Thing sketchbook, part 21

I've been waiting to show off my new Thing sketchbook for quite a while. I call it new even though I've had it for over three years already - but it's newer than the one I've been filling up since 2003, at any rate. Once I finished posting art from the first book, it finally gave me the opportunity to start sharing these new-ish sketches of Ben Grimm.

This new book is both smaller than the first and more art-worthy; its square pages measure 5.5x5.5 and the paper is both thicker and more archival than the first. Now I don't have to worry as much about one person's drawings bleeding onto the next page (though I still carry something to put under each newly-drawn page as it's being worked on). And while I'll always have a special place in my heart for the first sketchbook, I've found that a smaller working area allows artists an opportunity to spend a little more time making a great sketch and less worrying about filling up all that space of the first book. It creates pages that feel a little more full!

This book has 128 pages in it, which means that it'll take me, like, 15 more years to fill it up at the rate I usually get sketches. That's daunting. Maybe I'll be dead before it's finished! Wouldn't that be something! Anyway, let's take a look at the first five sketches from this new book.

Lonny Chant - New York Comic Con 2016

Lonny is a friend who I know from books like FUBAR; we've worked on a few stories together and I think he's a tremendous artist. NYCC was the first place I took the new book after buying it in 2016, and I'm happy to have this gritty Ben Grimm as the first image in the book.

In the last book, I eventually got another friend to draw something on the inside front cover, which came blank. This new book has a lot of writing on its inside front cover, so I doubt I'll be getting any art on it...though I guess you never know.

Erica Henderson - New York Comic Con 2016

Erica Henderson is probably best known for her work on different Archie titles and Squirrel Girl for Marvel. I walked through artist alley at NYCC with the hope of getting one more sketch for the book's initial run. I really like Erica's blocky, cartoony art - it's perfect for the Thing!

Tim Showers - 2017

After filling up a good portion of the first sketchbook, I would get nervous taking it with me and leaving it with artists while they worked on it (or added it to their to-do lists). The book represented years of effort and I worried a lot about losing it! Once I got the new book, I realized that I didn't have to have the same emotional attachment to it while it was still in its early stages. This was an opportunity for me to not just leave the book for longer periods, but to actually stick the dang thing in the mail and send to various folks to put their own stamp on it.

The first to take up this offer was Tim Showers, a friend I met when I lived in South Carolina; he and I were at a few XCon World shows and I really liked his hip, graffiti-esque artwork. I contacted Tim in early 2017 and he was up to the task. I love the "4" symbol in this one.

Caroline Moore - 2017

Caroline has been a friend of mine since high school, and is a really skilled photographer and graphic designer. She had drawn the Thing for me on a loose sheet of paper before, but I'm happy to get this meme-worthy official entry into the new book. I think I took a drive to her house just to pass off and pick up the book. Was it self-serving? Yes. But I got a Thing sketch out of it. It's a win.

Kurt Belcher - 2017

Kurt is my Naked Man at the Edge of Time collaborator and an all-around good guy. I mailed him the book and he sent back this, dare I say it, Two-in-One sketch with the Thing and Lockjaw. I don't know what it is about it, but I really like the trunks that you can see at the very bottom of the sketch. I guess it's because most artists don't draw ol' Benjy below the shoulders. This one was very fun. And yes, it was getting tough to let the art book out of my sight once I got the first five entries.

I've managed to get a bit of a head start on this new book, so I'll try to update these entries again soon. It's a new Thing sketchbook!

"Sister Powers" miniseries from Keenspot - and an Inktober mini-comic!

Hey everyone. Did you realize that I wrote a series that's out now from Keenspot? I will admit that it kind of caught me by surprise, too.

