Bowen full-size Thing statue

The first Thing statue I purchased was in 2004, as a result of having my first comic story published. Part of what I received for the comic was a gift card to Things from Another Universe, and I used that to buy the Bowen Thing mini-statue. It wasn't until a few years later that I found out that there was a larger version of that same statue. I guess it took 17 years, but I finally managed to grab the full-size Bowen Thing statue, and oh boy, do I love it.

Randy Bowen sculpted quite a few statues from Marvel in the early 2000s, and he recently released another Thing statue. I definitely have an affinity for his work. His Thing is a nice combination of Kirby and Byrne, with thick, flat fingers and toes, and a huge brow that reaches halfway around his head. This is the stocky, bulky Thing of the '60s-'80s.

The colors on this statue are all so rich. I love the lighter orange and yellow that make up the well-segmented rocks. The blue and black trunks are a shiny contrast to the flat color of the Thing's skin.

The base of the statue connects with those of the rest of the Fantastic Four. They're all rather expensive and Reed's statue has a habit of breaking, so this is probably going to be the only one I get. But it's a heck of an addition to my collection.

The base comes with a classic Thing logo and an individual number. This one is #2372.

The box itself is wonderfully branded. The front panel comes with the Thing's patented trademark.

One side shows the statue from different angles.

The other has an infographic lifted from an early issue.

I also picked up the slightly less impressive, but still pretty cool, Marvel Legends Human Torch figure from Kenner. This one is made to look retro even thought it's brand new. The colors, again, are really nice. Johnny is the only FF member for this line so far, but hopefully they'll have the rest of the team before too long!

The Tick statue by Sideshow Collectibles

A few years ago I was at the Baltimore Comic-Con, and I took a walk to look at some of the vendor booths and happened upon a retailer who had a new Tick statue in a conspicuous location.  It was love at first sight, and I was pretty close to buying it right then and there.  I stopped myself, though, and decided to use it instead as a goal that I'd try to reach.  At this time I was considering submitting a short story to New England Comics, and I told myself that if I put the story together and actually got something published at the company, then I could buy the statue.  Truthfully, I've got more than a few Thing statues and I didn't want to just start collecting other high-end items without just cause.  It took a few years, but this Saturday, I got this statue in the mail and oh, what a beauty it is.

Rather than just keeping it to myself, though, I thought it'd be a good idea to take some pictures and share it with the Internets.

This statue is designed and produced by Sideshow Collectibles, which seems to have a statue for every product line imaginable these days, and it's part of an extremely limited production run.  If I had known how few of these were made at the time, I might have just gone ahead and bought the statue in Baltimore, but eBay, as always, came through for me and I was able to grab a brand new one from a shop in Florida.

According to the box, there were 255 statues made of the "regular" run, which is kind of an arbitrary number, it seems, and only 100 of the limited edition variety, which is what I was able to get.  So that means I own 1% of the entire production run of this statue.  Crazy.  I got number 47, by the way.

Here's what it looked like when I opened the packaging.  Some of the styrofoam flaked off, but that's okay, it just looks like the Tick is reveling in the snow.  You'll notice an object on the right side of the picture - what could it be?

It's what makes this statue a part of the limited edition run - the Tick's magic Crime Viewfinder!  It's tiny and resplendent in its glory.  I had thought that the viewfinder would be attached to the statue, but I'm glad that it comes as its own separate piece with a cloth strap.  It really adds something to the piece, I think.

Yes, I held it up to the light and tried to look through it; no, it's not functional.  Oh well.

A recent Bowen Thing statue that I got for my birthday last year was of a similar design - that is, the figure and the base come separately, with a peg in the figure's foot included to attach the two.  I love how this base incorporates the Tick logo into the statue.  The base is also quite apt - the Tick stands on a rooftop, overlooking The City below.

It took a while to get the peg into place, to the point that I thought that I might not be able to work it in. If I couldn't get it to fit, I was just going to take the damn thing to a convention and give it to someone working at the Sideshow booth and tell them "fix it!"  But luckily it didn't come to that, and the figure slid into place easily enough.

I love the perspective of the base.  I was hoping that, like many of my Thing statues, this would come with some sort of certificate, but it didn't.  If it had, I was going to take it to Comic-Con next year in hopes of getting Ben Edlund to sign it.  As it is, though, I'm considering taking the base with me for that purpose.  On the bottom of the base is the Tick logo with some production information (including the number), and I think it'd work really well to get it signed there.  That way it isn't obtrusive or distracting and on the character - it'll be there but not too noticeable.

