Thing sketchbook, part 27

It's time for yet another round of "let's look at Jeff's Thing sketchbook, which has become so synonymous with Jeff himself that it's difficult to determine where one ends and the other begins." I mean, I like my Thing sketchbook, everyone. WHO WANTS TO SEE SOME SKETCHES?!

Phil Hester - 2020

2020 was a light year for Thing sketches - for the reasons we all understand - and I spent some time dropping the book in the mail and sending it to folks who agreed to draw in it at their homes. I was very nervous doing this. But it all worked out, and one of the sketches I got back was this absolute gem from Phil Hester. Phil's known for his Marvel and DC books like Green Arrow and The Irredeemable Ant-Man, which is a personal favorite of mine.

In this sketch, we not only get a despondant Ben Grimm, but also the Silver Surfer flying off with Alicia Masters. The Surfer and Alicia have a history that goes back to the classic Galactus storyline in Fantastic Four 48-50, and when the FF was stuck in the Heroes Reborn universe in the '90s, the two had a brief romantic relationship in the pages of the Silver Surfer's own book. So this scene of rejection has some pretext, even though I HATE IT. But Ben and Alicia ended up back together, so I guess it's all okay in the end.

Todd Nauck - 2020

Here's another sketch that I trusted to the postal service, from the always friendly Todd Nauck, known for his work on titles like Spider-Man and Young Justice. Todd is always thoughtful and kind, and oh man did he deliver a really incredible headshot of ol' Ben Grimm here for the sketchbook. This was done around the time that Todd was drawing a lot of headshot variant covers for Marvel, including one for the Thing's own series. The blue outline is a nice touch.

Jacob Quinn - 2020

I was really happy to have my nephew Jake draw a sketch in this book. It was 2020 and I didn't have a lot of movement with the sketchbook, so it seemed like the right time to open it up to a wider audience, I guess, but also having people I know and care about personally in the book makes sense to me at this stage as well. Jake was 10 when he drew this, and honestly, he did a really great job with it, and he added a unique version for the book. I'm really happy with it.

Anna Litofsky - 2021

The spring of 2021 rolled around and COVID restrictions were still pretty prevalent; there were certainly no conventions happening yet. I was teaching a class on scripting for comics at my current university at this point, where we met once every other week in person, and the rest of the time on Zoom. There was no requirement for artistic skill to be in this class, but Anna came in with her own polished style and a great perspective. Once the end of the semester rolled around, I asked Anna if she'd be willing to draw in my sketchbook, and she agreed, producing this as we had class.

The class would go on to produce their own full-length comic, Tales of the 399, which we funded on Kickstarter. This was a really fulfilling experience for me. Anna drew the cover for the book and we've kept in touch since. She's contributed to several issues of Planet Comics and I'm excited to see where her future takes her.

Chad Kelson - 2021

This is the last of my quarantine sketches, and it comes from Chad Kelson, who has the online persona of "Metal Al" for his death metal covers of "Weird Al" Yankovic songs, if you can believe it. I met Chad at Al's Hollywood Star induction ceremony in 2018; he's also a big comic book fan and an artist in his own right, so we became fast friends.

Chad went above and beyond the call of duty with this incredible recreation that combines the Thing and Al's 1985 "Dare to be Stupid" album cover, going so far as to adding in the background album elements, squeezing them all onto a 5x5 sketchbook page.

I managed to get six new Thing sketches in all in between conventions, which I think was pretty good, all things considered. I'm...really glad the book didn't get lost while it traveled the country.

Pictures from the 2019 Comic-Con International, part 4 (Friday, 7/19)

We've got a bunch of pictures to get through for Friday at Comic-Con! Let's take a look!

I saw this while driving to the parking garage in the morning. I have to believe that this wasn't a robot being delivered somewhere, right? That it was driven around like a billboard all day? No matter what the case, bravo to whomever came up with this idea. I loved seeing it.

First costumes of the day! Both have pretty good beards.

Funko had two big displays at the show this year, one on each end of the convention center. This one was near row 100, and the Comic-Con Toucan was showcased.

Was there...a medieval theme going on on Friday that I wasn't aware of? These are some great costumes, even if I have no idea if they're from a particular property.

WAIT! I KNOW THIS ONE!

Here's a dog. I liked it.

Bob's Burgers continues to be a popular draw at Comic-Con. Great job with the mustache and glasses for this couple.

Heckman!

The Red Jacket and Greenwoman!

Here's some character-and-episode-specific Star Trek dress-up - it's Jadzia Dax from the "Trials and Tribble-ations" episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine!

This woman really went above and beyond with this Nacho Libre outfit. A tip of the cap to you, ma'am.

