Todd Klein's Blog, page 169

And Then I Read: THE FLASH #14

Image © DC Comics.

Monthly titles featuring long-running super-heroes tend to head off in new directions for a while, then circle back to about where they were. That seems to be happening in this issue of THE FLASH, from the retro cover by Dave Johnson that echoes work from the Silver Age by Carmine Infantino (and even has age-darkened colors) to the theme and character lineup: the return of Flash’s original Rogues Gallery (with a few changes). On the Barry Allen side, we have Barry once again dating Iris West, and her nephew Wally West teamed with Barry as Kid Flash, though he’s rather different from the Silver Age version.

The Rogues have been gone from Central City for a while, and newer criminals have stepped in to fill the void. We see a few of them here: Papercut, Sand Blaster and Bone Dry. I have to agree with Barry’s caption commentary, the original Rogues had better names, and I would add, better powers. Not willing to let sleeping dogs lie, Barry decides to investigate the whereabouts and plans of the missing Rogues, which takes him to interesting places and people, and ultimately to what was probably their last secret hideout in Central City. What he finds there launches this story arc.

Fun stuff, recommended.

And Then I Read: CAVE CARSON #6

Image © DC Comics.

Bear with me while I try to sum up this issue, which I found confusing. First we have wealthy company head Edward Borsten falling prey to the mental dominance of the mysterious evil presence that has reached into his mind from deep below ground. Then we cut to Cave and his crew, with his ex-wife and HER people, fighting monsters in their mole car. Meanwhile Edward in his newer mole car, and HIS crew are trying to free the great evil force. When they do, it’s another monster, a gigantic one. Soon, the two groups meet and more mayhem ensues.

I have to say I like the idea of this comic much more than the execution. I’d be happier with something more along the lines of “Journey to the Center of the Earth” by Jules Verne, exploring underground wonders, lost civilizations and creatures. We’ve had a little of that, but it’s turned into a more predictable and less interesting monster fight at this point. The writing has it’s moments, usually the quieter ones, but is confusing at times, and the art is often difficult to follow, and too cartoony when I can follow it. I think this is the last issue I’ll be looking at. Too bad, I had hopes.

Not recommended.

And Then I Read: ASTRO CITY #43

Image © Juke Box Productions.

Is it possible for a character to be cute, charming and kind of creepy at the same time? That’s how Tillie Armstrong struck me as she cheerfully took control of this issue from the guy with the purple balloons. Tillie breaks the fourth wall and talks directly to us readers as she recounts the story of her own personal hero, and a super-hero, The Gentleman, her dad.

Tilley is an earnest, innocent young girl in the mold of Billy Batson’s sister Mary, and could have been played well by a young Judy Garland. Her father is everything to her, a fine man who does all the right things until his heroism brings him down. Somehow Tillie’s great love for her dad brings him back to her as, not only a protective parent, but one with super-powers allowing him to fight crime in Astro City, all this taking place in the 1940s and 1950s. How exactly she does this isn’t clear, but he seems to be a real person to everyone, even though that can’t quite be right. He’s the spooky part. Incidentally, he could have been well played by Clark Gable, as I see it.

Other stories and characters are intertwined with that of Tillie and her father, but theirs is the most interesting one. Tillie has a journey of her own coming to terms with the unique situation she finds herself in. It’s all beautifully written by Kurt Busiek and wonderfully illustrated by Brent Anderson, with Alex Ross on cover. Great colors by Peter Pantazis and letters/design by Roshell and Deschesne of Comicraft, too.

Recommended.

Rereading: THE RINGWORLD ENGINEERS by Larry Niven

Cover art by Dale Gustafson.

Having enjoyed the audiobook version of the first “Ringworld” by Niven, I’ve reread the second. Louis Wu, the male human protagonist of the first book, has no intention of returning to Ringworld. He’s busy dealing with an addiction to a droud, which uses electrical current to directly stimulate the pleasure center of his brain. He learns someone is after him when his apartment is broken into, and he tries to escape, but is captured and soon aboard the ship of a strange non-human alien, The Hindmost, the life partner of his former Ringworld companion Nessus. The kzin warrior/diplomat “Speaker to Animals” is also there, also kidnapped, but now going by the name Chmeee. The Hindmost has press-ganged them into another trip to Ringworld to find treasures. The Hindmost, formerly the leader of her people, the Pierson’s Puppeteers, has been overthrown, and is hoping treasures from Ringworld can restore her position at home. While Louis and Chmeee are controlled in some ways, they craftily plot rebellion in others once they reach Ringworld.

