Todd Klein's Blog, page 135

Pulled From My Files #96: METROPOLIS POSTCARD

This and following images © DC Comics.

In 1998 I was asked to design logo-style lettering for a promotional postcard advertising the four-issue series SUPERMAN FOR ALL SEASONS. Here’s a tiny thumbnail layout from DC’s Brian Pierce, top, and the art for the postcard with my lettering laid over it in Photoshop. This is what I sent back to Brian to show how it would work on the art.

The idea was to imitate a very popular style of postcard from the early to mid 20th-century where large open telescoped letters of a place name were filled with images of that place. The Asbury Park one above is an example I remember from my own childhood.

My version used that style for METROPOLIS, which is of course also similar to the Superman logo, and added the tagline in script below. I thought it worked well, as did DC, and they accepted it.

Here’s the front of the postcard. Looks fine to me, whether you get the reference or not.

The back of the postcard has all the relevant details and is copyright 1998. I wonder if any of them went through the mail? I don’t know if the postcard appeared in the collected edition, as I no longer have it, but it probably did. A fun assignment!

Rereading: DR. DOLITTLE AND THE GREEN CANARY by Hugh Lofting

Image found online, my copy is a much newer paperback.

This is the last of the Dolittle novels, not quite finished at the time of Lofting’s death, completed by his sister-in-law Olga Michael. Despite that, it’s one of the best, in my opinion.

Pippinella, half canary and half greenfinch, was introduced in “Doctor Dolittle’s Caravan,” where the Doctor found and bought her in a pet shop, and was so astounded by her singing voice (despite the fact that it’s usually the male canaries who sing), that he made her the star of an all-bird opera. The book begins with Pippinella telling her life story, and an amazing one it is. She begins her adult life as a popular attraction at a coaching inn, then is purchased by a Marquis for his wife. The Marquis and his family are forced to flee from rioting workers from his mines. She is then taken by soldiers, and becomes the mascot of the troop, and later stolen again to become a “canary in a coal mine,” present to let the miners know if there is any dangerous coal gas around. And that’s only the beginning.

Pippinella’s favorite owner was a window-cleaner who was actually a writer living in a lonely windmill. When she has told her life story to the Doctor and his animal family, he agrees to try to track down that man, and the second half of the book is a cracking good detective story in which several of Dolittle’s animal friends get starring roles of their own.

One more Dolittle book to reread, the Doctor’s “Puddleby Adventures,” a short story collection, and I could also reread “Gub-Gub’s Book,” in which Dolittle’s pig takes center stage, but it’s largely about vegetables, as I recall. There’s one other non-Dolittle Lofting novel for children I plan to reread, “The Twilight of Magic.”

This one is definitely recommended.

And Then I Read: CAPTAIN GINGER #2

Image © Stuart Moore, June Brigman and Ahoy Comics. Main story written by Stuart Moore, art by June Brigman & Roy Richardson, colors by Veronica Gandini, letters by Richard Starkings and Jimmy Betancourt. Backup written by Tom Peyer, art by Randy Elliot and Andy Troy, letters by Rob Steen.

After a vicious fight between the Captain and his right-hand cat Sergeant Mittens, The latter is assigned to the ship’s equivalent of latrine duty, in this case cleaning litter. The population explosion among the human-like crew and the regular cats on board are creating all kinds of systemic problems, as every space on the ship is full of cats doing what cats do. At least Tribbles did not make a smelly mess…! Meanwhile, Science Cat is trying to decode information in the ship’s computers from their former masters, “the feeders,” to understand a message they’ve received from another ship. Could there be more cats out there?

This series is growing on me, and I like the mix of cat-related humor and character interplay. Well done and recommended.

And Then I Read: THE JOURNALS OF LAVINIA R. DAVIS

Here’s a book that will interest almost no one, but it’s of great interest to me. Lavinia R. Davis is a favorite author of books for children, and I particularly love her novels about children and animals beginning with “Hobby Horse Hill” in 1939. Her books are mostly long out of print and she is largely forgotten. This book, privately published by her family in 1964 about three years after her death, is composed of excerpts from her journals. Often the subject is the author’s continuing struggles to be a better writer, but many entries focus on her family, children, and extended family, animals, the places she lived and visited, friends, nature, the seasons, and anything that interested her. References to specific books of hers are few, but the writing is appealing and the life described is worth reading about for me, and I suspect for any other fans of her work. There is little information to be found about her elsewhere. It was edited by her nephew Samuel Sloan Walker Jr., and contains a fine photo of the author at the beginning, the best one I’ve seen:

At the end is a complete list of her books, including some titles I haven’t seen (A few were written under the pen name Wendell Farmer.) I thought I’d list them here for others, like me, in search of more Lavinia R. Davis books, though many of these definitely do not interest me as much as my favorites. See end of list for key to symbols.

