Larry Franks writes FUBAR

It was bound to happen, or so we all had hoped.  Larry Franks, creator of DukesCollector and co-creator of Franks and Beans has joined the ranks of FUBAR, contributing his first story to the upcoming FUBAR: By the Sword collection.  Needless to say, Larry has been one of my favorite comic book writers for years.

Larry's story takes us back to the origins of the Robin Hood myth in a way that incorporates classic literature with his very real love of puppet shows...and zombies.  I can't wait for everyone to see what he's done with this story.  These panels are just a hint of what's to come.

Be sure to check out this story in the new FUBAR collection, as well as Larry's other works through the usual channels.  Very excited to see this take shape.

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.

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.

Free Comic Book Day 2014 signings at New England Comics

The latest installment of Free Comic Book Day takes place this weekend, and similar to last year, I'll be spending some time in Boston for the event signing copies of The Tick FCBD Special (and whatever anyone else brings to me).  This year's event brings with it an extra treat, as artist Duane Redhead will be flying over from England to join me in Boston.  Duane and I have worked together for the past seven years, but this will be the first time I'm able to meet him in person, so I'm very excited about getting the chance to finally annoy him in person and not just online.

Duane and I will be at various NEC locations on both Saturday and Sunday.  Ian Chase Nichols, who drew a short backup story in the FCBD Tick issue, will also be attending, so there's an opportunity for New England Comics store-goers to get the book autographed by the whole team.

Below is the schedule for anyone who might be interested:

Saturday, May 3

Duane Redhead: NEC Quincy (10:30-2:00); NEC Norwood (3:00-6:00)

Jeff McClelland: NEC New Bedford (11:00-2:00); NEC Brockton (3:30-7:00)

Ian Chase Nichols: NEC Quincy (10:30-2:00)


Sunday, May 4

Duane Redhead and Jeff McClelland: NEC Harvard Square (noon-3:00)


I had a lot of fun last year and this year is shaping up to be even better.  If you're reading this and you'd like an autographed copy of the book (but you're not in the area to get on in person), leave me a comment and I'll try to make it happen.

Dynamic Forces's "great" Adventures of Superman #500 offer

A few weeks ago, I took a trip to Pittsburgh Comics and flipped through a few boxes of comics priced at a quarter each.  Any time I find a sale of this proportion I have expectations to find a particular type of book: 1990s Image, X-Force with a hologram stamp, Ravage 2099 #1 or various Return of Superman titles.  Even so, I usually find one or two books that I add to my collection.  This time was no different, as titles like Cyberforce and Supreme proliferated and the extra-sized, bagged Adventures of Superman #500 probably took up 10% of one box.  In between a few books, I found the item pictured above: a "Superman Tribute Edition" of Wizard Magazine.

I started collecting comics in earnest with the Death of Superman storyline, so I'm very familiar with books around this time period, but I had neither seen nor heard of this magazine before.  It's got a cover by the Superman #75 team of Jurgens and Breeding that features Superman with a pretty grizzled five o'clock shadow (the cover has some foil enhancements as well, for the cherry on top) and features an enclosed trading card, to boot.  What I'm trying to say is, it's basically what you'd expect from a publication of this nature.  What really interested me, though, was the advertisement on the back cover from Dynamic Forces:

Dynamic Forces is a company born from comic book speculation.  They're still around today, though maybe they are not quite as visible as in years past.  They've spearheaded special covers and creator autographed copies in the past, though this one may be their most ambitious offer of all.  Let's take a look at just what they're offering:

First off, I love the generic male silhouettes.  It's obvious that the company either had no right to use any of the Superman imagery, or they didn't have any artwork on hand.  Other than the company logo at bottom, this is surprisingly the only imagery used in an otherwise incredibly text heavy ad, promoting both the upcoming Adventures of Superman #500 and the issues that follow, each featuring a different character who JUST might be a resurrected/reincarnated/cloned Superman.

Interest in these issues stemmed from the incredible response to the Death of Superman storyline, culminating in the (literally) millions of buyers of Superman #75.  The next big stop on the train was Adventures of Superman #500, which followed Superman's funeral and a very brief publishing hiatus.  So let's say that you wanted to purchase a copy of the upcoming 500th issue of the title that used to be just "Superman" (a big deal regardless of the circumstances), but you wanted to get a deluxe version, one signed by all of the creators of the historic Death/Return of Superman storyline.  That would only set you back...SIXTY BUCKS.  Plus shipping and handling!

