Remembering C. Martin Croker

I met C. Martin Croker in 2010 at, of all places, a small comic convention in Myrtle Beach. He was one of the guests at an early iteration of X-Con World and, as at the time I lived about 15 minutes away from the convention hall, I bought a table at the show. The convention itself was okay - I didn't sell very much, but my costs were low and it was nice for what it was - but the highlight of the weekend was getting to meet and trade stories with Clay.

Of course, I knew Clay from his work on Space Ghost: Coast to Coast, which remains one of the great tv spoofs and is a precursor in tone to many of today's late night talk shows. At the time I knew that Clay had voiced both Zorak and Moltar, which is in itself an impressive feat, but soon learned that he was also art director and one of the main animators on the series. Over the weekend, I learned that we shared a love of the Thing, comics and other pop culture items. I even worked up the courage to ask him to draw in my Thing sketchbook!

Between then and now, he and I kept in touch and met up on occasion, trading stories and mailing each other items. Whenever I'd travel to Comic-Con in San Diego, Clay would talk about one item or another that he had his eye on, and I would usually end up grabbing it for him. A few years ago, he sent me a message on the very last day of the show - with only a few hours before it closed - and asked me if I could locate an exclusive shirt that the Jack Kirby Museum had for sale. I was able to track it down at nearly the last minute, but at that time they only had size XXXL available. As you can see in the picture at the very top, Clay was an XL at best, but as I was kind of on the spot, I went ahead and purchased it anyway.

A few months later, I saw Clay in New York, and he was wearing the shirt. He was swimming in the thing. I'm not even sure if he remembered that I was the one who got it for him, but it was just so funny seeing him wearing the shirt that was obviously much too big for him. But I guess he liked it, because I saw a number of pictures of him wearing it over the next few years. Maybe it was really comfortable?

Last month, I was getting ready to leave for a concert when I got a package from Clay at the post office. I was racing against the clock but I couldn't leave without opening it. This thing was taped so well that it took me probably ten minutes to get it opened properly. But when I did, I saw the above mash-up between Marvel's The Thing and John Carpenter's The Thing in all its glory. Clay had been talking about this (without giving away the subject) for at least four years, saying that he had something to send to me as a thank you for some of the items I had been able to find for him. At this point, I assumed that it was just never going to happen, and that was okay. The joke was almost as good as the product itself (I was telling myself that, anyway). So suffice it to say that I was a little taken back to see this show up at my door in 2016.

Larry drove to the concert that night, and on the way there I sent Clay a message thanking him for the artwork. He responded pretty quickly, and we were able to catch up and talk for a few minutes.

The next evening, Clay passed away pretty suddenly. It was a shock to everyone he knew. The timing really threw me for a loop as I had a conversation with him just 24 hours earlier. Everything seemed normal, but he was gone soon after. I'm so glad that not only did I decide to open the package before I left the evening before, but that I took a few minutes to get in touch with him.

One of the things that Clay brought up with me nearly every time we spoke was his proposed comic book series, "Tales to Admonish". It was supposed to be a sendup of 1950s Kirby monster comics, with farcical and facetious stories about monsters like the Jersey Devil and El Chupacabra. This was always something that Clay had in the back of his mind, but his animation and voice work always got in the way of seeing it through. When he first told me about it, I went home and immediately started planning my story submission with artist Paul Tucker (in may ways it was my way of saying "please notice me!"). After I sat on it for a few years and realized that the book wasn't really going anywhere, I published it as part of the 2015 "Imaginary Drugs" title from IDW:

Just last year, Clay sent me a message saying that he was still working on the title, though I haven't seen much more than a few covers. This is kind of how he was - always full of ideas, always thinking, always creating, and always running out of time to see all of them through. His body of work is incredibly impressive - from TV to comics - but there's always things left undone, and it's a shame that Clay didn't get to finish all of his projects.