"Sister Powers" is a book that I wrote quite a number of years ago under the title "Faith and Charity" (after the two main characters) with artist Mario Wytch. Mario and I have known each other for a while, and we've worked together on a few stories that have been published - FUBAR and a short Teddy and the Yeti story among them. Faith and Charity was a story that I enjoyed, but had filed away for some time. I never really expected it to go anywhere. So I was surprised when, earlier this summer, I got a message from Mario letting me know that not only was he drawing it, but that it was going to be published as a three-issue limited series from Keenspot.

Mario was kind enough to let me go back through the script and make a few pre-publication edits. It had been about 13 years since I wrote the story and I was worried that not everything would've held up in the time that had passed. I was happy to see that I still liked most of it, and what I didn't like (mostly melodrama) could be fixed with a new line or two.

I met Mario in person - for the first time in my life - at Comic-Con in July. He had a booth with Keenspot, and a banner for the book under its new title. I do like the logo, which does, of course, take some inspiration from DC's "Super Powers" book from the '80s. Keenspot had a preview book to hand out with a short introduction to the characters in it that I was able to snag.

The first issue of the series came out in September, and it's (probably?) still available through Diamond. The next issue comes out in December, and the final issue of the miniseries follows in March (I think).

Mario and I worked on a new short story with the characters that we're releasing a panel at a time for Inktober. Should I use the hashtag for that? #Inktober? Sure.

We're posting the panels to various social media, and if you'd like to follow along, you can start here with this Twitter post:

For #Inktober this year, @MarioWytch and I are creating a six-page, 31-panel comic where we work on and release one panel per day for the entire month! Here’s the first installment of our story titled “We All Wear Masks”: pic.twitter.com/PRzpCSlJ38

— Jeff McClelland (@JeffMcClelland) October 2, 2019

Here's the Diamond Previews information for issue #2, out in December!

All Star FUBAR!

There's a new volume of FUBAR coming your way soon! All Star FUBAR is scheduled to arrive in comic shops around the end of the month. Did you know this series made it on the New York Times bestsellers list? Have I mentioned that before? I will bring it up until I die, I imagine. Until I die and come back as a terrifying zombie, still talking about that NY Times mention.

This new volume features a knockout cover by Matt Smith, as you can see above. I'm happy to once again be the story editor on this 200-page collection.

In addition to lettering a handful of the stories in this book, I got to write one about Gilgamesh, which is the oldest known surviving story on the planet. The original story has threads in it about the search for life after death, so it wasn't too much of a stretch to add a little horror to the concept. This story has some art from Kurt Belcher.

The volume also publishes a few stories that haven't been collected before, including one of my favorites, "Takin' Care of Business", with art by Rob Croonenborghs.

It also collects, for the first time, "Eat It", my "Weird Al" Yankovic tribute, with art by Jim McMunn and Jeff McComsey.

All Star FUBAR brings back a lot of the creators you've come to expect under McComsey's wing, such as Eric Esquivel, Jennie Wood, Shawn Aldridge, plus some new contributors like fellow Tick friends Benito Cereno and Tony Sedani. You can find copies at your local comic shop starting April 25th, and soon after online directly from Alterna here:

https://www.alternacomics.com/product-page/fubar-all-star

...and from Amazon here:

https://www.amazon.com/FUBAR-All-Star-Jeff-McComsey/dp/1945762144

Thing sketch cards, part 6

Happy holidays, everyone! Let's look at some Thing sketch cards I've picked up semi-recently!

D. Lynch - I like this card for several reasons: 1) It's a different shot of the character than what you might normally expect; 2) It's fully colored; 3) It might be drawn by David Lynch, creator of "Twin Peaks" (I mean, who can say for sure?).

Shawn Atkins - Atkins is a Pittsburgh local and even though he writes swear words on sketch cards, I like his work a lot. I picked this up at the Toonseum last summer; he's also got an Invisible Woman card there that I have to believe I'll eventually purchase.

