Todd Klein's Blog, page 194

Pulled From My Files #41: WONDER WOMAN COVERS

Images © DC Comics.

In 1982, while on staff at DC, I was asked to create a framing device for the covers of a three-part WONDER WOMAN story. The idea was to make it look as much as possible like a hardcover book. There would be two large boxes, the top one for the DC symbol, WW logo (I designed it based on the Milton Glaser chest symbol), the price box, code seal, and room for large title lettering. The bottom one would hold the cover art. I drew it out in pencil, then inked all the borders and lines with technical drawing pens.  The illusion of depth needed to make it work was helped by the application of a Zip-a-tone pattern that is meant to suggest the rough texture of a cloth book binding. The large box at lower left is for the UPC code, and it definitely hurts the attempted depth of the book spine, but there was nothing I could do about that.

A closer look at the upper right corner. The Zip-a-tone has shrunk with age, leaving gaps where the pieces once met. To get the shaded effect on the binding I scraped away some of the texture with an Exacto knife, being careful not to cut the film. That worked pretty well. Darker areas like the one along the top had two layers of tone. I had to allow for bleed, which is why the top, right and bottom edges look a little odd.

Here’s the first printed cover, WONDER WOMAN #291, May 1982. I also lettered the titles and spine copy separately and later, and it was all put together by DC Production, probably Bob LeRose. My frame was held in color, which I think works fine, though I wish they had put the spine copy and the outer borders of the boxes in colors too, so it would mesh better. Still, I think the overall effect is pretty good, and I didn’t mind getting paid extra for the frame. I see my name was even added to the credits, probably the first time that happened for me.

The second cover used different colors for the frame. This one is trimmed badly, leaving too much of the frame at the top, and not enough at the bottom, but that’s what bleed is for, and the printing quality was not as good then as it is now.

The third cover of the trilogy is just a little redder in the frame than the first one. A fun project, and the kind of thing I sometimes got to do just by being there on staff when an extra project came up.

By the way, the original frame art will be on eBay starting this evening, if anyone is interested in it.

Rereading: DOOM PATROL BOOK ONE

Image © DC Comics.

This 424 page trade paperback collects about the first third of Grant Morrison’s run as writer, issues 19 to 34 of the 1989 series. I know I read some of them, probably not all. I remember the weird vibe, the surreal approach more than the actual stories, so in many ways it was like reading them for the first time.

Grant’s initial stories introduce clever ideas and he strips down the team to a few previous members: Robotman (Cliff), Caulder (the Chief), Larry Trainor (now a composite of two people plus the Negative Man) takes the name Rebis, and one new member: Crazy Jane, a woman with many split personalities, some of which have powers. A few other new characters emerge and become part of the team, but that’s the active core, though Caulder is never all that active, being confined to a wheelchair. Jane is the most interesting of the bunch, allowing Morrison to play all kinds of mind games with the other characters and the readers. We never know which of her personalities is present until she tells us, or what each will do. Cliff is the anchor to the past, and seems the weary veteran. Rebis is mysterious and not well explored in this book.

Much of the fun of the series is in the inventive villains Morrison brings forth, and they are a very entertaining horde, from nihilistic teams and death-driven hidden worlds to a painting that eats Paris and a giant eye in the sky that will devour everything. Among the more human-like foes, the best are Mr. Nobody and his Brotherhood of Dada, Morrison at his most playful and absurdist.

In the early issues it’s very much a chess game, but gradually Morrison gets into the minds of the characters, letting us see more than the surface struggle. This reaches a pinnacle in issue 30, where the mind of Cliff is sent into the mind of Crazy Jane in an effort to bring her back to consciousness. It’s a disturbing and wonderful journey through the underground system of her complex personalities, and how she got that way. Much more than a super-team book, this one shines out like a diamond of excellent storytelling.

The art team on the book does a good job, with Richard Case pencilling most issues under a variety of inkers. At times, early on, Case seems to be having a hard time keeping up with Morrison’s complex ideas, but as the issues role on, he gets more and more innovative and creative in his own approach, making a more unified effort. When Simon Bisley becomes the cover artist on issue 26, his manic approach helps sell the surrealism and I suspect pushes Case to keep up, leading to the ground-breaking package we remember.

This is fun reading and well worth your time, highly recommended. I also really dig the John Workman lettering!

Pulled From My Files #40: 2099 A.D.

Images © Marvel.

