Today’s poster collection was gathered from the occasional visits to the Los Angeles Science Fiction, and Comic Book convention. Which took place every month at the Shrine Auditorium in Downtown LA. Back in the early ‘90s admission was $5. Vendors from all over the Southland had tons of goodies including rare imports from Japan. My brothers, and a few friends would take the Metro Blue Line, which was the first new light rail service in LA.
The neat thing about the convention were the studios would have posters of upcoming movies by the entrance. Sometimes they were full size, but often they were mini posters. We took many during our visits but few remained. I saved some of my favorites, and they’ve been with me for decades. A visit to the show was also a chance to see some comic book artists do signings outside of the San Diego Comic Con. It was how I managed to score lots of autographs from comic, and cartoon creators.
Sometimes we would luck out and there would be a preview of an upcoming movie. Perhaps a chance to do a Q&A with the actors, or directors. It was one such visit when we happened to
preview the live action Double Dragon movie, and have the director insult the audience. We knew from that moment that the film was a hot pile of garbage, and would further cement the lack of understanding that Hollywood had with any source material.
Every now and then we’d get to see an indy movie, and meet the people that created them. I have my little brother’s press kit, and autographed photo from Gary Daniels, who played Kenshiro in the Fist of the North Star movie. He was a genuinely nice guy, and was familiar with the Hokuto No Ken books. It was one of the reasons why he got into martial arts in the first place. Of course he was hyped to sign a picture for somebody named Bruce. He cited Bruce Lee as his main inspiration.
Many of the posters in my collection have warm memories attached to them. My brothers, and I saw the Frighteners in the theater. We were impressed by this new director called Peter Jackson. We were sorely disappointed that the film didn’t get a sequel. When the Mortal Kombat movie premiered I won some tickets to see it from a local TV station. My little brother, and I were first in line. We got a mini poster, and a CD of the soundtrack. Cary Takagawa (Shang Tsung) had actually snuck into the back of the theater to see it with his son. Before he snuck out my little brother scored an autograph on his CD. These memories are irreplaceable in my book. The posters remind me of those shared experiences.
Did you have any pictures, or posters that took you back to a favorite memory? I’d like to read about it in the comments section. As always if you would like to sponsor me
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