Carl Yonder - I backed artist Carl Yonder's "Leo Cosmos" Kickstarter project and pledged at the level that got me, among other things, a sketch card, so naturally I requested a drawing of the Thing. Carl drew a mashup of his character and Ben Grimm, which is why the Thing sports hair in various places. Carl has previously drawn the Thing in my sketchbook and is a fellow FUBAR contributor!

Matthew Buttich - I found this card on eBay and watched it for an estimated million years before finally pulling the trigger on it. I think the different shades of black add a lot to this card.

Tim Shinn - This card was also an eBay find, and I love it because I love trench coat Thing, just as everyone in his or her right mind loves trench coat Thing.

This was a good batch! And there's more to come!

At the Central PA Comic Con? Pick up FUBAR: War of the Roses

A few months ago, Jeff McComsey and I put together a new FUBAR story that debuts this weekend at the Central PA Comic Con. Comic shop "The Comic Store" has two locations - one in Lancaster, one in York, and so they brought up the idea of doing a story based on the War of the Roses and the struggle between the two eponymous houses. The end result is FUBAR: War of the Roses (with a cover by Brett Weldele), and there are a few places where you can grab a copy if you'd like.

The first is at the Central PA Comic Con, which started yesterday and rolls into tomorrow, March 6th. You can find out more about the show here: http://www.centralpacomiccon.com/home.html

Afterwards, you can find any remaining copies at either The Comic Store or The Comic Store West.

Lancaster Online ran a nice story about the book, which you can read here: http://lancasteronline.com/features/lancaster-and-york-comic-shops-create-war-of-the-roses/article_46a57528-e171-11e5-9a47-a31c80a07135.html

They even made a video about it:



This is our first exclusive FUBAR book and it's neat to see. Maybe we'll see more in the future if all goes well. Thanks to the folks at The Comic Store for setting this up.

EDIT: The book has been spotted in the wild! Very neat. I hope sales are brisk.

"Weird Al" Yankovic in "Eat It", a FUBAR comic by McClelland, McMunn and McComsey

Read the story for free here!

I've been involved with FUBAR for about five years now, and there are a lot of stories that I'm proud of and enjoyed working on. A while ago, I wrote a story featuring Elvis Presley and the many conspiracies surrounding his death. It ran much longer than I had planned, so it was eventually decided that it could support its own single-issue book, which soon grew to a full 32-page issue to be filled out with a few backups. These backups would all focus on musical artists. I almost made the biggest mistake of my life (possibly) by not putting two and two together and writing one of the stories about "Weird Al" Yankovic. But soon enough I came to the obvious conclusion and the eight-page short "Eat It" was born.

The story itself might just be the easiest thing I've ever written in my entire life, as the inspiration was of course there. I tried to add in as many references as I could and sent the script off. Jeff McComsey provided the pencil roughs before sending it off to Jim McMunn for the finished art. I lettered the final product, which I'm very happy to see completed. McComsey and I decided to show the entire "Eat It" story online, and you can read the whole dang thing for free here: http://imgur.com/gallery/17maB/new

The entire issue, titled "All the King's Corpses" and featuring an Elvis cover by Danny Cruz and Paul Little, while be solicited in Previews soon. In addition to the Elvis and Weird Al stories by me, there's a Jim Morrison story by Michael McDermott and Will Perkins, a Waylon Jennings tale by your friend (and mine) Larry Franks and Kelly Williams, and a new Combat Quiz by Jennie Wood and Williams.

When I was at the Baltimore Comic-Con a few months ago, Jeff McComsey surprised me with the eight pencil roughs, all framed up and looking great. I was really taken back. This is hanging up right behind my computer, actually, so I'm looking right at it as I type this.

Not only that, but soon after, Jim McMunn was kind enough to send me the original page art for the story. Here are a few images of that.

Jim finished all of the artwork digitally, so the physical pages are in different states of completion. They look just fantastic and I'm absolutely thrilled to have them in my possession. This was a passion project that will hopefully have some appeal for others as well. I'm so glad that I finally got to write a Weird Al story. I'm even more grateful that some friends helped out and that it turned out as good as it did. I hope you all enjoy it as well!

