Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/820551
10 P E R S P E C T I V E | M AY / J U N E 2 0 1 7 news Actor Daniel Logan, Alan Roderick-Jones and Darth Vader himself take a bow on stage at the Makuhari Messe convention center in Chiba, Japan, outside of Tokyo. THE FIRST TOKYO COMIC CON by Alan Roderick- Jones, Production Designer I had been invited to attend the first Comic Con to be staged in Japan, and when they found out that I would actually be coming and had worked on the first Star Wars in 1976, I suddenly became someone that they wanted to bring up onto the stage to be presented to the four thousand fans. I was so looked after, treated like a prince...a Jedi Knight. I was interviewed many times and signed my autograph on a stack of photographs of the Mos Eisley cantina and garage, sets I designed with the late Production Designer John Barry for the first movie, Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope. Prints of two of my drawings, the plan and elevations of the cantina, were framed and hung, to be won by someone who was selected as asking me the best question about Star Wars. On entering the event, I was amazed to see so many of the booths with models of the Star Wars characters, booths with various sizes of light sabres, books and many Marvel booths as well. After the crowd heard from Stan Lee, the famous head of Marvel Comics who looked amazing at age 94, I was escorted up to the stage by two stormtroopers and Darth Vader. I was introduced to the audience and my history in the world of Art Direction, over the past fifty years, was explained. I then sat with three young men who had won another competition on their knowledge of the history of all the Star Wars films. I answered their questions and at the end, a question came from the audience on my understanding of the Force. I went silent for a long moment, then said, "We come into this life on the first breath. We leave on the last. How wonderful to be aware that we are the Force within every breath. We truly are Jedi Knights." Well, the audience went mad, calling me Alan San. Daniel Logan, the actor who played Boba Fett and who had spent many hilarious moments with me at the Con, came up on the stage with a large bouquet of flowers. It was wonderful to share this once-in-a-lifetime experience with him, and now with you.