Ringworld is that immense structure that orbits a distant star like a rotating ribbon, with millions and millions of acres of living space on the inside facing the sun. But the place was built long ago, and those who built it vanished. Ringworld has been gradually deteriorating ever since. It’s cities are mostly in ruins, its peoples of various sorts mostly reverted to savagery or simple agrarian and/or nomadic lifestyles. When the Hindmost and crew arrive they find things have gotten much worse: the ring has fallen out of balance in its orbit, and in a few years part of the ring will hit the central sun, destroying everything.

Through this fascinating example of creative world-building we meet many Ringworld inhabitants, and the mysteries of Ringworld’s creation and creators are gradually unlocked. Meanwhile, Chmeee and Louis Wu find ways to rebel against The Hindmost until she is forced to do exactly what they want. With help from some of the most knowledgable Ringworlders, Louis thinks he has a way to save Ringworld and some, but not all, of its inhabitants. The second half the the book is full of action and suspense as Louis tries to make his ideas work.

I enjoyed rereading this, especially since I didn’t remember much about it. In his forward, Niven admits that flaws pointed out by readers of the first book led him to write this one and come up with plausible solutions. The ideas are immense, the characters are appealing, and the storyline is top-notch adventure.

Highly recommended.

Pulled From My Files #54: MAGNETO LOGO

This and all images © Marvel.

Around 1994-95 I was asked by Kelly Corvese at Marvel to design a new logo for the X-Men villain Magneto. I originally submitted four marker sketches. This first one obvously incorporated a U-shaped magnet in the M.

On this one I used concentric circles to suggest magnetic attraction, centered on the top of the M, which in this case slightly suggests Magneto’s helmet, but only slightly.

This version used much thicker strokes on the letters, and was very angular and pointy, a popular thing at Marvel at the time. I probably thickened the outline as an afterthought, making the spaces between the letters and strokes too narrow.

Version 4 goes about as far as possible down the pointy path. I find it the most interesting of the four now, but it’s a bit hard to read.

Marvel liked version 3 the best, but asked for some variations. This one made the letters wider and shorter, and put them in an arc.

This one follows the same plan without the arc, and fixes the spacing between the letters somewhat.

For the final, we went back to version 3 and just made the spacing better. The drop shadows on the upper left of the M and N are completely incorrect, but I apparently thought I needed something there to balance the look. I should have left them out.

I think the first use in print was on this 1996 mini-series, but Marvel made changes to the logo, removing the drop shadow and thinning the outline. What they probably did was to create a digital tracing in Adobe Illustrator (something I hadn’t done) and that made changing those things easier. Looks okay all the same, I think.

I did a rather squashed variation for this Marvel/DC mashup comic in 1996, on my own computer this time. I don’t like it nearly as much.

I worked on this variation in 1999, but again Marvel made changes to the weight of the outlines, and the placement of REX that I think look pretty awful.

This 2011 one-shot actually comes closest to my original design. They removed the drop-shadow at the upper left of the M and N, which I agree with, and made other minor changes, but this one works the best for me.

More blog articles like this one can be found under the “Pulled From My Files” topic on the right side of the page, or on the LOGO LINKS page of my blog.

And Then I Read: WONDER WOMAN #14

Image © DC Comics.

Writer Greg Rucka concludes his Year One storyline in a fine and satisfying way, beginning with a defiant Diana confronting Ares, the God of War while her friends and colleagues look on, unable to help. Diana tries to use words and reason to placate Ares, but when that’s not enough, she doesn’t hesitate to take the fight to him. Ares plans to unleash a virus that will turn everyone on Earth toward hate and anger (as if we needed that), and claims Earth is already his. Diana opposes him in the name of peace, but how can she possibly win against a god? Great story, wonderful art by Nicola Scott.

