Todd Klein's Blog, page 150

Pulled From My Files #78: “L” LOGOS

In 1992 I was asked by Tundra to design a logo for Mike Ploog’s graphic novel version of this Baum story, perhaps his best-known work after the Oz series. I love Baum and Ploog, and I loved having the chance to work in a style that evoked books of the early 20th century, so this one was a win on all counts for me. I only have two marker sketches, here’s the first.

The second is nearly the same, but with Baum’s name spread out and a slight extra drop shadow on SANTA CLAUS.

Version 3A was preferred, and here’s the final logo drawn on vellum.

The printed book put the outline in dark red with the letters filled orange, not a color scheme I’m fond of, but I think it worked well otherwise. I would have gone for a more retro cover design, but Tundra probably knew their audience best.

Here’s one that did not appear on a cover, it was the title of an article I wrote for WIZARD MAGAZINE around 1993 or 1994. I can’t find my copy of the magazine, so I’m unable to give more details. The article was illustrated with photos of me working on a sample page, and turned out rather well. I like this title, too. Of course I did not choose the title or subtitle, that was all the editor.

This and following images © DC Entertainment.

In 1993 I was asked by Curtis King at DC to design a logo for a new Legion of Super-Heroes book called LEGIONNAIRES. Even this shorter version of the group name made for a very long logo! The comet and oval came from their flight ring design I think, otherwise it’s standard block letters.

This second marker sketch was done at an angle to fit on the typing paper I was using, and differs mainly in the letters being taller, probably a suggestion from Curtis. Hard to see, but there’s also a note to put the right tip of the L over the E.

Here’s the final logo with that change. The black areas of the oval are divided from the letters by a white hairline for easier color separation.

The printed cover of issue #1. In this case, they didn’t put the black areas of the oval in a color, and left the white hairlines, which looks a bit odd, but that’s a minor detail probably only I would notice.

In 1997, DC asked for a special version of the logo to be used on issue #54, a retro look in the style of this Ira Schnapp logo design that first appeared on issue #139 cover-dated April 1949 (without the tagline seen here). It’s a logo I loved as a young comics reader myself, and one I enjoyed working with.

Here’s my pencil sketch. As before, the very long word required the letters to be compressed horizontally to cover about the same area.

By this time I was doing finished logos on my Mac computer in Adobe Illustrator, and that’s how I did this one, tracing over the pencil sketch and making adjustments as I did so to keep the strokes even in width and style.

The rest of the cover is actually an homage to ALL-STAR COMICS #3, the first appearance of the Justice Society of America in 1940, which had a completely different logo. I think this looks pretty great anyway!

Other articles like this can be found on the LOGO LINKS page of my blog and the “Pulled From My Files” topic on the right margin of this page. More when I have time.

And Then I Read: EQUAL RITES by Terry Pratchett

This is the first book in the “Witches” sub-series of Pratchett’s Discworld grand opus, and the third Discworld book published. In Discworld, magic falls into two separate camps divided along gender lines…at least until the events of this book. Wizards are all male, and deal with various kinds of transformative spells and grand magic. Witches, all female, deal with smaller but possibly more important knowledge and magic relating to birth, death, family life and healing. They are the mid-wives, the country doctors, the holders of knowledge about things that the common people need help with.

As the story opens, a dying elderly wizard has made his way to a rural area in the mountains where he hopes to grant his power and magic staff to a child with promising indications. The power is passed, but the fact that the child is female is something he overlooks. The local witch, Granny Weatherwax, tries to help the family of Eskarina, the chosen child, who want nothing to do with the magic staff left in their home, or the power granted, but as the child grows, her magic begins to surface, build, and accumulate, spilling out into the world in dangerous and unexpected ways. As Eskarina reaches her teens, Granny Weatherwax realizes she is out of her depth, and she and Eskarina embark on a long journey to the Unseen University, training establishment of the Wizards, to see if they can and will help. Along the way, Eskarina and Granny meet with large amounts of disbelief and criticism for even supposing a woman could ever be a wizard. The  very fabric of magic in Discworld is about to be changed by Eskarina, and who ever wants change?