Okay, that's a lot, but I'll bet that a lot of people looked at it as an investment for years to come.  But let's say you had a whole lot of money to burn and wanted to go all in.  You could get the aforementioned Adventures of Superman #500 along with the four "Return" books: Action Comics #687, Superman #78, Superman: the Man of Steel #22 and Adventures of Superman #501, each signed and numbered (limited to 10,000 copies!), and you'd only have to pay...

...A HUNDRED DOLLARS MORE.  Incredible.  I can't help but think that DF made money hand over fist on this deal.  Maybe they took some of that money and invested in wisely, because if they sold out of this offer (what a world we'd live in if that's actually the case), they would have made (gross, I realize) over 1.5 million dollars, with another 600 grand coming in from the AoS #500 offer.  Perhaps some of this money is still keeping the company afloat to this day.

I'd be curious to hear if anyone actually went in on this offer.

The birthday haul, 2014

Happy birthday, me!  Why thanks, Blogger, I really appreciate it.  How did you know?  Why, it's simple: at this time every year, I post pictures of some of the cool things that I get, and I make some half-hearted joke about how incredibly old I am getting.  So why should this year be any different?  Let's pull up a walker and take a peek at Jeff's birthday things!

We start with the above picture of my requisite Dairy Queen birthday cake, adorned with green roses and the word "Pants".  Classic!  This will live on in the annals of great birthday cake sayings.  Yes, it's a Franks and Beans reference, thanks for noticing.

Amazon was a busy site/warehouse/depository/future site of human enslavement the week before my birthday, as many of my gifts were droned in from the company.  First up on the list, the first two volumes of the early '90s Swamp Thing series!  Apparently, the episode bundling went like this: season one - 13 episodes.  Season two - 13 episodes.  Season three - 50 episodes.  Fifty!  That's Hollywood for ya (I have no idea what that means).  So with these two volumes, I picked up seasons one, two and half of season three.  It should be fun to check this show out.

Next on the list is the critically acclaimed "Heck" graphic novel from Tick alum Zander Cannon.  I've heard nothing but great things about this since it hit the shelves a few months ago and I'm excited to check it out.

I also got the latest collection of the slightly more well known Walking Dead.  If you've only watched the show, don't stare at the cover too long.

I finally got a Pirates shirt that I can wear outside of my house.  It's a nice, soft shirt with that "distressed" look that is so popular these days.  I credit the shirt with the Bucs' early 4-2 start.

The next two items are gifts my wife (who has a birthday just a little while after mine) got, but I like them so much I'm including them on my own list.  The first is the Blu-Ray collection of Firefly.  Amazon had a huge sale on all Joss Whedon properties, so why not get a different version of a series you already own?  We've got to prove, if to no one else other than ourselves, that the show is still popular and should be revived, BY ANY MEANS NECESSARY.

Also included in my wife's gifts that I will use as if they were my own is this silicon Firefly ice cube tray!  Just pour some water in and get mini, temporary replicas of Serenity.

The detail on the ice cubes is really amazing, even if it doesn't come out in this picture as well as it could.  The trays can also work for Jell-O molds or chocolate, which would be better if there weren't just six molds.  I suppose that I could just buy three more of these...and maybe I will.

Larry came over, great guy that he is, and blew my mind with this present - it's Optimal Optimus from Beast Wars!  Because of events too embarrassing to recollect here, I missed out on my opportunity to buy this toy when it was first out in stores, and I've regretted it ever since.  Larry was diligent enough to buy a figure that is complete, which is a big deal as many figures out there today are missing numerous parts.  This is because Optimus's arm plates are made to fly off (battle damage) and he shoots clear missiles, both of which would be very easy to misplace in the 15 or so years since this figure was first produced and sold.

Look how happy with this post-transformed figure!  It was a challenge to figure it out but it was a lot of fun.  If anyone on your (YOUR!) list has a birthday coming up, you could do worse than the items on this post.  And of course, I'm happy to spend this next trip around the sun with you, faithful readers.  Every damn one of you.