Barry’s Blueprints of Hits and Heartbreak

[NerdyTrev]

35 minutes ago, thereasonsy said:

I’d love to see your take on Crystal.  

And all other Inhumans!

[Barry]

On 2/7/2026 at 1:42 PM, thereasonsy said:

@Barry have you ever considered putting stuff up for print on demand? There’s several of your digital files that I think would be beautiful as merch. Heck I’d wear a teeshirt to cons etc. Also commissions could be fun. I’d love to see your take on Crystal.  

I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about these options but I always run into problems.  I want to be clear that none of what I've written below is meant to belittle any of the ideas, this is just my thought process in the last few months (actually, a year now...)  and why I'm stuck.  If anyone has suggestions or insights, I would genuinely love to hear them.

Print on demand - The artwork I’ve already created was commissioned by another party.  While I retain the right to use it for portfolio and archival purposes, selling it in another format becomes complicated.  I could create new artwork, I already have a few ideas for prints or products, but I’ve struggled to find reputable print services that allow / overlook licenced content.

It seems that most artists who sell unlicenced art of licenced characters have their own private printing sources and sell directly through their own websites without listing the printer.  Any time I have found an Instagram artist selling prints this is the case.  On demand is really the only option for me, I don’t have the time to pack and ship myself, and it honestly stresses me out, so I’m unsure how to move forward.  (I'm thinking of eBaying a number of statues right now as well, and the thought gives me anxiety).

Commissions - The problem here is in the way my art is done.  A regular artist can draw Crystal again for another client, changing the pose, but in my case the result would be nearly identical.  I can’t sell the same piece twice.  I do realize that in the past I’ve created countless Spider-Man figures in the same red and blue outfit and sold them again and again as new products.  So maybe there’s a way to think about it that way.  Still, there are core design elements that wouldn’t change, like hair or costume structure.  Once I've solved how a costume is done, it rarely changes.  At that point, the face and torso elements would change only.  That's OK for a retail product, but it feels like a cheat for private commissions.

I could redraw Crystal from the ground up each time, keeping the same design but changing the line art so it doesn’t perfectly match the previous one.  Or, maybe keep a list where certain characters become unavailable once they’ve been commissioned.  That could create a sense of limited availability which might increase requests up front, but it could also turn people away.  If someone wants an Inhumans set and Crystal is already taken, they may not want any of them at all then.

Patreon - I’m not sure what the ongoing content would realistically be.  One idea is to have a tier for my own concepts, another for audience polls where the winner becomes the next set of designs, and another that functions like a commission tier where the supporter receives the file.  But again, this circles back to the same commission issues above.  I’m also unsure whether I could generate enough consistent interest to justify monthly content.

So that’s where I’m at. I feel like something needs to happen in one of these areas, but I’m currently at an impasse. If anyone has thoughts, advice, or ideas, I’m very open to hearing them.  I really just want to draw, (and y'know, earn some money, too!)

[Nervous Rex]

Hey Barry, i guess my post is somewhat on topic. It is something that i have wanted personally since my very first custom Cobra Commander minimate (the exact reason i bought me first FF sets 20 odd years ago.

As kids, my brother and I would stare at the cardbacks and art for GI Joe. for hours, especially the upcoming new characters. I love the idea of a series of file cards for Joe/Cobra characters. done as minimates that replicate the original poses on the front of the cards. its something i have always envisioned, but time and skill are my worst enemies. I may be the only one here (and maybe Crippler, lol) who would love these, but I do think they'd look great!

[Nervous Rex]

On 2/3/2026 at 10:44 AM, cylonchaney said:

No artist ever sees any of their work as finished.  If they're lucky, it's close enough that they can live with it being out in the world. But, if they'd had just one more hour to work on it ...

lol agree 100% i had been approached years ago about designing some tattoos for people and declined for this exact reason, i'd never be happy with it. Not sure I've ever been 100% happy with any artwork/custom stuff i've ever done either

[cylonchaney]

7 minutes ago, Nervous Rex said:

lol agree 100% i had been approached years ago about designing some tattoos for people and declined for this exact reason, i'd never be happy with it. Not sure I've ever been 100% happy with any artwork/custom stuff i've ever done either

I added another detail to my Cylon Raider ship model about 2 years after I released it.  Still tempted to put more work into it sometimes. 

