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.

The Grimm Ben record label

The Thing shows up in some random places, but one of the strangest places for ol' Ben Grimm to appear, in my opinion, has been on a vinyl 45 for a Jamaican reggae label. And thus, we shall briefly discuss the Grimm Ben record label, or as I see it, that one time Ben and Johnny had a wild idea to become music executives, only to somehow uncover a nefarious plan by Doc Doom to destroy the Fantastic Four once and for all with reggae.

In the 1970s and early '80s, reggae DJ and record producer Jah Thomas oversaw the Grimm Ben label that released a couple dozen records, each bearing the image of the Thing on the vinyl discs. I was able to grab the above 45 with "Pants and Blouses" by Ranking Toyan on one side and "Major Disease Dub Part 2" on the other. Hey, do we want to listen to "Pants and Blouses"? Why not:

The label is obviously unauthorized, but that didn't stop our friends from Jamaica from not only using Ben Grimm's full name, but also slapping his face on the records as well. Give the people what they want, and what they want is the Thing, Marvel approved or not!

I'd love to know who drew the image that adorns this label. Also, according to a random '80s issue of Dazzler, the Thing knows how to play the saxophone. Do with that what you will.

It's worth pointing out that there is also a soul band named the Fantastic Four that was active around the same time, but as far as I know, wasn't connected to the Grimm Ben label. What a Marvel Two-in-One that could have been!

ALSO! My friends, I have moved on from Twitter.

This is for a few reasons. First, let's face it, Twitter has been swirling the drain for the last few years (if only we could determine what happened a few years ago), and in recent months, interactions there have just been terrible. I joined Twitter over a decade ago and it has helped my comic book career by connecting me with a lot of great artists, creators and publishers, but it was time to go.

Next, Twitter is making some rather aggressive moves to force all of its users to allow their content to be used to train their AI program. That's dumb, and I hate it, and that's a good enough reason to leave in and of itself.

I'd love to spend less time on social media in general, but for now, I've migrated to Bluesky, and I hope you'll follow me there if you'd like!

One last thing about Twitter's AI plans - I made sure to delete all of my previous tweets (a bittersweet moment, but what can you do) by using the program Redact. It took a really long time, but in the end it wiped my page clean.

As Tobias Fünke would say, I've made ANUSTART.

This Ink Runs Cold at the 2024 San Diego Comic-Con

I've got a short story set for publication in This Ink Runs Cold, an upcoming anthology from Allen Spiegel Fine Arts! I just got an update from Scott Morse, the creator of the project, with finished art from our sci-fi/crime noir story, titled "Blood Brothers." HERE'S A PREVIEW:

The book is set to come out in the spring of '25, with contributors like Dave McKean, Jim Mafood, Fabio Moon, Stan Sakai, Paul Pope, Mike Allred and a bunch more!

One of the really cool things about this book is that Scott drew parts of it on the show floor at this summer's Comic-Con in San Diego, and he invited his fellow collaborators to stop by as he drew. I thought it'd be fun to document the whole process, and I recently uploaded the whole 26-minute affair to YouTube. So let's watch, shall we?

I really think that this book, with its unique concept and list of creators, is going to be up for some awards in '25 and '26. I'm excited for it to come out!

The world has waited long enough: here are some pictures from the 2024 Comic-Con International

I've had this blog since 2008, which is a long time in blog years, and also, I guess, the last time the Steelers won the Super Bowl. Sometimes I post a bunch of pictures from Comic-Con in San Diego, and I wonder what kind of Google Image search results they show up in, and if they make any sense without the context of this wonderful blog. I guess we'll never know, but here are 22 more pictures for Google to sort through. Here are some of the things I saw in San Diego this past July!

DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!

This year's offsite events were as big and immersive as they've ever been, especially along the harbor, behind the convention center. ABC's Abbot Elementary had a carnival with rides and a drum line and a line to get in that went for hours each day.

This must have been fun for two people to go as Batman and Alfred in tandem. Did they ever separate over the weekend? Would it have made sense just to see a guy with a phone and an umbrella? Did they feel the pressure to stay in character the whole time?

Comic-Con is fun for a lot of reasons. One of those reasons is that you can walk down an aisle and see a to-scale Mechagodzilla walking toward you.

You can also see the Statue of Liberty with a chicken man, but I guess you can see that anywhere.

The Hulu booth had a number of signings on the floor over the course of the weekend. Here's the cast of What We Do In The Shadows!

Hulu's offsite event was also a big deal throughout the weekend. I'm not sure why Bender is being shuttled along this conveyor belt, but I am apparently very concerned about it.

My friend Jennie Wood had a panel and a rooftop book signing at the San Diego Public Library one afternoon during the show!

The Young Avengers!

Just don't...don't turn around, Hank.

This might be the best costume I saw all weekend. Kudos to this guy for pulling it off expertly.

I was lucky enough to get a ticket to Paramount's offsite Lodge event, and this is the best picture I took inside. They had a TMNT arcade machine and free pizza, too.

I'm not sure if this vehicle is street legal, or if you are allowed to drive it wearing a Muppet mask, but we'll make an exception for Comic-Con.

