Merry Christmas from The Tick!

Hey folks - here's a short Tick story that Ian Nichols and I worked on for Christmas! Hope you enjoy!

 

Pittsburgh in Journey into Mystery #120: With My Hammer In Hand...!"

A few months ago, I wrote about the two-part Avengers "Peril in Pittsburgh!" storyline from the early 1980s. That story specifically references 1965's Journey into Mystery #120, Thor's debut title, so I picked that one up for the purpose of seeing how Pittsburgh was portrayed in the issue.

The Avengers storyline includes a character who ostensibly picked up a piece of Thor's broken hammer, which, in a convoluted way, let to the creation of a kind-of villain with a sliver of Mjolnir's power. Thor broke his hammer in an early '60s battle, which led him to reforge the weapon in the place he thought most suitable on earth - a mill in Pittsburgh.

Here's the cover. "Thor" was overshadowing the "Journey into Mystery" part of the title by quite a bit at this point. Oh, and there are a lot of jokes - or at least one obvious one - to be made about the caption. We were all thinking it.

This page-one title is a little better, but still...sheesh. Anyway, we're greeted by the all-star creative cast of Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Vince Colletta and Artie Simek. This was from the time when Stan and Jack were handling pretty much every book at Marvel. Thor, wearing eye protection and sticking his hands directly into a blast furnace, re-forges his hammer as awestruck onlookers gawk and provide some exposition.

And on page two...he's done! You'll notice Kirby's photocopy in the background of the first panel, which he sometimes did. And the everyday joes cheer! But now it's time to test the hammer out by destroying some property.

Thor, no!! That's a support beam! You've doomed us all!!

During this display, one of the workers exclaims "The Mets would trade their whole first team for a guy who can do THAT!", and are you kidding me, Stan?! You make it a point to note that Thor has travelled to Pittsburgh, PA, and the guy talks about the Mets? This is one of the only times where it's prudent to namecheck the Pirates, and you go with the Mets. The battlin' Bucs, at this point, were only a few years removed from their 1960 World Series championship, and in 1965 they had a lineup that included Roberto Clemente, Willie Stargell, Bill Mazeroski, Vern Law, Elroy Face and Bob Friend! They won 90 games that year! They were a pretty good team! Why is this guy talking about the Mets?!?

Well, anyway, I'm sure there's more to this story, so let's move on. On page three, Thor says goodbye to the workers at the mill...

...and then he flies away, and that's it. He's in Pittsburgh for two pages plus a few panels on the third. All of the connections made in Avengers #192-93 were made up after the fact, including the all important "I found a piece of Mjolnir and made it into a keychain" plot point. This was very disappointing to learn!

But, well, we're here, so let's check out what else happens in this issue! Thor arrives back in New York (sigh) where he finds that Jane Foster is missing. He tries to enlist some help from the Avengers in finding her, but the original members have mostly disbanded, being replaced by the likes of Hawkeye, the Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver.

Oh, here's an ad for some of the other books that were on sale at the same time, including Fantastic Four #43: "Lo, There Shall Be an Ending!", which is a great book.

Later, Thor runs into...is that Zsa Zsa Gabor??

And soon, Thor comes face-to-face with Crusher Creel, the Absorbing Man!

There are some real gems here as far as ads are concerned. This one page has the classic X-Ray specs ad, plus one for the Strat-O-Matic!

This issue had a backup tale as well, which also, well, featured Thor and his fellow Asgardians.

The letters page, "The Hammer Strikes!", is a good one in this issue. It starts off with a writer kind of(?) complaining about Jack Kirby's art, but then claims that Thor is the most exciting title around. Thanks, Mike Gable of Ridgefield Park, NJ.

And at the very end of the issue, we have two more great old ads. The one on the right is fun, offering up an old army Jeep for $278, apparently? I'm sure there was some fine print there somewhere.

The second ad, which is maybe the Columbia Record Club for the 1960s, offers up 10 records with a total of 60 songs. This was 1965, so we're talking about the confluence of the British Invasion, Motown, Surf Rock and the last gasp of 1950s Pop. Look at that list! I see the Beatles, Monkees, Kinks, Temptations, Supremes, Dixie Cups...I hope that teens took up this offer and danced awkwardly, just like the illustration suggests.