Some time in 1994 I was contacted by editor Joey Cavalieri, then at Marvel editing the growing 2099 line of possible futures for Marvel characters. I had worked with Joey at DC Comics, so knew him well. Joey asked me to design a new version of the 2099 logo with the addition of A.D. (After Doom) for a crossover event he was planning. This was the general version to be used wherever it would work. All these logos were drawn by hand, and I made a second version “B” of each with the area around 2099 filled black. Version “A” left it open for color. I based my design on the existing logos, which I believe were all designed by Ken Lopez (not sure about all of them). My idea was for A.D. to suggest the metal plates on Doctor Doom’s mask. I gave it bevels for added depth. Joey was happy with this idea, and asked me to also do a few specific versions to better fit existing logos.

This one was curved to match the SPIDER-MAN 2099 logo. The event ran for about 6 issues I think, here’s one:

The the 2099 A.D. didn’t really mesh that well with the logo, but at least it was curved to fit.

This version went with X-MEN 2099, adding telescoping…

…and this one with HULK 2099, a different perspective version and rough outline. I think that’s all the versions I did. It’s all I find in my files, at least. In 1995 I designed two cover logos for Joey using this concept: 2099 A.D. GENESIS and 2099 A.D. APOCALYPSE. Those were done on computer rather than hand-drawn.

And Then I Read: THE BIG KERPLOP! by Bertrand R. Brinley

Illustration by Charles Geer.

About a month ago I read and reviewed “The New Adventures of the Mad Scientists’ Club,” a second collection of stories about a group of boys in a small 1960s town, Mammoth Falls,  who have clever and funny adventures. I’d first encountered the stories in the pages of “Boys’ Life” magazine as a child myself, and have long owned the first collection of those stories. The club is generally led by their head tinkerer and scientific genius Henry Mulligan, and they seemed to have all kinds of resources for creating amazing inventions, or adapting existing scientific ideas. These were often used to play practical jokes on their town and a rival gang, though at other times the Club helped solve crimes and assisted authorities. In researching that earlier review, I found Brinley had also written two novels about the Club, and I quickly ordered e-book versions of both. This is one.

“The Big Kerplop!” did see print in 1974, but shortly afterward the publisher went out of business, and not many copies made it out to readers. It was reprinted in 2003 with new pictures by Charles Geer, who had illustrated the two books of short stories, and I’m here to tell you it’s the best thing I’ve read in a long time. First, there’s the nostalgia factor: it brings me back to happy childhood days, not only because I was reading about the Mad Scientists then, but the way the kids are given the trust and freedom to do all the crazy things they get away with is very much like my own childhood in the 1960s. Second, you never know if a short story writer can succeed with the same characters in a novel, but Brinley does so brilliantly. Third, this book fills that fannish desire, it’s an origin story! In its pages we learn how the Mad Scientists came to be in a very satisfying way.

As in the short stories, the narrator is Charlie (last name finally revealed in this book), but Henry does not appear for some time. Charlie and his friends are out on a foggy Strawberry Lake fishing when they hear fighter jets from a nearby Air Force base making practice runs over the lake. Unexpectedly, something large and heavy falls from one plane into the lake. The boys don’t see it, but feel the waves of its impact and hear the kerplop. Right away they go into action, figuring out how to mark the place where the object fell. Later, back in town, word is out that the Air Force is restricting access to the lake while they investigate something. Before long, the boys figure out a nuclear bomb was the thing that fell from the plane, and the Air Force is looking for it. The boys decide they are going to find it first, and in some daring night excursions through the patrol lines, they succeed. Henry Mulligan’s scientific knowledge and ideas help a lot with that. The next problem is convincing the Air Force, or any responsible adult, that they actually have found the bomb, a task which takes up a good part of the book in many hilarious incidents.

This was so much fun. It would have made a great Disney TV series in the 1970s, and could still be a pretty good one today. Now I can’t wait to read the other Brinley novel, and will soon.

Highly recommended!

Alex Jay on Joe Shuster and the Superman Logo

Image from the box cover for a 1934 Buck Rogers toy gun.

Alex Jay has just posted a great article ON HIS BLOG about Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster’s high school art and theater work, as well as their early science fiction fanzine, and also examines many possible influences on Shuster’s evolving designs for the Superman logo, example above. Alex’s examples of telescoped lettering reinforce the idea that it was a popular and much-used style at the time, not something that sprang from the mind of Shuster alone, though the Superman logo is where it’s best known today. Well worth a read!