If it's a mashup, I like it. These were great.

I was somehow able to get into the Futurama cast signing on Saturday at the Hulu booth.

I recently watched both Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra for the first time, and suddenly these costumes make sense.

A new issue of Sister Powers came out for the show, and I got to spend some time with my friend and series artist Mario Wytch signing over the weekend.

The show isn't limited to the convention floor. These poor souls died, presumably, waiting in line for something.

At some point, it's time to go home.

Public transit has its perils, but it's cheaper than Uber and sometimes you've just got to make do.

This felt like the first "normal" Comic-Con since 2019. It was expansive and intense and I slept very little. I'll be back next year.

Thing sketchbook, part 28

Whenever I'm behind on work and think, "oh, I haven't updated the blog in a while," my thoughts immediately go to, "well, what if you post some pictures of the Thing?" And then I think, "what if I ever run out of Thing sketches to post?" and I cry a bit, but then I remember that I will never run out of Thing sketches, because I have a lot and will never stop getting them.

Anyway, I'm definitely behind on work, and I guess the Comic-Con pictures can wait a little longer, so here are five more sketches from my Thing sketchbook! These are all...really great? I mean, they're all wonderful, but this group is particularly solid. Here they are!

Agnes Garbowska - New York Comic Con 2021

The 2021 New York Comic Con was the first big convention to return out of the pandemic. Thinking back to it, this was...probably a bit too early and I bet a lot of people got covid from this show? Then again, I bet a lot of people got covid from the 2024 San Diego show. I suppose I went (to both), so I have no room to judge. I do remember this show being smaller than most, and the people attending being more cautious than most shows that have taken place since.

I did get some Thing sketches, starting off with this one from Agnes Garbowska, an artist who has become a staple of comic convention artist alleys in recent years with a really great, fun style. This Thing (complete with Thing nipples) comes with a subtle glitter color wash that doesn't show up as well in the scan. I was so excited to get a new sketch in person, and this was a great way to start out.

Dane Ault - New York Comic Con 2021

Dane runs Monkey Minion Press and has a really swell booth at a lot of different conventions. Dane designs prints and stickers and other ephemera that I really like - and even got to do some design work for the AppleTV+ show, For All Mankind. I'm really happy that I was able to get him to draw in the book. I want to say that if the Thing has to pay for takeout in Manhattan, after saving the city and the world over and over, then something isn't right. Well, maybe he crashed through the wall at one point during a superhero battle and just took off afterwards. I guess we'll never know.

Jake Smith - New York Comic Con 2021

Jake Smith is a really dynamic artist who made a name for himself with Blood Force Trauma and then went on to do some work on a few Godzilla books. He also drew a cover to Planet Comics #4, which I was really lucky to get!

This pugnacious Thing is notable because Jake used a ben day sticker over top of his lines, which is how he created the greyscale effect that looks so cool!

Joe St. Pierre - Rhode Island Comic Con 2021

After NYCC, I got invited to the '21 Rhode Island Comic Con, where I sat next to Joe St. Pierre and got to chat with him for a while. Joe is a great artist who has drawn a bunch of stuff, but most historically significantly SPIDER-MAN 2099!! As we all know (everyone known this), the Fantastic Four 2099 all pretty much look just like their present-day counterparts, so drawing the Thing 2099 doesn't stand out among the other sketches in the book. Joe was kind enough to draw a flying car and "2099" in the background to help us all distinguish one from the other. Thing 2099! Yes!

Matt Smith - Rhode Island Comic Con 2021

I know Matt from his time on his Barbarian Lord comic, and he worked on quite a few FUBAR projects around that same time. Matt now does a lot of work on the Hellboy titles, which is really great for a fantastic creator with a beautiful style. Matt drew this dour Thing in the book that made the trip to Rhode Island worth it just from this.

Oh, and have we seen the leaked video of the Thing from Fantastic Four: First Steps? Comic accurate Thing, everyone!!

🎥 | New look at The Thing on the set of ‘THE FANTASTIC FOUR: FIRST STEPS’ pic.twitter.com/Zz2q8sQt4D

— Fantastic Four Updates (@F4Update) August 28, 2024

This Ink Runs Cold and the 2024 San Diego Comic-Con

 

Well, hey, I guess it's time for my yearly "yes, I'm going to Comic-Con" post. This year seems like it'll be a return to the enormous shows of 2019 and earlier, with lots of star power and big, flashy events both on the show floor and outside of the convention center. And it looks like Marvel will bring their Fantastic Four cast to Hall H in anticipation of next year's film. Am I excited? Yes! Do I think I'll be able to get into Hall H to see the Thing? No! But you never know what Comic-Con magic will be in play.

Unlike most previous years, I won't be stationed at a specific booth for this show, but I will be making a few stops to sign books on different days.

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Z2 Comics is debuting their new Motörhead graphic novel, No Remorse: The Illustrated True Stories of Lemmy Kilmister and Motörhead at Comic-Con, and I...somehow? have a story in the book that I worked on with artist Jeff McComsey. I'll be signing copies of the book with other contributors on Sunday at 2pm at booth 1529.