A Biography of the Writings of Edith Wharton  1933

The Keys to the City  1936«

Skyscraper Mystery  1937^

Adventures in Steel  1938«

Americans Every One  1938«

Hobby Horse Hill  1939*

We All Go Away  1940^

Buttonwood Island  1941*

Grab Bag (co-editor and contributor)  1941«

Pony Jungle  1941*

We All Go To School  1942^

Plow Penny Mystery  1943*

The Surprise Mystery  1943^  (by Wendell Farmer)

Stand Fast and Reply  1943‡

Round Robin  1943^

Spinney & Spike and the B-29^  1944

Bicycle Commandoes  1944^  (by Wendell Farmer)

Evidence Unseen  1945†

A Sea Between  1945‡

Fish Hook Island Mystery  1945^  (by Wendell Farmer)

Barren Heritage  1946†

Taste of Vengeance  1946†

Roger and the Fox  1947**

Melody, Mutton Bone and Sam  1947*

Threat of Dragons  1948†

Wild Birthday Cake  1949**

Reference to Death  1950†

Peppermint Pond  1950^  (by Wendell Farmer)

Sandy’s Spurs  1951*

Summer is Fun  1951**

Secret of Donkey Island  1952*

Danny’s Luck  1953**

Hearts in Trim  1954‡

Donkey Detectives 1955*

Janey’s Fortune  1957*‡

It Happened On A Holiday  1958«

Come Be My Love  1959‡

Clown Dog  1961**

Island City: Adventures in Old New York  1961« (This may be a reprint of “Keys to the City” from 1936.)

* Novels about children and animals (my favorites)

**Picture books for young readers

^Non-animal-focused stories for children

†Adult murder mysteries

‡Teen romance novels

«Short story collection

 

THE DANNY CRESPI FILES Part 17

These and all images © Marvel.

We begin with two more practice pages by letterer Denise Vladimir Wohl making up pages 65 and 66 of the Danny Crespi files, a collection of cover and other lettering from the files of the Marvel letterer and staffer collected by his work-mate and friend Phil Felix. We saw some of Denise’s work in Part 16 of this series. She began working in the DC Comics Production Department in the early 1970s, and then moved over to Marvel by 1975. Much of the work on these practice pages is copied from POWER MAN #27 cover-dated Oct. 1975. Here’s the first page:

The printed book was lettered by John Costanza. Denise copied it, including the credit block at the top, inserting her own name in place of Costanza’s. Other Costanza work from other pages was also sampled. I don’t know the source of the burst “100 thrill-packed pages!” I think the reason these are in the Crespi Files is because she gave them to Danny, then Production Manager I think, to show him she was ready for paid lettering assignments, and she started getting them by 1976, if not sooner. Her lettering career at Marvel seems to run from about 1976 to 1981 according to the Grand Comics Database. The samples are pretty good, though not as good as the source material. I would have given her work if I were Danny.

Page 67 of the Crespi Files is back to three cover lettering blurbs by Crespi and two story titles by John Costanza. Not sure why those are included, perhaps they were part of the material Denise Wohl was copying. Sources below.

“Night of the Huntress” is the story title by Costanza from MARVEL CHILLERS #4 dated April 1976. The calligraphic style of “OF THE” shows right away it’s not by Danny Crespi, and the rest of the title has a cartoony bounce to it that characterizes so much of John Costanza’s work. The S’s are very different from anything other letterers of the time were doing, too.

“The Night-Staker” is the other Costanza story title from TOMB OF DRACULA #43 dated April 1976. Even though this is a horror comic, Costanza’s bouncy style is evident in PAUL BUTTERWORTH, and though the T in STAKER is pointed like a wooden stake, the word is not scary to me. It’s no surprise that John’s favorite kind of comics were humor and funny animals, and he drew some later in his career.

“Mind-Wave” by Crespi is from the cover of DAREDEVIL #133, May 1976. Among other things the very thick outline is a Crespi style clue.

The last two blurbs are from TOMB OF DRACULA #38, Nov. 1975. You can tell from the unfinished outline on the first one that Danny lettered these over the cover art, and knew that corner would disappear behind the character’s head. I must add that some of Danny’s style is also soft and cartoony here, not unlike Costanza.

