Corgi's 1:12 scale Thing statue (plus some relatively random updates)

I recently picked up another Thing statue, this one from the Corgi company. I had seen this around a few times, but it was never on my "must buy" list until I saw it for a great price.

This statue came out in 2006, when Marvel was starting to roll out its more generic branding with stock art. The side of the box is the Thing's chest, though, which is pretty cool.

Here's the front of the box, with an image of what's inside.

The statue itself it pretty heavy for its size. The base is made of metal and is quite hefty. I got #1453 out of a run of 2500.

And here's the back. The pants the Thing is wearing are similar to his appearances in the Ultimate Fantastic Four title, which debuted around this time. It's a nice, if not unremarkable statue. I'm glad that I finally grabbed it after looking at it online for years.

While we're here, why not have a quick Local Comic Shop Day recap? I spent a few hours at Pittsburgh Comics on the day of the event and signed a few books. Some people even got a (very rare) Sandwich Edition copy! Lucky ducks.

How did the day go? Well, here's a picture. What is Larry doing in the background? Nobody knows. (Check out Larry's new website here.)

Extra big Fantastic Four news: I walked out of the store on this day with a copy of Fantastic Four #11! (I paid for it.) This issue has the first appearance of the Impossible Man, and is now the earliest issue of the series that I own. The issue is in good shape and I'm thrilled to have it.

And lastly, artist Tony Sedani sent me this great Thing pinup a few days ago! Tony has drawn a few pages in recent issues of The Tick, and I was surprised to get this in the mail. What a cool piece! Into the collection it goes. Thanks, Tony!

Tick: Local Comic Shop Day Special and signing at Pittsburgh Comics on 11/19

There's a new issue of The Tick coming out this Saturday, 11/19, for Local Comic Shop Day! LCSD is in its second year and is designed to promote comic shops with physical locations (so the books aren't available at online retailers). The Tick is the first book with all-new material. I wrote the main story in this issue with Duane Redhead once again on art. There's also a backup story from a new Boston-area creative team. This is the first issue in stores since the new Amazon show aired, so I hope that the reception is good.

If you're in the Pittsburgh area, I'll be signing some copies of the book (and basically anything else) at Pittsburgh Comics on Saturday from 1:00-3:30. This is the first time I've been in Pittsburgh on the day of a release - I'm usually in Boston for FCBD and in San Diego for the Comic-Con specials, so I'm happy to, for once, just get to roll out of bed in the morning and wander into the comic shop without having to plan a trip around it.

Check out localcomicshopday.com for more details on the event and pittsburghcomics.com for location information on the store!

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!

Thing sketch cards, part 4

It's time to look at some new Thing sketch cards that have made their way to my collection.  HOW EXCITING!

Thor: The Dark World card - This lovely signature-less card will most likely forever go without the name of the artist attached, but perhaps someone in the know will one day stumble upon this image and illuminate the rest of us on just whose art adorns this sketch card.  There's a lot to like about this card, starting with the fact that the mystery artist took a card from the Thor movie trading card line and, instead of choosing a character like Odin, Sif, Jane Foster or...Thor...decided to draw the Thing.  This color pencil masterpiece also includes the Thing in a checkered shirt, which is just classy.

Here's the back of the card!  The reproduced signature is of Richard McWilliams, not the artist but from the Upper Deck trading card company.

Duane Redhead - During Duane Redhead's recent stateside trip, he drew a lot of sketches, mostly of the Tick and Arthur (for obvious reasons).  Near the end of his trip, while Duane and I signed some books at Pittsburgh Comics, I twisted Duane's arm enough that he also drew the Thing a few times...including on this Teddy and the Yeti sketch card.  This closeup is, if you can't tell (come on, guys), of the cosmic ray-infused "pineapple" Thing, who totally beat up the Hulk.  Sharp viewers will note that the T&Y trading card is upside down (or is it the Thing?).  Larry walked away from the signing with cards of both the Tick and Arthur, which I'm hoping he'll scan and share soon.

Mark Dos Santos - This Marvel "Heroes and Villains" sketch card comes courtesy of Mark Dos Santos, who for whatever reason decided to forego the villain and just draw two heroes.  At first glance, it looks like the Thing is sharing a moment of camaraderie with Wolverine, but the character is actually D-Man, who couldn't decide on his own costume and instead wore an original Daredevil outfit with a Wolverine mask.  D-Man's alter ego first appeared in the original Thing series, so there's something of a connection between the two.  D-Man was originally called "Demolition Man", and I can't help but wonder if the name was shortened because of the Snipes/Stallone movie.

Heeeyyy...here's the back of the card.

Bub Shehi - This homemade card features lots of action lines!  And it's by "Bub" Shehi.  I bought it for a dollar on eBay, and it came with free shipping.  When I got this in the mail, I noticed that it cost the seller over two dollars to ship it, which means he lost money in the transaction.  Sorry fella.  It's a cool card nonetheless.