A Testimonial

A fan and patron named J M writes:

“I’ve been purchasing your Alphabet print series since it started so many years ago and, up until now, they’ve just been in sleeves because I didn’t have any place to put them, having lived with my parents and friends until recently. When I got my own place, one of the first things I did was display them above my fireplace, and I just wanted to thank you for making such great art and to show you how good they look together.”

Thanks, J M, you made my day!

And Then I Read: ASTRO CITY 34

Image © Juke Box Productions.

Kurt Busiek wraps up a very entertaining film-noir story line in this issue as Steeljack gets to the source of his trouble: a rich and unscrupulous collector of super villain tech and weapons who has assembled a large storehouse of them in his secret underwater lair. Collecting the stuff isn’t so bad, but he also uses it to commit crimes, getting the original villains, some of whom have gone straight, back into trouble with the law. Steeljack has been trying to stay clean, working as a private eye, and he’s finally solved a big case. Trouble is, he’s been captured by the perpetrator! He’s old and tired, but can he summon up enough strength to beat this wise-guy and his robot minions?

Great fun, loved the characters, the writing and the art. Nice colors and letters, too! Highly recommended.

Incoming: DARK NIGHT by Dini and Risso

Image © DC Comics.

I enjoyed lettering this project, a very personal and harrowing true story by writer Paul Dini about a mugging that changed his life, with plenty of appearances by characters from the animated Batman TV show Dini was writing at the time. Artist Eduardo Risso captures both the real pain and the imagined inner turmoil brilliantly. I expect this book will be up for awards next year, deservedly so.

And Then I Read: SWAMP THING #5

Image © DC Comics.

When I began reading this mini-series, I thought the cast and storyline were very pared down, almost too simplified. Of course I should have expected that veteran writer Len Wein was only setting the stage for bigger drama and more great characters to convey it. Alec Holland has regained his human form by trading the Swamp Thing persona with his old friend Matthew Cable. That hasn’t worked out so well, as Cable has now revealed himself as a power-mad would-be world ruler who is threatening the planet’s major cities and governments with the vast power of The Green, which he now commands.

Alec wants to stop Cable, but now that he’s only human, how to go about it? He already had help from Zatanna. Now he gets aid from several more of DC’s weird heroes beginning with The Phantom Stranger. I won’t spoil the others for you, but suffice to say, it’s a fun ride with characters well known to long-time readers. Kelley Jones has just as much fun drawing them, and the story kicks into high gear this time on all fronts. I loved it!

Highly recommended.

2016 Word Series of Birding Report

I’ve been participating in the New Jersey Audubon Society’s World Series of Birding event since 1988, when I first joined the Cape May Bird Observatory’s Century Run team. I’ve been part of that team for many of the intervening years. This year for the first time I was invited to join the planning committee of Team Captain Brian Moscatello, leaders Roger and Kathy Horn, and supporter Patti Domm. We met twice in the weeks before yesterday’s event, communicated often by email, and Roger, Kathy and I did lots of scouting for bird locations and planning of the route. Yesterday we came prepared with a Game Plan. Some of it worked, some had to be changed due to events and new information, but I think helping with the plans made it even more fun for me than ever. I had a great time.

THE PLAN: 5 AM, leave promptly by bus from our starting place in Cape May, drive directly to the Cape May Airport. 5:20 to 6 AM: bird near Airport runways and woods.

This worked perfectly. We got there at first light, when it was still dark enough for night bird Chuck-Wills-Widow to be calling, a bird we usually struggle with at the very end of the day. We also immediately got Horned Lark, which we expected, and Eastern Meadowlark, which we were not sure we’d find. We birded near the runways for those, then in the Airport Woods, above, where we got some unexpected songbirds like Hooded Warbler.

THE PLAN: 6 to 7 AM, Norbury’s Landing for shore and bay birds, woods for migrating songbirds.

This worked pretty well. On the Delaware Bay beach, above, the tide was higher than we expected, so there weren’t as many shorebirds as we’d hoped. The clamor of hundreds of Laughing Gulls on the beach filled the air. It had rained overnight, but the sky was clear as the sun rose, and remained clear until mid afternoon. There were a few songbirds in the woods nearby, but not a lot. As often happens, we missed a lot of migrating warblers and other songbirds this year that we knew were around in the days before. It’s the curse of the event for us. We did have Bald Eagle sitting on the beach here, always a plus. We had counted 52 species by 7 AM. It always seems so easy in the beginning, when every new bird you see counts, and you’re totting them up in handfuls!