Well. This was kind of an underwhelming issue to pick up, because I thought that it'd tie in more to the Avengers storyline or at least show Pittsburgh a bit more. And what it did show was pretty generic. But what can you do? At least I got to laugh at the title for a bit.

DC's Rue Morgue and Death Metal record advertisements

So, we can all agree that DC is in a weird place right now, right? Who knows where the company will be a year from now, but for now, while monthly books are still a thing, I want to take a look at a curiosity for me in the form of DC's new inside cover ads for Rue Morgue magazine.

A few different versions of these ads have been running for several months now, with each promoting a magazine within another magazine. Each features the woman you see above, usually holding a copy of the publication. Heading over to their website, it seems that she is executive editor Andrea Subissati.

It seems odd to me that DC would advertise someone else's magazine in their own publication, and it leads me to believe that one of two things is true: one, that Rue Morgue magazine is owned, at some level, by the same companies that own DC, and this is another in-house ad, like if DC would advertise MAD Magazine. Or two, the Rue Morgue folks decided to pay a bunch of money for ads and DC said "okay", kind of like those "Beats For Reading Comic Books To" ads from around 10 years ago, which were also really weird.

I don't know. The ads don't feel like they were made in-house to me, and they've been so prevalent lately, that I can't help but wonder what the story is behind them. Rue Morgue's "about" page lists email addresses for the staff, so I guess I should follow up.

Near the back of many new DC books is another ad, and definitely an in-house one, but also another weird one. It's promoting a record store-exclusive version of Dark Nights Death Metal #1, which comes packaged with a square vinyl "flexidisc" record of a new single by the band Rise Against.

This, in itself, is kind of weird, but I like weird and unique versions of comics, and it's been a while since I saw a comic packaged with a record. I called a local record shop up to ask about it, and the owner of the store had no idea what I was talking about. She apparently followed up with distributors about it, and came up empty as well. She let me know later on that the book was probably something coming out through comic shops as opposed to record stores.

But the ad, as you see above, specifically says that it will be "available at Indie Record Stores".

So I tried to find out more information online and have found...almost nothing at all. There are a few others asking the same questions I am, but no solid information on when the book will be released and how you can get it. These both seem like important pieces of information if you are planning on selling any copies of this dang book!

The best I can figure right now is that the book/record combo has been delayed, and since the ads were placed months in advance, they're showing up before the actual product is ready. But it's still...really weird that DC isn't offering up an explanation despite running the ad in so many of their books. 

RANDOM NOTES strike back: Allegiance Comics, The Tick reunion, a new Funko Thing figure and more!

Sometimes I have stuff to talk about that doesn't really warrant an entire post, but I want to talk about them anyway, so I put them all in a post called "random notes". Also, there's an X-Men character named "Random". I hate him.

And off we go!

I'm still lamenting the loss of the DC's 100-Page Giant Walmart-exclusive comics, so I was surprised to see a new comic book display for Allegiance Comics on a recent walk through the superstore. This one isn't in the checkout line, but with the books and magazines that are usually near the back of the store, and it's got a pretty prominent endcap display going for it.

I didn't purchase any of these, but one thing I did notice is that they all had big Walmart price stickers stuck on the front of each cover.

A little while ago, I posted about a virtual Tick reunion panel hosted by House Seats and featuring cast members from all three iterations of the Tick tv shows. It happened on November 15th and it was wonderful!

The whole thing lasted about 2.5 hours and had different cast members reading scripts from each version of the show, including an unproduced episode of the cartoon!

It was simply incredible to see all of these fine folks together in one virtual space. Between readings, each Tick and each Arthur had their own mini-session to talk about their roles. I had never seen David Burke in anything after his time in the 2001 show, so I especially enjoyed getting to hear from him.

"Crossover", a new comic from Image Comics by Donny Cates and Geof Shaw, came out last month. It features a lot of copyrighted superhero approximations, including re-colored thinly-veiled versions of Captain Marvel and Spider-Man. It also maybe has The Tick show up in one panel? It might just be a re-colored Ant/Giant Man. But this guy is blue, has what looks like antennae, and is causing property damage, so I prefer to think that it's the Big Blue Bug of Justice.

Gamestop released a frightening number of new, store exclusive Fantastic Four Funko Pops for Black Friday (eight in total, ugh) this year. Each new mystery box includes a Pop figure of an FF member with a Venom symbiote. Here's the Thing, and also, I guess, the Dr. Doom/Venom pin that came in the box. There's a metallic version of the figure as well.