During our second-to-last conversation, Clay mentioned to me that he hadn't yet gotten one of the new Funko Pop! Zorak figures that had been released in July as a Comic-Con exclusive. Neither Cartoon Network nor Funko had sent him any, which is, of course, awful. So, naturally, I made up some story about how I "might" be able to grab one at the upcoming New York Comic Con, and immediately went to eBay to purchase two - one for me and one for him. Clay passed away on a Saturday, and the figures were delivered to me a few days later on Tuesday. Opening the box was rather haunting, and now I've got an extra Zorak figure that sits on my shelf as a reminder that my friend has gone.

Clay was such a fun guy to be around, with his exaggerated expressions and self deprecating humor. He's someone I admired and wish I could have known him better. I'm thankful for getting the chance to speak with him so soon before he passed. I think about him often.

Pictures from the 2015 New York Comic Con, part 1: Friday (Rotten Tomatoes, Image party and more!)

Well, I might as well unload the next slideshow on the blog that is apparently all about showing lots of pictures. Now that we're done with the pictures from Comic-Con in San Diego, I guess we'll fly across the country to New York for their annual response! I was able to attend for the Friday and Saturday of the event. While NYCC doesn't stack up to SDCC, New York's show is finally starting to take shape and show off its own identity. I found that I enjoyed 2015 more than any previous year.

It was recently announced that the Javits Center would be seeing a substantial increase in size - 1.2 million additional square feet, including a half million feet of new exhibit space - in the next few years. The convention center will soon have a new ballroom that will rival San Diego's Hall H. Despite the incredible number of people who attend NYCC, the big thing that was holding it back was available space, so it'll be interesting to see if this new addition will help the convention truly rival SDCC, at least in on-site events.

There were an abundance of costumes on display at the show, but not a lot of places to take pictures of said costumes. Many people stopped in the lobby of artist alley. Here's a nice Zatanna.

I have no idea what the Superman dummy is doing on the floor. I'm not sure if I want to know.

Jelly Belly had a display set up in the tunnel to artist alley, and all throughout the weekend there was someone building a mural with jelly beans. They gave out samples, too, and I snagged...a lot.

It's the guy with toy dogs strapped to his face! I saw this guy at Comic-Con over the summer. I still don't get what's happening here, but I guess he's got his own camera crew. He interviewed folks at the FUBAR table for a while.

Among the pieces of original art I saw at the show, here's a Jack Kirby original from Fantastic Four #40 (an important issue)! This page was apparently set to go to auction, and probably brought in more money than I make in a year.

I met Sweden's own Karin Rindevall for the very first time at NYCC! Karin has colored a number of pages for me over the years, and was one of the first collaborators I ever worked with. It was so great to finally meet her!

As the show wound down for the day, I made sure to get to the Rotten Tomatoes panel. My love for RT is no secret on this blog. They do a great job and everyone should check out their panels at either SDCC or NYCC.

Apparently, people are starting to take my advice. The room was a little small for the panel, but it was absolutely packed.

It's great to see these guys every year. There were a number of new panelists involved this time, too.

Here's emcee Grae Drake. Do a google search for her and you'll see her at every major movie award show with some of the biggest actors on the planet. Why does she acknowledge my existence? I have no idea.

And here's Matt Atchity, who runs the whole dang show. He is way too important to be taking pictures with me. And yet, here we are. Bizarre.

Image Comics hosted a party at a nearby location after the show. It's great that NYCC is starting to branch out, even unofficially, into the city. The place, much like the show, was packed.

I went to the show with my brother-in-law. We bowled a few games at one of the many lanes.

We eventually played a few games with writer Jim Zub (Skullkickers, Samurai Jack) before calling it a night.

On the way out, I ran into none other than Paul Tucker! Paul's another friend and collaborator that I had never met in person before. We were able to hang out a bit on Saturday and I'm sure I'm not surprising anyone when I say that Paul is one of the nicest guys you're likely to meet, in comics or otherwise. Paul has drawn a number of things for me over the years, and now he's got a great book out from IDW, "Tet". I highly recommend it.