It was interesting reading this early Pratchett book not long after his last published one, “The Shepherd’s Crown.” This early writing is quite entertaining, with lots of humor crammed in wherever it can be in the narration, almost as if Pratchett was afraid of any dull or solemn moment creeping in, and at times a bit too frantic to please. The later books of his I’ve read are more balanced between humor and seriousness, less frantic, and more confident. The light-hearted writing is fine, though, and I found it captivating and entertaining. The inventiveness of the author is impressive, as is his knowledge of human nature, the characters are appealing (even when sometimes appalling), and the story satisfying. I look forward to more, and am happy to know there are lots more to read.

Recommended.

And Then I Read: RAVEN #2

Image © DC Entertainment. Written by Marv Wolfman, art by Alisson Borges, color by Blond, letters by A Larger World.

While Raven stays with her Aunt Alice on the west coast, she’s attending a new high school there where new friends have been made, and new threats uncovered. An evil force is rising that’s having unexpected effects on Raven’s own powers, pulling her into troubling dreams. When the force erupts in the streets of the city, Raven tries to help, but is unable to prevent her friends from being drawn into the hypnotic glowing energy.

I want to like this book. I do like the writing, but the art is proving too difficult a hurdle for me. I’ve never been a fan of anime, and that look comes and goes here with no rhyme or reason. At times Raven looks fairly close to the cover image, at others she’s a Japanese cartoon child. This keeps throwing me out of the story. The interactions between Raven and her new high school friends are kind of fun, but the action scenes lose me, and I don’t care for the new costume, either. This book is not aimed at me, and may well be popular with younger readers, but I have to say I won’t be reading more.

Not recommended.

And Then I Read: SHADE THE CHANGING GIRL #10

Image © DC Entertainment. Written by Cecil Gastellucci, art by Marley Zarcone and Ande Parks, colors by Kelly Fitzpatrick, letters by Saida Temofonte.

After really enjoying issue #9, I found this one less satisfying. Shade is on a road trip in search of “Honey,” the actress who portrayed a TV housewife in a comedy series of the 1950s, along the lines of “I Love Lucy,” but taking place in an atomic bomb research center in the desert southwest (Los Alamos?). Shade finds the house in the TV show, but of course Honey herself never really lived there. She visits the site of the first atomic bomb test, too. Back on Meta, evil scientists are still trying to track her location on Earth through her friend Lepuck, and sending agents to try to retrieve the Madness Coat she stole. Some of her friends are also trying to track her through the series of “madness events” she seems to be creating on her travels. The latest happens in this issue in a bar near the atomic test site. In the “Life With Honey” backup with art by Leila Del Duca, Honey learns how to “Duck and Cover,” and performs a song about it at the Officer’s Club.

Somehow the fresh feel of last issue has dissipated into more of the same elements from the previous storyline, and the many narratives make for a fragmented issue with lots of odd behavior by everyone. My favorite part was the backup this time.

Mildly recommended.

Pulled From My Files #77: IRON MAN Logo

This and all images © Marvel.

In 2014 I was asked by Marvel to design a new Iron Man cover logo. I began with some thumbnail sketches made while looking at an image of the character’s then-current costume. I kept returning to the idea of making the O in IRON utilize the glowing power source on the character’s chest, perhaps also using some of the armor features around it.

My first marker sketch went a bit too far with that, the O is too busy, but it does read okay.

Here’s a simplified variation.

And a one-line version if the two-line one was deemed to tall, which it might well be.

Version 2 used a taller one-line version that saved space by trimming parts of the I and O, and broke up the other letters in a stencil look. It’s now getting iffy as far as readability.

This version made the I and M taller, but did not really improve the readability of IRON.

My third idea took a step back toward a more traditional iron plate look.

Marvel liked version 2 best, but asked for the R and O of IRON to be more complete for readability, and for the stencil effect to be removed. This is the final version, with two color versions as samples.