Back in May, I posted about the copies of the personalized, mail-in X-Men and Captain Universe from 1994 that I have. I bought both of my copies from eBay, one of which was originally purchased by or for Josh Meinhausen, whose name appears over and over throughout the book.

Well, just a few days ago, Josh himself commented on the original post to tell me that this copy...had actually been stolen from him a long time ago! Yikes! That is not what I wanted to hear. It appears that my copy fell out of the back of a truck, so to speak. Josh, if you're reading this and would like to have a tear-filled reunion with your previous possession, let me know and I can try to make that happen. Or I can just send ransom notes with pictures of this book in peril.

I've been working on a few lettering projects recently. I made these weird balloons and I like them. Here, look at them, too!

So what else have I been doing? Well, I'm staking out potential press conference locations, and I stumbled upon this little-known gem in North Philly.

Also, someone please update my IMDb page to reflect my recent appearance in the Hulu-streaming "Happiest Season" movie. Hey there, K-Stew.

Thing sketchbook, part 23

Happy Thingsgiving, everyone! THINGSgiving, right? You got that? Thingsgiving. Yes.

Let's, uh, check out a new entry in the long-running Thing sketchbook post series!

Brian Level - New York Comic Con 2017

This is the only Thing sketch that I managed to get at NYCC 2017, but I like to think that I made it count. It's from Brian Level, a friend from the FUBAR days that has since gone on to work on a number of books for Marvel and other top-tier publishers.

Alex Harris - Free Comic Book Day 2018

For FCBD in 2018, I spent the day in Boston at a few different New England Comics locations, signing copies of The Tick and catching up with friends. Alex Harris drew a short story that I wrote for the Tick #2 (2018 series); I got an opportunity to hang out with him at a signing on this Saturday morning, and, of course, I asked him for a Thing sketch. I appreciate the fact that he knows how to properly spell "clobberin'".

Jay Kennedy/Ian Nichols - Free Comic Book Day 2018

Jay Kennedy is a local Boston artist who took my spot at the signing table once I moved on to another store. He did a quick sketch of the helmeted Thing that Ian Nichols finished up later in the day. This is peak mid-'90s Thing!

Ian Nichols - Free Comic Book Day/Comic-Con International 2018

Ian Nichols is my friend and frequent Tick collaborator, and he provided a couple contributions to my previous sketchbook. This is a new sketchbook, so it's fair game to ask him to draw once again in this book! This sketch is a different one, and I love it for that fact. It's Alicia Masters with a bust of her favorite subject, Ben Grimm.

The evening of FCBD, I left the sketchbook with Ian, who returned it when we saw each other again a few months later at Comic-Con in San Diego. Ian included this rough sketch on a separate piece of paper. Note the bust of Dr. Doom in the background!

Tony Sedani - Free Comic Book Day 2018

Here's the last one for now, another helmeted Thing by Tick contributor Tony Sedani! Tony's a really nice guy and I was happy to meet up with him for a little while at FCBD. And he's right - the helmet doesn't actually have a mouth hole, so wouldn't get it a little, uh, uncomfortable wearing it? Looking back, this was a big day for me as I got parts of four sketches on one day! 

There'll be more Thing sketches later, but before we go, I was in Target a few days ago and, of course, I stopped in the toy section, only to see a long, multi-panel cardboard display showing off a lot of collectibles - including the new Funko Pop Thing! How in the world am I going to convince Target to let me have this giant display, and where am I going to keep it??

While I was there, I (naturally) checked, and yes, the Target-exclusive 10-inch Funko Pop Thing is still available! It's a great Christmas present, folks.

"The Midnight Starr" comic for...The Midnight Star

Here's a new, strange comic strip that I recently put together with my friend and Bulwark co-creator Andrea Schiavone! Read it, look it over, and then wonder what in the world is happening in it! It's okay to be a little confused, because, honestly, that was part of my intent. Why? Well, I have a blog, and I guess I can use it to spend some time explaining. IT'S A BLOG, GUYS. That's what we do here.

A few months ago, I purchased some original art from the "Brenda Starr" comic strip, from all the way back in 1981! I can't say that I'm a big fan of Brenda Starr, but I am a big fan of artist Ramona Fradon, and this strip is from her long run on the syndicated series. I'm really excited to have some more original Fradon art, as she's nothing short of a legend.

