War of the Independents original art by Don Simpson!

There are a number of really talented and impressive comic artists living in Pittsburgh, and I've been lucky enough to meet a number of them. Over the last year I've had the pleasure of talking with Don Simpson on a number of occasions, and at last year's Wizard World Pittsburgh, Don gave me a page of original art from the upcoming War of the Independents #4.

This issue of the series features a number of cartoon animals such as Usagi Yojimbo, Felix the Cat, Simpson's own Cowboy Gorilla and....The Tick. There are also some non-animal cartoon characters like Milk & Cheese and the Gumby characters.

I wasn't expecting to get this page so it was a big treat to get a page of art from the guy who created Megaton Man, Border Worlds and other great comics.

 I would absolutely love to work out a Tick/Megaton Man crossover one of these days in an official capacity, but the two characters do actually meet in this issue as well. I'm hoping to see this issue in stores soon!

Thing sketchbook, part 17

So many great Thing sketches in this round of the Thing sketchbook show...thing.  This might be the best grouping of five consecutive sketches yet...though I suppose I've said that before.  There are some great ones, though, to be sure.  Check 'em out!

Zander Cannon - Comic-Con International 2014

After pulling in a half dozen sketches at Comic-Con in both 2012 and '13, for some reason I returned from San Diego in 2014 having added only one Thing sketch to the book.  But what a sketch it is!  This beauty, done entirely in colored pencils, is by Zander Cannon, perhaps best known for his work on the graphic novel Heck! and his work on the America's Best Comics line with Alan Moore.  I know him best, though, for his short lived Chainsaw Vigilante series, a spinoff of the Tick line.  The rounded figure and the stubby arms and legs really make this piece for me - along with, of course, the beautiful bright orange and blue.

Dani Grew - Toonseum 2014

I worked with Dani Grew during my time volunteering at the Toonseum in Pittsburgh.  Dani is an artist in residence at the museum, and she does a lot of work in coordinating the various exhibits as well.  I was hesitant to ask her to draw something in the sketchbook as I wasn't sure if she's want to do it or not...but as always, my desire for Thing sketches overrides any semblance of manners or couth.  And this time, my lack of social grace paid off in the form of this great sketch.  I love the subway figures to each side and how expressive everyone is.

Katie Cook - Pittsburgh Comicon 2014

One of my big regrets of going to Detroit's Motor City Con was forgetting to take the sketchbook with me.  I partially made up for it by buying a blank cover and having Katie Cook draw on it, but it's just not the same as getting something in the ol' sketchbook.  When I saw that Cook was coming to the Pittsburgh Comicon in 2014, almost four years after the Detroit show, I knew that I had to add a sketch and I was lucky enough to grab this great, tiny watercolor before I ran out of pages.

Let's check out that sketch cover!

Okay, obviously the scrapbook joke is a theme of Cook's, but I'll go with it.  Now that I think about it, I have a few of these blank covers with sketches on them.  Maybe one day the world will be ready for a sketch cover post.  Who can say?

Christopher Peterson - New York Comic Con 2014

I made it back to the New York Comic Con in 2014 and was able to spend one day at the show.  NYCC is always packed to the gills with people and it's hard to see everything in one day, so I try to make a point to add one sketch into the book when I go there - there's usually not time to get more than that unless that's what I want to do all day.  Anyway, this year I was able to get a sketch from Christopher Peterson, a fellow FUBAR alum who has gone on to work on some fairly high profile books.  Here we see another appearance of the Thing with a trench coat, which I am always grateful for.  This is a very moody piece!  I think Christopher was happy with it and I certainly am as well.

Don Simpson - Pittsburgh Indy Comix Expo 2015

It's pretty difficult not to just stare at this piece when I look through the book.  It's a full-figure drawing, it's in wonderfully rendered color, it's by Megaton Man creator Don Simpson...and it's the Thing!  It's hard to find fault in any of those reasons.  It's difficult to rank the drawings in the book, but if I absolutely had to, this would certainly occupy one of the top spaces.  Not only did I get to strike up a conversation with Don, but I at least hold out a little bit of hope that one day we may work together on something fun.  For certain, he drew one of the signature pieces for the book, and I couldn't be happier with it.  It's, in a word, incredible.

