Frankenberry redesigns by DC Comics

Just in time for...um...Halloween...it's a look at the new General Mills monster cereal boxes!  This year saw yet another convergence of things Jeff loves, as folks at DC Comics redesigned the three main monsters for the 2014 Halloween cereal line.  The front of the three boxes was drawn by a DC staffer: Dave Johnson drew Frankenberry, Jim Lee drew Boo Berry and Terry and Rachel Dodson did Count Chocula.  I am biased, of course, but I will say that Johnson's Frankenberry was the best of the bunch, even though none presented any major changes to the characters.

Target once again sold retro boxes.  These ones were my favorites, as they included cut-out Halloween masks on the back, but I had to get a few of the regular design to check out the artwork.  And as in years prior, the regular boxes featured brand new comics.

The 2014 version, at last, had new comics on the backs of each box, with each comic including all three monsters but highlighting the main character of each cereal.  Above is the Frankenberry comic...

...here's the Boo Berry comic...

...and here's the Count Chocula comic, which I didn't buy but took a picture of in the store.  It apparently includes some references to Twitter in it.

Each of these comics looks to be drawn in the same style.  I didn't recognize the artists offhand, but DC's press release names them (what a novel concept) as Sholly Fisch, Brent Schooner and Dave McCaig.  It's a pretty good step up from what General Mills has done in years past.  And, of course, the cereal is friggin delicious.

If General Mills is looking to expand even further on their comics theme in the future, let me suggest including a mini comic book in each box for 2015.  I'll write it.  Please let me write it.

In other Halloween news, my nephew dressed up again in superhero gear.  he actually got a Hulk costume for the big day, but here's a picture of him trying on the top half of my Comic-Con Superman outfit.

And Larry...went as Mrs. Doubtfire, interestingly enough.

My students draw the Hulk...and everyone else...poorly.

In another "exciting" addition to this series, here are some of the many superhero drawings my students create in the shallow hope for bonus points on their final exam booklets.  I often ask to see the Hulk (probably the most well-known green-themed character), but when a student brings in a less environmentally friendly blue book (for shame), I allow them to choose a different blue-themed character.  In a stunning apparent rebuke of the American educational system, it seems that plenty of my students can't follow simple directions as this year's crop was all over the place.  But let's start out with some renderings of the Incredible Hulk:

A couple students showed that they have more than a cursory knowledge of comic book characters and chose Green Lantern as their green superhero.

Someone drew this fairly impressive Super Grover, though why they chose a blue character for a green book is beyond me.

And someone went way off script and drew Link from the Legend of Zelda video game:

This terrible Captain America is actually drawn on a blue book, but for whatever reason, the light blue covers always come out looking a pale green in pictures.  Extra points for putting Cap next to the "American Made" logo.

This Superman was probably the best drawn out of all the submissions.  Now if only it was on a blue book and not a green one.  Whatever.

A few students even drew characters I've never seen before.  Here's "Alienman":

No, student, he's not.  You are a liar.

And this one is on a blue book with the title "Marvel".  Could it be the Blue Beetle?  It kind of looks like Night Owl from "Watchmen".  But who knows.

And this blue book has a drawing of...could it be The Tick??  Maybe?  Perhaps we'll never know.

Merry Christmas, blog friends!

We all know that blog friends are real friends.  So Merry Christmas to one and all.

Pre-order IDW's "Imaginary Drugs" now!

Well, that was a lengthy break I took from this blog.  Not because I don't love you, blog...don't ever say that.  But I am back with good news!  The Imaginary Drugs anthology will soon be released by IDW, and you can pre-order it now!

I am, of course, very excited that the book will have such a high profile.  What started out as a moderately successful Kickstarter campaign has become a full-fledged wide-release graphic novel.  Not only that, but I was able to jump on as an assistant editor, which means I get to do things like slave away at a table of contents page design.  Above is a shot of it, and you can see my name pop up every so often in the midst of some other really talented creators.

Among some of my stories:

"Eternal Flame" with Paul Tucker!

"Teddy and the Yeti" (perhaps you've heard of it) with Pietro!

And as a special exclusive story to the IDW release, "The Corn Has Ears" with friends Lauren Girdler and Ian Chase Nichols!  Lauren, of course, is a Franks and Beans alumni!  And Ian drew a backup story in the 2014 Tick FCBD issue.

Also joining me on some of my stories is Duane Redhead, Mario Wytch, Rafer Roberts and Christine Larsen!

If you'd like to order this book (and that'd be great), you can do it in one of a few ways.  First, you can go to your local comic shop and use the code NOV140515 to have them reserve it for you (or just ask for it by name).  Second, you can pre-order the book on Amazon right now by clicking here.

I hope the book is well received.  I know that everyone involved put a lot of work into it.

I'll post again soon.  Perhaps it'll be more Comic-Con pictures.  You never know!

Sideshow's The Thing Legendary Scale Bust

I've been on a bit of a run lately with some nice Thing merchandise.  Up now is the Thing Legendary Scale Bust from Sideshow Entertainment.  This is one of the larger busts available, and when I found it for a good price I couldn't turn it down.