This concludes the first half of my NYCC pictures. There will be more. I can feel the anticipation building.

Pre-order IDW's "Imaginary Drugs" now!

Well, that was a lengthy break I took from this blog.  Not because I don't love you, blog...don't ever say that.  But I am back with good news!  The Imaginary Drugs anthology will soon be released by IDW, and you can pre-order it now!

I am, of course, very excited that the book will have such a high profile.  What started out as a moderately successful Kickstarter campaign has become a full-fledged wide-release graphic novel.  Not only that, but I was able to jump on as an assistant editor, which means I get to do things like slave away at a table of contents page design.  Above is a shot of it, and you can see my name pop up every so often in the midst of some other really talented creators.

Among some of my stories:

"Eternal Flame" with Paul Tucker!

"Teddy and the Yeti" (perhaps you've heard of it) with Pietro!

And as a special exclusive story to the IDW release, "The Corn Has Ears" with friends Lauren Girdler and Ian Chase Nichols!  Lauren, of course, is a Franks and Beans alumni!  And Ian drew a backup story in the 2014 Tick FCBD issue.

Also joining me on some of my stories is Duane Redhead, Mario Wytch, Rafer Roberts and Christine Larsen!

If you'd like to order this book (and that'd be great), you can do it in one of a few ways.  First, you can go to your local comic shop and use the code NOV140515 to have them reserve it for you (or just ask for it by name).  Second, you can pre-order the book on Amazon right now by clicking here.

I hope the book is well received.  I know that everyone involved put a lot of work into it.

I'll post again soon.  Perhaps it'll be more Comic-Con pictures.  You never know!

IDW to publish "Imaginary Drugs"

I'm happy that I can finally announce some fairly big news for a project that I'm involved with.  The "Imaginary Drugs" collection, which previously completed a successful Kickstarter campaign, will be published and distributed in the fall by IDW Publishing.  This means a bigger print run and wider (global) distribution for the book and an overall higher profile for the concept.  As one of the top five publishers in the country, IDW brings something to the book that it couldn't have had otherwise.

I was lucky enough to get in on this project on the ground floor, an as such, I have more stories included than, well, most others.  At last count, I've got five separate stories or chapters of stories running in the book, including two new Teddy and the Yeti tales and three stories with art by the great Paul Tucker.  Below are two preview pages:

In addition to these stories, there'll be a few pinups included to round out the experience.  This is, all in all, fairly big news as IDW carries a bit of heft along with them.  Strictly from the standpoint of who the publisher is, this will be the highest profile book I've been a part of since my very first publication by Dark Horse Comics...and let's face it, that was just about a million years ago.  The Tick is more well known, of course, but IDW is a (much) bigger company, so I'm very excited to be involved.  Sharp readers will remember than I had a half-page comic appear in the pages of Hawken in 2012, so I'm excited to sneak back in with this new publication.

Original Kickstarter backers will still receive their rewards as listed, including a limited "guerilla-style" copy of the book.  I'll post more updates as they're available.  Feel free to check out the official ID Facebook page for previews from different stories.  Spread the word.

"Imaginary Drugs" on Kickstarter

Hello, world.  There's a new comic on Kickstarter that I thought you should be made aware of.  It's an anthology titled "Imaginary Drugs" and it features a number of stories by different creators and it looks just swell.  Oh, and I'm involved in it.  Does that render my evaluations meaningless and this very post overly self-serving and egomaniacal?  No.  No, of course not.

This new collection is spearheaded by Michael McDermott and features a number of FUBAR alum, such as Jonathan Brandon Sawyer, Christine Larsen and K. Michael Russel.  For my part, I've got two never-berfore published stories, and I also did some lettering work on the flagship story, "Saint in the City" by McDermott, Sawyer and Russel.