Addendum: Sometimes I think, "what can I title this post that might make it show up earlier in search results?" Or, "if someone sees an image from this post on a Google search, how can I try to make sure he or she knows that I had something to do with this?" (this usually occurs when I am shouting into the void). And then, a title like the one at the top of this post is born. Carry on.

Support "Honcho" on Kickstarter!

Howdy, folks. It's been a while, but I hope you haven't missed me too much. 2015 is crawling to a close and, all things, considered, it's been a good one for me and comics. I've been very lucky to work on some really fun books and I feel like I've made a little more headway this year than in years past. I apologize for not updating this blog as much as I probably should, but I guess that when my choices are to write a blog about how much I hate the Fantastic Four movie and work on a comic script, I'm best served by doing the latter (usually). Now the real key is to figure out a way to quit my day job so that I can write both a lot more often. Who knows? Maybe one day it'll happen.

Here's some exciting news to close out the year: I'm working on a new book with FUBAR's Jeff McComsey and Paul Little and Pietro titled "Honcho". The book is currently campaigning on Kickstarter, and I hope that you'll take a few minutes to check it out and, if you'd like, pre-order the first volume!

Honcho is a story that takes place in the far-flung future of the 1980s, 15 years after World War III ruined much of the civilized world. Our protagonist, Captain Stanley, arrives on the shores of North Carolina claiming to represent the United States government in exile. He finds a country split into factions, many of which have taken to baseball to divide territory and settle disputes. Can Stanley unite the separate factions on his way to Charlotte? Is Stanley even in his right mind to begin with?

Honcho takes a lot of its influence from Miguel De Cervantes's Don Quixote, a book I've come to love in the past year, so I'm excited to try and channel some of that madness into this new graphic novel. The first eight pages of the story are available to read on Jeff McComsey's blog, here: https://mccomseycomix.wordpress.com/2015/11/29/honchovolume-one-preview/

The campaign has a few days left to go, and I'm happy to say that we've met our initial goal. There are plenty of stretch goals to be had, though (including some retro baseball cards, which I'm nuts about), and up next on the list are some Honcho mini comics, which I really hope we are able to do.

If you have a second, do me a favor and check out the campaign. It is set to end just after midnight on Monday, January 4th! Keep your fingers crossed for us. Here's to a productive 2016.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1607639297/honcho-volume-one

Upcoming convention appearances - Wizard World Pittsburgh, Baltimore Comic-Con and NYCC

My convention schedule has been fairly light in recent years.  I know some creators who travel all across North America throughout the year peddling books and other comic-related items - and I honestly can't understand how they have the money and mental fortitude to do it.  In any case, earlier this year I decided that I would try to get to a few more shows in the upcoming months.  My school schedule doesn't really allow for long trips outside of the summer, and the summer is swallowed up pretty quickly by Comic-Con in San Diego, but I've managed to get a few items on the schedule for September and October.

The first show is happening in...just a few weeks, it seems!  It's the inaugural Wizard World Pittsburgh show.  I'm not really sure what to expect.  Wizard World takes over for the former Pittsburgh Comicon, and it makes its move from Monroeville to downtown Pittsburgh, which is exciting.  Wizard World has a bit of a reputation for focusing on celebrities over creators, but so far I've had no complains about my interaction with the staff of the show.

They even put a link to my bio right on the front page, along with everyone else.  I, of course, forgot to include a reference to Imaginary Drugs, one of my two higher profile publications to date.  Oh well.