Highly recommended.

And Then I Read: UNFOLLOW #13

Image © DC Comics.

This issue is mostly about Akira, the cult-leader member of the 140 inheritors of the Ferrell fortune. It begins with his death in a surprising sequence that I’m not sure how to interpret, but I liked it, then goes back earlier to show how the Akira of the present came to be. Japanese samurai culture is involved, and an older charismatic leader that Akira was once a follower of. Akira took what he learned there and made his own shocking move to capture the world’s attention. I often find Japanese culture and mindsets hard to understand, and this is a good example of that, but it was interesting, all the same. As the number of surviving inheritors dwindles, it’s kind of surprising that Akira’s story is given so much importance, but as it was an unexpected move, I liked that.

Recommended.

Incoming: DOOM PATROL Vol. 1

Images © DC Comics.

The first collection of the new DOOM PATROL I’m lettering has arrived. I’m enjoying it a great deal, and you might, too. I think it stands on equal footing with the earlier series written by Grant Morrison, from which writer Gerard Way and artist Nick Derington took a lot of their inspiration. As I don’t get individual printed issues anymore, this is my first look at it printed and in color. Looks great!

One thing I’ve been noticing in recent DC printed comics is a different method of color separation. I’m not sure when it started, but fairly recently, I think. Gone are the regimented rows of dots in the colors, now they are dithered.

A closer look to explain what I mean. See how the tiny dots of color do not line up in rows, but instead are spread randomly? The previous regimented dots were a function of photographic color separations. Digital separations have other options, including this one. It gives the color a more evenly spread feeling, you notice the dots less, and those dots are much smaller than they used to be, too. I have no way of measuring how many dots per inch the color uses here, but it’s a LOT. Note, there’s no dots in the solid black lettering and balloon borders above, but when I used color in the lettering, it has the same kind of separations. Interesting and modern. The look is closer to what you’d get at home with an inkjet printer, which I think uses the same diffusion pattern of dots. Printed comics are now even more finely detailed than their digital versions available on sites like Comixology, though those look fine when I read them, too.

The collection goes on sale May 31st at comics sellers. I heartily approve.

And Then I Read: SHADE THE CHANGING GIRL 5

Image © DC Comics.

Shade, the human body inhabited by a bird-like creature from the planet Meta, seems to more alienated than ever in this issue, pushing away the few friends she’s made at school, ignoring her schoolwork and parents, and thinking only about getting back to Meta, if she can manage it. Meanwhile, the spirit of the girl whose body she’s in is floating around out there (in the Madness Zone? Hard to be sure) and heading back to Earth. On Meta, the friend who helped Shade steal the Madness Coat and flee with it to Earth in the first place is in a lot of trouble but still trying to protect her.

I’m back to not caring much for the places this story is going. The art is nice, has some appealing, trippy elements and storytelling, but it all feels like teen angst and ennui, no one to root for as far as I’m concerned.

The short backup story, “Life With Honey” was actually better than the lead this time, don’t know if that will continue or is a one and done.

Mildly recommended.

And Then I Read: HAL JORDAN & THE GREEN LANTERN CORPS #11

Image © DC Comics.

Two storylines: the main group of GLs and some Yellow Lanterns are stuck inside a Brainiac collection bottle, shrunk down to miniature size. The bottle, the rest of the collection, and Brainiac himself are all in the hands and under the control of Larfleeze, the Orange Lantern of Avarice, on his home base of Okaara in the Vegan star system, technically outside the purview of the GL Corps. Then there’s Hal Jordan, recently brought back from apparent ghost status by Kyle Rayner and the two remaining original Guardians of the Galaxy, Ganthet and Sayd. These four return to Mogo, the Corps headquarters, but find it otherwise empty.

Things I like about this storyline: Brainiac and Larfleeze as the ultimate collectors of everything. John Stewart’s escape plan. Hal and Kyle returning to Mogo.

Things I didn’t like: the John Stewart plan was too transparent and predictable. How did Larfleeze fall for it?

Recommended.