Original Thing artwork from Andrea DiVito!

Did you know that the Thing will be getting his very own series once again this November? Walter Mosley and Tom Reilly are creating a five-issue limited series for the Idol O' Millions in a story titled "The Next Big Thing," and I, for one, can't wait. It's been too long since Ben Grimm has had his own solo series. In fact, you'd have to go back to 2006 and the Dan Slott/Andrea DiVito series for the last time the Thing had his own continuing series, even though that one only lasted eight issues.

Speaking of this series, I finally managed to get my hands on two pages of DiVito Thing original art, and it's time to take a look at both!

There's a lot going on in this page, for sure. But here it is.

The page comes from the third issue of the series, in which Ben and a few others are trapped by the X-Men villain Arcade - so the Hulk melee you see on the cover consists of Hulk robots. The Thing can beat them up, too.

It's easy to miss the Thing and some of the other detail on this page with a giant gorilla and dinosaur looming over everything, but rest assured, Ben Grimm is there, leading other prisoners to safety.

Also trapped in Arcade's word is the Constrictor, a villain who, uh, constricts things, presumably very hard.

The pencils on this page are incredibly tight and detailed. DiVito's Thing is a classic rendition with a prominent brow and and big, flat fingers, and I love it. Perhaps his Ben Grimm is a bit rounder than some others - his style always seemed to be the perfect mix between an on-model 1970s Thing and more modern interpretations. His proportions are a bit more realistic while also maintaining his comic book essence.

The next page comes from an issue of the Black Panther from a few years later. 

This comes from a period when Reed and Sue briefly left the team and were replaced by the Black Panther and Storm. In addition to appearing in the main Fantastic Four title, this team also had a story arc in the Black Panther book, traveling to a classic gangster Skrull world from a previous Lee/Kirby FF story.

It's been over a decade since I read this story, so I was surprised to learn that DiVito didn't pencil this page - he inked it over the pencils of Spanish artist Francis Portela. Still, it's obvious that DiVito had a big influence on this page. The Thing looks almost just as he does a few years prior in the Thing main series.

This page also features a lot of action, as the Thing battles various challengers in gladiator-style combat. It does not, however, feature the Black Panther, but what can you expect? The Thing is the most popular character in whatever book he appears. There's nothing you can do about it.

I might like the first page a little better than this one, but there's no denying that there's a lot going on here, and the Thing appears in almost every panel. Is that a power-dampening collar? How do those things work??

Here's one more piece of Thing pinup artwork I got at around the same time. This one's by artist Armando Carrillo, and it's a new piece even though it's drawn in the style of the 1994 Marvel Action Hour cartoon. This is probably more intimidating than cartoon Ben ever looked, and it makes a nice addition to my collection!

Pictures from the 2018 New York Comic Con, part 2 (Saturday, 10/6)

I took a lot of pictures of the New York Comic Con on Saturday. I took too many to show them all in one post! The post explodes if I post more than 25 pictures - I'll bet that you didn't realize that. But it's true! I'm very concerned about safety. Let's look at some pictures!

I never quite know what to make of people outside of the convention center in costume who just seem to be hanging out, standing by a telephone pole or whatever. Are these people who don't have tickets but want to join in on the festivities anyway? Did Beta Ray Bill feel like going for a walk around NYC in full costume as a lark? Are they just...biding their time? There's not much going on outside of the convention center, is what I'm saying. But I did enjoy seeing Lady Sif and my favorite horse-themed Alien (take that, Comet!), Beta Ray Bill.

Do you think he made this Black Panther mask? It's a really good one.

One of the last Rickmobile stops on the 2018 tour was at NYCC, and I finally got a chance to go on Saturday after missing out in San Diego. I considered driving to Buffalo a few months earlier, but that would've been...a mistake. To my great surprise, there was almost no line for this on the busiest day of the convention (in 2017, I waited about two hours in line when it came to Pittsburgh). I bought the official Rickmobile comic book and a Morty mask.

The classic '90s Superboy pose right here.

Hup-cha!

Does anyone like Waluigi? I hate him.