Anyway, I like the strip and have been thinking about making one of my own as something of an homage to not just Fradon and Brenda Starr, but to newspaper comic strips in general. The opportunity presented itself just recently (and I, on this blog, will elaborate on that), so I contacted my friend Andrea and we put together the above.

I had a few goals that I wanted to accomplish. I wanted the strip to have a worn feel to it, as if it had just been found in a filing cabinet or something after decades in obscurity. I wanted it to be melodramatic, kind of like Brenda Starr. And I wanted it to be very weird. I think I accomplished all of those goals, but just to put it over the top, the first version I made was written in Italian:

Now, I do not know Italian, but Andrea not only does, but also IS Italian, so he was able to translate the text into what you see above. Andrea also added in the aging effects, which include yellowing, ink splotches, a coffee ring, and some creases along one corner. The original inks looked like this:

I added a Hawaiian pattern to the shirt in the first and third panels...so if you were asking yourself if that is supposed to be "Weird Al" Yankovic in the strip...well, to start, this must be the first time you've seen any of the work I do, because OF COURSE it's Weird Al, but further...yes, it's Al.

Giving this comic the title "Midnight Starr" served to pay homage to both Brenda Starr as well as Al, because "Midnight Star" is the title to one of Al's classic original songs from the album "In 3D". It ALSO serves as the name of the premier 1990s Weird Al fanzine, which, in a very roundabout way, brings us to this: for the past few months, I have been working on a one-issue revival of the fanzine, and I put together the Midnight Starr comic strip to include in the issue.

The issue itself has a lot of different things in it - articles, pictures, interviews (I got to interview Al for an "Ask Al" segment!), but as comics and artwork will always be special to me, let's look at a few more highlights in that category.

Here's a one-panel comic from fellow Al fan and Planet Comics contributor Kelly Phillips! Kelly went above and beyond with this comic, which features just a ton of inside references to the Midnight Star song! 

The back cover was meticulously drawn by my friend Ethan Harper. Ethan is a storyboard artist on a number of productions, and I met him earlier this year in Los Angeles for Al's New York Times Magazine photoshoot. Ethan drew a whopping 27 animated characters, each of which is voiced by Al himself.

Here's what the finished product looks like! This is kind of an "I guess you had to be there" thing, as the design is in line with what the magazine looked like during its run from 1993-98. If you'd like to read the thing, I've got a PDF that anyone can view for free, right here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/8hfkj1r62xmsz3c/The%20Midnight%20Star%20-%20November%3ADecember%202020.pdf?dl=0

I've also got physical copies for sale in my Etsy shop! In 2020, this counts as a new publication for me.

All the Ticks! (Plus...more Ticks)

There's some exciting new Tick content coming your way very soon, in the form of a Tick reunion featuring every television iteration! On Sunday, November 15th at 7pm EST, House Seats will stream the gathering in which each cast will read unproduced scripts. All three Ticks: Townsend Coleman, Patrick Warburton and Peter Serafinowicz, all four Arthurs: Micky Dolenz, Rob Paulsen, David Burke and Griffin Newman, and plenty of co-stars like Val Curry, Yara Martinez, Liz Vassey and Cam Clarke will be there! And to top it off, creator Ben Edlund will be there, leading the charge.

This is obviously a big deal, and it's the first time that all three casts will be together in the same virtual space. Best of all, the ticket proceeds for this event will benefit food banks across the country. If you haven't yet, you can get your tickets here: https://houseseats.live/2020/11/15/all-the-ticks/. And if you worry about missing the event because, say, the 8-0 Steelers are going to be playing at around the same time, don't worry, because the video will be available to view until November 22nd!

I'm really excited to see all of these fine folks again.

While we're here, let's look at a few new Tick items that I recently picked up!

The first is an original sketch by Chris Schwartz, who drew this classic Tick for his 2019 Inktober challenge. There's a lot of blue line that the scanner doesn't pick up, too. The artist certainly got the square jaw down.

Next up, here are two more props from the Amazon Tick series that I managed to grab recently. This one is The Terror's world domination speech from the end of season one!

And here's an annual report for the Terror's Brown Tingle Cola company. This is a folder that has a lot of actual, very official-looking graphs and charts inside. 

It looks like BTC's market share is increasing exponentially! I wonder what the secret ingredient is?

Here are the two branded certificates that came with the items!

That's it for now. Spoon!