Page 68 of the Crespi Files looks like all Crespi’s work to me. I don’t have a source for HAPPY HOLIDAYS, it may have been used in a house ad or possibly a holiday card. The rest have been found with the help of Michael Styborski. The top blurb is from a cover, the lower three are next issue banners from the bottom of the final inside pages. Sources below.

“Demon Fever is from DOCTOR STRANGE #7, April 1975. The blurb as lettered has been reversed using a negative photostat. The black lines are now white, and the title words are filled with solid red, a very effective look in my opinion. The black burst shape works fine here because there’s enough open area behind it to allow it to read as a separate shape.

“Thing and Ka-Zar” is the end banner from MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #14, March 1976. This was hard to find because the story it refers to actually appeared in issue #16. No doubt a missed deadline by someone required a different story to be run in issue #15. Kudos to Michael Styborski for tracking it down. The rest of the page is lettered by Karen Mantlo, the wife of the story’s writer, Bill Mantlo. Most of her lettering credits in the Grand Comics Database are from 1975-76. When she lettered the story (except for page 1 which was by Gaspar Saladino), the next issue blurb was probably not written yet, and Danny Crespi did it later when the book was in Production. It’s very effective, but the dark purple on SAVAGE LAND makes it a little hard to read.

“A Past Gone Mad” is the end banner from MARVEL TEAM-UP #42, Feb. 1976. The rest of the page is again lettered by Karen Mantlo.

Finally, “Cat and Mouse” is the end banner from MARVEL CHILLERS #4, April 1976. The rest of the page is lettered by John Costanza, and it’s the story we saw his title from above. The end blurb could be by John, but the similarity to the other end banners on this page suggests to me it’s by Crespi. The rough outlines on the open lettering are another clue, I don’t recall Costanza doing that.

More of these when I have time.

And Then I Read: THE GREEN LANTERN #1

Image © DC Comics. Written by Grant Morrison, art by Liam Sharp, colors by Steve Oliff, letters by Tom Orzechowski.

We begin with a team of new (to us) GLs on a crime-fighting mission being watched by the Guardians. One GL, Maxim Tox, seems to be getting the worst of things when his GL ring finger is bitten off, but he has a surprising partner, Floozle Flem, who comes to his aid in a unique way. A third team member, Trilla-Tru, helps mop up the baddies and turn them over to new GL, Chriselon, for transport to New Oa.

Meanwhile, on Earth, Hal Jordan is at loose ends and having a romantic encounter on the road until he’s attacked by some apparent hobos that turn into aliens. Hal has his ring, but isn’t using it because he doesn’t have his power battery. That problem is soon remedied when he connects with Chriselon, who has crashed on Earth with the criminals, giving Hal new work to do. Before long, Hal is summoned to New Oa himself for a fresh assignment. Elsewhere, doings on Asteroid X reveal a surprising threat.

I’ve been waiting to read this since I learned of it a few months ago, and it does not disappoint. What does writer Grant Morrison bring to the Corps that seems fresh? There’s his playfulness with language and expectations, and his sense of humor that’s welcome in this usually oh-so-serious franchise. There’s what seems a comfortable handling of Hal Jordan that feels right, and the new characters and situations are creative and appealing. The art by Liam Sharp is great, incorporating lots of detail and amazing vistas while still keeping things just impressionistic enough bring a personal touch. And how cool it is to see veteran colorist Steve Oliff and legendary letterer Tom Orzechowski adding their unique skills to the team! It’s about time Tom was given a high-profile project at DC again. This is going to be a great series!

Highly recommended.

And Then I Read: HIGH HEAVEN #2

Image © Ahoy Comics. Written by Tom Peyer, lead story art by Greg Scott, backup art by Chris Giarrusso, colors by Andy Troy, letters by Rob Steen. Additional material by Kek-W, Rick Geary and others.

In “Captain Stormfield’s Visit to Heaven” by Mark Twain, the title character arrives at the wrong part of Heaven, far from where he should be, and finds things very different from what he expected. He’s asked, “Do you think everyone would be happy with the same Heaven?” David Weathers, the protagonist of this book, is not only unhappy with the Heaven he’s been sent to, he hates it and won’t stop complaining about it, to the disgust of everyone else there. That creature on the cover above is an Archangel who takes David on a aerial tour of this Heaven, and reveals a MUCH nicer area nearby that’s very much what David would prefer, but apparently can’t have. He also cruises him by Hell for comparison. Even that looks better to David. He’s thrown one bone, we’ll see if he’s able to use it to his advantage. Meanwhile, I’m having a good time reading this often funny and ironic after-death story.

