Thing sketch cards, part 8

It's time to look at a few more Thing sketch cards that have come my way recently. Now that you've started reading, you are compelled to read all the way to the end.

Fred Hembeck - This is the second card I've got with Hembeck's art (this time with a shirt and boots)! But how can I possibly tell if this is a genuine Fred Hembeck sketch card?

Oh, that's how. Cool.

Will Caligan - I've never had much luck in getting one of these Marvel Masterpieces sketch cards, for whatever reason. But this one finally made its way to me with a pencil sketch from Will Caligan. I'd never have found his name if it wasn't on the eBay listing.

And lucky me, the FF are also on the back of the card, too!

Irma "Aimo" Ahmed - This card was sold alongside a connecting illustration, and I made sure that I was able to get both. This one, with the Thing and his pal Johnny, was worth getting by itself...

(...here's the back...)

...but WOW, check out this one with Sue and Reed! It's not often that I'll prefer these guys over ol' Ben Grimm, but this has got to be one of the sweetest illustrations of our favorite Marvel couple (behind Ben and Alicia) that I've ever seen. The whole team looks great lined up next to each other.

Both of these cards came from the 2011 Marvel "Bronze Age" trading card set.

Lui Antonio - Sometimes the Thing wears pants. Why does he do this? The shorts are iconic. Maybe he washes them, and doesn't just get new ones every day from Reed.

This one is also from 2011, but from the Marvel Universe line of cards.

Jayson Johnson - Lastly, we've got a close up from Jason Johnson, where you can count most of the Thing's teeth, if you'd like.

This card comes from the artist's personal stock. The colors on the back aren't ones that bled through, but printed that way.

Do I have more Thing cards? Yes! Will I show them to you? Yes! Now? NO!

pictures from the 2018 Comic-Con International, part 9

It's the last batch of pictures from Comic-Con 2018! We made it! It's February!

The show ended on Sunday, and as I've done a few times in previous years, I went to San Diego's Cat Cafe on Tuesday.

Comic-Con is so big that it takes a few days to tear down after everything is over. The Conan signs were still up Tuesday Afternoon.

And Amazon was still slowly dismantling the Jack Ryan exhibit.

The banners are always one of the last things to come down. See you next year, Comic-Con!

On Tuesday, I drove from San Diego to Los Angeles. I made a stop in La Jolla, because...how could I not?

On Wednesday, I fed my habit and stopped at Hi De Ho Comics in Santa Monica. Any artwork that prominently features the Thing is good artwork. Look at these titans of mainstream comics right here.

Hi De Ho Comics was a good shop in a smaller space in a fantastic location. This is really close to some production studios, so I imagine that more than a few celebrities and crew members come here to get their weekly comics. Some of Marvel's new True Believers Fantastic Four comics came out this week, and I snatched them up.

Later that evening, I visited Knott's Berry Farm, which vastly exceeded my expectations for a theme park. It was a metric ton (tonne?) of fun. I highly recommend it.

I rounded out the trip with a boat ride over to Santa Cruz Island, off the shore of Ventura. It was nice to see a little bit of nature after the sensory overload that is Comic-Con. I really enjoyed it!

Let's look at some of the stuff I left Comic-Con with! I got a few items for myself this trip. First up is this signed Flash cast poster, from the CW signing I was able to attend at the show. One of my nephews watches the show and likes it a lot. Sorry buddy...I'm keeping this.

Next is perhaps the best exclusive that was sold at the convention...NECA's TMNT movie action figure set.

Look at these things! These are as close to perfect as you can get. I was lucky to be able to get a set for myself.

I mentioned that they gave away animation art at the Venture Bros. cast signing. This is the one that I got, signed three times!

One of the items I marked down before the show and said, "I have to get this" was this San Diego tourism print from Monkey Minion Press. There were only 50 made, and they were limited to 10 per day. They sold out in a heartbeat on Wednesday and Thursday, so I may have used my ability to get in early to snag one of these on Friday. I apologize for nothing! I got number three of 50.

These prints were given out at Dark Horse's Dr. Horrible signing, which I got signed by Joss Whedon, Nathan Fillion and Felicia Day.

And lastly, I picked up this Futurama print at the Bongo Comics booth. Matt Groening signed and sketched something different on all of them. I got a Zoidberg, because why not?

That's it for Comic-Con pictures. For real. Okay, New York Comic Con pictures are next. It never ends.