Skelton Crew Studio

Hope everyone is enjoying an early start to fall. We hope to have “Mouse Guard”’s Rand’s Shield out the door in the next two weeks and when it ships, it’ll have a cool bonus: writer/artist David Petersen has offered to sign tags on any orders placed by Oct. 15.

A few other odds and ends at the studio this week:

* Our new painted Poyo prototype from “CHEW” is below, both in its own glory and with a few other mini-busts to show scale. It’s amazingly sculpted and painted by Jamie Macfarlane. We’re shooting for an early spring 2014 release. Plain and simple, Poyo is bad ass.

* David did a great blog post about our next few pieces and our process working together. He’ll have golden SDCC Black Axes for sale at NYCC if you catch up with he and Julia there. (Both awesome people. Tell ‘em we said so.)

* Really happy to announce Jetpack Comics, Zimmie’s and Vault of Midnight are the first three comic shops to start carrying Skelton Crew Studio merch, the only place to find it outside of this site and the occasional con. We love the idea of working with and supporting independent shops.

Take care,

Israel

We had a customer ask two weeks ago, very nicely, if we’ve had no news since December. Fair question. The studios has had tons going on, and tons more planned — thanks for the nudge to come up for air and share. For new releases, we’ve got in the works: * “Locke & Key” Owl Key, Mending Key, Philosophoscope Key and maybe a too-be-announced Black Friday key. The series wraps in one more issue? Not for us. We’ve got keys planned for all of 2014, the Gender and Timeshift, to name two. * “Mouse Guard” will see one more piece this winter before 2013 wraps. That line is just getting started. * “CHEW”’s pink Chogs are about to be retired. The SDCC glow Chogs are all snapped up. We have Tony’s FDA badge planned for this fall. The guys had prototypes out at SDCC if you caught them there. * “B.P.R.D.”/ “Hellboy”: The next two pieces, the Elf Shot and Agrippa’s Charm, debut next month. Love the feedback we’ve been getting and really digging the Artifact Archive line. I did an interview with John Scrudder at Behind the Panels last week, and the Giant Key made a cameo in USA Today not too long ago with Joe and Gabe. I had an absolute blast at Boston Con — amazing time, hope to go again next year. I’ll be at Coast City Con in Portland in November for those in greater Northern New England this fall. Take care, and as always, thanks. Israel

Well, what haven’t we been up to the last few months? The studio has been on screech with a bunch of prototype pics to show for it below: * Work is coming (clucking?) along on the vinyl Chog from “CHEW.” Aiming for a winter 2013 release for it, in both a limited edition raspberry and yellow and a paint-it-yourself white. *  “Locke & Key” is keeping us busy with four keys in the works: The Undertree, Owl, Music Box and a key that appears in the Omega arc that I can’t tell you about. Yet. * The studio released The Black Axe from “Mouse Guard” today. Up next in that series: Rand’s Shield. It’s been busy and it’s about to get busier — more news and more prototypes coming at the end of the week. Take care, and as always, thanks to those who've supported the studio. Israel

