George Lucas — the man who launched an iconic era in pop culture nearly 50 years ago — is set to make his debut Comic-Con appearance Sunday to offer a preview of his long-awaited Museum of Narrative Art in Los Angeles.
The 81-year-old icon will be joined in the San Diego Convention Center’s Hall H at 11 a.m. Sunday by fellow filmmaker Guillermo Del Toro and art director Doug Chiang for a panel discussion moderated by Queen Latifah.
Del Toro and Chiang, both Academy Award winners, will join Lucas to “explore the power of illustrated storytelling and offer a sneak peek of the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art,” organizers said.
Co-founded with his wife, businesswoman Mellody Hobson, the museum broke ground in March 2018, adjacent to the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, and is scheduled to open in 2026. It’s meant to “bring together mass-produced images with academically rooted art forms to unpack visual storytelling in its richness and complexity.”
The museum will feature works by artists including Norman Rockwell, Kadir Nelson, Jessie Willcox Smith, N. C. Wyeth, Beatrix Potter, Judy Baca, Frida Kahlo and Maxfield Parrish; comic art legends such as Winsor McCay, Jack Kirby, Frank Frazetta, Alison Bechdel, Chris Ware and R. Crumb; and photographers Gordon Parks, Henri Cartier-Bresson, and Dorothea Lange.
“We are beyond thrilled to welcome George Lucas to Comic-Con for the very first time,” event spokesman David Glanzer said. “Nearly five decades ago, `Star Wars’ made one of its earliest public appearances at our convention, along with a booth featuring Howard Chaykin’s now legendary Star Wars poster as a promotional item.
“Now, to have Mr. Lucas return — this time [in person] to debut the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art — is a true full-circle moment. His lifelong dedication to visual storytelling and world-building resonates deeply with us and our community, and the museum’s mission to celebrate narrative art in all its forms perfectly reflects what Comic-Con has championed from the very beginning.”
Comic-Con is the largest comic book and popular-arts convention in the world, with more than 460,000 square feet of exhibit floor space and more than 1,000 exhibitors each year. It began Thursday and concludes Sunday.
A full schedule of events can be found at comic-con.org/cc/things-to-do/programming-schedule/sunday/.