THE PLAN: 7:15 AM, Bathroom stop at CRE.

CRE is the New Jersey Audubon Center for Research and Education in Goshen. We spent more time here than I expected, so our schedule began to fall behind, but we found more good birds on the CRE grounds, including Ruby-throated Hummingbird at the feeders, Brown Thrasher, and Orchard Oriole, which nests there.

There were also Box Turtles mating on the lawn, such an odd sight if you’ve never seen it, or even if you have.

THE PLAN: 7:45-8:15 AM, Stipsons Island Road, walk to creek for raptors, shorebirds, marsh birds, ducks.

Everyone enjoyed this spot, though we saw few raptors or ducks. There were good looks at Marsh Wren, Seaside Sparrow, and other birds you only find in this habitat, and nice views of shorebirds and things like Glossy Ibis. We were longer here than I expected too, but only because there were so many things to see. That proved to be the case through much of the day. The Century Run is meant to be a more relaxed and fun experience than the “race from spot to spot” approach of the top teams, and it is that. I enjoyed seeing all the cool birds like everyone else, but found I was often the one saying, “Let’s move on!” because I knew we had many other birds and locations to visit, and there’s only so much time in the day.

THE PLAN: 8:30 to 10:15 AM, Belleplain State Forest.

We were actually here from about 9 to 11 AM, visiting a half dozen spots that I had scouted, and finding nearly everything we’d hoped for, so it was very productive. On Tom Field Road we heard (and a few saw) Prothonotary Warbler. On Sunset Road we got Worm-eating Warbler and Acadian Flycatcher.

Photo by Clay Taylor, Century Run sponsor and participant.

On Frank’s Road we had Summer Tanager, above. At Lake Nummy there was Yellow-throated Warbler. At the Headquarters we got Eastern Phoebe.

On Upper Champion Road, above, we found Eastern Bluebird (very scarce this year) as well as Indigo Bunting and Blue Grosbeak. A very “bluish” place! Since we were running late, we skipped a few spots and headed back toward the south end of the county at 11:15 AM with 100 species on our list. The first 100 are relatively easy, after that you’re searching and struggling for each new bird.

THE PLAN: 10:45 to 11:45 AM, Higbee Beach, Cape Island.

We dropped this idea, as we felt we’d get there too late to find much. Instead we went with an alternate idea to stop at Cox Hall Creek Wildlife Management Area on the Deleware side of the county. We spent about 40 minutes there, but only found a few new species.

Clay Taylor, from Swarovski Optik, got this great photo of a male Red-Bellied Woodpecker, which we all enjoyed there. But, in general, from about 11 AM to late afternoon, woodland birds are quiet and resting, so harder to find.

Here’s our ride, a full-size bus that was very comfortable. With a capacity of 40 people, there was enough room for our team of 28 to spread out with our stuff, including gear and food.  We had two drivers, one for the first half, one for the second, who were both excellent, and managed the trickiest roads with skill and ease.

THE PLAN: 12 Noon to 1 PM, Cape May Point State Park for lunch and birding.

We were actually here from about 1 to 2 PM I think, but enjoyed our lunch in the picnic pavilion next to the Hawk Watch platform, and added a few new birds there before moving on.

THE PLAN: 1 to 2 PM, Cape May area hotspots.

There was only time for one, we decided, so out of many options we went to the fishing jetty below Higbee Beach. We walked the sand road in, and then found the ever elusive Purple Sandpipers on the jetty itself.

THE PLAN: The Cape May Meadows 2 to 3 PM. Walk the trail.

We were actually here from about  3 to 4:30 PM I think, but it was great birding. This shows the group on the way back from the beach where we found a rare Iceland Gull, as well as uncommon Lesser Black-backed Gull.

Here’s a fine group photo by Clay Taylor. I think a few participants had left by then, but it’s most of us. I’m close to the center in the back row, behind the woman in the white shirt. Most of the World Series teams are much smaller than this, usually 3 to 4 people. They can move faster and cover more ground. We have our fun, just the same!

On the meadows trails we added more hard to find shorebirds like Stilt Sandpiper, White-rumped Sandpiper and Solitary Sandpiper.

I don’t usually have time or opportunity for good bird pictures on the day, but this Mallard family was easy and irresistible. The alert mother was wary of some snapping turtles nearby who would have gladly had duckling for lunch.

