Marvel Two-in-One 19 color guide, plus some cartoon artwork!

It's been a while since I picked up a new color guide, and this one is pretty special - here's a page of color work from 1976's Marvel Two-in-One #19

Color guides are photocopies of line work that a colorist would use to quickly decide on how the final product would look. These are very much production pieces and were used as a consultation piece for the printed page.

Marvel Two-in-One #19 was the title's attempt at a scary Halloween-type story, with the Thing traveling to a spooky hotel and running into a few things-that-go-bump-in-the-night. It also has this incredible Jack Kirby cover!

This is one of the middle pages in the issue, and Ben's cigar plays almost as big a role as he does as he attempts to check in.

Colors for this issue were from Petra Goldberg, over Sal Buscema pencils and Don Heck inks.

Lots of great Thing shots on this page. He's in every panel!

The story itself is a bit predictable - the main villain actually dies at the end of the story - but I've always liked Tigra because my first introduction to the Fantastic Four were issues where she and Thundra were hanging around the team for a bit. This is the first issue of Two-in-One I ever read, too, so it's a real treat to get a color guide from this very issue.

I also got some new FF animation artwork!

These new pieces all come from the 2006 Fantastic Four: World's Greatest Heroes cartoon. Someone listed a bunch at once on eBay and I managed to grab a handful.

For whatever reason, Sue and Doom seem to be the toughest team members to get when it comes to animation art, and it worked out that way this time, too. I got some featuring Ben, Reed and Johnny. I hate how Johnny's hair is drawn in this show, though it looks okay in this one.

There's Reed, doing what he does...which is stretching.

Yep, still...uh...still stretching.

Okay, that's it!

Pictures from the 2019 Comic-Con International, part 5 (Friday, 7/19)

It's time to finish up Friday's pictures at Comic-Con!

I feel like this might be the best group shot I took during the whole convention. Everyone looks really good!

I spent a good portion of my Friday afternoon getting three autographs that happened to take place at right around the same time. The first was from the team of "They Called Us Enemy", a wonderful new graphic novel based on George Takei's time in WWII Japanese internment camps. I thanked him for continuing to stand up to injustices, and he responded by saying, "it's my life's work". It was great to see him.

Back at the New England Comics booth, I managed to take a shot of this original page of Ben Edlund art from The Tick #2; it sold later in the show to some lucky dog.

While I was signing at the booth, someone asked me to draw in his sketchbook. I've only been asked this a couple times, and I'm always pretty hesitant to do it, because, well, I'm not an artist. But if someone insists, I'm not gonna refuse, so this is what he got. I did, in fact, see this bug the day before.  I signed the page differently than I usually do comics, and I immediately realized that I should change my signature to this, but I'm kind of locked in now, right?

Hey, it's David Ross, who dressed up as Cowboy Santa Tick in 2018! Now he's Aquaman.

It needs to be known that the new She-Ra cartoon is really great - a perfect show for today's audiences and one that I didn't know I would love so much. And what an incredible job this person did with her Catra costume!

Hey, he's a people alien.

Someone came by the booth later in the afternoon to show off his newly-purchased commission from artist Ryan Ottley. Heck of a job by the former Invincible and current Amazing Spider-Man artist!

I recently lettered a graphic novel for Dead Reckoning Press, an imprint of, if you can believe it, the US Naval Academy. Gary Thompson edited the book and he stopped by my table in the small press section to say hello!

DC Bombshells!

April's jumpsuit will never get old. Casey Jones also offers up an important opinion.

I don't...know what these costumes are supposed to be. Is that Velma from Scooby Doo on the left? Either way, these guys were enthusiastic about having their pictures taken.

Mary Marvel!

The fog in the fishbowl (really some well-placed fabric) was a very nice touch!

Here I am, awkwardly holding onto the table, as if I am about to pass a kidney stone or something. The person on the other side of the table is Chelsea Monroe-Cassel, who wrote the new Firefly cookbook, which went on sale at Comic-Con (and came with an exclusive apron)! I bought three! Chelsea was kind enough to sign all of them.

My last autograph hunt for the day was for the legendary Frank Miller, who did a limited signing at the Dark Horse booth near the end of the show. Miller's autograph can be tough to get and usually comes with a pretty steep price tag, but I was lucky to be able to get him at one of his few free signings. I got my copy of Marvel Two-in-One #51 signed!

He also signed a 300 poster-print for everyone in line.

As the show ended, I made my way up to the panel rooms on the second floor of the convention hall. I got there early enough to get a front row seat to the panel I was looking forward to the most: the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine panel, featuring members of the cast and crew talking about the new documentary that recently came out.

Did I shout the whole time? Yes! Can you distinctly hear me in videos taken of the panel? Also yes! I love DS9.

One of my first con experiences was seeing Chase Masterson at the Pittsburgh Comicon back in the mid-'90s.

