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.

The mystery of Adam Hughes's 1992 Fantastic Four cover

I've found my way to a few items of comic book production art lately.  I enjoy seeing the process that artwork goes through on its way to being a printed page.  I remember seeing the above image a while ago - a few years, at least - and it popped up on eBay again recently.  There's nothing unique about it in that it's a production transparency, made for coloring purposes on its way to the printer, but it's the image itself that caught my eye.  This image, if I'm not mistaken, has never been used by Marvel and certainly never for the cover of a book.

There are several sheets to this item, each revealing a different layer of color.  It's interesting to see everything come together to create a complete image.

If this image was never used before, then what was its purpose?  "Inventory" stories are not uncommon at Marvel - self-contained stories that were completed and saved in case a regular creative team missed the deadline to go to print - and that is the most likely answer to this question.  Of course, it raises other questions, namely if there was a story that went along with the cover.  Since it made its way to the film transparency stage, chances are that it's not just a pinup that someone did of their own accord.

With this in mind, I took a picture and tried to find out a little more about this mystery cover.  There's no signature on the art that I could see, but it reminded me of that of Terry Dodson, who had drawn this FF cover:

Thanks to the magic of the Twitter, reaching out to people you don't know is easier than ever before, and it was helpful in this case:

Soon after I had sent the inquiring tweet, Terry Dodson wrote back:

And, of course, he was right.  I don't know why (beyond the similar styles), but I often get art from the two mixed up.  I sent another message on to Adam Hughes, and he replied just a little while later:

This in itself was a mini-breakthrough, as I now had confirmation on who drew the piece.  The next question I asked was about context - was it for an inventory story?  A poster?  A pinup?  A reply came soon after:

This is a bit of a roadblock, of course.  The next step is to try and contact the editor of the book around the time it was drawn.  The copyright date by the "4" logo says 1992, which was right at the beginning of the lengthly Tom DeFalco/Paul Ryan run.  The two never missed an issue until they were replaced several years later, so if this was for in inventory story, it was never needed.

Who knows if this mystery will ever be solved.  This is a very cool piece of art and it gains even more notoriety since it's never been published before.  We'll see if I can't figure out its origins at some point.

After I found out that Hughes drew it, I found a scan of the original inked art online:

Maybe one day.

Magic Bullet #8: I Hate the Moon!

A little while ago, I received some copies of the newly-printed Magic Bullet #8 in the mail!  The Magic Bullet is the DC Conspiracy oversized free comic publication, based out of the nation's capital city.  I've had a few comics published through them in the past, and issue eight is no different.  This issue features, as its first comic, no less, "I Hate the Moon!"  Here's a tiny preview of probably my favorite scene:

"I Hate the Moon" is, I believe, the fourth comic I've submitted to the newspaper-size publication, but it's the first that I've done in color, which is rare for the MB.  The art for this comic was done by the prodigious Pietro, who took my weird script about talking planets at a party and kicked everyone's butt.

The issue is full of other great, one-page comics as well, including another installment of Rafer Roberts's eerie "Nightmare the Rat".

"Time after Time" was another favorite of mine.

And oh, look!  There's a Franks and Beans ad in there, as well.  This is sure to attract thousands of new viewers.

 I'll post the entire "I Hate the Moon" strip on this site in a few months.  In the meantime, I took the issue around to a few different Pittsburgh-area shops, including Impossible Dreams in Bridgeville, PA.  If you'd like to grab a copy for yourself and you're out of the area (and also away from Washington, DC, where most of the copies reside), you can order a copy online for only 99 cents!  Click this link for more info: http://dcconspiracy.storenvy.com/collections/170861-all-products/products/5383270-magic-bullet-8

Many thanks to all involved with the Magic Bullet for including me in their great publication once again.  It's always a treat.