Also on the trail was a Black Rat Snake perhaps after the same meal, or bird eggs. We did well at the Meadows, leaving with 120 species on our list. Then it was time to head up the Atlantic side of Cape May County in quest of a few more birds.

THE PLAN: 3:15 to 3:45, Ocean Drive to Wildwood Crest.

The timing moved back more than an hour, but we found good birds on Ocean Drive, including Belted Kingfisher. This was a bird I had scouted in two other places, but both those Kingfishers had disappeared by our big day. When we stopped at one of the Coast Guard Ponds on Ocean Drive, I thought I saw a Kingfisher hover-feeding, and called it out. A moment later, I realized it was a Tern instead, and recanted. A few minutes later, Clay Taylor spotted a real Kingfisher on the opposite shore through his scope! It’s the first time I’ve ever made a bad identification call and had it turn out to be right by accident! We then had no trouble finding the Peregrine Falcon that’s been living on a tall apartment building in Wildwood Crest, photo by Clay Taylor above. We also got Yellow-Crowned Night-Heron in a park in Wildwood, and had already seen Black-Crowned Night-Heron in the morning, so we no longer needed to spend any time in Avalon, which would make up some time.

THE PLAN: 4:15 to 5 PM, Nummy Island and Stone Harbor Point for shorebirds, herons, etc.

We got to Nummy Island about an hour behind schedule, but found several more good birds for our list including Whimbrel and Little Blue Heron. A storm front had been predicted to come through in late afternoon, and from Nummy we could see it approaching ominously. We hurried on.

At Stone Harbor Point the clouds were rolling in overhead, the wind was picking up, and it looked like tornado weather! We hurried to the lookout place and were able to find our target bird here, Piping Plover. Then, with wind whipping the sand up around us, we hurried back to the bus just as the rain began. Soon it was coming down in torrents.

It rained hard for about an hour, but that actually didn’t hurt our day too much. We were able to get Cattle Egret from the bus, then headed back to Belleplain to try for Scarlet Tanager again, one breeding bird there we’d missed. We waited out the rain in a picnic pavilion near Lake Nummy, and once it ended, evening sun lit up the treetops in a glorious display. We found a likely spot for our target bird, and soon heard it calling, along with other birds like Wood Thrush. Amazingly, we were back on schedule! There were two more birds to listen for in Belleplain.

We stopped first to try for Blue-winged Warbler, which I knew was nesting in a certain field but hadn’t been calling in over a week. We didn’t get it, though we enjoyed a lovely sunset sky. At 8:30 PM as it was getting dark, we heard the Whip-poor-wills calling on Sunset Road rounding off our want list for Belleplain. We made one more stop at Jakes Landing Road, but added nothing new there, and headed back to Cape May at 9 PM with 134 species on our list. At the Finish Line, in a talk I overhead between Roger Horn and expert birder Michael O’Brien, it sounded like one of our species calls was incorrect, and wouldn’t be allowed, so I think our total for the day will end up being 133 species. The official results for all the teams are not posted yet, so I’m not sure if that’s right. When they are, I’ll link to them here.

So, this year we did well, just a little below average for all the years I have records for, that average number being 137 species. We did better than some years on ducks, six species. We got all the Herons and Egrets except Tricolored Heron. We did okay on raptors, but missed some. We did very well on shorebirds with 20, including some we usually miss. Excellent on gulls with six species. We had no owls, and only two Woodpeckers. We missed some Flycatchers we knew were around. We found 14 species of Warblers, but about 30 had been found in the area in the previous week. We found only five Sparrow species out of a potential ten or so, but swept the Blackbirds and related species like Oriole, getting all eight. In all, we did fine. Back in Cape May, many of us went to the Finish Line in the Cape May Point State Park to enjoy some barbecue and other food, and to talk with the staff and other teams. Everyone seemed to have enjoyed their big day.

As soon as I have the official total for our team, I’ll be letting my wonderful and generous supporters know. With their help, I’ve raised about $700 for the Cape May Bird Observatory’s mission of nature education, conservation and research. Our entire team should have a fundraising total of close to $5,000, I estimate, and the entire World Series of Birding will raise about $150,000, though many teams raise funds for their own local nature center or organization, it doesn’t all stay in New Jersey.

Hope you’ve enjoyed reading my annual report on this event. Back to regular blog topics soon!