Jackman/Wolverine Free Comic Book Day PSA: The story behind the story

In yesterday’s post, I wrote about how Concord California retailer Joe Field came up with the idea for Free Comic Book Day, a great promotional tool for the industry since 2002. I also wrote about the watershed event (IMHO) of Wolverine Hugh Jackman standing in front of a camera in Malibu California and talking about Free Comic Book Day (FCBD) and how great comic books are. 

This SATURDAY is FREE COMIC BOOK DAY! Don't forget!

Yesterday’s post also included a brief discussion about the huge amount of wasted time and wasted discussion that went into the pursuit of getting a high visibility celebrity to endorse comic books. More than one organization was formed, meetings held and organizations ultimately abandoned, all in the pursuit of an endorsement from a popular movie or music star.

When Joe Field said of the Wolverine PSA that he had waited 25 years for it to happen, he also revealed another secret that I had not heard before. Joe said, “We had three of the four actors from the Fantastic Four movie a couple of years ago, they recorded a Free Comic Book Day PSA, but something happened with the studio and the deal fell apart.”

Your fanatic Christmas gift: Mike Ploog monster action!

Mike Ploog and Christmas will always be connected in my mind. Keep reading to understand the three reasons why.

Classic Ploog: Werewolf by Night #14

Is there anything cooler than a Mike Ploog-drawn monster? I think not. You can probably make a case that there are many things JUST AS COOL, but for something to be MORE COOL is close to impossible. During his long-ago tenure at Marvel Comics, Mike Ploog got a chance to draw a lot of monsters: Man-thing, Werewolf by Night, Ghost Rider and Frankenstein most prominently. For me, when Dracula crossed-over with Werewolf by Night, it was HORROR COMIC HEAVEN.

My friends all find it ironic that my blog (to date)  has primarily been about things that I remember from my careeer in comics. The irony? Well … frankly … I’m infamous for having a pretty terrible, sketchy, random-access memory. So it is at this point that I have to admit I don’t remember the details of how Mike Ploog came to work on an issue of the Ultraverse title SLUDGE with writer Steve Gerber. No one is really surprised.