 Sister Powers: Summer Vacation will also debut at Comic-Con this year, from Keenspot Entertainment and artist Mario Wytch! Keenspot has booth 2635 on the show floor, and I'll be at their booth most days to sign copies with Mario.

Artist Scott Morse recently announced This Ink Runs Cold, a sci-fi/crime anthology that he'll be drawing, in part, on the show floor at Comic-Con, while the convention is taking place. I submitted a story and found out earlier today that it made the cut when Scott posted the above image. Don't worry that my last name is misspelled (or perhaps we're just using the historic spelling). It's...it's me, I promise.

We're still working out the details, but Scott has asked those of us who'll be at the show to stop by while our pages are being drawn. This'll happen between Friday and Sunday at the Allen Spiegel Fine Arts booth, #4701 on the show floor. I'm hoping that there'll be a livestream or some other documentation happening as the pages are created, because this is a really fun idea and I hope others want to watch it come to life.

My contribution will be a story titled "Blood Brothers." There are plans to publish the book shortly after the convention, so I hope to see it in print before too long.

I've got about 24 hours before I have to head out to the airport, so I'm glad that I'm using some of this precious time to update the ol' blog. It's important!! I believe it! See you in San Diego!

Is Mega Minion Jerry...just the Thing?

Okay, so I'll admit that I don't get the Minions. I recognize that they're a cultural phenomenon, part of a blockbuster movie franchise, and in ten years, kids who grew up watching the characters will write academic papers on them, but my eyes just get a bit glossy every time a commercial for their latest appearance comes on. That's okay, because not everything has to be made for me, but I've generally done my best to ignore Despicable Me and any of the offshoots of the last however many years.

But when I see the Thing, I take notice, and let me tell you, the Thing appears in the new Despicable Me 4 movie that comes out...when does it come out? Soon? I'm assuming it comes out soon. The point is, one of the Minions is clearly the Thing.

Thirty seconds of searching tells me that the Thing in this movie is called Mega Minion Jerry, and that he is part of the Mega Minions, a group that forms a superhero team after gaining powers from an experiment. One of Jerry's powers is apparently the ability to eat lots of things (suspiciously also like the Thing). So, okay, we have a rocky superhero with blue overalls and a slightly lighter than orange complexion. This is the Thing.

The Minions also have a pretty good presence in the toy aisle. Your friend (and mine) Larry sent me this image from a recent shopping trip:

Jerry also, apparently, barrels things over. He clobbers them, if you will.

So the only question that remains, then, is how official is this connection? The Minions have that gobbledygook speech pattern, right? Will this one say "it's clobberin' time" or something like it? Does one of the other Mega Minions stretch? Will Jerry develop a terrible smoking habit?? Do I have to actually watch this movie to find out?!

I haven't bought any of the toys yet. I'm considering it.

My first "Helmet Thing" original comic art (please congratulate me)

In the early-to-mid-'90s, the Thing wore a helmet. This "battle damaged" Thing redesign made him, I suppose, both more extreme and more X-TREME, which fit for the time (though the helmet was originally designed by Jack Kirby and made a very brief appearance in the early issues of the Fantastic Four series). And while I hated the look at the time, I've come to feel a bit of nostalgic appreciation for it, though, to be clear, I NEVER EVER want the character to adopt the look again.

I've never been able to find any helmet Thing original artwork - at least, nothing I've been able to afford - but that streak came to an end recently when I managed to grab a page from Marvel's Cage series, which ran from 1992-93 and starred former FF member Luke Cage. Let's take a look at it! 

This is a great page for the following reasons: it's full of action, it prominently features the Thing, all of the dialogue balloons and sound effects are still pasted to the page, and most importantly, THE THING IS WEARING HIS HELMET.

Here's the cover to the issue from which this page comes. The Cage series ended with issue 20, so this is one of the final pages from the series.

In the issue, Luke Cage has been possessed by the villainous Bogeyman, and the Thing and the Human Torch set out to free him from the nefarious influence. The battle takes the three to the piers of New York City.

If I had to guess, I'd say the Bogeyman was meant to be Venom-like in its portrayal. The villain tries to possess the Thing, but OH-HO! It's not to be because of his VERY IMPORTANT HELMET! Nice!

The page is pencilled by Scott Benefiel and inked by Frank Turner. The letters come from John Roshell and Comicraft - the company had just been founded a year earlier. This is a very early example of digital lettering in the comic book industry. In this instance, the letters were printed, cut out, and pasted to the art board. I think it really adds something to the artwork, though I understand why it doesn't happen anymore. 

In the end, our Fantastic Four duo are victorious, mostly because the Thing punched a lot (and very well). I guess Johnny keeps Luke Cage from flying off into the stratosphere by flying up to grab him.

There's just one editorial note on this page, next to the last panel, and it's a note for the colorist to make Johnny's forearms blue, as he's turned off his flame to that part of his body as he grabs his pal Luke.

This is a really great page that makes a unique addition to the collection. It's my first page of original art with the Thing in his helmet! This is a reason to celebrate.