are My Lucky Star, based on Ridley Scott’s sci-fi classic, Alien.  The print (which is printed on black paper, which causes the inks to pop right off the page in a really satisfying way) drew a massive, sometimes unruly crowd, but Englert made a point to stop and chat with each and every fan that purchased print.  A relative newcomer to the limited paper scene, Englert is clearly a little bemused (and maybe even a little embarrassed) by the success that he’s found thus far, but when you’re producing posters like the one seen below…you better get used to that success, as it’s probably only going to keep rolling along.

• You Are My Lucky Star by Mark Englert
• 12x36”
• $50 edition of 125

At that point, a couple-hour lull set in, a period in which we were finally given an opportunity to crawl around the Comic-Con floor at length for the first time.  This is Limited Paper’s first year at Comic-Con, and while I’ve got all manner of complaints about the sleeping arrangements here at Con (don’t come here expecting to get a solid night’s sleep, much less a full eight hours), I’ve got nothing but positive stuff to say about the show that Comic-Con itself puts on:  exhibitors really go the extra mile for those in attendance, handing out schwag left and right (that’s free stuff, not low-grade weed) and blasting the crowd with video clips, music, bright lights, and—of course—women wearing extremely skimpy superhero outfits.  I submit to you that there are far worse places that one might spend time.

Once this lull was over, Mondo released its third poster of the day, one that was both an outta-left-field-choice and a raging success:  Kevin Tong’s LEGO Lord of The Rings.  When I learned that a screenprint based on LEGO’s take on Peter Jackson’s fantasy epic was due to drop, I didn’t quite know what to make of it.  Now that I’ve seen—and purchased—it, I know exactly what I think:  it’s frigging awesome.  Here, look:

• LEGO Lord of The Rings by Kevin Tong
• 24x36”
• $40 edition of 225

Good God, that’s a beautiful print.  When I heard “LEGO Lord of The Rings poster by Kevin Tong”, I admit that I had no idea what to expect.  But whatever it was, it wasn’t this:  look at the detail in all the “shards” scattered around the Fellowship:  Tong’s captured some of the series’ coolest supporting characters there, and the linework here is some of the most impressive that Tong’s ever turned in.  Even if you’re not a raging fan of LEGO or LOTR, you’ve gotta admit this is a striking piece.

Finally, Mondo rounded out the day with the latest release in their Game of Thrones series, a piece by none other than Daniel Danger (who—if you’ve seen Just Like Being There, the awesome documentary about gig posters and poster collectors—we all know is an absolute sweetheart of a dude).  Yesterday, Comic-Con attendees were able to pick up Vania Zourilov’s Game of Thrones print, and the reaction to that poster was a little mixed:  as with all Vania posters, the first Game of Thrones poster seems to have divided the poster-buying community.  The Daniel Danger poster, however, is a little less…eccentric.  Check it out:

• Game of Thrones by Daniel Danger
• 17x32”
• $50 edition of 380

This one’s really, really impressive in person:  the jpgs don’t seem to capture the depth of the piece quite as much as I’d like, but I’m sure everyone else who picked one up today can back me up on this—Danger really nailed this one.  It’s interesting to see Danger working slightly outside the “comfort zone” he’s known for (rickety buildings, crumbling architecture, etc) to turn in this forest-based scene, and I’m guessing that—besides the Martin Ansin poster set to debut at some undetermined point between now and the end of Comic-Con 2012—this will be one of the most in-demand of Mondo’s Game of Thrones series as time goes on.

Incidentally, it should be noted that—yesterday afternoon-- HBO handed out roughly one hundred copies of each of the three Game of Thrones prints dropping at Comic-Con 2012.  The Danger copies were handed out behind the Omni Hotel, while the Ansins were handed out at an intersection just up the street from the Convention Center (I’m still not entirely sure where Vania’s posters were handed out, but I hear that some fans were seen rolling theirs on the concrete immediately after picking them up;  note to n00bs:  do not roll your mint-condition Mondo posters on concrete, jackass).  This was a nice little bonus for fans of both Mondo and Game of Thrones, but for collectors these prints offered another bonus:  each of these 100 copies were actual screenprints—not lithographs—and were numbered out of roughly 100 (the Danger prints, for instance, for numbered out of 106).   I’ve not seen this mentioned elsewhere, but I’m thinking that these giveaway editions—identical to Mondo’s copies except for the lower-edition sizes—will be of interest to collectors who are most interested in variant editions and low-edition-size prints.

That about does it for Limited Paper at Comic-Con day three, but be aware that we’ve got much, much more headed your way, including exclusive interviews with Olly Moss, Kevin Tong, Mark Englert, Daniel Danger, and more!  We’re also going to have some extremely exciting information to share later in the weekend, a gallery of amazing pictures from every release and signing at the Mondo booth, as well as more coverage on every other major poster drop that happens during the Con.  As always, you can hit me up directly at LimitedPaper@Gmail.com (be aware that I’m not going to be easily reached until after the weekend, so if you’re writing just to say “Hi!”, don’t be butt-hurt if it takes me a few days to get back to ya:  I’m so jazzed that you guys are loving the column, but I’m getting my ass kicked here on the exhibitor’s floor all week…so gimme a few days to respond, OK?), or you can sound off in the comments section below if direct communication ain’t your thing!

More on the way, folks:  stay tuned!