Next up, I'll be returning to the Baltimore Comic-Con for the first time in a few years.  This show takes place at the end of September, just two weeks after the Pittsburgh show.  Since expanding from their previous two-day format to a more traditional Friday-Saturday-Sunday schedule, it's been more difficult for me to come to this show.  This year, however, I'm sharing a table with the very talented Jennie Wood, which allows me to be there just on Saturday and Sunday.  Jennie will be debuting the second volume of the popular Flutter series at the show.  I was lucky enough to get a chance to letter this new volume, so I'll be signing copies along with Jennie those two days.  Series artist Jeff McComsey will also be at the show, so it'll be a whole dang event.  Here's a visual representation of my lettering spree over the weekend:

We'll be at booth A223 for the show.  That's located in artist alley.

And just a few weeks after that, I'll be at the New York Comic-Con in New York City.  The plan right now is for me to be there on Friday and Saturday of the four-day convention.  I'll be wandering around aimlessly plenty of the time, but I'll also be making stops to sign books and generally gawk at the crowds at both the FUBAR and Flutter booths.

Oh, and Rafer Roberts will be giving out copies of the newest volume of Thanos and Darkseid: Carpool Buddies of Doom at the show.  I love these dang things.  I am going to snatch one up like nobody's business.

It'll be a busy few weeks.  Afterwards, I think I'll stay at home until February.  But we'll see.

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.

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!

The triumphant return of RANDOM NOTES!! Steel City Con, FUBAR, Kickstarter, Franks and Beans and more!

Selected short subjects:

- The latest of the installment of the Steel City Con was held at the beginning of April.  I'm continually surprised at how popular this show has become.  There are three shows a year and you'd think it'd suffer from fatigue by this point, but it seems to still be gaining steam.  It'll be interesting to see how it holds up after the Wizard World Pittsburgh show later in the year.

I was able to snag a few cool items from the show, including some Thing items and some comics.

All of these books were around 50 cents each, so I grabbed about 40 of them and spent way too much time looking through boxes...but there were some cool finds to be had, including Superboy #101 (in rough shape, but still), the last issue of Strange Tales vol. 2 (the only issue of the series that featured the Thing, a mainstay in the first volume) and the second issue of Simpsons Comics.

There was also a big Dukes of Hazzard presence at the show.  Larry wrote more about it on his blog, and you should check it out!

- I'm pretty sure this Thing magnet is homemade, but when I saw it at Pittsburgh Comics I had to grab it.  I can't quite place the artist, and it's driving me nuts.  Needless to say, I love it.

- The Pittsburgh Indy Comix Expo came and went at the end of March, and it was better than I expected.  I managed to sell some books and buy a few that came home with me.  There was a lot of talent at this small show, which was encouraging.  I also met Don Simpson there, and we struck up a dialogue, at which point I learned that he...works at the same school that I do.  That is really bizarre.

Don is offering up a class for the fall semester in cartooning and character design.  This would be an awesome class to take.

- The second volume of Jennie Wood and Jeff McComsey's is currently up on Kickstarter and it's nearing its goal.  This is a great book and a the kind of comic the industry needs more of.  Check out the campaign and pledge if you can!

And speaking of Kickstarters...the UHF movie campaign is nearing its end with some work to be done.  It's finished on the evening of Sunday, April 26th, so if you haven't pledged yet...there are only a few more days to do so!

Some of the rewards for the campaign are making their way to me, including these 8-bit pins featuring characters from the movie.

- I'm currently catching up on some lettering work.  Whenever I letter, I use a page from IDW's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comic as a template.  I type in "that's turtle power!" every time I start a new project to make sure that my letters are the size they should be.  This continues to amuse me, so I'm sharing it.

Just what am I lettering?  Among other things, some FUBAR for the By the Sword collection, including this short story titled "The Leper King", written by Mark Bertolini with art by Chris McFann.

- And lastly, there's a newly released, really short episode of Franks and Beans to watch!  This episode was originally released as a Vine, hence the brief time limit.  There's also a loop of the video (100 times, over and over) in case you want to feel the cold grip of insanity.

Wow, these random notes are fun.  Look for them again whenever the hell I feel like writing them.  See you then!