Tone Rodriguez - I've been hoping to get some art from Tone Rodriguez for a while now.  Rodriguez has drawn the Thing a number of times before (most notably for the Hero Initiative) and he always manages to impress.  It seems that he really enjoys drawing the Thing and he adds a lot of dynamic energy when he does.  When this card showed up on eBay, I snatched it up right away.  I'm loving the colors that, as you can see below, bled all the way through the card to somehow frame the Kirby Thing printed on back.  It's my second sketch card from the Fantastic Four Archives set.

Well, that's it for now.  More to come...later.

Pictures from Free Comic Book Day 2014

Free Comic Book Day was a tour de force this year, one that took me on a number of road trips, some of which are only ostensibly connected to FCBD, so we're going to have to deal with that.  This year's event also brought Duane Redhead to the United States for the first time, and I had the pleasure of meeting him and getting to spend some time with the man who draws The Tick.  I picked Duane up in New York (after a harrowing airport experience), we drove to Boston, Pittsburgh and then back to New York for a total of eight days of at times manic travel, book signings and sightseeing.  Let's see some pictures, along with some wonderful commentary along the way.

After a terribly rainy Wednesday and lots of driving, Duane and I spent Thursday in New York City.  Here's me...at the Empire State Building.

I've been waiting to take this picture for years.  Duane Red at Duane Reade.  It was destined to happen.

After the ESB, we made our way to the New York Public Library, which was, of course, very impressive.  They had an exhibit on children's literature (including some comics) and I got to see a true-to-life Gutenberg Bible.

We also checked out Grand Central Terminal, which Duane recognized from a video game.

Times Square is home to Midtown Comics, and...hey, is that...?

YES!  It's a giant window display of THE THING!

It was pretty nice inside, too.  I gave the manager some copies of Teddy and the Yeti and the 2013 Tick FCBD book, and I picked up a few comics as well.

Oh, and I also found a copy of FUBAR on the shelves.  Pretty neat.

Friday brought us to Boston and New England Comics for our Free Comic Book Day signings.  We each signed in different locations on Saturday.  I opened up at the New Bedford location, which is the farthest south of any NEC store.  It's almost in Rhode Island!  The shop was small but traffic was steady for the few hours I was there.

In addition to comics, the New Bedford location also has canned soda...on tap...

And while you're there, don't forget to take advantage of the sale on mordern age comics.

My next stop was at the NEC Brockton location.  This store was bigger and, even though it was later in the day, it was probably busier overall.  I shared a table with the great Frank Tieri, writer of such titles as Space Punisher for Marvel (it's the Punisher...in space).  Frank was a lot of fun to hang out with, and I'd like to think that we bonded with our mutual hate of Boston and Philadelphia sports teams.

This fantastic Ben Edlund Tick artwork hangs in the offices of the Brockton store (love the "Drama Flakes" reference).

At the end of the day, Duane showed up at the Brockton store and we signed together for a few minutes.

We also took one of my obligatory miserable pictures, which I think turned out really great.

Sunday brought another signing at the NEC Harvard Square location.  Before the signing, we managed to sneak in a few hours of sightseeing.  The annual "Mayfair" celebration was going on when we were there, so we took some of that in.

We also got to take a quick tour of Harvard University and its natural history museum.

Duane spent a good portion of the weekend doing sketches such as these on comic backing boards.  A whole lot of people walked away with something like this when they visited the table.

If I'm honest with myself (and you, blog), I probably should have swiped one of these at some point.

Here's an interior shot of the Harvard Square store.  It's a small store but it's probably my favorite of all the NEC locations I've been to.

After the Sunday signing was over, Duane and I took the long, fairly grueling car ride to Pittsburgh, where I forced him to do Pittsburgh-y things like ride the Duquesne Incline.

While on top of Mt. Washington, I saw a few of these stuck on poles.  Original art on USPS stickers.  Is this a thing, now?  If it is, I like it.

THE INCLINE

I also forced Duane to eat at Primanit Bros.

EAT THAT SANDWICH, DUANE!

The day before Duane took back off to his home in the UK, we had another signing, this one at Pittsburgh Comics in McMurray.  We signed a few books and Duane did even more sketching.

Larry got a set of original art Teddy and the Yeti cards.  I'm totally jealous.  But Duane did draw me a Thing sketch card, so all is well.

We even took an almost real picture at the end of the day, too!  I'm a bit overzealous.

This year's FCBD event was jam packed with sights to see and things to do.  I'm elated that I finally got to meet Duane, someone I've been working with for nearly seven years at this point.  He's as great a guy as you'd expect, and if you expected him to be a great guy, well, then he's even greater.  I'm happy that I we were able to see some of the east coast and sign some comics along the way.  And yeah, of course I got him to draw in the Thing sketchbook.  Obviously.