The Black Axe will rise. Archaia Entertainment and Skelton Crew Studio are excited to announce an exclusive license agreement for the studio to create a line of prop replicas based on the Eisner Award-winning Mouse Guard, written and drawn by David Petersen. “David is such a huge talent and I’ve been a fan of Mouse Guard for years,” said Israel Skelton, owner of Skelton Crew Studio. “Taking the reins to build a mouse-sized armory? Honestly, it’s hard to get much cooler.” The studio plans to release pewter collectibles of swords, shields, and other armament from the Mouse Guard universe. Its first release, the Black Axe, is slated for Christmas 2012. “I’m thrilled about getting these into the hands of my fans,” said Petersen. “Israel has done amazing work bringing the Locke & Key keys to the real world, and I love working with him on the intricacies of all of the mouse weapons and arms so that he can work his magic with them. He’s a true craftsman who cares about the details as much as my fans do.” “Fans of Mouse Guard really love the setting of David’s world and its depth and fantasy realism, and we believe this is a great opportunity to offer them something that makes that world come alive,” said Archaia CCO Mark Smylie. “Israel and his Skelton Crew Studio do extraordinary work, so we are very excited they are going to create these wonderful Mouse Guard artifacts.” Mouse Guard is a comic book series, essentially, about mice with swords. An elite group of warriors are charged with protecting their fellow mice from the elements, predators, and other dangers that threaten their existence. Thus far, the series has been collected into two hardcover collections (Mouse Guard Vol. 1: Fall 1152 and Mouse Guard Vol. 2: Winter 1152); an oversized edition (Mouse Guard Vol. 1: Fall 1152 Black and White Edition);an anthology collection (Mouse Guard: Legends of the Guard Vol. 1); and a roleplaying game, both in hardcover (for pen and paper) and a deluxe box set. This holiday season, Archaia will release the Mouse Guard Vol. 2: Winter 1152 Black and White Edition and in 2013, Mouse Guard Vol. 3: The Black Axe and Mouse Guard: Legends of the Guard Vol. 2. Skelton Crew Studio, a sculpting house out of Maine, is already the exclusive home of replicas based on IDW’s popular Locke & Key series by Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodriguez. In July, it announced another exclusive license agreement to create replicas from the Eisner and Harvey Award-winning CHEW by John Layman and Rob Guillory, published by Image. “I can’t believe my good fortune in 2012 and I’m really excited about the future for all three properties,” Skelton said. The latest release from Skelton Crew Studio is a Legacy Edition Echo Key from Locke & Key, coming later this month. The Mouse Guard Black Axe replica will be available in December 2012 through www.skeltoncrewstudio.com. Other replicas will roll out in 2013 and beyond.

Hope everyone’s spring is off to an awesome start. Our winter just flew by. Too many projects, but in a good way.* A life-size TARDIS dominated January. It’s installed at Hill House, complete with lights, sound and working phone (but sorry, I can’t divulge the number.) Many thanks to Al Landry, Corey Vintinner and Mike St. Germain for helping make it happen. * The Angel Key has been waiting in the wings — pun fully intended — so we could release it with the Animal Key as what we hope is a nice surprise. Sales for both open at 12 a.m. EST April 1. The first 400 pre-orders for the Angel will have tags signed by the amazingly talented Gabriel Rodriguez. (Talented and the nicest Chilean we know.) Both keys ship in May. * We wanted to give a shout-out to British sculptor Jamie Macfarlane. He did an amazing job on the Animal and we can't wait to see more of his work. * What’s down the ‘pike? Well, we hope fans go nuts when they scope out our next couple keys. We’ll say no more.* Making plans already for SDCC. Hope to meet a lot of you there. I do plan an exclusive, one that I hope is music to your ears. OK. Enough. Clearly, there’s too much near-April giddiness at Skelton Crew headquarters. Have a key you need to see? As always, drop us a line.Israel

What a year it’s been, personally and professionally, from the debut of nine new “Locke & Key” keys to the arrival of Skelton Crew Jr. This month saw mentions of the studio on The Onion’s A.V. Club, CNN, The Mary Sue and Wizard - what a way to end 2011.Here’s to starting 2012 with a bang. * The Moon Key is going to debut just after midnight EST on Jan. 1, signed by the one and only Joe Hill. We’re doing this release a little different. Instead of a two week pre-order window for his autograph, the first 400 keys will be signed by Joe. They’ll ship in late January. * The Angel Key, signed by Gabriel Rodriguez, will come out in February and we’ll release it the same way - the first 400 have his autograph. We’re hoping to hit you with many more keys in 2012, and the line-up isn’t confirmed yet, so if you’ve got a key that MUST be made, drop us a line. We’re definitely listening. Thanks again for all the support and kind words. From us to you, have an amazing New Year. Israel

Man, it feels good to be back in the key business. The last three months I’ve been behind the scenes sculpting and working on cool projects I can’t talk about yet. To answer one question I’ve heard a few times this week – Why’d you pull the Animal and Undertree Keys off the site? – let’s just say I’m squirreling them away for later this winter. (Pun intended.) Undertree and Animal will go back up when they’re ready to ship.Meanwhile: - The Whispering Iron and Legacy Edition Omega Key, the key to Black Door, go live today. I’m excited about both but have to admit to a soft spot for the Omega. I’d been planning to release it timed to the last arc, but couldn’t resist. Hope people dig it as much as I do. - Stay tuned for cool signing news on the next two keys. - You know what? Don’t stay tuned at all: Best-selling writer Joe Hill is autographing one key, obscenely-talented Gabriel Rodriguez is autographing the other. Really psyched the guys are willing to take the time out of their crazy, award-winning schedules. But what keys are they signing? Well, I guess you will have to wait for that. - I have plans for December. Big plans. Deluxe plans. More later. Hope everyone’s well and hope you had a great Halloween. If you notice some of the e-mail now is being answered by Kathryn, that’s my wife. Skelton Crew Jr. is almost ready to start answering phones and if the studio keeps growing like this, he’ll have to. Israel

