Thing sketchbook, part 22 (plus some new Thing toys!)

It's Leap Day! It's the Thing sketchbook! Here are five more entries!

Christine Larsen - 2017

Christine Larsen is a criminally underrated artist; she's one of my favorites and I grab some artwork from her whenever I can. This sketch is officially the last one where I was willing to mail the book to the artist, but hey, it was good while it lasted. Check out this full-color Thing bust! Yippee!

Luke McGarry - Comic-Con International 2017

In 2017, I took the sketchbook to Comic-Con in San Diego for the first time, and I have to say, I managed to get some great artwork on this trip. On Preview Night, I found Luke McGarry, who was selling a poster for a music festival that he drew. Included on the poster was Weird Al, so I grabbed that and managed to get a Seussian Thing sketch as well. Here's a look at the poster, too!

You can see Al in the top right corner!

Billy Tucci - Comic-Con International 2017

The Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide, the industry standard for price guides, releases an update every year, and like many comics, they now come with different cover art for different versions. 2017's oversized edition came with a Tick cover by Billy Tucci. Naturally, I grabbed one at the show. Tucci was offering up quick sketches with every price guide purchase (his booth was near the New England Comics booth, too), so I managed to talk him into drawing the Thing in my sketchbook.

Heck, let's look at the price guide, too!

Lots of Easter Eggs in this cover.

Douglas Paszkiewicz - Comic-Con International 2017

Douglas Paszkiewicz is probably best known for his Arsenic Lullaby comic, but I became familiar with him after her drew and issue of The Tick that came out in the fall of 2017. I got a chance to meet Douglas at Comic-Con and, of course, I had my trusty Thing sketchbook with me at the time. I really love this one.

Travis Sengaus - Comic-Con International 2017

Last up is a sketch I never thought I'd get. I've known Travis Sengaus for a while and we've worked together on a few projects, but I had never met him until we bumped into each other at Comic-Con. He wasn't at any booth or table, but he still found some time to hide away for a few minutes and draw this great cigar-chompin' Thing. 

One more item for today! With Disney's recent acquisition of Fox's media properties, Marvel is back to admitting that they own and publish the Fantastic Four, and that means that there has been quite a bit of FF merchandise on the shelves lately. My friend (and yours) Larry found these giant Funko Pop! Thing toys at Target and picked up two for me. There's also a new Fantastic Four Marvel Legends series out there, including this really impressive Thing figure. Both are now mine, and I'm happy to have 'em!

FUBAR press release: FUBAR Press becomes an official imprint of Alterna Comics

Some exciting FUBAR news came down the pipe recently.  Below, in its entirety, is the official press release from Alterna Comics:

FUBAR PRESS now an official imprint of ALTERNA

We are excited to announce the Jeff McComsey's "FUBAR PRESS" has joined forces with Alterna Comics as an official imprint.  FUBAR PRESS will follow in the creator-owned mentality that Alterna is known for an will be headed by President and Publisher Jeff McComsey, Art Director Steve Becker, and Story Editor Jeff McClelland. The imprint will operate under the Alterna Comics banner as it always has but will have their own submissions, story ideas, and creative teams centering around a mash-up of historical-horror fiction.

Branching out with the MOTHER RUSSIA mini-series by Jeff McComsey (debuting issue #1 in stores today), the brand is set to build on the unique story-telling and phenomenal artwork that readers have been enjoying since 2010.  McComsey speaks about his experience with Alterna and the future of FUBAR, "I've worked with Alterna Comics on just about everything I have published since I started making comics in 2007.  From my first series, AMERICAN TERROR to when Steve Becker and I published volume one of FUBAR five years ago, Peter Simeti has been a publisher I can count on.  I'm very proud to finally make FUBAR PRESS an official imprint of Alterna.  While we'll continue to publish FUBAR PRESS books on all platforms available, we will be focusing a large portion of our time and resources on engaging retailers and showing them why we deserve a spot on the shelf in 2015."