Included in this comic is "Eternal Flame", a two-part story drawn by the inimitable Paul Tucker:

Paul really put a lot of work into making this story look both futuristic and old fashioned at the same time.  It's the space ballet that I've always wanted to write and I'm always happy to work with Paul.  He doesn't disappoint, if I can say so.

My other inclusion is a brand new Teddy and the Yeti short story drawn by the incomparable Pietro.  In the below preview, we see Ted, the Yeti, and a familiar pooch.  This is one of my favorite stories of all time, for reasons that should seem obvious if you know anything about me.

There are a number of great rewards in the offering, including prints, shirts, and even a set of coasters, one of which features the lead character from Eternal Flame:

There are a couple me-centric rewards, for those who are looking to see just what I'm coughing up to make this book a reality.  I'm offering issues of Teddy and the Yeti, some trading cards and a print with image of the cover to Teddy and the Yeti #2.  If you're super impressed by my lettering "skills", you can even hire me to letter your eight page comic.  Interestingly enough, three people have put a pledge down on the Teddy and the Yeti reward...I have no idea who these people saints are, but I thank them will all my heart:

So if you're looking for a fun comic and are so inclined to click on links to Kickstarter pages, I hope you'll consider Imaginary Drugs for a comic purchase-y buy.  You can find the campaign here:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1562823940/imaginary-drugs

We'll find out in about a month if this project gets funded or not.  I'll post updates here when I think it's prudent.  Wish us luck!

The Thing "Ben Cooper" Halloween Costume, Dustin Tokarski's goalie mask, Kickstarter(s) and more RANDOM NOTES!

It's been a while since we had some random notes here at blog central, and the masses have been clamoring.  I am, of course, but a humble servant, so here we are with more thoughts about a bunch of stuff, most of which is actually comic related.  And also Franks and Beans.  Away we go!

- Ben Cooper was a company that made popular Halloween costumes a few decades back, and for a while they had a licensing agreement with Marvel Comics to produce costumes based on some of their more popular characters.  One of those costumes happened to be of the ever-lovin' Thing, and I managed to land one of my favorite non-pornographic website in the world, eBay, for a great price.

The costume and box have some scuffs to them, but overall these are in nice shape and I'll be happy to wear this costume to every Halloween party until I die and also if I ever decide to start committing crimes.  I have a feeling, though, that if I would ever start to go down that dangerous path, the goodness and rightness of the Thing would pull me back before I was too far gone.

This costume is, of course, hideous (though the mask is surprisingly well done), but this is part of its charm.  Ben Cooper, as I said, made a number of costumes and all of them were embarrassingly simplistic and/or ugly, but this was the style of a kids Halloween costume in the 1960s, '70s and '80s and I love this find.  I appreciate the sticker on the box, as seen above, that tells you just how one is supposed to wear the costume.  Thanks, B.C.

- I've gotten a few pieces of art framed recently at the Wood Street Frame shop in Pittsburgh, and they've done a good job at what I've turned in so far.  The latest item is Jeff Lafferty's original Teddy and the Yeti art, which I'm relieved to say that I've finally got behind glass.  Much of what I have framed tends to be big and therefore a little cumbersome, but this here is small enough that I can close my hand around it, which should make finding a place for it much easier.

- If you're a fan of the NHL, then you're aware the city of Montreal exists in real life.  They have hockey there, and they speak French.  And also the goaltender for the Canadiens has the Tick on his goalie mask.

Dustin "Tic" Tokarski is enough a fan of his nickname and the popular '90s cartoon that he decided to emblazon his helmet with the big blue hero busting out of the side.

This isn't the first time he's done it, even.  He spent last season with the Tampa Bay Lightning and put the Tick on that helmet as well.  If I had to choose, I'd say that the Lightning helmet is my favorite of the two, as the blue works better as part of the overall scheme.

Should I...should I send this guy a copy of the Free Comic Book Day issue?  Maybe we'll become fast friends.