It'll be hard to top these five as a group.  We'll see what I can do with the next batch, some of which have yet to be drawn!

The triumphant return of RANDOM NOTES!! Steel City Con, FUBAR, Kickstarter, Franks and Beans and more!

Selected short subjects:

- The latest of the installment of the Steel City Con was held at the beginning of April.  I'm continually surprised at how popular this show has become.  There are three shows a year and you'd think it'd suffer from fatigue by this point, but it seems to still be gaining steam.  It'll be interesting to see how it holds up after the Wizard World Pittsburgh show later in the year.

I was able to snag a few cool items from the show, including some Thing items and some comics.

All of these books were around 50 cents each, so I grabbed about 40 of them and spent way too much time looking through boxes...but there were some cool finds to be had, including Superboy #101 (in rough shape, but still), the last issue of Strange Tales vol. 2 (the only issue of the series that featured the Thing, a mainstay in the first volume) and the second issue of Simpsons Comics.

There was also a big Dukes of Hazzard presence at the show.  Larry wrote more about it on his blog, and you should check it out!

- I'm pretty sure this Thing magnet is homemade, but when I saw it at Pittsburgh Comics I had to grab it.  I can't quite place the artist, and it's driving me nuts.  Needless to say, I love it.

- The Pittsburgh Indy Comix Expo came and went at the end of March, and it was better than I expected.  I managed to sell some books and buy a few that came home with me.  There was a lot of talent at this small show, which was encouraging.  I also met Don Simpson there, and we struck up a dialogue, at which point I learned that he...works at the same school that I do.  That is really bizarre.

Don is offering up a class for the fall semester in cartooning and character design.  This would be an awesome class to take.

- The second volume of Jennie Wood and Jeff McComsey's is currently up on Kickstarter and it's nearing its goal.  This is a great book and a the kind of comic the industry needs more of.  Check out the campaign and pledge if you can!

And speaking of Kickstarters...the UHF movie campaign is nearing its end with some work to be done.  It's finished on the evening of Sunday, April 26th, so if you haven't pledged yet...there are only a few more days to do so!

Some of the rewards for the campaign are making their way to me, including these 8-bit pins featuring characters from the movie.

- I'm currently catching up on some lettering work.  Whenever I letter, I use a page from IDW's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comic as a template.  I type in "that's turtle power!" every time I start a new project to make sure that my letters are the size they should be.  This continues to amuse me, so I'm sharing it.

Just what am I lettering?  Among other things, some FUBAR for the By the Sword collection, including this short story titled "The Leper King", written by Mark Bertolini with art by Chris McFann.

- And lastly, there's a newly released, really short episode of Franks and Beans to watch!  This episode was originally released as a Vine, hence the brief time limit.  There's also a loop of the video (100 times, over and over) in case you want to feel the cold grip of insanity.

Wow, these random notes are fun.  Look for them again whenever the hell I feel like writing them.  See you then!

Pittsburgh Indy Comix Expo - March 28th, 2015

Pittsburgh has lagged behind other cities in terms of comic book conventions in recent years, but maybe that is finally changing.  If you haven't heard, Wizard World recently bought the rights to the Pittsburgh Comic-Con, which will be held this September at the David L. Lawrence convention center in downtown Pittsburgh.  There are good things and bad things about Wizard taking over, I suppose, and we'll see what the inaugural event brings later in the year.

I'm more excited about Pittsburgh's independent comic show, PIX, which takes place this year on Saturday, March 28th.  This isn't the first year for the show.  I heard about it last year after the registration deadline had passed, so I made sure that I got an early jump on it this year.  I'm not quite sure what to expect, but the fact that there is a show dedicated specifically to small press and creator-owned comics is something to be pleased about.