The printed logo made the power source in the O simply a white glow, which I think actually looks better than what I did. I’m pretty happy with the result. It did not last long, though, and was replaced with another new logo a year or two later.

More when I have time.

Designing the WONDER-CON 2018 Logo

Image © Comic-Con International and DC Entertainment.

The program book cover for this year’s Wonder-Con has just been released, and it has a logo I designed in the style of the Superman logo. I had worked with Director of Print and Digital Media Gary Sassaman on the logo for last year’s Comic-Con International program book, and we both enjoyed the process, so I was happy to be asked to do this one.

I’ve worked on many logos based on the classic Superman logo. The one above is the Ira Schnapp version from 1940, based on several earlier ones created by Joe Shuster.

The current version by the Milton Glaser Studio first saw print in 1983, and is the one I used as my model.

The perspective of the Superman logo is the most complex I’ve ever worked on. Above are some diagrams of one, two and three-point perspective drawn by me. Superman’s logo definitely has more than one vanishing point, and because you can see three sides of the letters rather than only two, it must be classified as three-point perspective, but it’s more complicated than that.

The perspective on the telescoping (the extension that gives it depth) clearly recedes toward a distant vanishing point at the upper left. The fronts of the letters recede toward the right: the U is closer than the N, but because of the curved shape it’s hard to estimate exactly what that angle is. I’ve drawn likely perspective lines heading toward a distant vanishing point on the right. We can see three sides of the letters, but the vertical sides are parallel rather than angled toward the bottom as you might expect, so the third vanishing point does not really exist, or is impossibly far away toward the bottom.

There’s another kind of view that shows three sides of a cube called Isometric Projection, usually used for small things like parts diagrams, but also used in maps, like this one of Rockefeller Center in Manhattan. This view uses no perspective at all, everything is the same distance away. The lack of a vertical vanishing point in the Superman logo is akin to this, but otherwise not similar.

So, how to mimic that complex perspective? I find the best way is to put a large printed version of the Superman logo on my drawing board and create a new logo over it on translucent vellum, first drawing out the fronts of the letters in pencil. For WonderCon, some of the letters were the same as Superman: the N, E and R. The rest had to be interpreted in the same style.

Once that was done and okayed by Gary, I used the same method to draw the telescoping and tagline, with the telescoping on SUPERMAN as my guide. Now is when it really starts to look like the Superman logo! Fortunately the sides and insides of the letters are in shadow, so that saves some time. Only the tops and front are open for color. The graduated shading lines from the S in Superman were only needed for the C in Con, and a little on the first O.

The pencil sketch was then scanned (in two parts, too big for my scanner to do it in one), the parts combined, and placed in Adobe Illustrator, where I created the vector logo by drawing on top of the sketch, correcting any small flaws as I went. For instance, I wasn’t happy with the shape and size of the O in WONDER, so adjusted that in the Ilustrator version. The W now seems to lean slightly to the left. I didn’t notice that before, or I would have tried to correct it!

Finally I added red and yellow in the two “faces” of the letters in a classic Superman plan. Gary wondered if I should make the tagline, Anaheim 2018, similarly outlined and with telescoping, but I thought it would make it too complicated and hard to read, so said we shouldn’t, and Gary concurred.

I’m happy to see the final program book cover, and I think it looks great. Hope you’ve enjoyed this look at the logo’s creation. Many others can be found on the LOGO LINKS page of my blog, and in the “Pulled From My Files” sidebar topic on the blog’s home page.

And Then I Read: HAL JORDAN & THE GL CORPS #26

Image © DC Entertainment. Written by Robert Venditti, art by Rafa Sandoval and Jordi Tarragona, colors by Tomeu Morey, letters by Dave Sharpe.

A new storyline featuring Jack Kirby’s New Gods, or at least one of them: Orion. He’s under attack by an unknown force, and Hal and Kyle Rayner offer rescue and medical help. Meanwhile, Guy Gardner is looking for a new assignment, having lost his Yellow Lantern partner, but John Stewart is keeping him on Mogo for now. Mysterious powerful figures are behind the attack on Orion, foreshadowed by GL Graf. All he can offer is the warning “Metal.”

