Planet Comics #2 is now on Kickstarter!

 

Last year, the first issue of Planet Comics met its goal on Kickstarter, and last month, I was able to print the issue and start sending it out. Here it is! It exists!

I've decided to press my luck and make a second issue, and now the campaign for this book is on Kickstarter! This one runs until the last week of March. Let's take a look at what we'll find for the second issue of the new Planet Comics!

Like the first issue, issue #2 comes with two cover, a regular cover by Adrián "Bago" Gonzalez...

...and a Kickstarter exclusive by Andrés Muños Setz! This one is a companion piece to the exclusive first issue cover by Matthew Dow Smith.

The Bulwark returns for a second chapter as the lead story of this issue.

Andrea Schiavone once again provides the art for this story! I'm excited to have a story that continues from one issue to the next! Most of my stories have been single-issue tales so far, so it's nice to write one that stretches out over a few issues.

I'm really excited to have the opportunity to publish an original Grumble story from Rafer Roberts and Mike Norton. Grumble just ended its run with Eric Powell's Albatross Funny Books and to have it continue here is a big deal.

Jeff McComsey's "The Old Man and The Sea of Love" continues in this issue as well!

Another new feature in this issue is "Badges O'Keefe, Canine Time Thief" with Dani Grew and your friend (and mine) Larry Franks! I love working with Dani on pretty much anything (Larry is okay), so I'm really excited about this story. There's also a reward where you can have your dog drawn into the book!

See?!

There are a bunch of rewards this time around, from other comics to shirts and pins to social media profile art.

I launched the project two days ago, and we're currently a little over 50% toward the goal. This gives me hope! If we reach the goal, I'll have stretch goals that I'll announce soon, but will most importantly include more content for the book.

I hope you can check out, support and/or share this project and help me make another issue of Planet Comics! Here's the link! Look at it! LOOK AT IT!! https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/jeffmcclelland/planet-comics-issue-2?ref=creator_nav

My Disenchantment pitch comic - "Baby Trail Fairy Tale" with Dani Grew

Following up on the previous Disenchantment post, I thought I'd offer up a look at a pitch comic that artist Dani Grew and I made for Comic-Con 2019. My intention was to use this as a pitch to Bongo Comics, which published Simpsons Comics, Futurama Comics, and was overseen (in a broad sense) by Matt Groening.

I knew some folks with the company and I felt pretty good about the quality of the story, but when I got to Comic-Con and made my way to the Bongo booth, I found out that the company in the process of closing up shop, at least for the time being. The lack of a Disenchantment comic is a big oversight in the licensed comic game, and I have to believe that several companies would leap to publish it if it were available. Maybe it'll happen one day!

This comic takes place during the first season, of course, but I think that I got the characters' voices right despite only having a few episodes to work from. I hope you enjoy this Disenchantment comic!

Executive producer Josh Weinstein posted this on Twitter a few days ago. The bottle of mermaid mead was apparently given to some of the folks who worked on the show. Maybe one will (quietly?) show up on eBay one day!

Bean & Mora, together forever on my shelf (or at least 'til an earthquake.) pic.twitter.com/QyJ8dL90oW

— Josh Weinstein (@Joshstrangehill) January 17, 2021

"Black Terror: Social Insecurity" campaign on Kickstarter

I've got a new comic that is currently up and running on Kickstarter - Black Terror: Social Insecurity!

A few years ago, Rafer Roberts and I created the short story Black Terror: Wednesday at the Diner, and the basic concept was this: old, Golden Age superheroes meet up at a diner and talk about their problems. It was a lot of fun (and Rafer is really good at drawing old people), and I've wanted to do more with the concept for a good long while now.

While "Wednesday" was a short story, "Social Insecurity" is a full-length story that follows all of the Diner crew into a new adventure in geriatrics, such as the Black Terror's quest to keep his government benefits without giving up his secret identity.

Rafer helped us out with a new cover (the first image in the video at top), and artist Ryan Howe has jumped in to do the art on the new story, with Tomas Marijanovic on colors.

Ryan brings a classic style and some smooth lines to these 80-year-old characters. I'm very excited with what he's been able to do so far! The book collects the Wednesday at the Diner story, in addition to the new, full-length story, plus some other material that I'm hoping to add if the campaign is successful.

I've also got some rewards lined up for the campaign. Let's take a look at one of 'em:

I'm really happy with how these enamel pins turned out - they're big and shiny and really high quality. They're designed by my friend Dani Grew, based on the original cover icon that showed up on a lot of early Black Terror covers in the 1940s. This pin is about 1.5 inches big, which is hefty for a pin.

I've also got stickers, prints, and bookplates set as reward for various tiers in the campaign.

I'm trying to raise enough money to make it possible to print the books and pay our various artists for their work. Kickstarter is a way to make that happen and I hope that it's successful. If it's REALLY successful, well, more books will follow, but right now I'm just hoping that we can get this one book (and various rewards) finished and printed.

If you're interested in a the book, I hope you'll take a look at the campaign and pledge if you'd like! You can get to the main page by clicking...well, almost anything that's clickable on this post, but here's a direct link, too: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/jeffmcclelland/black-terror-social-insecurity?ref=creator_nav

Lastly, I'll leave you with a Black Terror commission that I got from Ramona Fradon, one of my favorite artists, who has been working in comics since 1950 - almost as long as the Black Terror has been around!

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!