Here's the statue with the viewfinder.  The statue stands about 12 inches tall, and it's a pretty weighty item.

Right after taking this picture, my cat, who is curious like you might expect a cat to be, slid off of the back of this makeshift base, dragging the sheet with her.  I caught the statue before it went over, thus saving me the pain of breaking my purchase less than an hour after I received it, as well as keeping me from my quest of then having to own 2% of the entire production run.  Thank goodness.

Here's the back of the statue, almost as good looking as the front.  This is a great addition to the collection and I'm pretty excited about seeing it when I wake up every morning.  Sideshow makes some high quality merchandise, and this did not fail to impress.  I'm glad that I finally managed to get this and put it up on display.

Bowen Designs' new Thing statue

I'm getting a new random notes blog ready to go.  Who knew I could have so many items to say just a little bit about?  Who indeed.  I'm sure you're all breathless with anticipation.

The following item was originally going to belong to the upcoming post, but I took so many pictures that I thought it deserved its own post.  And when we're dealing with the Thing, who can blame me?  It's not like I don't make some mention of the character several times a week.  A hem.

Anyway, a few days ago I got a long-anticipated birthday present in the mail: Bowen Designs' newest Thing statue.  And what a present it is!  I had seen pictures online, and I own other Bowen Thing statues, but my expectations were far exceeded once I saw this statue with my own eyes.  So I took some pictures.  And here they are.

The first picture is, of course, the box the statue came in.  Upon opening the box and removing the styrofoam protective container, we see the Thing in all his glory.

I was surprised that the Thing isn't permanently attached to the base.  If you look at the right section, you might see a small square indentation.  This picture actually has the base upside down.  The Thing has a peg on the bottom of his right foot that fits in this hole, securing him to the base.

The detail in this statue is just astounding, and it's pretty big, too - 13 1/2 inches tall.  I was surprised, however, at how light this statue is.  It seems that both it and the base might be hollow inside.  This stands in contrast to the similarly-sized Hard Hero Thing statue, which is also nice looking and heavy as all get out.  The weight doesn't take anything away from the statue...it's just an interesting detail.

The other three members of the Fantastic Four come in a three-pack statue set, just as a previous FF Bowen collection.  I guess no one wants to buy Mr. Fantastic by himself, but the Thing is sold separately.  That's kind of weird, but oh well.

In all, this is a great piece and I'm happy to add it to my collection.  Bowen makes great products and this is certainly no exception.  It'll find a prominent place in the display for sure.  I read that there were only 950 of these made, and they've already sold out, so I feel lucky to get one.

There have been so many Thing statues put out in recent years.  Most of them have been well done, but this is in the top tier for sure.  If I had to guess, I'd say that I have maybe 70% of the Thing statues on the market.  I've yet to crack the super expensive Sideshow racket, with their $500+ price tags.  Maybe some day.  But for now, I'll be happy with the more affordable, but still fairly extravagant, pieces in my Thing collection.

"Eye of the Beholder" webcomic with Ruben Cordero, page 3

The moment  I found out that "Eye of the Beholder" had won Dark Horse's monthly contest and would soon be printed in its Strip Search collection, I ran to the phone and called artist Ruben Cordero on the phone at his office at work.  As soon as he picked up on the other end, I yelled "Congratulations, you magnificent bastard!", thinking he had probably been to the website and therefore had heard the good news.  Instead, he didn't even know it was me.  "I'm sorry," he replied, somewhat tersely, "who is this?" I meekly explained the situation and once we were on the same page things went more smoothly.

The prize package from Dark Horse was actually quite nice, even though we had to split it in two.  For my half of the haul, I managed to snag a number of cool things, including a copy of Comics Between the Panels, signed by co-author and Dark Horse editor-in-chief Mike Richardson, the second volume of the beautiful Xenozoic Tales collection and some "Shag Tiki" stationary by Amanda Visell.

Ruben and I also split a $150 gift certificate to the online comic shop Things from Another World, with which I bought one of my first Thing statues - a Bowen full body design that's still one of my favorites (Bowen does great work, let me tell you).

All in all, just another reason I was spoiled by this, my first comic publication.  I hope you enjoy page three - I'll post the next page on Saturday...and probably write stuff in between now and then.  So keep checking back!