I'm glad that the original shipping box was included.  Of course, that just means one more thing that I can't toss out.  Ah well.  When you see a box from Sideshow in the mail, you know that good things are inside.

Here's the inside box.

...and inside the box is Ben Grimm in all his glory.  I would guess that this is about a 1/3 scale replica, which is still pretty big.  It weighs about 13 pounds but is lighter than I expected.  This version was labeled as a Sideshow Exclusive edition.  It's limited to only 150 copies.  I lucked into this version, honestly, as I didn't even know there was an exclusive edition.  As to what exactly makes this exclusive, well, from what I can gather, it's this:

It's a separate Thing logo on a...a rock...thing.  It's about six inches long and I find it to be cooler than I probably should.  I'm glad I landed the exclusive because this addition adds something to the whole presentation.

Here's the back!  It's like a Thing candy bar or something.

The bust is solid and glossy.  It makes an impressive addition to the statues that I've currently got.

The back is just as impressive.  This is the second Sideshow statue that I now have, the first of which is the Tick, which coincidentally is also the exclusive version.

And here's the bottom of the statue's base, with the numbering written on it.  Onward and upward.

Pictures from the 2014 Comic-Con International, part 5 (Lucas Till, Nerd HQ, Zach Levi and more!)

I know that this costume has been done before, but it was probably my favorite of the entire show.  The green base really made it work.  As I walked away from taking the picture, I overheard some teenager say "it's one of the guys from Toy Story."  Okay, buddy.

This was a very strange addition to the show floor.  This wheeled contraption was controlled by the guy we see here on the screen; he shuttled it from place to place via remote control.  In front, a handler paved they way for the machine to move throughout the convention (presumably so attendees didn't just pick the thing up and run away).  It seemed a bit disconcerting to more than just me, because it took a while to figure out if the guy on the screen was just a recording or if he was actually connected live.  This made me wonder if he was promoting something (the product or a program?) or if this was some guy's way of circumventing the badge-buying process by wheeling himself around as a robot.  In the end it just seemed like a guy with Google Glass and too much time on his hands.  Overheard many times since: "Oh, they did something like this on The Big Bang Theory!"  That damn show.

While walking the convention floor, I saw a few people making a big deal about meeting the gentleman on the left of the above picture.  Curiosity getting the better of me, I asked them just who they were getting their picture with, and they informed me that it was Lucas Till, who might be best known as Havok from the X-Men: First Class movie (also Hannah Montana).  Lucas was kind enough to take a picture with me, and I apparently did my best to mess it up by looking stupid while snapping the photo.

I don't know what the car is from, if anything, but I respect anyone who can maneuver this giant contraption through the aisles of Comic-Con.

Ye olde Tick booth.  I didn't take too many pictures from this location this time around, for no other reason than I didn't really think about it.  Needless to say it was a very fun time.

Sweep the leg.

After the show let out on Thursday night, I went over to the Interactive Zone, where I got to sit in the Ninja Turtles pizza launcher (what fun!).  Apparently I missed seeing Megan Fox and Will Arnett by only a few minutes.  This is a shame, because I would have performed my chicken dance for GOB until we either became good friends or he had me forcibly removed.

The pizza launcher really launched (fake) pizzas at stationary Shredder targets.  You couldn't really see the targets from the top of the launcher, but it was a good time regardless.

After the TMNT festivities concluded, I walked to Petco Park, where both the MTV party and Nerd HQ were located.  The MTV party was unfortunately packed to the gills, to the point where the organizers weren't letting anyone else in until some of those inside left.  Having waited in lines all throughout the convention itself, I thought it best to instead take in the Nerd HQ experience, and I'm glad I did.

Of course, I had to climb up the side of the building to get in.

The timing was good, as we managed to catch Zach Levi (star of "Chuck" and the "Thor" sequel) at the Nerd HQ photo booth.  Levi looks like a giant compared to the rest of us.  He looks like a realistic robot that I could physically step into and control as a way of infiltrating secret Hollywood sects.  He's also a pretty handsome dude.

Also in this picture is Jennie Wood, she of Flutter and FUBAR fame!

My name's on here somewhere.  I found it at some point.

Nerd HQ features a retro arcade, and here's a picture of Jennie working some Centipede magic.

Nerd HQ was, as always, a whole lot of fun.  We spent a few hours there playing games and dancing before heading out for the night.  Levi throws a great party.

We left just as the MTV party was letting out.  I snuck in and saw some of the sights before being forced out.  Here were a few other party goers.

I also ran into a guy wearing a suit made out of stuffed animals (really) and asked to take a picture with him.  Instead, he let me wear the jacket.  It was the sweatiest thing I have ever worn.

I don't really know what this is.  Except that it is Comic-Con.

Who's to say that these aren't the real guys?  It's the same logic as robbin' a bank.

That's it for Thursday of Comic-Con.  Who wants to see more pictures?  Well, you have to wait.  What a shame.