Shameless Shutterfly Promotion

A few months ago, around Christmas, my brother-in-law brought home a book from Shutterfly with pictures of his wedding.  A couple weeks later, my sister showed off one from her recent ski trip to Colorado.  Realizing that I must do what everyone else is doing, no matter what it is or how much it costs, I decided to give Shutterfly a try and put together a book of my own.  I decided that the subject of this book should reflect the event of which I have the most pictures, and that subject is overwhelmingly - even more so than my own wedding - Comic-Con.  So I took advantage of Shutterfly's President's Day sale and created a book filled with images of the oh-so-enjoyable 2012 Comic-Con.  Why not the 2013 Comic-Con?  Because that's not how things work.

A few days ago I got the printed book in the mail and I was so happy with the result that I decided to post an almost altogether meaningless blog post about it, and here we are.  The end result was a professional-looking product filled with pictures of me and the things that I like.  Because of this, I'd recommend Shutterfly's printing services to, heck, just about anyone.

At the top, you see the cover with a picture I took of the San Diego convention center.

Here's the spine of the book!  It's me.  How subtle.

And here's the back cover.  I imagine the subject of the book is pretty hard to miss.

I wanted to take a few pictures of the inside of the book to give an example of how things turned out. Then I realized that I was just taking pictures of pictures and it all seemed kind of silly.  But then I just kept taking the pictures, and here we are.

As we can see, there are a lot of images here.  The book ended up being 52 pages and it cost a little more than 40 bucks.  This was after I got a nice President's Day discount and after the book qualified for free shipping.  So I suppose that one lesson to take from this is if you decide to order a book of your own, wait for some good deals.

Larry ended up in a number of these pictures as he was, you know, there in 2012.

Oh, and here's a big collage of Jet Boy and Jet Girl pictures.  I will never stop showing these to people.

The layout options are many and varied.  I usually ended up throwing all of the many costume pictures I took in these huge jumbles that, actually, don't look too bad.

And, yes, the Full House house got its own dedicated page.  Of course it did.

Shutterfly's web address is...let's see...what is it, now...oh, www.shutterfly.com.  Simple enough.  I'm very happy with my 2012 Comic-Con album.  In the future, we may see books for 2013, 2014 and, heck, maybe even 2006 while we're at it.  It's like a monster that's got out of its cage.  It can't be contained.

Thing sketch cards, part 3

Tired of Thing sketches?  NEVER!  Only on this blog do we take a break from the Thing sketchbook to then show off Thing sketch cards.  Such is life.

Paul Ryan - Former Fantastic Four artist Paul Ryan is easily my favorite childhood artist.  I started reading comics in the early 1990s and Ryan's art was, month in and out, consistently great.  He didn't miss an issue during his entire FF run!  So it was a thrill to get this sketch card from him.  Ryan was gracious enough to sign some books for me and draw this sketch card after I commissioned him to draw a Teddy and the Yeti cover.  The fact that this is on a T&Y sketch card make it even cooler.  Very happy to have this card in my collection.

Rob Summers - This eBay purchase comes from Rob Summers, a prolific semi-professional artist who has a keen internet presence.  When searching for information about Summers for this blog, I came up with a newspaper report about a Rob Summers who was shot and killed in an attempted robbery of a Los Angeles comic book shop (http://www.bleedingcool.com/2010/09/04/second-comic-shop-killing-in-lancaster-los-angeles/).  I'm going to just assume that this sketch card was drawn by someone else who happens to have the same name.

Mark Kuhn - This was another random eBay purchase from early last year.  Thanks, Mark Kuhn!

Alex Magno - The Fantastic Four Archives is a trading card set released a few years back.  Since its debut, I've been slowly collecting the series in its entirety, and to complete the collection I knew that I had to get at least one of the one-per-box original art sketch cards.  Of course, I picked one out featuring the Thing.  This one comes from Alex Magno, who drew quite a few original art cards for this set.

Here's the back of the card, congratulating me on my purchase.  Thanks, SketchaFEX people.

Alan Kupperberg - My most recent acquisition comes from none other than classic Marvel Two-in-One artist Alan Kupperberg, which is a real treat.  I got this card as a reward for renewing my annual membership to the extremely worthwhile comic book charity Hero Initiative.  What a treat.

Here's the back of the Hero Initiative card.  Spiffy!

That's actually the entirety of my Thing sketch card collection.  Just posting this makes me want to do an eBay search.  The perils of blogging.