"Peril in Pittsburgh!"

It's a well-known comic book fact that most superheroes live either in New York City or in a fictional NYC placeholder like Metropolis or Gotham. But every once in a while, there are a few comics that break out of that mold and visit other real-life locations. Pittsburgh, I'd say, has been a bit underrepresented in comics in general, though there are exceptions. Firestorm is probably the most well known mainstream character to call the Steel City his home, and fellow Western PA creator DJ Coffman set his "Hero By Night" Platinum Comics series in Pittsburgh.

I recently picked up the two-part Avengers storyline that brought Iron Man and Wonder Man (and eventually the full Avengers lineup) to Pittsburgh, and I thought I'd give it a look here on the ol' blog. The storyline runs through Avengers 192 and 193. The A+ team of George Perez and Joe Sinnott drew the cover to issue 192, and it seems that Perez had read up on all of the latest Pittsburgh cliches for the non-superhero stuff: men in hardhats (with literal blue collars), smokestacks, industry. Checks all of the boxes.

If you look closely at the guy in the middle, I think his hardhat says "Weiner". Cool.

If you've ever seen a Monday Night Football Steelers broadcast, you've seen this shot. And you've heard them talk about the city's confluence of three rivers. So we're hitting the ground running, right from page one. This issue had a cover date of February, 1980, meaning it came out right a the end of the decade, and when this image still probably fit for Pittsburgh. Fun fact: they do still make steel in Pittsburgh forty years later, but it's actually not the only thing that happens, or has ever happened, in the city.

The plot of the story revolves around this: steelworker Joseph Conroy, who in Journey into Mystery #120 grabbed a sliver of Thor's broken hammer (gotta find that issue now, too), is thrown into a cauldron of molten steel. Simon Williams (Wonder Man) and Tony Stark (Iron Man) are in town, as Stark is considering purchasing the plant.

I have to believe that the second balloon was added at the last minute.

Conroy's co-workers give him a gruesome burial, and then get right back to work, and no one seems too bothered by the fact that someone just got incinerated right before their eyes. What can you do, I guess?

But then, as a result of holding onto the Mjolnir sliver, Conroy is transformed into the Pittsburgh Steeler! No, wait, I guess he chose another name. Okay.

There's a fight, which Iron Man politely narrates...

Oh! And there's a Mr. Fantastic ad for Hostess Fruit Pies! Wait, it's for Twinkies? No, I refuse to believe that Hostess made comics for any product other than their fruit pies. If I'm not mistaken, I'd say this ad has art from Sal Buscema.

I feel like Captain America is being overly dismissive of Pittsburgh here. Has he seen the air quality ratings for the last 50 years?

"Battleground: Pittsburgh!" is a great title. I like it.

Issue 192 was pretty light on any Pittsburgh-specific details. Yes, it takes place at a steel mill, and I guess a lot of folks (still) associate that with Pittsburgh, but this story really could have taken place anywhere. After reading this, my hopes weren't very high for the second chapter:

"Inferno Unleashed!" The other title was better. This issue has a cover by none other than Frank Miller and Bob McLeod! And is that supposed to be an incline car??

On the first page, one thing stood out to me: the plot credit for the Pittsburgh Comix Club. I've gotta believe that the writer or editorial team knew that they had to add a little more specific information in this issue, so they sought out a local fan club to help out.

The Pittsburgh Comix Club is an interesting group worth reading about; you can find more info on them here and here.

The issue opens up with a quick recap of the previous one. Joseph Conroy is now Joe, and the colorist seems to have gotten a note from editorial, as well.

The Avengers come to Pittsburgh, and its citizens make, okay, a pretty good joke.

Everyone decides on "Inferno" for the misunderstood villain's name, as he hunts down those responsible for his untimely demise. One guy narrates his own death, as he is rather unceremoniously crushed by a barge.

Oh, hey! And then the Pittsburgh references start to flow. The Pittsburgh Comix Club is coming through in the clutch, just like Bill Mazeroski in the 1960 World Series! Inferno is apparently near the Liberty Bridge, which is moving away from downtown, and is near Duquesne University, the Civic Arena (since torn down) and the Liberty Tunnels!

This would have been a good time to use "jagoff" instead of "jerk", but okay. You can't win 'em all.

Pretty soon, there's another reference, this time to the famous Duquesne Incline! To make it from the Liberty Bridge to this particular incline station in five minutes would be possible, I guess, if there were no traffic.

LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, WE HAVE A STEELERS REFERENCE

And here, on page 18, we can only assume that the artists found a Pittsburgh reference guide, because that is undeniably the Duquesne Incline station depicted.

Yep - it checks out.

Casual misogyny...check...

