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.

original Ben Grimm artwork from The Thing #11 (1984)!

After the last day of Comic-Con in July, I had a cookout with some friends at the house I rented for the week. It's a Comic-Con tradition, and honestly one of the things I look forward to most about the show. One friend brought over her Nintendo Switch, and in between rounds of Mario Kart, my pal Ian Nichols handed me this great page of original artwork from the 1980s Thing series.

This page features the one-and-only Benjamin J. Grimm in his human form. It's the final page of issue 11 - page 22 or 30, depending on if you count the ads - as Ben walks off into the distance.

Over the years, most of the word balloons and captions have been lost, and only remnants of the yellowed glue remain. The first panel is the only one that still has any words on it, including the seemingly prophetic, "It would take...years to find such a thing..."

This issue comes directly after the events in the Secret Wars series, where the Thing decides to remain on Battleworld. The series got pretty weird for a while, with the Thing (often as Ben Grimm) fighting a number of imaginary monsters, including Frankenstein.

The art on this issue comes from Ron Wilson and Joe Sinnott, both longtime Thing artists. John Byrne wrote the script.

At the top of the page, we can see the official Thing title stamp, finished off in permanent marker, it seems.

And at the bottom, we find a signature from "Joltin'" Joe Sinnott himself, which adds a lot to this page, I think.

On the back of the page, we have some legalese from 1984.

Here's the issue in question, giving the Thing a new nickname - Rocky Grimm - and setting him up on some very strange adventures.

And here's the final story page as it was printed. It allows us to fill in the missing dialogue from the page, which has Ben basically threatening his new minions in order to get them to search through their endless piles of pilfered goods, even if it'll take 'em years to do so. That'll show 'em!

I'm pretty excited to add this page to my collection. Thanks to Ian for an unexpected surprise! As always, it remains clobberin' time!

Pictures from the 2019 New York Comic Con, part 1 (Thursday, 10/3)

So I guess one of my hobbies is taking lots of pictures at comic book conventions. I don't know why I always feel compelled to do so. But it's just one of those things, I guess. I went to the New York Comic Con earlier this month, so let's see some pictures from it!

I think that this is the first year that I went to the show on a Thursday. Since there are always tickets remaining for this day, I expected it to be less crowded than usual. It was decidedly not the case. I arrived around 1:00 to find a meetup of the spider people. Wait who's that on the edge there, to the right?

IT'S SPIDER-MAN 2099, EVERYONE!!

Then it was off to the Javits Center on another gloomy October day. It had just cooled off the day before and felt like fall.

In years past, professionals had a specific entrance they could enter through, but it seems that it was open to everyone this year. Lines were longer than I had expected.

And the inside was pretty crowded.

Look, it's more folks dressed up in Scoops Ahoy costumes from Stranger Things! I considered trying to track down as many as I could find, like I did in San Diego, but...I decided to let it go. It was for the best. There were a lot of them.

This guy knew that he could pull this Mr. T look off. He was correct.

I was able to sneak into the Marvel exclusives line toward the end of the day. This Spider-Man costume was on display, which is apparently used at theme parks? While I waited in line, I was regaled by an incredibly annoying sales pitch from the main stage that talked all about the new live action Marvel productions happening at theme parks. And yet, I did not once see someone in a Thing costume. So I do not care about them.

Legendary FF creator John Byrne made a rare appearance at the IDW booth.

This was an impressive, albeit somewhat unsettling, costume.

It's the Saga crew!

Captain Marvel!

Look at this thing. Just look at it! The Arcade1Up folks have really struck gold with their affordable video game cabinets. I saw a TMNT one the other day and man, I'm tempted to get it. I think I have to get a game room first.

For the last hour of the show, I hung out at the New England Comics booth, which was located in a new spot in the publisher's section on the floor. Ian Nichols was there with the new Tick NYCC special, which I wrote. We signed a few copies before the show closed!

One nice thing that NYCC does is that it keeps artist alley open an hour after the show floor closes. A lot of the artists set up there, though, head out at 7:00, which kind of defeats the purpose. Ah well. I think that the construction happening at the Javits Center is supposed to be done - let me check - ah, hell, not until 2021? Sheesh. One more year, I guess. Wait, the expansion is set to include a one-acre rooftop farm? Huh. That's interesting.

Anyway, I did make my way to artist alley before calling it an evening. And this person challenged me to a game. What's the harm?

I found Supergirl and She-Hulk before I left.

That's it for Thursday. More to come.

Remembering Fantastic Four artist Paul Ryan

Earlier today I learned that one of my favorite artists, Paul Ryan, had passed away at the age of 66. I haven't read anything about a cause, but I was stunned to learn this not only because Ryan was still relatively young, but also because I grew up reading his run on Fantastic Four with Tom DeFalco. Ryan is one of the reasons that I love the FF so much, and his years-long stint on the book is still the third-longest in the title's history, behind only Kirby and Byrne. In fact, I learned today that Ryan's first Marvel work was as an inker on the '80s Thing series!

Ryan drew in a classic style that I've only become more appreciative of as I've gotten older. It was the perfect amalgamation of Kirby, Byrne, Swan, Anderson, and other classic, steady styles of the Golden, Silver and Bronze ages. Back when the extreme (and silly) art styles of 1990s Image Comics were all the rage, Ryan's art was a consistent, solid presence on one of comics' greatest titles. He's known for his work on Superman, Flash, Avengers, Iron Man, DP7 and currently the Phantom comic strip, but he'll always be a Fantastic Four artist to me, and one of the greatest. The above cover to issue #370 was the first issue I bought with my own money, back in '92 at the Uniontown Mall.

I was very fortunate to have the chance to work briefly with Ryan a few years ago, when I contacted him about a commission and some original art. I purchased this page from Fantastic Four #390 for the paltry sum of $100. I decided to press my luck and was able to get some comics signed and, for a little extra, I got this Thing sketch card mailed to me:

The thing I'm most thankful for, though, is that I actually got the chance to commission an original Teddy and the Yeti cover from Ryan. His website said that he wasn't taking commissions at the time, but after talking to him for a little while, he told me that his website developer simply hadn't updated the site and that he was indeed taking commissions.

I jumped at the news and a few weeks later, he sent me the original art that you see here, including a rough sketch and full-size pencils.

The cover was eventually completed by Duane Redhead (inks) and Karin Rindevall (colors). I'm so happy that I had this done when I had the chance. It's a real shame that there won't be any more work out there by Ryan after his run on the Phantom strip ends, but he has a legacy of decades that still holds up and will for years to come.

At a FUBAR signing in 2013, I asked Rafer Roberts to draw a version of the Thing with his helmet, a trademark of '90s Fantastic Four. After I brought up the idea, he immediately said, "oh, you mean Paul Ryan?" Rafer, I think, has a similar understanding of '90s FF and he cranked out the lovely rendition that you see below. I'll miss Ryan and his work. I'm glad that I had the chance to interact with him in a small way.

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.