Amazon's "The Tick" tv promotional items

The first half of The Tick season one is now streaming on Amazon! I hope that you've all had a chance to watch it (maybe more than once?). It's been incredible for me to see it all take shape, as someone who's right on the periphery of this thing, so I can only imagine how unbelievable this has all been for those directly involved in the production.

What's surprised me more than anything is the sheer scope of Amazon's promotional push for this show. The Tick is being advertised on billboards, in subways, on television, online - seemingly everywhere. It's very interesting to see this project that I've been a small part of show up in a lot of mainstream places over the last few months. Let me put it this way - my mom has seen ads for the show, so you know it's a big deal.

For today, I wanted to take a little bit of time and talk about some of the promotional items that Amazon has released for the show. A lot of this comes from Comic-Con in San Diego, so thankfully I was able to get a little bit of a head start on getting all of the items you see above. But there have been other Tick items released in the last few weeks and I've managed to get my hands on some of them. I didn't realize how much was out there until I tossed it all together. Let's take a peek at what we've got!

One of the biggest items is the backpack/swag bag that was given out in San Diego. Maybe "Team Tick" members wore these around the city to hand out different items. It's pretty similar to a lot of the comic convention bags you'll see at any given show, except this one is 100% Tick branded.

Here's a view of the back and the arm straps.

I had to search online to find this guy - the t-shirt. When I went through the Tick activation site at SDCC, they were out of shirts and I had to go for the tote bag instead. This guy is a full XXL size, so I won't be wearing it any time soon. These were printed on site once you finished the scavenger hunt.

Here's the aforementioned tote bag, which does look pretty good compared to the shirt, I think. As with the shirt, there were a few different slogans you could choose to have printed on it. If you're wondering "does this mean you have to get every different iteration of every printed item?", the answer is, "I hope not". That way lies madness.

There were two slightly different phone cases handed out in San Diego: one for the iPhone 6 and 6s, and another for the larger iPhone 7. This is one of the coolest looking items, I think, and also one of the least functional.

The promo winner at Comic-Con was, not surprisingly, the antennae headband. I saw a lot of people wearing these throughout the show.

The hat is also something you can wear on your head, and I saw some people wearing it, but not as many as the headband.

I think I've managed to grab all of the little handouts from SDCC, either in person or online afterwards. Near the top are the, I guess, hygiene products, including moist towelettes, sunscreen, deodorant (really) and tissues. The rectangular shaped box in the middle contains something, but I have no idea what it is. I have no plans to open it, but it's nothing obvious. Perhaps it will remain one of life's mysteries.

At the bottom of the picture, you can see two handbills advertising the show and different promotions associated with it. I picked these two things off the ground and the one on the left shows some wear, probably from 10,000 people stepping on it before I got to it. Directly above is the RFID-chipped elastic wristband that everyone who went through the outdoor site had to wear. At the very top are two different business card-sized ads, one about costuming and the other about...punching.

I'm particularly happy that I managed to get this item. This temporary tattoo (I think) was part of the bathroom setup at the interactive zone outside of Petco Park. If you flushed the toilet, one of these plastic bubbles rolled down into a basket. I was lucky to get one with a blue cap (there were all different colors in the enclosure) to fit with the theme.

Soon after Comic-Con, Carl's Jr. ran a small promotion with their extra-large-sized drink cups. Carl's Jr. is run by the same company that owns Hardees, except one is on the western part of the country, and the other is on the east. As far as I can tell, Hardees strangely did not have the promotion (not in my general area, anyway), so I was lucky to have someone grab these and mail them to me.

This is the other side of the cup!

A few days ago, I saw a picture of X-Men actor Oliva Munn wearing a clearly-branded Tick jacket with antennae on the hood. Who wore it better?

Uh, okay, probably Munn. But I was able to grab this once I saw it pop up on eBay a little while ago. It took me a few days to figure out just where it came from. It turns out that Amazon sent these as part of a press packet to reviewers of the show. Is it a bribe? I don't know, but it sure is soft.