The show, which is co-sponsored by the Toonseum, will be held at 10 S. 19th Street in Pittsburgh from 10-5 on Saturday, with programs taking place later that evening, from 7-11pm.  Both admission and parking to the event are free!

I'll be there with a few of my new books, including the Naked Man at the Edge of Time mini comic, which hasn't been on sale anywhere before now.  I filled out the requisite exhibition form, including information about myself and my publications.  I am apparently a raging narcissist as my damn entry is longer by an exponential factor than anyone else's on the list so far:

In case you are wondering, yes, this is embarrassing, and yes, I wish I could change it, but I'm not going to mention it because I don't want to bring more attention to myself (...other than writing a blog about it, I guess).

Some other guests include Carolyn Belefski (Magic Bullet), Rafer Roberts (FUBAR, Black Terror) and Don Simpson (Megaton Man).  I'll be interested to meet Simpson for the first time, and a bit nervous about bringing up The Tick with him, but I suppose it had to happen some time.

For more information on the show and its guests, check out the PIX website at http://pixcomics.blogspot.com.

It's great that Pittsburgh finally has a second show dedicated to comics.  The city deserves one.

Megaton Man: Rebirth @ Half-Life comic art gallery in Brownsville

Don Simpson's "Megaton Man" is one of the greatest superhero spoofs to ever be put to paper, and I was a bit surprised when I learned that Simpson was going to have an art showing in, of all places, my hometown of Brownsville, PA.  It turns out, unbeknownst to me until I arrived at the Frank L. Melega art museum, housed at the Flatiron Building, that Simpson is a Pittsburgh native.

It's unusual to have something like this show up in Brownsville, so Larry and I took the short trip a few weeks back and caught a glimpse of the show.

The gallery includes an impressive display of Megaton Man artwork, with a few other items sprinkled in for good measure.

Simpson himself was at the gallery when the show opened.  I would have loved to have been there, but it coincided with the New York Comic-Con, which was a shame.

There were a couple reference to the Tick at the show.  It's hard not to see parallels between the two characters, and I got the impression that maybe Simpson wasn't too fond of the blue guy (Megaton Man showed up a few years before The Tick).  Obviously, I think there's room for more than one superhero parody on the market.

Interestingly enough, there was some art from the War of the Independents miniseries at the show.  I had all but given this series up for dead, as the series has been on quite the hiatus.  But it seems that Simpson himself is drawing the fourth issue, and that it'll be released this summer.  See here is a print and what I believe a cover for War of the Independents, featuring both Megaton Man and the Tick.

I'll admit that I hadn't read much of Megaton Man before going to the show.  Indy comics from the mid-80s don't often show up in the back issue bins I sort through.  But I decided to grab the 10-issue first series online and I have to say - it's got its moments of brilliance.  The relationship between Megaton Man and Stella Starlight is complicated, deep and sometimes tortured.  I soon after picked up the followup "Return of Megaton Man" and I'm working my way toward the '90s Image crossover titles (one issue of note that's on its way to me currently: "Yarn Man", a secondary Megaton Man character and Thing parody).

Also worth mentioning is Simpson's "Border Worlds" series, which I also picked up and quickly consumed.  It's a very ambitious sci-fi concept that I also enjoyed very much.

Near the back of the gallery, almost hidden, was a display of some bigger pieces, and art from Simpson's own collection.

Included in this collection are a few pages of original Fantastic Four art from John Romita.  Needless to say, it was just incredible.

The gallery was supposed to have ended by now, but according to Simpson himself, it's been extended to run into February...so if you haven't seen it yet, there's still time!  Do yourself a favor and, if you're from my part of town, go and see this great gallery.  Here's the address:

69 Market St., Brownsville, PA 15417

I'd love to see a Tick/Megaton Man crossover happen one day.  Maybe Simpson, who recently got his PhD (!) from the University of Pittsburgh, will hit a few more conventions in the coming months and years.  I'd love to meet the guy.