[THE_CRIPPLER]

3 hours ago, Nervous Rex said:

Hey Barry, i guess my post is somewhat on topic. It is something that i have wanted personally since my very first custom Cobra Commander minimate (the exact reason i bought me first FF sets 20 odd years ago.

As kids, my brother and I would stare at the cardbacks and art for GI Joe. for hours, especially the upcoming new characters. I love the idea of a series of file cards for Joe/Cobra characters. done as minimates that replicate the original poses on the front of the cards. its something i have always envisioned, but time and skill are my worst enemies. I may be the only one here (and maybe Crippler, lol) who would love these, but I do think they'd look great!

I would love to see G.I. Joe filecards. That was one of the fun parts about buying a new G.I. Joe when we were young. you flip him over to get his real name and all the other important info about them. I always got excited when a character was from my home state of Wisconsin (Recondo, Grand Slam, and Airbourne). 

[Barry]

We had the file cards on the single carded Joes, but I never heard any feedback about them, good or bad.  The only thing that ever came back to me was that people didn't like the price, which outweighed how people perceived the packaging.  As a note too, pricing was going to increase regardless, rising costs were everywhere, and as we see now, they were only going up.  That was only the beginning of the new cost of doing business.  It really had nothing to do with fancy packaging.

I did have file cards for Wave 3 completed, and the packaing for Adventure Team and Super Joe also included cards, but I hadn't written the text yet.  The layout for them was completed though.  I really liked those cards, especially the even more-retro ones, since I mimicked the one-colour printing on uncoated cardboard for the backs of the cards to mimic the style of the time.

[Strider]

I loved the original Joe file cards and I loved Minimates take on them too. I have an open sent and then one set still one card and I never keep anything on card. Those two Minimates sets are the only thing on card in my entire collection across all scales and lines. I would love to see more of them. It still hurts that Flint and Jaye were never made. They would have been my minimate grails. 

[Nervous Rex]

On 2/18/2026 at 1:44 PM, Barry said:

We had the file cards on the single carded Joes, but I never heard any feedback about them, good or bad.  The only thing that ever came back to me was that people didn't like the price, which outweighed how people perceived the packaging.  As a note too, pricing was going to increase regardless, rising costs were everywhere, and as we see now, they were only going up.  That was only the beginning of the new cost of doing business.  It really had nothing to do with fancy packaging.

I did have file cards for Wave 3 completed, and the packaing for Adventure Team and Super Joe also included cards, but I hadn't written the text yet.  The layout for them was completed though.  I really liked those cards, especially the even more-retro ones, since I mimicked the one-colour printing on uncoated cardboard for the backs of the cards to mimic the style of the time.

yes, I absolutely 100% loved the single carded figs. i think they are beautiful, and are my favorite minimates. I was just as hyped for the packaging with these as the figures themselves (just ask Jeff, lol).

The only thing i had hoped for was the front card image. that is where the idea from my other post is from. I'd love it if you replicated the artwork, using the same poses as original artwork in front of the explosions. But instead, make the characters in minimates form. I would 100% love a series of those, could even be little trading card size, with filecard info on the back, if someone was feeling extra ambitious, lol

as always, thanks for your time, I love talking about this stuff. 

 

[Barry]

Honestly, I’m not even a Joe fan, not that I dislike it I just never got into it, and I kept a set of those carded as well.  They just look really sharp displayed that way  (Not to toot my own horn…)  I really wish we could have done more single carded figures but every time they were proposed, they ended up falling through.  I feel that dump assortments of carded figures would have done very well at cash registers over blind bags.

