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a-okTopic: Other Cons
Part 1: The ZAP! POW! BAM! Exhibit Saturday, February 21st, 2009.. Was opening weekend for this Zap! Pow! Bam! Exhibit at the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles. Opening Day had been earlier in the week on Thursday the 19th. My Great Uncle Howard lives in the LA Metro Area, so my wife Tina and I decided to take him to this Center to check out this Exhibit as well as the companion 'Lights, Camera, Action - Comic Book Heroes of Film and Television' exhibit. None of us had ever been to the Skirball, and upon first reaching the Center we all noted how very impressive the Center and the grounds were! Please note that for those requiring assistance in walking, that it would be best to drop off those persons at the front of the lobby steps before traveling further to the parking structure! Parking was free, actual admission to the center itself was free, you can view Audrey's Museum Store and go to lunch at Ziedler's Cafe without paying an admission fee. However, there is an admission charge to view the exhibits. While you are still at the lobby area be sure to sign up for the docent tour that is held at 2:30 PM. We decided to take in the main exhibit first after first scoping out the lobby, general info on the multiple permanent exhibits, and maps. The lobby area was well staffed with courteous and helpful persons.
For those wanting a souvenir of what is actually shown in the exhibit, there is a booklet on sale in Audrey's Museum Store that shows many of the items that are on exhibit. This might be the best way of keeping memories of the exhibit, as photographs are NOT allowed in the exhibit halls! That fact was the only disappointing feature of the whole exhibit experience, and is NOT mentioned until you wall to the doors of each exhibit! Thus no pics of any of the items in either of the two Comics related exhibits, with the exception of the vintage Batmobile toy ride. However, taking in the Zap! Bow! Bam! exhibit first, this exhibit is very family friendly! The exhibition features "rare vintage artwork and books, 1940s Hollywood movie serials, and colorful interactive displays including a drawing studio, a newsstand, a vintage Batmobile ride, and stations that allow children to dress up as Superheroes or transform themselves via a quick costume change in a telephone booth"! Please Note that the area that the children are transforming in is also in the museum's "no camera area", thus NO pics are allowed of the children in the super- hero/heroine costumes. Readers of this Blog know that I have been to many Comic Cons and other Pop Culture Conventions since 1972. So you would think I would have had seen everything by now right? Well, many of the pieces shown here are from the personal collection of Jerry Robinson, who is the guest curator of this exhibit. Jerry brings a long history as an early comic books industry insider to this exhibition. While working with Batman co-creators Bob Kane and Bill Finger, Jerry named Robin, Batman's young protégé. Jerry also co-created The Joker, Batman's nemesis and one of the first Super-Villains. I have met Jerry Robinson before at the SDCC, and also heard him interviewed by Mark Evanier, who knows how to interview a guest! (More on a special Curator's Talk in a future blog!) My personal favorite pieces of this exhibit were the 'dime banks' that I had never seen before. A child saving dimes would place them in this tiny little metal box, which would only open up after reaching the $5.00 mark. I had never seen any of these before, and those stood out to me. Of course seeing the one-of-a-kind original artwork for comic book covers and splash pages was pretty good too! My Great Uncle Howard, (born 1916), enjoyed seeing a replica of a Newstand with newspapers and comics inside the exhibit, and enjoyed posing by the Superman cut-out by the Museum Store as seen at the top right! The docent tour at 2:30 was conducted by Sandra, who had a strong voice and was able to convey her message even though there was a lot of background noise! There are theme songs playing all the time in the exhibit area, from the Hefti Batman theme to the Wonder Woman TV theme song to the Green Hornet 1966 TV show theme song, etc., etc.! For those not able to go to a Comic Convention near them, but are in the Los Angeles Metro Area any time up until August 9th, 2009, this would be a good place to go see with your family. It is varied enough in exhibits to entertain the young through older in years, and not too 'geeky'! Due to space limitations in the eBay format version of this Blog, there will be a Part 2 of this Blog post! Details for the ZAP! POW! BAM! The Superhero: The Golden Age of Comic Books, 1938–1950 ADMISSION To these two special exhibits are included with Museum admission: Note: There is a current special Wells Fargo check and credit card discount. Check the web site before going to print out the discount coupon if you hold either of these two cards! For those of you that are new to our blog today, we have an ongoing online 'Comic Con and Pop Culture Convention' ourselves here at "Make It So Marketing Inc.", what with our daily blog posts, and new listings of items for sale in our online eBay Featured Store! Would you believe that our Blog has greeted its' 335,000th visitor this past week?? Thanks again to all of YOU reading our current and archived blog posts! ~ Michael
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