It's gotta be tough to wear such a big costume at Comic-Con. But if you're going to go for an H.R. Pufnstuf look, you might as well go big.

I'm pretty sure these were real people. I think.

I still haven't seen the new Toy Story movie. What is wrong with me? I'm sorry, world.

I'll take any Fantastic Four costume I can get. Sue here was the only FF costume I saw this year - good for you for carrying that (Human) Torch!

I try to stop by and see my friend (and long-time Marvel artist) Todd Nauck at every show. He's a nice guy and allows me to get frowny pictures with him every year. Hooray!

There's a booth near the artist alley section that always has these incredible pieces of art on display and for sale. I think that's an Action Comics #350 original cover near the top right. Unbelievable!

Strongbad makes and appearance.

I don't usually take pictures of toys (because you can see those anywhere!), but my goodness, this Unicron figure is a sight to behold. It's incredible!

Look, it's He-Man and the Masters of the Universe!

Check out this great MOTU diorama that was constructed just for the show with original '80s figures. How great!

Let's end this post with a few Cupheads. There were some really great costumes to see on Friday - so much so that this is only about half of the pictures I have to show. I'll post more soon!

Pictures from the 2018 Comic-Con International, part 4 (Thursday, 7/19)

Here are some more pictures from Thursday at Comic-Con 2018! I almost split these up one more time because I still had a lot from this day. But we will get through them all! Let's begin!

Midway through the day, I left the convention hall to make my way to an offsite event. The weather was pretty agreeable this year overall, especially for the first half of the convention. So I crossed the train tracks and headed toward the Gaslamp District!

Disenchantment got more advertising outside and across the street.

My destination was the Hard Rock Hotel, where another Rotten Tomatoes panel was taking place. This was a new venue for the event, and one closer to the convention center than in 2017.

People were lining up to get inside! I was happy to see it. I was a little early, so I decided to walk around a bit more before going inside.

And so I saw this Rampage display! Rampage was already in theaters by this time, so why were they advertising here? Maybe they already had the George the gorilla statue and decided to get some more use out of it? Maybe they were advertising for the eventual digital download? Maybe they just really wanted to have a display at Comic-Con? Who can say?

I do not know anything about this show. But Here's a giant fork for you.

Soon it was time to head back into the Hard Rock hall for the Rotten Tomatoes: Your Opinion Sucks! panel. This year's panel was even more streamlined and polished than ever.

One of the special guests this year was...Rob Liefeld, co-creator of Deadpool? Even though there's the obvious movie tie-in, it's nice to see a comic professional get the spotlight at an event.

Naturally, I'm thrilled that everything seems to be going well for Rotten Tomatoes in general, and Grae Drake specifically. Grae is a great person and it's exciting to see her become the face of the brand. Other than, I mean, the giant tomato.

I made another comic print for the panel this year. Will I show you all what it is? Yes, I will. In a bit.

After the panel, I ran back to the convention hall for the Mystery Science Theater 3000 signing. That's a really nice Tom Servo!

Dark Horse is producing an MST3K comic, which is out right now, actually. At the booth were Felicia Day, Todd Nauck and Michael Heisler, all of whom signed prints and promotional copies of the first issue. Is Heisler wearing a Totino's t-shirt? How does one...find something like that?

I recognize one character from this group, but I guess that's good enough.

After the show ended, I took a trip to the back of the convention hall. That's a Mayans ad draped over the Hilton.

I was kind of ambivalent about The Fifth Element the first time I saw it. But I've come to really enjoy it since. Not a bad leopard-print costume, sir.

Archer is a mainstay at this location.

Here's a shot of the harbor during what is apparently the golden hour.

Yep, the golden hour. It was a nice night to walk around after the show.

Adult Swim had a summer camp theme for their main outdoor attraction this year. It was way too crowded to enter on this particular night, but I got a good look inside, at any rate.

The canoe racing looked particularly fun.

Crossing the bridge, I saw (and probably scared) Kevin McDonald, from Kids in the Hall and Seinfeld!

Among the hundreds of thousands of people in and around Comic-Con, I always somehow manage to blindly run into Perry Zombolas every year. Perry is an all-around great guy, and he's also a storyboard artist on Bob's Burgers and now Disenchantment!

I capped the night off by checking out the Star Trek: Mirror Universe exhibit in the Gaslamp District! This small offsite had costumes and other items, mostly from the first season of Star Trek: Discovery!

The Mirror Universe is a fun concept, and I didn't expect Discovery to dive so deeply into the lore in its first season.

In the merchandise room, of all places, the walls were lined with original art from IDW's Star Trek: The Next Generation: Broken Mirror comic book series! All of the pages were on sale as well!

And that was finally the end of the night for me. It was a packed Thursday and a great start to the convention. More pictures to come soon!