For more information on ALTERNA and FUBAR PRESS titles, please visit http://www.alternacomics.com

That's all pretty great!  I'm happy to be involved with the project and I hope it continues for years to come.  I'm currently working on a few upcoming projects, such as a backup story for Mother Russia #3 with Jeff McComsey and Christine Larsen.  I'm reading Don Quixote, the classic novel by Miguel de Cervantes for the first time, so the time seemed right (400 years later) for a FUBAR Quixote story.  Christine really did a fantastic job with it, as we should all be used to by now.

I also just finished lettering a full-length FUBAR tale featuring these two figures pictured above.  This comes out in the music issue, on shelves pretty soon!  Lots of great things going to press in 2015.

Pre-order IDW's "Imaginary Drugs" now!

Well, that was a lengthy break I took from this blog.  Not because I don't love you, blog...don't ever say that.  But I am back with good news!  The Imaginary Drugs anthology will soon be released by IDW, and you can pre-order it now!

I am, of course, very excited that the book will have such a high profile.  What started out as a moderately successful Kickstarter campaign has become a full-fledged wide-release graphic novel.  Not only that, but I was able to jump on as an assistant editor, which means I get to do things like slave away at a table of contents page design.  Above is a shot of it, and you can see my name pop up every so often in the midst of some other really talented creators.

Among some of my stories:

"Eternal Flame" with Paul Tucker!

"Teddy and the Yeti" (perhaps you've heard of it) with Pietro!

And as a special exclusive story to the IDW release, "The Corn Has Ears" with friends Lauren Girdler and Ian Chase Nichols!  Lauren, of course, is a Franks and Beans alumni!  And Ian drew a backup story in the 2014 Tick FCBD issue.

Also joining me on some of my stories is Duane Redhead, Mario Wytch, Rafer Roberts and Christine Larsen!

If you'd like to order this book (and that'd be great), you can do it in one of a few ways.  First, you can go to your local comic shop and use the code NOV140515 to have them reserve it for you (or just ask for it by name).  Second, you can pre-order the book on Amazon right now by clicking here.

I hope the book is well received.  I know that everyone involved put a lot of work into it.

I'll post again soon.  Perhaps it'll be more Comic-Con pictures.  You never know!

"Imaginary Drugs" on Kickstarter

Hello, world.  There's a new comic on Kickstarter that I thought you should be made aware of.  It's an anthology titled "Imaginary Drugs" and it features a number of stories by different creators and it looks just swell.  Oh, and I'm involved in it.  Does that render my evaluations meaningless and this very post overly self-serving and egomaniacal?  No.  No, of course not.

This new collection is spearheaded by Michael McDermott and features a number of FUBAR alum, such as Jonathan Brandon Sawyer, Christine Larsen and K. Michael Russel.  For my part, I've got two never-berfore published stories, and I also did some lettering work on the flagship story, "Saint in the City" by McDermott, Sawyer and Russel.

Included in this comic is "Eternal Flame", a two-part story drawn by the inimitable Paul Tucker:

Paul really put a lot of work into making this story look both futuristic and old fashioned at the same time.  It's the space ballet that I've always wanted to write and I'm always happy to work with Paul.  He doesn't disappoint, if I can say so.

My other inclusion is a brand new Teddy and the Yeti short story drawn by the incomparable Pietro.  In the below preview, we see Ted, the Yeti, and a familiar pooch.  This is one of my favorite stories of all time, for reasons that should seem obvious if you know anything about me.

There are a number of great rewards in the offering, including prints, shirts, and even a set of coasters, one of which features the lead character from Eternal Flame:

There are a couple me-centric rewards, for those who are looking to see just what I'm coughing up to make this book a reality.  I'm offering issues of Teddy and the Yeti, some trading cards and a print with image of the cover to Teddy and the Yeti #2.  If you're super impressed by my lettering "skills", you can even hire me to letter your eight page comic.  Interestingly enough, three people have put a pledge down on the Teddy and the Yeti reward...I have no idea who these people saints are, but I thank them will all my heart:

So if you're looking for a fun comic and are so inclined to click on links to Kickstarter pages, I hope you'll consider Imaginary Drugs for a comic purchase-y buy.  You can find the campaign here:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1562823940/imaginary-drugs

We'll find out in about a month if this project gets funded or not.  I'll post updates here when I think it's prudent.  Wish us luck!