I'm honestly not sure how I feel about people dressing up as comic book or movie Nazis at conventions anymore. Some people take it too seriously. But, credit where it's due, this is a great Red Skull outfit. The mask is fantastic.

Pretty fancy outfits Skeletor and Evil-Lyn have going on here.

We're at the point where kids who grew up watching "Teen Titans Go!" are coming to conventions dressed as their favorite Titan. Good on 'em.

I will never not appreciate someone with his or her own DOOP costume.

Cap & Peggy.

IT'S HAPPENING, PEOPLE!

In the early afternoon, I was in line at the Marvel booth to get some comics. As I made my way to the registers, the Marvel costume contest was hitting its stride. And Dr. Doom looked on...

Here are a couple shots of most of the contestants.

I was impressed by a lot of what I saw - and a little surprised to hear a number of contestants, as they were on stage, talk about how they had five or six other people on their "team", helping them with different aspects of their costumes and even just getting in and out of the things. I guess it's a profession for some.

Look at all of this. I appreciate the guy who stuck to his guns and went as Reed Richards.

As I was paying for my items, the crowd started to disperse and I got to see a number of costumes up close. Ivy and Joker were perhaps trying to infiltrate.

How many people would put the effort into creating such a detailed Annihilus costume? The Fantastic Four have the best villains. How great is this?

That's it for now. More to come from the rest of Saturday!

Fantastic Four Unlimited original artwork by Herb Trimpe

I managed to find some original art from the 1990s quarterly series "Fantastic Four Unlimited" recently. Let's take a look!

Fantastic Four Unlimited was part of a line of oversized quarterly books that Marvel published in the mid '90s. Each issue was 64-pages long and cost $3.95 (quaint!). There was a whole line of these titles...Spider-Man Unlimited, X-Men Unlimited, and even weird titles you might not expect like Star Trek Unlimited and 2099 Unlimited. I suspect that they shipped during months that had five Wednesdays, but I'm not sure. Spider-Man and X-Men long outlasted the rest of the titles (X-Men Unlimited ran for 50 issues!), but for a while, we were all treated to bizarre, mostly self-contained, long-format stories that sometimes even had an effect on main titles.

Fantastic Four Unlimited #3 took the FF back to the Negative Zone. For a place that encompasses an entire negatively-charged universe, Annihilus and Blastaar (the Living Bomb-Bust) sure do show up with some regularity. This issue was no different, but it also featured another of my favorite rarely-used villain.

Herb Trimpe ("Trimpe" was autocorrected as "Trump" when I first typed it, so thanks for that, Internets) provided most of the art throughout the series, including this issue. Trimpe is best known for his work on the "Incredible Hulk" title, as well as being the co-creator of Wolverine, but growing up, I knew him for this book.

Trimpe's style on this book is a bit of a departure from his earlier work. A few years ago, I heard that Trimpe wanted to update his art style to something a little more relevant to the hyper-cool 1990s, so he tried his best Liefeld impression for this title. I think it shows, especially in the characters' faces. I probably would have preferred he use his classic style, but I don't blame him for changing it up as this was, of course, 1993/94.

I really enjoy this page for a number of reasons. First, it includes the entire team, even if we only see Sue Storm in a rather awkward pose from behind (in which it looks like her hair might be on fire). Annihilus (what a fantastic comic book name!) and Blastaar (not my favorite comic book name!) are also in on the action!

Second, it includes all of the original word balloons and sound effects, inked directly on the page, something that's probably lost forever to the digital age.

And lastly, the Reed Richards you see in the first two panels of the page is actually...not Reed Richards! Instead, it's the alternate universe Reed imposter, The Brute! I always thought that the Brute had a really cool design (in his purple bad guy form). I don't know if the character has been used more than once or twice since this issue was published about 25 years ago.

This new page goes well with this other item I recently came across - a retailer preview of FF Unlimited's first issue!

Retailer previews today usually consist of a PDF attached to an email (or a link to the same), but back in the '90s, an intern (probably) would spend time and effort photocopying and stapling artwork to mail out to shops across the country.

The paper here is actually magazine sized, for whatever reason, printed on both the front and back of most pages. This preview reproduces the first 34 story pages and then just...ends, as the FF travel to Wakanda to visit the Black Panther and take on, of course, Klaw.