Anyway, I wanted to recreate the original card art in MM style.  The idea was vetoed, as some felt Joe fans would prefer to see the classic artwork.  Personally, I thought that art was already available across plenty of other products and that MM fans picking up Joes would rather see them reimagined in the MM style.  But sales decisions are pretty much final, even if they're creative ones that I do not agree with.

(Makes me want to write a piece, or even create a video, about how I honestly feel I created the worst comic book cover in Marvel Comics history because of that same kind of input.)

I'm still (yes, still), looking at ways to make my art available, so maybe this would be an idea for one of those outlets, whatever those outlets may be...

 

7 hours ago, Nervous Rex said:

as always, thanks for your time, I love talking about this stuff. 

My pleasure, I could talk about this stuff all day!  Thank you for your interest!

[Kotter Comics]

Ok, now you have to tell us what the worst comic cover in Marvel history is....

[Navaan]

20 hours ago, Barry said:

Honestly, I’m not even a Joe fan, not that I dislike it I just never got into it, and I kept a set of those carded as well.  They just look really sharp displayed that way  (Not to toot my own horn…)  I really wish we could have done more single carded figures but every time they were proposed, they ended up falling through.  I feel that dump assortments of carded figures would have done very well at cash registers over blind bags.

Anyway, I wanted to recreate the original card art in MM style.  The idea was vetoed, as some felt Joe fans would prefer to see the classic artwork.  Personally, I thought that art was already available across plenty of other products and that MM fans picking up Joes would rather see them reimagined in the MM style.  But sales decisions are pretty much final, even if they're creative ones that I do not agree with.

(Makes me want to write a piece, or even create a video, about how I honestly feel I created the worst comic book cover in Marvel Comics history because of that same kind of input.)

I'm still (yes, still), looking at ways to make my art available, so maybe this would be an idea for one of those outlets, whatever those outlets may be...

 

My pleasure, I could talk about this stuff all day!  Thank you for your interest!

Single carded dump figures and troop builder packs would have sold like hot cakes to certain groups, and I still don't know why other avenues of advertising fell through. But I am a huge Joe fan, love the characters and the silly action vibes.

[Liney]

2 hours ago, Navaan said:

Single carded dump figures and troop builder packs would have sold like hot cakes to certain groups, and I still don't know why other avenues of advertising fell through. But I am a huge Joe fan, love the characters and the silly action vibes.

I think they might do now - I remember my Forbidden Planet had loads of single packed Frost Giants that they couldn't shift - but they were also priced IIRC a £1 more than a 2 pack at the time... 

[thereasonsy]

7 hours ago, Liney said:

I think they might do now - I remember my Forbidden Planet had loads of single packed Frost Giants that they couldn't shift - but they were also priced IIRC a £1 more than a 2 pack at the time... 

it ws similar in New York where the main comic book store, midtown comics, was a few blocks away from the largest toys r us in the world. So lcs waves that had any commonality with a tru wave were always peg warmers as tru was always cheaper. 

[Navaan]

7 hours ago, Liney said:

I think they might do now - I remember my Forbidden Planet had loads of single packed Frost Giants that they couldn't shift - but they were also priced IIRC a £1 more than a 2 pack at the time... 

I recall the preview figures for Thor and Cap, most of them sold well AFTER the movies came out for army building, but hardly a very catching package, if I am being honest. They were on the counter, and you would have to pick them up and look at them to even see what they were.

The Joe single packs? Perfect, to me.

[buttheadsmate]

Battlestar Galactica Modern Cylon (Dump) Assortment ....five different Cylon variants that were released in December 2006 .

A month later ,January 2007 , the same five Cylon variants were released in a 5-pack . This 5 pack had  packaging that carried the printed banner that said that it was a Suncoast exclusive .....I'm sure somebody somewhere will explain how that was true ?    Remind me what is true anymore ??

BTW the rarest modern Cylon Minimates are the 2 versions that accompanied the BSG mini flyers , Gold & Red Stripe ....pure & simple manipulation of the completist collector who IMHO would have bought the Mini-flyer without any need for new Cylon variants.

I grew tired of the manipulation .      