The second part of that packet was the actual show on DVD. It came in this neat-looking booklet.

The booklet has images from the series posters and a short writeup about all of the main characters.

Near the back of the booklet, there are short bios for the actors and producers of the show. Notice that Griffin Newman is, for some reason, referred to as "the Moth".

There are a few items that I'm still on the lookout for, some of which I'll probably never get. There was a drink koozie with a screen printed image given out at the activation site - I could have gotten that instead of the tote bag, but I think I picked the better of the two.

As you can see in the picture directly above, members of "Team Tick" - those hired to work the event - all got event-specific t-shirts to wear. I've yet to see any surface online since Comic-Con. I should have made an offer to one of the workers before the show ended, but I didn't realize they'd be so tough to find (and "sell me your shirt!" is a weird conversation starter). I have hopes that I'll be able to get one at some point - I know I'll be on the lookout for someone wearing it at the New York Comic Con in October, where the Tick will have a presence as well.

Embed from Getty Images

A week before the first handful of episodes were made available to stream online, Amazon had a premiere in New York City - where the show is filmed - and the setup was just incredible. I had some friends attend, and the pictures they posted looked really fantastic. Among some of the props outside of the theater, where they screened the first three episodes, were "Tick Tacs", blue-colored takeoffs of the popular breath mints. From what I gather, they were there for the taking (if you could get behind the velvet rope). I also saw branded popcorn bags and lots of props which were probably not removable. Needless to say, I'd do just about anything to be able to grab some of those, but I have to imagine that it'll be very difficult to do so.

I think my whole point in posting this is to say "wow, look at all of the neat promo items Amazon is putting out for The Tick!" Hopefully my astonishment is made clear enough, because I'm really quite taken back by it all. Now I'm off to do another futile search for a Team Tick shirt!

FUBAR signing at Beyond Comics

Being a part of the FUBAR team, getting to publish regularly and successfully working with other like-mined folk, has been a real joy over the last few years.  Making comics can be, and often is, a lonely task, and beyond the creation process, it's been a lot of fun interacting with others who share similar goals and industry perspectives.  On Saturday, September 21, a group of FUBAR creators met for a signing event at Beyond Comics in Frederick, Maryland.  It was a chance to meet some creators I previously hadn't, to see some familiar friends, to sign some books and to have a good time just in general.  I took a few pictures of the signing and of the store, and I thought I'd share them here, because...well, because this is a blog about comics and stuff.  Also, why not.

It took about three hours to drive to the Frederick Beyond Comics location, which is situated in a shopping plaza and has a fairly unassuming store front.  Once inside, though, it was apparent that the store had pretty much everything one might look for in a comic shop...

 

  

 

The store had a very nice layout.  It was stuffed with cool things but not intimidating the way some comic shops can be.  Also, they had a healthy arrangement of high-end Thing items, such as this Sideshow beauty:

I guess they also had a huge Hulk display from the movies or whatever.  Impressive.  But imagine how much more impressive an oversized Thing display would be!  Very impressive.  Let's make it happen, universe.

 

I downloaded the latest iOS update for the iPhone the night before the signing event, so of course I had to play around with the panoramic camera features.  It's a weird perspective but it lets you see the whole setup.  I was positioned between Jeff McComsey and Steve Becker on either side, and the two drew sketches almost the entire time throughout the four hour event.  Also in attendance were Dom Vivona, Rafer Roberts, M. Giles Crawford, John Shine and others!  There was a big FUBAR presence in one spot - perhaps more contributors in one area than at any time before - and it was fun to experience.  We had people waiting for autographs and sketches for most of the day.

  

Here Rafer gesticulates wildly as I stare on in abject terror:

 

 

The entire event went really well and I hope to be involved with another one before too long.  At the end of the day, a lot of us did some shopping.  I had my eye on this guy:

...but I let it pass this time around.  We're possibly looking at an upcoming addition to the collection, though.