And wait...there's even a reference to Mt. Washington, at the top of the incline, and maybe even a shot of the fountain at Point State Park (even though this isn't the view you'd see from the observation trail)? Better yet, the story's real villain, the steel mill owner who, through a rather convoluted scheme, had Joe Conroy killed, lives on Mt. Washington, a wealthy part of the city.

The Avengers apprehend him by breaking through the world's largest window!

And then they let Inferno simply walk into the river, I guess never to return? The Avengers sure do like to have loose ends tied up, no matter how it has to happen!

Oh, and there's an ad for Star Trek: The Motion Picture on the back cover!

So, this wasn't a great story overall, but it's obvious that the Pittsburgh Comix Club had a big hand in adding a lot of references to the second half, and that, at least, was enjoyable. Both of the issues felt quite a lot like filler to me, and the story ends with a mystically-powered force of nature walking off unchecked toward a populated city, but I guess we'll have to take what we can get with these issues. It was still fun to see Pittsburgh so prominently featured in two Bronze Age issues of the Avengers.

Thing sketchbook, part 20

It's been a long, long time since I've posted any updates to my Thing sketchbook routine. That's because my first sketchbook, purchased over 15 years ago from Waldenbooks, had exactly one blank area left, that being the inside back cover. I handed it to my pal Jeff McComsey a while ago with specific instructions. Now that it's been returned to me, I can say that the first Thing sketchbook is (mostly) complete. There are two entries that I might try and have inked at some point, but for now...all spaces have been filled. And there are 97 drawings of the Thing included!

Let's look at the last two entries, plus anything that's changed since I initially posted about them:

Jeff McComsey - Pittsburgh Comicon 2013

This drawing resides on the inside front cover. It's a partial recreation of one of my favorite Thing stories - Marvel Two-in-One #50. Jeff drew the top half, all the way to the sketchbook's spine. Here's what the original George Perez/Joe Sinnott cover looks like:

Jeff McComsey - Baltimore Comic-Con 2011/Pittsburgh Comicon 2013

Not only did Jeff draw the Two-in-One recreation in 2013, but he finished up a sketch that he had started two years earlier at the Baltimore Comic-Con. At top is the 2011 version...

...and this is the finished version, completed at the Pittsburgh Comicon.

Derek Fridolfs/Ian Nichols - New York Comic Con 2013/Comic-Con International 2017

I met Derek Fridolfs at the 2013 NYCC show, and asked him to draw Ben Grimm from Marvel's Ultimate Universe. As those books were winding down, the Thing shed his rocky exterior in exchange for some energy-based powers. Also he was purple.

I thought that this was an entry that could use some color, because it's so different from what we usually think of when we consider the Thing. So at Comic-Con in 2017, I passed the book to my friend Ian Nichols and he added some watercolors to the inked version.

Chris Burnham - Comic-Con International 2016

This is the last actual page in the sketchbook. I knew that I didn't want to take any chances with the very last entry into the book, so I scanned artist alley at Comic-Con and found Chris Burnham, who might be best known for his Batman work with Grant Morrison. Chris was a little nervous when I told him that I had been carrying the book around since 2003 and was giving him the last page, but he stepped up and added another memorable Thing to the book.

Then he took a picture with the book! Love that Pac Man lanyard.

Jeff McComsey - 2019

And now here we are - at the end of the book. Jeff held onto the sketchbook for, wow, a couple years, and he tells me that he kept it in a fireproof safe while in his possession. But he finished it up in style, drawing this partial recreation of 1983's Thing #1 on the inside back cover. Here's a look at the original, from John Byrne and Ron Wilson:

Like I said, there are two entries in the book that I'd like to have inked, so this might not be the very last time to break open the sketchbook. And I started a new sketchbook at New York in 2016, so there are plenty more Thing posts to come. But this book will always hold a special place for me. I'm kind of surprised that I never lost it! I don't know that I'll ever be able to top it.

The Thing #31 original art by Ron Wilson!

For someone who is a pretty big fan of the Thing, it's taken me quite a while to get some original art from one of the character's solo titles.  Much of that is because both Marvel Two-in-One and the first Thing volume are between 25 and 35 years old, and the second volume ran a meager eight issues (seriously, what a revoltin' development THAT was).  Add this to the fact that some of those who contributed large swaths of material to the earlier series were named Byrne, Buscema, Perez and Kirby, and there aren't many pages floating around out there that I can afford.

I have been keeping an eye on one newcomer, though, for quite a while, and a few weeks ago the price dropped to a number that I was able to commit to, so I'm happy to say that I'm now the owner of an original page of artwork from the first solo Thing series, namely, issue #31, page 9, with art by Ron Wilson and Kim DeMulder, and letters by Jack Morelli.