Hope everyone’s sliding smoothly into fall. I wanted to share a little news and a pic.- The Whispering Iron will debut online at the end of the month, alongside the long-awaited Undertree Key. The Whispering Iron is featured in the back of Clockworks 1 on the last page and, as a sculptor, too cool to ignore. This was the issue I’ve been waiting for —  to finally see the Black Door in all its creepiness. As always, Joe and Gabe knocked it out of the park. - A prototype of the Chain Key is below. It’s a little under three feet long and a few pounds. I’d love to hear if there’s any interest in a piece this large. On that note, still pricing out the Giant Key. Trying to get the cost somewhere under “astronomical” is proving to be a challenge. - I’ll have word next month on a cool signing timed around Halloween with the pre-order key, for now, under wraps. October should also see the Animal Key, followed by the Angel Key in November. - If you’re curious for a little more Skelton Crew back story, Jill “Nerdy Bird” Pantozzi had a nice piece in Newsarama last week. Larry Fire’s the Fire Wire also did a write-up –  thanks to both for the kind words. I’m hearing the same MTV rumors about the TV series that you are. Man, wouldn’t that be amazing? That surely would end my 20 year MTV hiatus. Israel

Couldn’t make it to Comic Con? As it turns out, I couldn’t either. Instead of catching my flight I was in the ER with my first kidney stone yesterday. Pretty awful, but I did get a get-well-soon call from Walt Simonson, a great consolation prize. And speaking of that, two consolation prizes for those of you who also are not in sunny San Diego this weekend:- The Giant Key prototype is below. (Seen here on G4 today with Blair Butler.) It took a crazy amount of work and, like the Ghost Door, wouldn’t have been possible without Mike “Germazing” St. Germain and Peter “Laser Eye” Gill. We’re still working up the final numbers on cost, hope to have details in late August. It’ll definitely be on a made-to-order basis. (Shipping alone from Maine to California was $160.)- Starting Monday, we’re going to try something new, a sort of post-order window: Orders placed for the new comic con exclusive IDW Key before Aug. 8 will receive a tag signed by two of the busiest – and nicest – guys in comics, IDW CEO Ted Adams and IDW Chief Creative Officer Chris Ryall. Meanwhile, in other key business, the Undertree Key will be coming in late August, followed by the Animal Key in September. Really appreciated all the support and have a great rest of the summer. Here's looking forward to NYCC, where, fittingly, the Mending Key might be the con exclusive. I'll throw up a prototype when it's finished. And, of course, huge congrats to Joe for taking home the Eisner for Best Writer and to IDW who raked in five Eisners overall. Well deserved. Wish I could have been there to toast you.Israel

Sorry it’s been so long between updates. We’ve been crazy busy trying to get sculpts done for San Diego. I’ll be at SDCC and bringing with me a limited edition con exclusive, the IDW Key. I’ve wanted to tackle it since seeing the key in the comic included with IDW: The First 10 Years. I’ve also got two versions of the Hercules Key, the Undertree Key and the Animal Key in different stages of production, all due out within the next couple of months. (The Hercules Key, formerly known as the Beast Key, won the fan choice vote back in February.) Because a lot of fans asked, I’m also releasing a Legacy Edition Head Key this month, plated in antique rose gold. Legacy edition runs aren’t limited or numbered and going forward, some keys will get limited edition variants and legacy runs, some won’t. I hope to run into a bunch of you at SDCC – I’ll be the one with the shaved head and the black t-shirt, I swear, you won’t miss me . . . I’ll also have a few goodies at the IDW booth in addition to the con exclusive key, so please stop by and check them out. Thanks, too, to everyone who’s offered well wishes and sleep advice for the baby. We were able to hit the snooze alarm this morning, twice, for the first time since he was born – that has to be a good sign. Israel