'90s comics could be pretty wild. Look how edgy this one managed to be! Be sure to count every one of Klaw's teeth.

Pictures from the 2017 New York Comic Con, part 1 (Friday, 10/6)

The Tick's tour de force continued in October of 2017. After the first six episodes landed on Amazon's streaming service in August, the team prepared for the next batch to arrive in February by setting up at the New York Comic Con, just a few miles away from where the series films most of its scenes. After being dumbfounded at how incredible the Tick setup was at Comic-Con in San Diego, I wondered if there would be any promotion at the next big show in New York. Short answer: there was.

It's hard to compare NYCC to San Diego's Comic-Con, in large part because of the space available for the two shows. SDCC sprawls out over the city, while NYCC is mostly confined to the Javits Center in Manhattan (though there were a few offsite locations and events this year, notably at the New York Public Library). The weather contributes to this; San Diego has sunny July days ripe for outdoor events, while it's tough to judge what the weather will be like in New York in October.

At any rate, The Tick had a large presence on the main show floor with one of the bigger displays of the show. Once again, Amazon stepped up with their promotion of this show. Near the row-100 area of the floor were banners and signage, an area for a lineup and...a full-size "Dangerboat" replica. Naturally, this is the first thing I did upon entering the building on Friday, my first day at the show.

The line took about 45 minutes to get through, and as I was approaching the front, I started to notice some of the people just ahead, behind the exhibit ropes. I lucked out quite a bit as I was getting in just as a number of actors and producers were arriving to get a peek at the exhibit. I managed to get a picture with Scott Speiser, "Overkill" on the show, and Barry Josephson, one of the show's executive producers! Josephson asked if I was a fan of the show. I said "yes".

Dangerboat itself looked a but unassuming on the outside (maybe that's the point), but the inside was just incredible!

Here are a couple shots of the inside, which included a lot of interactive screens. You could get an ID sticker printed, steer the boat, and grab a can of Fo-Ham.

Thanks, Dangerboat.

The Dangerboat AI could also be found on board! It followed you around and talked to you at various points. It tried to poke fun at my Steelers hat, but as we all know, that's a futile pursuit. They're going to win their seventh Super Bowl in a few weeks, just FYI.

The Overkill uniform could be found as well!

I wonder where you buy carpet that simulates ocean water.

Naturally, I grabbed a bunch of the free Tick swag on my way out, which was precipitated by the arrival of talk show host Wendy Williams (who was in full Wonder Woman gear). I then hit the convention floor, where there were a lot of great costumes to be seen, including Pickle Rick.

Ghost Riders!

I wonder what makes you decide to put a television screen on your head. Kudos to this guy in any case, and great job with the group Saga costumes.

Here's one I didn't expect to see - it's Captain Telsa from the Image Comics Descender series!

I've always enjoyed the Robotman (from Doom Patrol) design. Hey, Cliff. Oh, and Telsa makes a second, background appearance.

I wonder how Psylocke got her sword through the entrance?

And Dr. Doom got his blaster through as well. I guess Doom gets what he wants.

Check out this kid in an honest-to-goodness Sewer Urchin costume from the Tick animated series!

I think I've seen this guy as Bloodshot before, but hey, if it works, go with it. Great job.

Here's Black Panther with blurry motion action!

Yondu and Mary Poppins was a popular choice this year.

This gentleman retrofitted what looks like a snowboard with wheels to make a pretty neat Silver Surfer costume!

I'm pretty sure BoJack and Princess Caroline were actually taking a moment and not posing as their characters, but they inadvertently relaxed in the most BoJack poses ever.

Rick's gon' give it to ya.

Well, the hammer placement is a bit unfortunate, but that's still a pretty great Steel costume (Power Girl is good as well).

DC had their regular setup spot at the far end of the convention hall. This time they put their Justice League costumes on display.

On the way out for the night, I ran into DC's Scott Snyder, who was gracious enough to take a picture with me. Snyder is writing the (pretty enjoyable) DC book, "Metal", and he managed to stay on brand for this picture. Pretty savvy, guy.

That's it for Friday pictures! More to come!