Thing sketchbook, part 25

It's the 25th installation of the (very popular) Thing sketchbook series! That means we've seen around 125 of these beauties so far. Let's see what these five look like, who they're from and where I got 'em!

Stan Sakai - Comic-Con International 2019

Stan Sakai is a legendary artist who has spent the last few decades working on Usagi Yojimbo, which is an absolute masterpiece. I found him at his usual spot at Comic-Con in San Diego and thought I'd take a chance to see if he would draw the Thing in the ol' sketchbook. I handed him the book and paid the money, and then the negotiation began. At first he said he didn't want to draw the Thing, but thought about it for a minute and asked if he could draw his famous samurai rabbit as the Thing, and of course I agreed. This is one of the stranger entries into the sketchbook, but it's Stan Sakai, it's Thing-like, and I'll take it.

Julie Sakai - Comic-Con International 2019

Julie Sakai, artist on the Chibi Usagi feature and Stan's wife, was at the table with Stan while he drew his sketch. After he was done, we slid the book right over to her and she drew this lovely Usagi-as-the-Thing color illustration. It's like Usagi is dressing up as the Thing for Halloween, and I heartily approve.

David Lloyd - Comic-Con International 2019

David Lloyd had a booth across from New England Comics' space at this show, so I kind of staked him out all weekend. Toward the end of the show, I found a time when he didn't have a crowd in front of his booth and I made my move. Lloyd, of course, is the artist on the classic V for Vendetta, and it was a pleasure to get to talk with him about comics while he sketched this rather spooky-looking Thing.

Alexis Ziritt and Ian Nichols - New York Comic Con 2019 and Rhode Island Comic Con 2019

Is this the Thing from Hell? If so, he's my favorite demon ever. Alexis Ziritt, who draws such wild stuff for books like Space Riders, started this sketch off with a flaming skull that is something of a trademark for him. My pal Ian Nichols finished it off by adding some colors and a wide frame for this Ghost Rider-esque Ben Grimm.

Okay, there are admittedly some very different Things in this entry. Let's wrap it up with a more traditional-looking Thing:

Art Baltazar - New York Comic Con 2019

Art Baltazar makes really wonderful kids comics like Tiny Titans and Aw Yeah Comics, and it's easy to see his broad appeal with this marker-and-crayon, very happy Thing sketch. Ben is so happy that it looks like he's beginning to unravel a bit! I saw Baltazar drawing sketches and I very tentatively approached him about joining the book - it's always a bit nerve wracking to barrel your way toward a booth with a book in hand - but he agreed to draw something and that's how we ended up with your good pal Ben here.

We're nearing the end of 2019 in the sketchbook - I hope nothing comes out of left field to really disrupt convention sketches in the near future. Er, I'll see you all next time!

New York, New York! (Comic Con) What a wonderful town! And...Comic Con.

That silence you've been hearing permeate this blog (permeate, I tell you!  It's a metaphor!) over the past week has been the auditory representation of my exhaustion from the recent New York Comic Con.  If that last sentence didn't make much sense, it's because I'm still pretty beat up from the three terrific days I spent at a booth at the show...and what a show it was.  I met a lot of great people, sold a whole bunch of books and other items, and ended up with some cool swag.  It was an eventful time and something I'm really glad I did.

Saturday was by far the busiest day of the weekend - people were literally shoulder-to-shoulder throughout most of the convention (and by "literally", I mean they actually were, as opposed to when people actually mean "figuratively").  It was a bit frustrating to move around on this day, but there was a lot of traffic around the Wagon Wheel Comics booth if for no other reason than there was a lot of traffic everywhere.  I'm happy to say that Teddy and the Yeti  (and Fubar, and Franks and Beans...) got a lot of exposure and got into a lot of hands.  I also managed to hand out a good number of copies to professionals like Todd Nauck, Peter David, David Lloyd, Mark Waid, Joe Quesada, and other people in the industry.

Danny Cruz did a lot of sketches at the Wagon Wheel Booth and made the show even more enjoyable.  He did a few Teddy and the Yeti pieces (and drew a great addition to my Thing sketchbook) that I'll try to post scans of here in the future.  Larry dressed up as Lion-O from the Thundercats and had his picture taken a few thousand times.  People snatched up the crochet Yeti dolls as I knew they would.  I met the creators of the Venture Bros!

It was a great weekend.  It was a crazy weekend, but it was great.  Really, it was, from almost every angle.

This post is quickly spiraling out of control into an experiment in stream of consciousness writing, so I'll wrap it up with the intention of writing more soon.  I'll post pictures from the show starting tomorrow, so look for that as it arrives.  My thanks go out to everyone who stopped by the Wagon Wheel booth to flip through a book, pick up a card, or just chat.  What a fun time.

programming notes

A few notes about the upcoming New York Comic Con:

- The Wagon Wheel Comics booth has been renumbered: it's now located at booth 350, as opposed to 550, which I was originally told.  I don't think there's been a change in where the booth will be physically; for some reason they just decided to renumber much of the small press section.  We'll still be there, though, right next to Artist Alley, near similar booths with Khary Randolph, David Lloyd and other creators whose work greatly overshadows my own.

- I forgot to mention this last time, but the Teddy and the Yeti trading cards that turned out so well were printed by Versicolor.  Yes, I realize that versicolor is a type of skin fungus.  But it's also a printing company!  Check out their website here: http://www.versicolorproductions.com/!

- What you see above is not some strange alien marking, but Teddy and the Yeti's own individual QR code (Wikipedia explains its function pretty well here), able to be read by, among other devices, any smart phone.  Scanning this barcode takes you right to the main Teddy and the Yeti webpage.  Look for this on everything I do from now until forever.

- The main focus of the booth this year will be, of course, Teddy and the Yeti.  But my friend Larry and I have been working on getting Franks and Beans some space on the table as well.  To that end, we've put DVDs together of the first two season - 48 episodes! - and will have 'em at the show.  Above is the cover, front and back, to the first DVD.  Ooo, there's a QR code on that as well!

You are here.

The New York Comic-Con floor plan is now online, and while I knew that Wagon Wheel Comics had been assigned booth 550, now I know exactly where that's going to be.  I'm pretty happy with our location - we're right across from artists' alley, and while it would have been nice to be on the other side of our row, I think we lucked out with where we are.  One thing about the small press section: people tend to see those booths on the way to other booths, so being next to artists' alley is a good thing.

If you go to the interactive version of the map (and don't just look at my screenshot), you can see some of the other creators we'll be stacked up next to.  We've got some talented company to be sure.  Wagon Wheel will be back-to-back with Khary Randolph (Mutant 2099) and Mike Norton (Green Arrow), and just a few blocks away are the incredibly talented David Lloyd and Michael Gaydos!  Gaydos worked on the series Alias with Brian Michael Bendis and David Lloyd is none other than the artist of the Alan Moore-penned V for Vendetta.  Let me reiterate: the artist on V for Vendetta, one of the classic comic stories of all time (it even includes sheet music!) will be just a few feet away from me at the New York Comic Con.

It'll take a little while for that to sink in.  Oh, and these gentlemen are both Brits, which should make Duane Redhead feel right at home.