There were a few fans who showed up in costume, including a "Take Me Out to the Holosuite" Kira and the "Trials and Tribble-ations" couple that I had seen earlier in the day!

After the panel, I turned a corner to use the restroom, only to find that...the staff exit was right next to it. That was something of a surprise.

And so I was able to get a picture with Cirroc Lofton, the actor who plays Jake Sisko!

And also Aron Eisenberg, who plays Nog!

And even the heart and soul behind DS9, Ira Steven Behr!

As the crowd eventually dispersed, I found myself in a conversation with Louis Race, an assistant director on DS9 whose credits also include Indiana Jones and Knight Rider! Louis and his wife hung around and chatted about the show and work in the industry for a good half hour, which I really appreciated. It was great to hear stories about his time on various productions.

He also was wearing a crew jacket from Knight Rider, which actually lit up (and still works after over 30 years! Several people ran over just to compliment him on his jacket while we were talking. I can't blame them.

There was one more stop to make on this long, busy day at Comic-Con. And more pictures of costumes to take.

I capped off the night with a screening of Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, followed by some Dr. Horrible karaoke! I signed up for a song without taking into consideration that I had spent the last two hours shouting and had lost my voice. Did it go well? No! Should I have reconsidered? Yes! Would I do it again? Absolutely!

More pictures to come.

Pictures from the 2019 Comic-Con International, part 2 (Wednesday, 7/17)

Let's look at Wednesday's pictures at Comic-Con 2019!

Preview Night started early for me this year, as I was lucky enough to get tickets to the Conan O'Brien taping that took place before the convention officially opened. This means getting up early and waiting in line - a Comic-Con tradition! - to officially get the tickets you had semi-reserved. I got in line at about 7:30am; there were several hundred people in front of me. But I got my tickets and was set loose at around 10:00.

From there I hopped back over to the convention center to complete the booth setup...and to see some of the displays while there was time.

The Comic-Con tarp thing that hangs outside of the convention. Still looking good after another year in storage!

One of the nearby parking garages was dressed up in an Avengers promotion.

I saw a few interesting things on the show floor. This Marvel Two-in-One cover caught my eye, for some reason.

And, oh, this Action Comics #1, graded 8.5, as well. That's a $2 million book right there. Sheesh. The other ones aren't bad, either.

The Conan taping started at around 3:45 that afternoon. The Spreckels Theatre looked snazzy, as always.

Here I am with some friends! I'm apparently showing off my bracelet.

The guests on this day were from the It sequel. Bill Hader giggled through most of the interview. It was a weird show - more raunchy than I had expected. I know that Conan recently moved to a new 30-minute format, but this show ran an hour. Everyone was excited to be there! And when the show ended, we burst out of the theater and galloped toward the convention center. It was great to be able to see the show without having to miss any time at the convention.

I got inside about a half hour before the floor opened. It's always fun to see things right beforehand - there's a nervous energy going through the crowd of exhibitors.

And here's the Dark Horse staff getting those yellow bags ready...

...and I saw Robert Kirkman walking around the floor...

And then it was open! And it got crowded fast.

One of my first stops was the Marvel booth. I'm a sucker for SDCC comics and Marvel has had some interesting ones the past few years.

Some Captain Marvel costumes and props were on display by the booth!

I passed by Grae Drake, former Rotten Tomatoes gal and current Ms. Moviefone, and we got this very natural picture together.

In years past, I was able to do most of my shopping on this night (to be fair, I shop every day, but I get the bulk of my "must have" items on Wednesday if I can). This year, for whatever reason, the lines seemed to move more slowly than I remembered. I stood in the Marvel line for quite some time, and when I got out, there wasn't a lot of time left to see and do other things. But I did see this Alien statue!

So, I apparently have a three-issue comic series coming out this fall from Keenspot? This was interesting to see. I'll write more about it at another time, but a lot of this was unexpected.

Here's my friend and collaborator Mario Wytch, who I met for the first time in person, despite knowing him online for about 15 years. I also learned at this show that his last name is not pronounced "witch".

After the show ended for the night, I stopped by the Chuck Jones Gallery in the Gaslamp district, one of my go-to locations every year. It's always a fun place to stop and see.

There were some neat Fantastic Four prints on display among the other items.

NBC's The Good Place had a pancake diner right in the Gaslamp, which seemed to be one of the more popular attractions during the show.

Super7 once again had a neat offsite pop-up shop; this year it was called the "Boodega" after being Skeletor and Hordak's Lair for the past few years. The line was just as long as it always was, though, and because I don't have any particular affinity for the Universal movie monsters, this was as close as I got.

It was a pretty low-key night all around, but it was a big day with Conan in the morning and early afternoon. After getting some pizza, I was ready to head back and get ready for Thursday. We'll look at those pictures soon!