[Barry]

On 2/21/2026 at 7:52 AM, Kotter Comics said:

Ok, now you have to tell us what the worst comic cover in Marvel history is....

Secret Empire #5.  It just feels lifeless. The composition is flat, the layout doesn’t really guide the eye anywhere interesting, and the overall energy isn’t there.  It comes across as rushed or unfinished, even though it isn’t.  I know it's in part because I know all the problems with it, but I also originally had it blocked out as the cover to Thor #385, which suited the MM style far better.

I tried to track down all of the notes I received from the sales team, but I’m fairly certain some are missing.  This is roughly the order in which they were given to me.  Most of the feedback came back on separate days as well, not all as one directive.  This made things much more difficult.  Much later, I saw a general sales report email that mentioned their huge disappointment with the cover and suggested that my poor execution had negatively impacted sales. The implication was also that I likely wouldn’t be commissioned for additional covers the following year.  (Spoilers - I was not.)

This was the only cover where I got notes on, so someone really wanted to make it their baby, but then threw it out with the bathwater and passed the blame when others didn't like it.  There was only one other cover that I was told which one it would be based on, but no other direction.  All other covers were my choice.

 

- Has to be based on an existing cover, not a new concept.  (Standard fare, that's fine.)

- Has to feature Thor fighting Hulk.  (Thor Ragnarok was that year, and the majority of the covers were based around current movies for that year, minus Secret Wars and Champions.)

- Should not feature other characters.

- Don't replace other characters on source cover with characters that are in the movie.

- Has to be based on a cover by Jack Kirby for his 100th birthday.

- Should not be in Kirby-drawn style.

- Should feature the figures in poses achievable by the actual product. (This was something I always touted too, so I can't fault this direction.) 

- Should be faithful to the original in style and layout, not an embellishment.

- Should feature the original text.  (The cover line, or narrator dialogue.)

- Cover will be on an unknown series.  Logos will be applied later.  (It ended up on a book where Banner was in one panel, and Mjolnir was shown, but minus Thor.  This was prior to the current trend of slapping a character on a book that they have nothing to do with and calling it a variant.)

 

On 2/21/2026 at 10:16 AM, Navaan said:

Single carded dump figures and troop builder packs would have sold like hot cakes to certain groups, and I still don't know why other avenues of advertising fell through. 

Certain groups is the operative term here.  I know everyone wanted army builders in large dumps to make them more accessible, and people were upset when we weren't doing that, but they're honestly a very hard sell to retailers.  MCU dumps looked good on paper because buyers wanted in on the new hot thing, SKUs as far as the eye could see, but even by Avengers our SHIELD Agent dump assortment was cancelled.  The fan desire is there, but the support often wasn't, and the format wasn't conducive to selling online which was a big factor moving into the 2010s.

 

On 2/21/2026 at 12:43 PM, Liney said:

I think they might do now - I remember my Forbidden Planet had loads of single packed Frost Giants that they couldn't shift - but they were also priced IIRC a £1 more than a 2 pack at the time... 

That was another problem, because of the way they were packaged, they cost more.  Bags would have reduced the cost but made them blind, and buyers didn't want that.  It's a different market now, with some companies selling $25 blind boxed items, but back then anything higher than $5 was a VERY hard push to retailers.

 

On 2/21/2026 at 7:56 PM, thereasonsy said:

it ws similar in New York where the main comic book store, midtown comics, was a few blocks away from the largest toys r us in the world. So lcs waves that had any commonality with a tru wave were always peg warmers as tru was always cheaper. 

I was the manager of a comic shop prior to my work at DST, and I knew this pain well.  Customers wanted us to have whole walls of figures to peruse (McFarlane, Star Wars, Marvel Legends) but then a Wal-Mart was 5 minutes walking distance away.  They would sell a 3 3/4" Star Wars figure for $5 and we had to sell them at around $12 to $15.  Exclusive figures helped us out a bit, but then if we priced them accordingly to balance out the peg warmers we were accused of scalping.  If we made sets from a case that you could only buy one of every unique figure in the wave we were accused of gouging.  It was just not viable, so our store decided not to sell anything that was not only direct market.  (DC Direct, and Art Asylum, mainly.)  This is in part why I pushed for so long to have box sets as a wave, and not two packs, because the constant feedback we received from retailers was that shared figures and peg warmers were an issue.