Recommended.

Incoming: ABSOLUTE KINGDOM COME

Images © DC Comics.

One of my favorite projects has been given the Absolute treatment, meaning oversized art with top-quality binding and paper and the book in a box. Here’s one side of the box with what I think is a new painting by Alex Ross…

…and here’s the other. The box measures 9 by 13 by 2 inches, the book is a little smaller.

Here’s the front cover of the book, which is 340 pages. It contains the original series, material from the REVELATIONS accompanying book in the original deluxe hardcover box set from Graphitti Designs/DC and what looks like lots of new stuff.

Here’s a favorite spread from the end of the story. One of these will go on my shelf with ABSOLUTE SANDMAN, ABSOLUTE DEATH and ABSOLUTE PROMETHEA. I believe it’s already in shops. Nice work, DC!

And Then I Read: AURORA by Kim Stanley Robinson

When I started reading science fiction in my teens, I gravitated toward the easy to find novels by the big three: Robert Heinlein, Isaac Asimov and Arthur C. Clarke. Kim Stanley Robinson seems to be in that same mold of epic storytelling encompassing many years and many lives, building a story on a grand scale. I enjoyed his Mars trilogy, and like this one just as much. It’s the story of a “generations” star-colonizing ship sent from Earth to the star system of Tau Ceti, 12 light-years away. The ship is a large double-torus around a central drive shaft with each torus containing 12 bio-zones inhabited by plants, animals and people from different parts of Earth. It left Earth in the year 2545 and attained a speed of one-tenth light year. At that speed, the ship would arrive after about 170 years, and several generations of inhabitants.

We pick up the story with the ship beginning deceleration into the Tau Ceti system, with years still to go to arrival, but getting close. The trip has not always gone well. There was a population revolt early on against some restrictive birth policies, a mutiny that caused much destruction. Peace returned after some bloodshed, and repairs were made, but the ship is aging and some elements hard to recycle are in short supply. Delicate balances in many systems are difficult to maintain, viruses and bacteria have evolved much more quickly than humans, creating more problems. Keeping the ship going falls largely on the shoulders of Devi, the ship’s best problem solver and the woman most often in touch with the ship’s quantum computer, which is its brain. Devi’s life is very difficult. Her partner Badim and her daughter Freya try to help, but only Devi has the education and intellect to do what she does. When Devi becomes ill, who will take her place?

Freya becomes the main character of the story as the ship nears the moon Aurora in the Tau Ceti system, the prime choice for their settlement. Freya has spent a lot of time in all the 24 environments of the ship getting to know a large percentage of the voyagers. While she doesn’t have her mother’s scientific knowledge and talent, she understands people, and helps keep them united. When Devi passes, and the colonization of Aurora begins, Devi is seen as their leader…until an unexpected menace turns their new colony into a death trap. What course will be taken next is a subject that deeply divides the people of the ship and the colony, and even Freya can’t keep them together.

Like the Mars trilogy, this is a long book, 468 pages, but it kept my interest throughout and I enjoyed it. If you like hard science epics, this is a good one. Recommended.

And Then I Read: THE WRONG EARTH #2

Image © Ahoy Comics. Main story written by Tom Peyer, art by Jamal Igle, colors by Andy Troy, letters by Rob Steen. Backup written by Paul Constant, art by Tom Feister, letters by Rob Steen. Additional material by Carol Lay, Kek-W, Bryce Ingman, Alan Robinson, Mark Russell, Joe Orsak.

Modern crime-fighter Dragonfly from a grim and gritty Earth and his counterpart Dragonflyman from Earth-Alpha, a brighter, simpler world, have switched places, as have their arch-enemies, both called Number One. This comic could have played the heroes for laughs, allowing us amusement after they made one mistake after another, but writer Tom Peyer and his characters are smarter than that. Each hero makes mistakes, but is quick to learn from them, and adapt to his new circumstances. Not to say they fit right in, but they are survivors, and react with speed and intelligence to each wrong assumption as they begin to navigate their new reality. The bigger question is what the villains may be up to, and that should be revealed very soon. The backup Dragonflyman story is lots of fun, and the text pieces are entertaining.

This is a comic I plan to keep reading. Recommended.