As I've lamented before, the Thing (in both Two-in-One and his original series) has had some truly awful stories told about him.  There have been plenty of highlights as well, to be sure, but also a lot of fluff and other stories best left forgotten.  The final dozen or so issues of the Thing volume one fits into that category, as he returns from a strange trip to the Secret Wars planet only to wander around aimlessly for a time, joining a professional wrestling team and feeling depressed.  Also he wore boots, which I hated.

Issue #31 featured one of those aimless stories, where Ben hangs out with Sharon Ventura (later the She-Thing) as she tries to be an actress in a Hollywood production of a movie featuring the Devil Dinosaur.  Ben keeps mistaking movie props and situations for the real thing, and as a result he halts production several times due to his ill-timed heroics (at one point, he punches an animatronic Devil Dinosaur and everyone gives him heck for it).

This is, of course, not to say that I'm anything less than thrilled to own a page of Thing history.  This particular page has seen some wear, as its corners are clipped (which is the case with a lot of pages from this time) and there are a number of editorial notes written in the margins.  These notes and other corrections add a lot to the page, and it took me a minute to realize that most of them are simply corrections in the dialogue.  For instance, I thought that the following panel:

might be the result of a spat between the artist and the editor, before I realized that it was simply a note for the letterer, probably in an attempt to get Ben off the hook for his mishap with the Devil Dinosaur robot.  There are several of these corrections, and plenty of White Out, on the page.

Two of the panels were swapped out after the fact, and in 1985/86 that meant cutting the board, swapping the panels and taping it all back together.

The page came with a copy of the issue the art appeared in, which was a nice gesture.  I'll definitely bring the book with me if I ever happen to see Ron Wilson at a convention again.  He's a classic Thing artist, having worked on more issues of both Two-in-One and the Thing than any other artist, and even though this issue was toward the end of the book and chronicled a rather inauspicious period in the character's history, it's still pretty nifty.  I may never own one of the more high end pieces (check out this guy's collection! Yow!), but I'm more than pleased to finally have in my possession some original Thing art.

Thing sketchbook, part 10

It's pretty astounding that I've now got over 50 sketches in my Thing sketchbook...the recent Pittsburgh Comicon put it over the top.  I'm now past the halfway mark in my book.  Woo!  Now that I've got more to show, here are entries 46-50.

Patrick Block - Pittsburgh Comic & Collectibles Show 2011



Fellow Pittsburgher Patrick Block has spent years drawing Donald Duck and similar characters for pretty much whomever has the Disney comic book license at any given time. When I asked him to draw in this book, I guessed that I might see the Thing as a duck when I got it back. Instead I got a great, classic shot of the Thing with a no-doubt Uncle Scrooge reference to boot. The detail - all the money floating around - makes this sketch an instant classic.

Daniel Leister - Pittsburgh Comic & Collectibles Show 2011



Daniel Leister regularly draws the book "Hack/Slash" for Image comics, and every time I see him I feel like I'm pestering him (or fellow creator Tim Seeley) to take a look at my work. They probably hate me. But Daniel drew this confident-looking Thing at the very end of the show in no time flat.




I handed him the book without much explanation, and as I went back to my table, I thought, "did I even mention that every sketch in here is of the Thing?" It would have been terrifying to open the book up to see 47 sketches of the Thing and one of something - anything - else. But what I got was basically a clinic on how to draw the character.

Brittany Michel - Pittsburgh Comicon 2012



Brittany Michel draws the webcomic "Snow By Night" (www.snowbynight.com), and she recently had the title of "person next to me at the Pittsburgh convention". She's got a great fantasy style and I was impressed by all of the little character drawings she had in her sketchbook. Some deft haggling got me this great, unique Thing sketch. Love the smile.

Stephen Lindsay - Pittsburgh Comicon 2012



Stephen Lindsay created the book "Jesus Hates Zombies" and - little known fact! - came up with the title for the FUBAR books that I'm involved in. He also has tattoos of the Hot Dog Knights from Adventure Time, which puts him right up there in my book. I tossed the sketchbook at him on the first day of the show, and he came back with a drawing of the Thing with nipples. That's a first for the book, and as such I like it.

George Perez - Pittsburgh Comicon 2012



George Perez is a longtime fan favorite comic book artist who drew the main Fantastic Four title (as well as Marvel Two-in-One) in the 1970s. During his time on the book, the Thing lost his powers and reverted to plain ol' Ben Grimm. The solution to this problem? Reed built him a Thing suit and business resumed pretty much as usual. I did my best to push George in the "Thing suit" direction and eventually my prodding paid off. What a great piece by a classic artist.

That's all for now.  I'll hopefully be adding a few more entries at conventions later in the year, so stay tuned for more great sketches of the Thing!