Thing sketchbook, part 23

Happy Thingsgiving, everyone! THINGSgiving, right? You got that? Thingsgiving. Yes.

Let's, uh, check out a new entry in the long-running Thing sketchbook post series!

Brian Level - New York Comic Con 2017

This is the only Thing sketch that I managed to get at NYCC 2017, but I like to think that I made it count. It's from Brian Level, a friend from the FUBAR days that has since gone on to work on a number of books for Marvel and other top-tier publishers.

Alex Harris - Free Comic Book Day 2018

For FCBD in 2018, I spent the day in Boston at a few different New England Comics locations, signing copies of The Tick and catching up with friends. Alex Harris drew a short story that I wrote for the Tick #2 (2018 series); I got an opportunity to hang out with him at a signing on this Saturday morning, and, of course, I asked him for a Thing sketch. I appreciate the fact that he knows how to properly spell "clobberin'".

Jay Kennedy/Ian Nichols - Free Comic Book Day 2018

Jay Kennedy is a local Boston artist who took my spot at the signing table once I moved on to another store. He did a quick sketch of the helmeted Thing that Ian Nichols finished up later in the day. This is peak mid-'90s Thing!

Ian Nichols - Free Comic Book Day/Comic-Con International 2018

Ian Nichols is my friend and frequent Tick collaborator, and he provided a couple contributions to my previous sketchbook. This is a new sketchbook, so it's fair game to ask him to draw once again in this book! This sketch is a different one, and I love it for that fact. It's Alicia Masters with a bust of her favorite subject, Ben Grimm.

The evening of FCBD, I left the sketchbook with Ian, who returned it when we saw each other again a few months later at Comic-Con in San Diego. Ian included this rough sketch on a separate piece of paper. Note the bust of Dr. Doom in the background!

Tony Sedani - Free Comic Book Day 2018

Here's the last one for now, another helmeted Thing by Tick contributor Tony Sedani! Tony's a really nice guy and I was happy to meet up with him for a little while at FCBD. And he's right - the helmet doesn't actually have a mouth hole, so wouldn't get it a little, uh, uncomfortable wearing it? Looking back, this was a big day for me as I got parts of four sketches on one day! 

There'll be more Thing sketches later, but before we go, I was in Target a few days ago and, of course, I stopped in the toy section, only to see a long, multi-panel cardboard display showing off a lot of collectibles - including the new Funko Pop Thing! How in the world am I going to convince Target to let me have this giant display, and where am I going to keep it??

While I was there, I (naturally) checked, and yes, the Target-exclusive 10-inch Funko Pop Thing is still available! It's a great Christmas present, folks.

the spoils of Free Comic Book day

Every year for Free Comic Book Day (since 2013), I've been lucky enough to travel to Boston and New England Comics to sign copies of the annual Free Comic Book Day issues of The Tick. This year was like previous years in that it was awesome, but I also managed to grab a number of original art pages while I was there, so I thought I'd show them off here.

I started off the day at NEC Quincy, which was busy from the time the doors opened until after I left at around 3:00.

From 4:30-7:00, I signed comics at my favorite NEC location, the Harvard Square store. It was surprisingly busy at this store as well, and there were still people wandering in as the shop closed down for the night.

These kids walked in and were just enthralled by the Batman: The Brave and The Bold episode that was playing. I'll admit that I was watching it, too.

So let's take a look at some of this art that I picked up this weekend. The first is a Son of Hitler page from Jeff McComsey. Jeff's not from Boston, but I managed to meet up with him on my way to New England. This is probably my favorite page from the book - one of the main character dons a pair of glasses as a disguise, which is just about the most comic book thing in the world, so I was glad to pick this up.

I spent some time at NEC Quincy with artists Alex Harris and Tony Sedani, and I was able to get some artwork from both of those gentlemen. The first two pages are from the new Tick #2. Alex drew the short story I wrote that showed up in the back of this issue.

The story in question didn't have The Tick in it, and Arthur was only on the first page, but dangit, I enjoyed writing it. And Alex did some nice work with Running Guy and Rubber Ducky.

Tony Sedani had a three-page short story in this year's FCBD issue, and I was able to grab one of them from him. This particular page features a nice rooftop scene with The Tick and Arthur.

After FCBD ended, I met up with Ian Nichols for dinner and comic talk (this is my life), and he surprised me with a page from last year's Comic-Con Special issue. I love that handwritten sound effect!

I hope everyone had a great Free Comic Book Day. What comics did you get? Anyone still looking for a particular issue?

New Tick for 2018!

The success of the Tick Amazon show has opened up the door for a few more Tick comics (hooray), a few of which I've been involved with (also hooray), so I thought I'd take a minute to point out just what's out there, and a little bit about what's to come!

The Tick #1 showed up in comic shops in October, 2017, much to the delight of, well, hopefully people other than me, but perhaps most importantly, me! The book had been a long time in coming. Artist Duane Redhead and I managed to get a six-page story printed in the back of this issue, and if I can say so (I can), it looks really nice. Duane provided pencils, inks and colors this time around, which I think adds a different dimension to his work.

The Tick #2 followed shortly after, in December. In between the first and second issues, Duane took over as the regular artist, which is good for him. There's another short story written by me in the back of this issue, one that ties directly to a sequence in issue #1. Art on this story was provided by Alex Harris, a Boston native who drew a short story for the 2016 Local Comic Shop Day comic.

Issue #3 should be out before the end of February, and I also have a few pages in that issue. I hope that you (yes, you) check it out and support the book!

May brings another Free Comics Book Day, and another FCBD issue of The Tick. This one has a few stories in it, with the main story written by me with art by Ian Nichols (Duane drew the cover). This story takes a plot from Ben Edlund, which is both exciting and really intimidating for me. Think of it as Conan meets The Tick, I guess.

The FCBD website interviewed me about the book, and you can read it here: https://www.freecomicbookday.com/Article/206638-FCBD18-Interview-Jeff-McClelland-Tells-Us-How-The-Tick-Ends-Up-in-a-Fantasy-Land

Have we all gotten our Tick Funko Pop figures yet? Is there any license that Funko doesn't yet have? (Weird Al Pops coming later this year.) This new figure is the "regular" version of the limited, glow-in-the-dark Tick Pop that came out for last year's Comic-Con. Still no word on when Arthur, etc., will be out.

I managed to find a copy of San Diego Comic-Con Comics #3 recently. This four-issue series ran in the early-to-mid '90s as an exclusive comic co-produced by Comic-Con and Dark Horse Comics. The Tick has a brief cameo in this issue! There's also a RoboCop with a toaster for a head.

Lastly, I got a package in the mail a few weeks ago from Duane, and inside resided some original art - the cover to the Tick 2016 FCBD special! This might be my favorite piece of work from Duane's and my run on the book, so it was pretty exciting to find this waiting for me.

The 2016 issue featured Ticks from all over the Tick-verse (that's what we're calling it), many of which were created just for the issue, but there were also appearances by all of the previously established Ticks, including the Tick clones from the "De-Evolution" storyline...

...Tina, Toy DeForce's Tick robot...

...Jeffrey Whitebread, the Golden Age Tick...

...and my personal favorite, Edlund's original Tick from the character's first NEC newsletter appearance!

Let's keep our fingers crossed for the rest of 2018. There are a few more things on the horizon.