 

On 2/21/2026 at 8:00 PM, Navaan said:

I recall the preview figures for Thor and Cap, most of them sold well AFTER the movies came out for army building, but hardly a very catching package, if I am being honest. They were on the counter, and you would have to pick them up and look at them to even see what they were.

The Joe single packs? Perfect, to me.

The package was in part that way because we could not show more than 1/2 of the figure, and if I recall, either a big retailer wanted the box footprint a certain size, or our research into the box sizes dictated the outcome.  This made for a very claustrophobic viewing window, which really didn't showcase what you were purchasing.  A more decorative dump box and a sampler figure might've helped solve this.  I think the Joe single packs were perfect as well, and would have been more fun to collect a wider variety of characters than just army builders.

 

17 hours ago, buttheadsmate said:

This 5 pack had  packaging that carried the printed banner that said that it was a Suncoast exclusive .....I'm sure somebody somewhere will explain how that was true ?    Remind me what is true anymore ??

BTW the rarest modern Cylon Minimates are the 2 versions that accompanied the BSG mini flyers , Gold & Red Stripe ....pure & simple manipulation of the completist collector who IMHO would have bought the Mini-flyer without any need for new Cylon variants.

This was before I was involved at any kind of decision-making level, but if I had to guess, it would be that it was a retailer exclusive packaging, and not the content.  I imagine that somewhere along the way, Suncoast wanted an exclusive set of Cylons, but was not impressed with the character options given because the 'good' variants were taken, so someone in sales offered them an exclusive PACKAGE instead.  It was a different time where this was a frequent move in toy sales.  Look back to very early convention exclusives, they were almost all exclusive packaging of existing toys, or with extremely minor variants.

For flyers, as a former Star Wars collector, I understand the pain of an exclusive figure packaged with a vehicle when you're not a vehicle collector.  But again, it's a frequent toy industry move.  It gives more perceived value to the consumer to include a figure, it makes it more of a gift package for a parent or grandparent to buy if they don't have to source an appropriate figure to buy separately, and it gives a collector a reason to buy something they otherwise wouldn't if it were a repackaged figure.  This is why I spent $150 on Queen Amidala's Royal Starship just to get a blue astromech droid that would otherwise retail for $5 and they're release single carded years later -- because as a collector I'm a sucker for completion and fear of missing out.  We're VERY easy prey, I hate to say.  It was hard playing both sides at the same time, but I always tried to be collector friendly in my decisions because I was one.

 

Edited February 23 by Barry

[buttheadsmate]

My Cylon comment was aimed at the whole 'individuality ,value added packaging thing '  . Exclusive packaging may very well work in some marketing circumstances but packaging will always come secondary to the toy . 

"......... as a collector I'm a sucker for completion and fear of missing out.  We're VERY easy prey, I hate to say.  "   

None of my comments were aimed at you Barry , there have been several occasions over the years when Zach took the brunt of my sales & marketing complaints . I can honestly say I was never aiming personally at him either but I said my piece .....& still bought every single Minimate product that was released by DST.   

[Barry]

7 minutes ago, buttheadsmate said:

My Cylon comment was aimed at the whole 'individuality ,value added packaging thing '  . Exclusive packaging may very well work in some marketing circumstances but packaging will always come secondary to the toy . 

"......... as a collector I'm a sucker for completion and fear of missing out.  We're VERY easy prey, I hate to say.  "   

None of my comments were aimed at you Barry , there have been several occasions over the years when Zach took the brunt of my sales & marketing complaints . I can honestly say I was never aiming personally at him either but I said my piece .....& still bought every single Minimate product that was released by DST.   