- There are a couple new Kickstarter projects going on right now that feature work from friends of the blog.  First, Paul Tucker is teaming up with Tim (Hack/Slash) Seeley and others to work on a project called "Mini Comics Included", which takes its cues from those little comics that would be packaged with action figures most famously in the 1980s (He-Man springs to mind).  There are six tiny comics in all and Paul is drawing two of them!  The've got some great rewards up for grabs so check out the page and back it if you can: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1168046118/mini-comics-included-0

The other Kickstarter project I'm backing is a short film adaptation of FUBAR head honcho Jeff McComsey's "American Terror"!  I inquired about how much I would have to donate to play a role in the short of someone who gets killed, but alas, the film is in post-production and the fundraiser is just to get it over the hump.  Regardless, you can check out the American Terror page here: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2097901631/american-terror-short-film

Everyone's buddy "Artboy_X" brought this one to my attention from Art Thibert, who might be best known for his work on a whole bunch of X-Men titles.  Thibert is Kickstarting his own title, Chrono Mechanics, about company that specializes in repairing problems in the timeline.  The CM Kickstarter page is here: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1461073089/chrono-mechanics-potholes-in-the-cosmic-road?ref=home_location

- I bought an early issue of Marvel Team-Up a few months back with Spider-Man and Mr. Fantastic teaming up to, I don't know, battle evil or something.  I thought the first page credits were pretty funny - specifically the inking credit.  At first I thought that it was a charming reminder of the "seat of your pants" attitude that must have reigned at Marvel in those early days, but then I remembered that there are still plenty of books out there today that employ four or five (or more) inkers for a single story.

- Lastly, it's been a while since I've posted any new Franks and Beans.  So here's our 58th episode, "A Watched Pot"!  Enjoy!  Or just watch it.  Please.

Teddy and the Yeti #4!

Here's something that showed up in my mailbox a couple of days ago.  It's everyone's favorite book, Teddy and the Yeti!  It's the fourth issue!  Here at last.

This issue has been completed for a while, but there have been a few snafus that have kept it from seeing print until now.  One of the biggest delays was caused by Hurricane Sandy - I had hoped to have the book on display at last month's small Pittsburgh Comics & Collectibles show, but the extreme weather caused the printer to lose power for more than a week and the backlog began after that.  But the book is now in my hands and, in my biased opinion, I think it looks great.  Above you can see both covers for the book, on the left with art by Pat Olliffe and Karin Rindevall and on the right with art by Ron Frenz.

Here's a shot of some interior pages with some fine artwork by Duane Redhead!

Since I was planning on having this book out for the show, I only printed out a handful and most of them have been sent out as creator copies.  Now that I've gotten these back and have given them the once over, I'll put in a larger order that I can actually sell a few and list them in the website store.  So if you've been waiting in desperation for Teddy and the Yeti #4, well...it's here.  But you still gotta wait a little bit longer.

The backup story for this issue is "Big Red Rex" with art by Paul Tucker.  It's a story that I've wanted to print for what seems like forever, and I'm happy to finally...FINALLY...get the chance!

In other very important news, this is the 500th post to the Teddy and the Yeti blog.  I'm happy that this one actually deals with Teddy and the Yeti.  Woo!

Superdogs, The Dark Knight Rises filming schedule, John Watkins and more!

- One post of mine that gets frequent attention is "Who Owns Superman Ice Cream?", which questions the legality of Kroger's name for their red, yellow and blue ice cream.  Unless there's been an upswing in desire for a dessert treat based on the philosophy or Friedrich Nietzsche ("God is Dead Cookies and Cream", perhaps), it's probably something that Warner Bros. and DC Comics know about but decide to look the other way.

I was shopping for, well, meat the other day, and I came across the above package of hot dogs - "Superdogs" with Superman's "S" shield logo stamped right on the package.  It's not even a variation of the logo, it's the exact comic book S that we see on the Man of Steel.  Interesting stuff.