I’m not crazy about big interstellar battles, but so far this one has some interesting aspects. Recommended.

And Then I Read: GREEN LANTERNS #24

Image © DC Entertainment. Written by Sam Humphries, art by Carlo Barberi and Matt Santorelli, colors by Ulises Arreola, letters by Dave Sharpe. This cover by Emanuela Lupacchino and Michael Atiyeh.

New Earth GLs Jessica and Simon are on Mogo, Corps headquarters, getting one-on-one training from Guy Gardner and Kyle Rayner, respectively. Jessica’s issue is largely self-doubt, and Guy succeeds in getting her mad enough to overcome it (who better?). Simon’s issue is lack of imagination in using his powers, and Kyle has some visually interesting ideas on how to overcome that. Meanwhile, Volthoom (in the body of renegade Guardian Rami) is searching for the seven original power rings, and we see another of them beginning service on Mars. What Volthoom finds out will have a major impact on Simon and Jessica, as they are assigned a new mission: to escort Rami to a very dangerous place.

Recommended.

And Then I Read: THE FLASH #27

Image © DC Entertainment. Written by Joshua Williamson, art by Paul Pelletier, Howard Porter and Andrew Hennessy, colors by Hi-Fi, letters by Steve Wands.

I’m still way behind on this title, but trying to catch up. The final chapter of “Running Scared” has Barry Allen transformed by the Negative Speed Force into an even nastier version of Reverse-Flash, and the two duke it out around Earth in the 25th Century, and then across time. A fight is a fight, though, and not all that interesting to me. What happens with Iris West is a lot more so, as she brings her own vengeance to Eobard Thawne. Back in our time, Wally West is in the hospital, and Iris is not trusting Barry one bit.

Mildly recommended.

Pulled From My Files #76: GREEN LANTERN Logos

This and all images © DC Entertainment.

Here are a bunch of Green Lantern-related logos I designed from hand-drawn marker sketches. This first one was for a 1992 pair of trade paperbacks reprinting the fan-favorite run by Dennis O’Neil and Neal Adams from the 1970s. I was following the layout of the original logo by Gaspar Saladino, but giving the letters a somewhat more modern look.

The second version converted the flames to rays, which adds the feeling of motion.

Designer Robbin Brosterman went with the first version. This logo appeared on at least one later collection with modifications (not by me):

I like this version better, actually. The letters pop thanks to a soft shadow behind them, and the combined arrow-lantern symbol is clever.

I have only this one sketch for a Guy Gardner mini-series. I think the diamond-shaped G was Gardner’s costume symbol at the time, and my job was to make it work with the rest of his name. I did it by chopping off the right side of the shape.

Here’s the finished logo inked on plastic vellum. There was a later version that used the full G in the name with the other letters on top of it.

Here’s the first issue of the mini-series with only the suggestion of the diamond G in the background. I have to say I never liked this logo, the shapes fought each other and the result looked awkward.

In 2001 I did this unusual round logo for another mini-series that put Green Lantern in Japan. The style, suggested by designer Amie Brockway-Metcalf, was meant to suggest the wood-block stamped signatures used by Japanese print-makers.

I also tried this version with squared and pointed corners on the stroke ends.

Amie liked the first one best, and this is the final version. Some felt it was a bit hard to read, but I like it all the same.

Here’s the first issue of the series. Even at a relatively small size for a cover logo, I think it works well.

I don’t have any sketches for this one, just a photocopy of the finished logo for a 1992 graphic novel by science fiction writer Larry Niven and artist John Byrne.

Here’s the printed cover. I was disappointed that they made “Ganthet’s Tale” a foil emboss. Sure, it’s an attractive feature and looks good when held the right way (so the light reflects toward you), but it kind of kills the logo for me. Great book, but of course, I’m all about the logo! The drop shadow was removed from “Ganthet’s” which made sense for the foil emboss, but it reads much better in black and white with that element.

More when I have time.