I feel packaging is second as well.  I like flashy packaging that feels good to hold and turn over in your hands, but at the end of the day, toys should be opened.  That's in part why I wanted to make the Marvel wave box sets.  The box was nice, the toys were nice in the box, but you could open it and have nice toys and still put a nice box on your shelf if you wanted too.

I'm sorry, I didn't feel that you were directing them at me in any way.  I'm just saying, as a collector though and through, I was subject to buying all of these little variants and different ways of presenting products, and had to make the same decisions (sometimes poor ones, in hindsight) that all collectors do.  It's the whole Simpsons / Malibu Stacy 'but she's got a new hat!' mentality.  Collectors fall for it, retailers and toy companies know that we'll fall for it. 

It became difficult to be a collector who was a former retailer who then was a toy designer that to make decisions on how to get the most buck out of the consumer when I disliked being that consumer who knew I was sometimes being taken.  I just wanted people to know that I did try my best to be as collector friendly as possible.  I didn't always like some of the methods employed to maximize collector spending, but it's the way of all toy companies.  That's why I wanted to make sure the toys themselves were worth buying, like not reusing tampo elements, or redesigning from the ground up even when a design didn't have much to redesign.  My apologies if that came off wrong. 

[Nervous Rex]

On 2/20/2026 at 1:45 PM, Barry said:

 

Anyway, I wanted to recreate the original card art in MM style.  The idea was vetoed, as some felt Joe fans would prefer to see the classic artwork.  Personally, I thought that art was already available across plenty of other products and that MM fans picking up Joes would rather see them reimagined in the MM style.  But sales decisions are pretty much final, even if they're creative ones that I do not agree with.

 

I'm still (yes, still), looking at ways to make my art available, so maybe this would be an idea for one of those outlets, whatever those outlets may be...

 

My pleasure, I could talk about this stuff all day!  Thank you for your interest!

I agree with you, i think it would have looked better representing the style of figure in the package, not the classic artwork. Like you said, it is already widely available. 

I'm definitely interested if you end up doing some of these. 

Thanks again.

[Kotter Comics]

20 hours ago, Barry said:

Secret Empire #5.  It just feels lifeless. The composition is flat, the layout doesn’t really guide the eye anywhere interesting, and the overall energy isn’t there.  It comes across as rushed or unfinished, even though it isn’t.  I know it's in part because I know all the problems with it, but I also originally had it blocked out as the cover to Thor #385, which suited the MM style far better.

I tried to track down all of the notes I received from the sales team, but I’m fairly certain some are missing.  This is roughly the order in which they were given to me.  Most of the feedback came back on separate days as well, not all as one directive.  This made things much more difficult.  Much later, I saw a general sales report email that mentioned their huge disappointment with the cover and suggested that my poor execution had negatively impacted sales. The implication was also that I likely wouldn’t be commissioned for additional covers the following year.  (Spoilers - I was not.)

This was the only cover where I got notes on, so someone really wanted to make it their baby, but then threw it out with the bathwater and passed the blame when others didn't like it.  There was only one other cover that I was told which one it would be based on, but no other direction.  All other covers were my choice.

 

- Has to be based on an existing cover, not a new concept.  (Standard fare, that's fine.)

- Has to feature Thor fighting Hulk.  (Thor Ragnarok was that year, and the majority of the covers were based around current movies for that year, minus Secret Wars and Champions.)

- Should not feature other characters.

- Don't replace other characters on source cover with characters that are in the movie.

- Has to be based on a cover by Jack Kirby for his 100th birthday.

- Should not be in Kirby-drawn style.

- Should feature the figures in poses achievable by the actual product. (This was something I always touted too, so I can't fault this direction.) 

- Should be faithful to the original in style and layout, not an embellishment.

- Should feature the original text.  (The cover line, or narrator dialogue.)

- Cover will be on an unknown series.  Logos will be applied later.  (It ended up on a book where Banner was in one panel, and Mjolnir was shown, but minus Thor.  This was prior to the current trend of slapping a character on a book that they have nothing to do with and calling it a variant.)

Man, it's like they were treating you like AI, before AI was a thing (or at least the thing it is now). It sucks that that level of micromanagement ended up impacting your reputation and future projects.

