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

2099 original artwork!

Marvel's 2099 line launched right as I was starting to read and collect comics, and something about it struck a chord with *slightly* younger me. Who can say what it was that made such an impression on me? Why, it could have been any number of...uh...well, okay, we all know what it was: Spider-Man 2099's incredible design by Rick Leonardi:

Has there been a better costume to come out of Marvel in the last 25 years?

Anyway, ever since I picked up a few issues of the 2099 books in the early '90s, I've held a soft spot for them. I tend to try and focus my original art purchases on the Fantastic Four and books I've personally worked on, but these few have managed to sneak their way in. Let's take a look!

This first piece is from Spider-Man 2099 #27, and even though he's out of costume, this page features Miguel O'Hara, Spidey himself.

The art is by Joe St. Pierre, and it was gifted to me by one Ian Nichols. I worked with Joe on a short story for Rhode Island's AR Comics, and even though he was doing me a favor by letting me write something for the book, Ian sent me this page as a thank you.

They - they said the word "Alchemax"! It wouldn't be a proper 2099 title without it.

This next page is from the second issue of Ravage 2099, the 2099 line's only non-derivative title of the launch!

This is the second page of original art I own from the late, great Paul Ryan, one of my favorite artists of all time. Oh, and it was also written by none other than Stan Lee! That's pretty exciting.

One fun note about this page is that the word "blasterproof" was added in the second-to-last panel as a late edit. I guess "bulletproof" didn't sound futuristic enough! Oh, Ravage 2099. You were weird.

These next two pieces are a bit more modern, coming from the recent relaunch of the Spider-Man 2099 series. Both are pieces of preliminary art, and both are by Pasqual Ferry. The first one is rough pencils that eventually became the a variant cover to Spider-Man 2099 #4, with a number of 2099 characters, like Spider-Man, Hulk and Doom!

Here's the final version. It changed a good bit from concept to print.

The next rough sketch eventually became a variant cover to Contest of Champions #4, which featured  a number of Marvel's characters from the future, including Iron Man 2020, who has two years left to remain a part of this group.

Here's the final cover, which took a lot from the rough sketch on the left. I do like the Killraven/War of the Worlds inspired Martian ship in the image to the right! But I'll take Spider-Man 2099 original art any way I can get it.

Nuclear Winter!

Well, hello, Internet. It's been several months since I've posted anything. Has anyone noticed? Maybe Larry noticed. Anyway, I had to take a break for a couple reasons, both mostly accounting to the excuse "I'm busy". This isn't a great excuse, because I love you, Yeti blog. I think I've had this damn thing for nine years. But the spring brought about some new online classes that I signed up to teach, which meant a lot of content design, and it also brought some new comic book work, which is by far more exciting and enjoyable. I'll try to update more often, but maybe not as often as in years past, because a lot of my time is not going toward making comics, and that's, I guess, pretty neat.

So let's try to spend a few minutes going over what's going on here in whatever year this is now:

Probably the biggest news is that the first volume of Honcho is finished and has made its way back from the printer! It topped out at around 120 pages and, if I can say so, it looks really great. Everyone did a really nice job with it. Jeff McComsey and I are trying to find a publisher for a wider release, which I think the book deserves, so we'll see how that goes.

Free Comic Book Day 2017 has come and gone, and with it, a new issue of The Tick! This is actually the fifth year in a row that I've been able to write a story for FCBD, and as in previous years, I was able to travel to Boston to sign some books at a few different New England Comics stores. This will be a big year for The Tick, as the first season of the new television series officially premiers on Amazon's streaming service in August. I wrote a new story for this year's San Diego Comic-Con, where there'll be some surprises in store regarding the show and a few different items related to it. Let's take a tiny peek at one of the panels from that new comic:

How tantalizing! What could it mean??

I had a short story published by the newly launched AR Comics. Ian Nichols (who drew the above Tick panel) invited me to contribute to the geographically-named "New England Tales of Terror", which premiered at a local New England comic convention in February. My story was drawn by none other than Joe St. Pierre, formerly of Spider-Man 2099 fame, so I was pretty excited.

This hasn't been formally announced yet, so keep it to yourself, but I'm lettering an original graphic novel that has been picked up by Image Comics. I can't really talk about it at any length, but I lettered a pitch for the book in 2015 and we recently got the go-ahead to produce the full-length story. If all goes well, this'll be my first work under the Image banner, which is very exciting. I hope I'm not jinxing it by talking about it.

I'll be at Comic-Con in San Diego once again this year - my sixth year in a row! I'll have copies of Honcho with me along with the aforementioned new issue of The Tick. I'll be sharing a booth with the very talented Jennie Wood in the small press section. I'm a little surprised with how excited I still get for Comic-Con. I'm in full preparation mode over a month away. This should be a fun year. Oh, and if all goes well, I may have something that looks similar to this with me at the booth:

Let's keep our fingers crossed for this one.

How many new Thing items have I gotten since I last posted an update? LOTS, including this incredible (and ugly) bootleg Thing toy from Mexico. What's up with his mouth? Wow. Anyway, I've landed quite a few items that I would love to show off, if only I had a blog or something to post them to - oh, wait. I guess that's what this is for.

I'll post again soon. Not too soon. Soon-ish. We'll all do what we can. Take care, folks.