At one point in the day, I tried out a silver marker that decided not to mark, for whatever reason.  I brought a handful of Teddy and the Yeti sketch cards with me (a few people ended up walking away with one), and I used one to scribble on in an attempt to get the marker back in working order.  After drawing a thousand circles, I decided to keep scribbling and made a caveman-esque image of the Tick and Arthur.  Jeff McComsey look the card and made what looks like an ACTUAL drawing of the duo, which I completely take credit for in front of anyone but you, Internets.  I like the Tiny flying Arthur the best.

One more quick FUBAR update:

The FUBAR: Mother Russia Kickstarter fundraiser is in its last days!  It's wildly exceeded expectations, and as such, we're offering up a lot of great rewards.  Anyone who pledges at least 25 dollars will not only receive the original Mother Russia graphic novel, but also get some great brand new comics in the balance, including the 44 page FUBAR: Guts and Glory and the 24 page FUBAR: Better Red than Dead, both of which will have new stories by me.

Some great times ahead, and as always, it seems that FUBAR is an unstoppable monster.

Once again, my students present terrible drawings of the Incredible Hulk.

About a year ago, I gave a final in some of the classes I taught that facetiously offered bonus points to whomever drew the Incredible Hulk on his or her greenbook.  Even though I made it abundantly clear that I would not actually be handing out points based on such a dumb concept, many of my students did it anyway - just in case.  The results were so astonishingly bad that I decided to try it again this year, and as I had more students, I got more Hulk drawings (and, supposedly, I shattered more dreams).

When marveling at the horrid nature of the following drawings, let's keep in mind that these are coming from college students, and not little children.  For my own part, I am not an artist and don't claim to be able to put together a half decent composition of Bruce Banner's alter ego.  Even so, WOW, I got some bad ones.  Let's check them out, starting with the one at top and its interestedly placed nipples.

What is this, a German Hulk?  Okay.

Honestly, I'm just happy that this person spelled "incredible" correctly.

This one's not too bad, even thought the Hulk looks a little goofy.  I wonder why he's apparently pantsless.

This one, I'm fairly certain, was drawn after the student took out his iPhone and looked up a "how to draw the Hulk" tutorial on YouTube.  A couple people did that, and since the final was long over by this point, I let them go ahead.  This person didn't bring a greenbook and apparently hates the environment.

I like this one.  The Hulk is perhaps leaping, perhaps falling.  But he looks pretty carefree in any case.

Jose Canseco?  Really?  I'm surprised that my students even know who the guy is, seeing as most of them were born in the early 1990s, when Canseco's heyday was beginning to wind down.

This one's a little deformed, but probably the scariest of the bunch.

An Antoine Dodson reference!  Classic.

I contend that the "Hulk" at bottom is actually the Thing, which my student couldn't help but draw since the Thing is a much better character.  She even drew his Fantastic Four shorts!  Good job, student.

I like the King Kong-esque nature of this one, and the use of the globe in with the rest of the composition.

NO YOU ARE NOT!

This one didn't even try.

Another drawing that looks more like the Thing!  This person even captured the Thing's positive nature.

This one's just weird.  Do you want me to hand you something, Hulk?

I have no idea how Scarface ended up in this one.  Did the person watch the movie the night before?  Pay attention to the faux instructions and draw the Hulk!  Or the Thing.  The Thing is acceptable.

It's all relative.

The Hulk is so happy here!  It looks like he's taking the globe for a walk.

Another baseball reference!  The Pirates have enough good pitching this year.  What I want to know is can Closing Pitcher Hulk get on base?  Seriously, we'll take anyone.  Look at this graphic!

Can you hit a curve, Hulk?

This Hulk seems to be a mix between the Hulk, Charlie Brown and Doug Funny.

These last two were drawn on bluebooks.  Bluebooks?!?  Ridiculous.  Here we have proof that people will never forget the Ferrigno/Bixby TV show.  Also, it looks like the Hulk got chunks torn out of him.

Lastly, we have our footless, noseless Hulk.  This was fun!  We should do it again next semester, assuming that I don't get fired for posting student artwork online.  There's very little chance of that happening.  I hope.