 

[buttheadsmate]

The Hulk v Thor cover is surely an homage to Journey into Mystery #112 ?  I generally loved Kirby's artwork but if that is (definitely?) his work on the cover of JIM #112  then all I can say is that it wasn't his finest hour either .

[Barry]

On 2/24/2026 at 7:35 AM, Kotter Comics said:

Man, it's like they were treating you like AI, before AI was a thing (or at least the thing it is now). It sucks that that level of micromanagement ended up impacting your reputation and future projects.

 

Micromanagement by someone without a creative eye is a major challenge for any artist, and was something I unfortunately encountered very often.  Sometimes they would be receptive of feedback and appreciate the time I took to help them understand certain decisions I had made, either creatively or from a production standpoint, but other times they were dead-set on getting what they wanted regardless of the problems it created.  I always dreaded those moments because I knew after the project was completed I was standing at a bus stop waiting to be thrown under.

 

On 2/24/2026 at 8:44 AM, buttheadsmate said:

The Hulk v Thor cover is surely an homage to Journey into Mystery #112 ?  I generally loved Kirby's artwork but if that is (definitely?) his work on the cover of JIM #112  then all I can say is that it wasn't his finest hour either .

Yes, that's the one.  I didn't find it to be a particularly striking image to source from, but that was the (unfortunate) choice.  Not that I ever felt that my takes on these covers were anywhere close to being elevated over the originals, but I did feel that they held at least some form of their own quality.  Secret Empire #5, though, I just find embarassing.  I at least feel my recreation of the original hand-lettered fonts is spot-on.  I took a surprising amount of enjoyment from recreating fonts for all of the covers, especially some of the logos when they were not part of the existing library.

[NerdyTrev]

On 2/23/2026 at 10:08 AM, Barry said:

- Has to be based on an existing cover, not a new concept.  (Standard fare, that's fine.)

- Has to feature Thor fighting Hulk.  (Thor Ragnarok was that year, and the majority of the covers were based around current movies for that year, minus Secret Wars and Champions.)

- Should not feature other characters.

- Don't replace other characters on source cover with characters that are in the movie.

- Has to be based on a cover by Jack Kirby for his 100th birthday.

- Should not be in Kirby-drawn style.

- Should feature the figures in poses achievable by the actual product. (This was something I always touted too, so I can't fault this direction.) 

- Should be faithful to the original in style and layout, not an embellishment.

- Should feature the original text.  (The cover line, or narrator dialogue.)

- Cover will be on an unknown series.  Logos will be applied later.  (It ended up on a book where Banner was in one panel, and Mjolnir was shown, but minus Thor.  This was prior to the current trend of slapping a character on a book that they have nothing to do with and calling it a variant.)

This is like a logic puzzle because JIM #112 is literally the only comic book cover that fits that criteria. It sounds like you were set up for mediocrity. 

On the subject of MM comic book covers, I was thinking about one of the "All-New X-Men" covers from around 2013. Was that minimate'd? Spiky Iceman, goggled-Beast, Kitty Pryde and Lockjaw? I seem to remember it, but can't find anything.

[Barry]

1 hour ago, NerdyTrev said:

This is like a logic puzzle because JIM #112 is literally the only comic book cover that fits that criteria. It sounds like you were set up for mediocrity. 

On the subject of MM comic book covers, I was thinking about one of the "All-New X-Men" covers from around 2013. Was that minimate'd? Spiky Iceman, goggled-Beast, Kitty Pryde and Lockjaw? I seem to remember it, but can't find anything.

It was definitely a bizarre set of criteria and circumstances on that one.  I'm really not sure what the intent would have been, but at least this situation was limited to that one cover.

I'm pretty sure you're thinking of a sketch cover done by Nelson Asencio, who worked on Minimates at the very start and before my time.  I believe it was for the 10th Anniversary art exhibit that was put on by one of the members here.  I did a cover for it as well of Iron Man and Pepper Potts, but Nelson's was much better though!