LACC 2025 Recap: Jessica Alba Moderates Panel for Lucas Museum of Narrative Art with Robert Rodriguez, More
This past Saturday at LA Comic Con in Downtown Los Angeles, the very first panel that morning was in promotion of the upcoming Lucas Museum of Narrative Art set to open in Southern California next year. Below is my recap of this presentation with moderator Jessica Alba (Fantastic Four) and panelists including filmmaker Robert Rodriguez (Star Wars: The Book of Boba Fett), renowned illustrator Kadir Nelson (Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron), and legendary comic book writer and artist Frank Miller (Sin City).
After a ten-minute delay in getting started (this reminded me an awful lot of the Lucas Museum panel at San Diego Comic-Con this past summer), Alba took the stage and introduced the panelists, then showed the same promo video for the museum that was shared at SDCC.
Next, Robert Rodriguez talked about the meaning of narrative art. “George has always had his finger on the pulse of what people love. Art should be something that people identify with." And Kadir Nelson talked about how narrative art shapes society. “Art is the building blocks of our imagination. It shapes our evolution as human beings. This shrine to narrative art will be a wonderful place to visit." Frank Miller added, “What George is doing is celebrating one of the basic primal functions of human consciousness. Back when we lived in caves, one of the first things people did was mark the walls with clay. There’s a human desire to tell stories with pictures."
The panel discussed art as a communal experience, such as in a movie theater, and then Rodriguez talked about what it’s like to watch Miller create his comic art, and the value of original art pieces like the ones you will see at the Lucas Museum vs. inferior printed copies.
Miller and Nelson expressed how it feels to have their own work on display in a museum. “Nothing like this museum has ever existed before. It’s liberation day for art."
Rodriguez told a story from the production of Sin City, which he co-directed - Frank Miller gifted each actor with original artwork from the comic book depicting their individual characters. An original Sin City cover piece by Miller that Rodriguez owns will also be on display in the Lucas Museum’s exhibits, which will rotate out every six months.
Rodriguez also told the story of why he quit the Director’s Guild of America so he could credit Frank Miller as the other co-director on Sin City. In fact, the panel basically evolved into a discussion of Sin City, since three of its participants worked on the film. This made me feel a little bad for Kadir Nelson, but Alba eventually steered the topic back around to Nelson’s acclaimed magazine and album covers for the likes of The New Yorker and Michael Jackson.
During my visit to LA Comic Con 2025, I also stopped by the Lucas Museum booth in the Main Hall, where they were distributing the same poster they gave out at SDCC, and a pretty sweet hat that I got by signing up for the email list.
The Lucas Museum of Narrative Art is currently scheduled to open sometime in 2026 at Exposition Park in South Central Los Angeles. For additional information, be sure to visit the museum’s official website.
