Thing sketchbook, part 29

Merry Thingmas, everyone! Here to Thing in the holidays is none other than Ben Grimm, with five more lovely sketches from the Thing sketchbook. Let's take a look! Thing!

 

Luis Perez Banus - Rhode Island Comic Con 2021

It's fun to grab sketches from artists I know or those who've drawn the Thing in an official capacity. It can be unpredictably exciting, though, to take a chance with someone you've never heard of, because you don't know what you're going to get. Take this zombie-esque Thing from Luis Perez Banus, who I saw at the tail end of 2021's Rhode Island Comic Con. Someone tabling at the show cut out after Saturday, so Luis commandeered the spot and was selling drawings, guerrilla-style, during those last, fleeting convention hours. I thought his style was interesting enough to take a shot at a Thing commission, and Luis delivered with one of the more unique entries into the book.

Lin Guo - Comic-Con Special Edition 2021

2021 saw San Diego's Comic-Con return following the cancellation of the previous year's show, and I was so excited to have it come back that I didn't mind that it was held on Thanksgiving weekend. The show was lighter and more subdued than the years immediately prior, but it also focused a lot more on art and comics than the show sometimes does now. I only got one Thing sketch at this show, from Lin Guo, but it's great one, a real slice-of-life drawing of Ben Grimm's morning routine. Lin drew a pinup of the Bulwark for Planet Comics soon after!

Jeff McComsey - 2022

Jeff's no stranger to the Thing sketchbook in general, but this is his first entry in my second book. Not only did he draw a human Ben Grimm, but this entry is also a period piece. Jeff drew Captain Grimm in 1951 as a pilot during the Korean War. He also drew it as if it were a photograph, with the caption written underneath. The drawing is secured to the sketchbook with adhesive photo corners, making this entry extra special.

Duane Redhead (2022) and Ian Nichols (Contropolis 2023)

It's a two-page spread! By two artists! At two different times! Oh wow.

For a brief time during Marvel's Fear Itself event series, the Thing was transformed into Angrir, Breaker of Souls after picking up a hammer, similar to Thor. He had these weird squid-like creatures around his neck and his rocks looked a bit volcanic. He also beat up the Red Hulk during this period, before returning to his much more lovable Thing state at the end of the series.

Anyway, it's always fun to get different versions of the Thing in the book, and this one's about as different as they come. Our pal Duane Redhead was visiting from the UK when I so rudely handed him the sketchbook, but he came prepared and knocked out this very intense left side of the page. Fellow Tick artist Ian Nichols finished off the right side the next year at a small comic show in Philadelphia named Contropolis. Ian added the Thing/Angrir's partially gloved fist and tried to match Duane's detailed style. This one definitely stands out in the book.

Kelly Phillips - Small Press Expo 2022

I know Kelly through our mutual love for "Weird Al" Yankovic - not only are we both fans, but we've both contributed to the Illustrated Al anthology. Kelly definitely one ups me in the Weird Al comic department with her beautiful Weird Me collection, though, hey, it's not a competition (is what I keep telling myself). Kelly also contributed to the first issue of Planet Comics, and I met her for the first time outside of a Weird Al concert at 2022's SPX show in Bethesda, Maryland. I really enjoyed the show, and I got quite a few Thing sketches when I was there, starting with this sultry pinup drawing of Ma Grimm's baby boy. Flaunt it if you got it, I guess.

That's it for another Thing-tastic sketchbook session. Plenty more to come. Happy clobberin', everyone.

I'm a millionaire (in blog views)

The last post I wrote was about me purchasing a domain name, which led me to consider, "am I writing this just for me, or will anyone else ever actually read this?" Well, I should learn to never (never) doubt myself, because

PEOPLE OR OTHER SEMI-SENTIENT OBJECTS HAVE FOR SOME REASON VIEWED THIS BLOG OVER ONE MILLION TIMES

 

It's been a while since I posted anything about, like, the stats on this blog. I used to do it every once in a while a number of years ago, but I haven't posted with the same kind of frequency recently, and I guess I save all of my posts for, like, pictures of the Thing or whatever. But Blogger, which still somehow exists, does give me an overview of views and comments and things whenever I log in, so I knew that I was closing in on a million views for a little while. According to the above graph, I guess a big day at the end of January this year really pushed things forward? For some reason?

Anyway, my all time stats have just jumped into nine figures. Is this because of Google Image searches? Is AI using my blog posts to churn out lifeless flash fiction? Where are these views coming from? Should I thank people for reading what I write at two in the morning?

My most popular posts have remained steady for quite a while. On top of the charts is Aunt May's classic wheat cakes recipe! My joke about Batman wearing a robe to fight Bane! Superman's obsession with boeuf bourguignon! These are truly the greatest hits. I've reached the top of the mountain. A new golden era is upon us.

I feel like Blogger should send me something.

In a stunning blow to other Jeff McClellands, I now own jeffmcclelland.com

 

We've all at one time or another questioned our own existence enough to see what kind of digital footprint we have by typing our name into a search engine, hopeful (but also a little fearful) about what might show up, and whether or not we are, in fact, the most internet popular person with our name. I don't have the most unique name, but at the same time, I'm not named John Smith, either, so when I took the Google plunge all those years ago, I didn't really know what I'd find.

It turns out that there are, well, a few other individuals out there named Jeff McClelland, some of whom have had what I can only assume are rich and successful lives. There's even another published author of the same name; in 2004 (the same year as my first comic book publication), another Jeff McClelland published Where Big Trees Fall, an historical fiction/romance novel that takes place in the Pacific Northwest. It's important, I think, to note that I did not write this book, but Amazon is convinced that I did, and so it puts this book in a grouping with all of my comics work that's listed on the site, which I guess goes to show you how much control we sometimes have over our own digital narratives.

There's another Jeff McClelland who lives in New York, and I sometimes get email that is obviously meant for him, some of which is exceedingly personal in nature, so I just forward it right on over to him and I assume he thinks that this is normal and good. There's a third Jeff McClelland who used to run a major airline, but he's dead now. Time comes for us all. There are probably others.

My point of this all is to say that none of these other Jeff McClellands, not even the US Airways one - who died after being diagnosed with colon cancer at the exact same age I am right now and HOLY HECK, I NEED TO SCHEDULE A DOCTOR'S APPOINTMENT - have had ownership of the prestigious website jeffmcclelland.com. This is, almost certainly, a gross oversight for all of them, because now they will never own it, as I will never give it up or die.

So what is on this website? Well, it's...actually, a lot of it just points back to this blog. So I'm talking about this website on this blog, linking to the site which links to the blog, forever and ever in an endless loop. I think that this is the perfect use of my time.

I actually picked up the domain name because I want to house some of my comics publishing portfolio somewhere people can actually see, and I think this site does that, although I need to fill things in a bit before it's complete. For the time being, I've set it up so you can find a list of my publications, some lettering examples, a way to contact me, AND THIS BLOG. I also link to some other external sites like my Tumblr webcomics page, my (at the moment completely empty) Etsy store and some social media. There's a fun picture wheel/image carousel thing with images from books I've published which, sigh, I've also got to update.

I also bought jeffrey.mcclelland.com because I refuse to have someone set up a similar, competing site. I refuse to share. Maybe I'll start telling people I also wrote Where Big Trees Fall. I should probably read it first.