2017 Heroes Convention Invincible Jam Figure by Thomas Yeates

Truth to tell, Frank has never been particularly passionate about Mark Grayson, if for no other reason than he's guaranteed to never be the most famous and iconic comic book character with that surname. He even looks a lot like Dick. However, the Image "I" costume is distinctive and positions Invincible as a standard-bearer for what remained of the company's shared super-hero universe by 2002. Co-creator Robert Kirkman himself became the most successful of the post-founding creators, mostly due to the enormous impact of The Walking Dead, which eventually earned the writer a partnership. Despite the end of both series and Kirkman's rapidly decreasing comics output, his Skybound Entertainment is still one of Image's most profitable production studios. It was basically a given that he would rate inclusion in this jam, and Invincible fits the group shot a lot better than Rick Grimes (though Michonne would have helped the gender balance.)

Thomas Yeates was perhaps an odd choice, given his tendency toward more grounded comics fare, like supernatural horror (Frank was introduced via Swamp Thing) and old timey pulp characters (Zorro, Tarzan, Prince Valiant.) Because of the complicated parameters concocted for eligibility for participation in the jam (he's included thanks to the creator-owned '80s Epic series Timespirits,) and Frank simply wishing to reach out to some new talent amidst the smorgasbord that was HeroesCon, Yeates was always an option for a spot. By this point in the jam's progress, it was probably the sixth addition, so the marriage of character and artist was more about which remaining options seemed best suited to Yates' strengths. Savage Dragon? Not so much.

Thankfully, Yates was a sport about doing a super-hero, and cramming his figure between a couple or three prior installments. It blessedly turned out quite nice and quite quick (can't recall if it was done while Frank waited or more of a one hour turnaround.) This part was probably done late Saturday or into Sunday, and time was running out...