The Tick: Free Comic Book Day 2013 special

Hello, everyone.  I enjoy this blog because it allows me to:

a) talk to no one in particular (and often times to no one)
b) discuss the Thing
c) endlessly self promote

In general, this is a comic book blog, and I'm always happy to talk about my current or upcoming projects (or past glories...), but I've never been in the situation before where I've had to hold off to any great degree on talking about a project.  So it was tough for me to keep this current news under wraps for the several months that I've known about it, but today I'm happy that I can finally let the cat out of the bag, so to speak.

Diamond released its full list of 2013 Free Comic Book Day titles earlier today, and if you scroll down far enough, to the New England Comics section, you'll see that I'm writing this year's Tick FCBD selection!

This is, of course, big news, and if I can say so, it's a privilege and a responsibility to be able to get this opportunity.  I have been a fan of the Tick for about 20 years, and to be able to put some words in the character's mouth and to contribute to the history in some small way is an honor that is not lost on me.

If you're not familiar with the character, do yourself a favor and start at the beginning with Ben Edlund's masterful 12-issue run.  If you're not reading the book currently, do yourself another favor and take a look at what Benito Cereno and Les McClaine are doing with it.  Benito (I've gotta get myself a Moby Dick pen name, too) and Les are not going anywhere, as they are still contributing to the main title in their usual manner, so there's no confusion as to any of the creators involved with the characters.

Providing the art on this story is none other than my Teddy and the Yeti counterpart, Duane Redhead.  The cover above is by Duane and art director Bob Polio.  I've seen some of the interior pages that Duane's worked on and they look just fantastic.  Leonardo Pietro, T&Y and FUBAR contributor, is drawing some backup stories that are just incredible to see.  It's equally exciting to be able to bring along Duane and Pietro for this project, because if the comic creation process isn't about working with friends, I don't know what it is.

I'm sure to write much, much more on this subject in the future, and if I'm able to, I'll show off some previews when the time comes.  But for now, it's enough that I get to announce this news here on the blog.  I'm extremely fortunate to have this opportunity, and I'll do my best to live up to the high expectations that Tick fans are right to possess.