- The "Captain Mal" art by Sammy Gomez that I won at a screening of "Serenity" made it on to i09's website a few days ago, under the heading "The Coolest Firefly Art in the 'Verse".  It was not only awesome to see the art I own online with a link back to this blog, but there were lots of other great pieces of art on display as well.  And it all made me miss Firefly/Serenity even more.  Sigh.

- "Smart Alex" McKinley wrote a nice blog about the Mr. Massive/X-Plosive Comics Kickstarter project that my friend Artboy_X is heading up.  I've never met Alex before and I have no idea who he is, but he had this to say about, well, me:

Mr. Massive, by Michael Oeur and Jeff McLelland, chronicles the adventures and misadventures of a boy who uses his superpowers as any typical boy would- particularly if he never had an Uncle Ben Parker telling him, "With great power comes great responsibility." Given Jeff McLelland's previous work on a variety of comics including Teddy and the Yeti, the zaniness of his "stupid" Youtube show Franks and Beans, and the premise of Mr. Massive, I think it's safe to say we'll see hilarity ensue.

To hear someone I don't know talk about Franks and Beans makes my head spin a little bit.  I don't even mind that he spelled my name wrong (it happens, I understand).

- Great day in the morning, "The Dark Knight Rises" is almost upon us.  As you can see from the above Post-Gazette photo, the bat-logo shone upon downtown Pittsburgh recently in anticipation of the start of filming, which begins...any day now!

The website onlocationvacactions.com printed a comprehensive list of just where the movie will be filming - apparently, the studio sent letters to homeowners in the area to keep them aware of what would be happening (so they won't, you know, call the police if things start blowing up a half a mile down the road), and someone decided to put it online, much to the appreciation of you and me.

Here's part of it - go here for the complete list: http://www.onlocationvacations.com/2011/07/16/the-dark-knight-rises-filming-locations-in-pittsburgh-august-10th-20th/comment-page-1/

In the coming weeks we will be visiting all of the businesses and entity in the area effected but our proposed activity in order to ascertain the best way of minimizing are impact. We are also working with building managers in the area to facilitate tenant access to properties. Our goal is to make this a positive experience for everyone involved and we would like to address your individual concerns, no matter how small. Please do not hesitate to call us with any questions at our cell phone numbers listed below. 

Throughout our preparation, filming and restoration periods, Security guards, Pittsburgh Police Officers and production assistants will be visible during our film shoot to insure public safety as well as address any immediate concerns you may have about the filming.

If what is on the website is an exact transcription of the letter that actually went out, I think I'll gouge my eyes out in response to the grammar.  "Minimizing ARE impact"?!?  Perhaps they meant that recently released Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Antwaan Randle El would be rampaging the streets of downtown Pittsburgh.  Perhaps.

- Paul Tucker recently finished our short story, "John Watkins: Phantom for Hire", and it is fan-friggin-tastic!  We're currently making a few small adjustments before we try to get it in front of some faces.  Paul has a really great blog where he's broken down much of his process for this story, and you owe it to yourself to check it out at http://tuckercomics.blogspot.com/.

- And now, a few non-comic related items.  First, as you can see in the screenshot above, I made it into the trailer for a movie.  Not just any movie, mind you, but a movie with an embarrassing title; one that I have to preface with "it's not a porno" every time I tell people about it.  It's actually a Saturday Night Live movie - or at least it has a number of actors from SNL in it.  It's called...sigh..."A Good Old Fashioned Orgy" and it's going to be released in September.  I was an extra on the set in Wilmington, North Carolina in 2008.  Here's the trailer!

- Lastly, congratulations to friend of the blog (that's not entirely true) Sidney Rice on his signing of a $41 million contract with the Seattle Seahawks, losers of Super Bowl 40 to Jerome Bettis and the Pittsburgh Steelers.  The Seahawks come to Heinz Field the second week of the season - September 18th - and I wish him the best of luck.  But I hope his team loses...badly.  I do.