Todd Klein's Blog, page 202

And Then I Read: RESIDENT ALIEN Vol. 3

Image © Peter Hogan & Steve Parkhouse.

The premise of this series is simple but very effective. There’s an alien masquerading as a small town doctor in southwestern America. That’s him on the cover. Thing is, he can mentally hide his true appearance, so no one (or almost no one) can see that’s how he really looks. To most people he seems quite human. We the readers know he’s not. To complicate matters, a team of government agents are on his trail, though he doesn’t know it yet. And a few people can see him as he really is, but the alien can’t tell who unless they say something about it to him.

So, what does he do, other than doctoring? He solves mysteries. The one in this volume involves a hard boiled crime novelist who is reported to have lived in this small town once, but vanished mysteriously. The alien is a fan of the author’s books, and sets about tracking him. The trail leads in unexpected places. The tensions of the story are delicious, with so much potential disaster all around the alien, yet somehow he manages to come across as very likable and human, someone you can’t help rooting for. He has no evil agenda, he’s stuck here and trying to survive. Kind of a mash-up of “The Fugitive” and “The X-Files,” I suppose.

Both the writing and the art are excellent. You can start with any volume and have a great time. Recommended.

And Then I Read: RAGNAROK: LAST GOD STANDING

Image © Walter Simonson.

Walt Simonson has long loved Norse mythology, and Norse gods. His run on Marvel’s THOR is legendary. Here he takes a darker and deeper look at some of those myths. The story takes place long after a massive battle where all the Norse gods we know were slain…or were they? An assassin is sent to the scene of the battle, and finds a prisoner there bound by huge chains and apparently dead. When he comes back to life, the story really gets rolling.

Visually, this book is a delight, full of Simonson action. The writing is great too, though I found it a little odd that his protagonist, seen above, has lots to say even though he seems to be missing a lower jaw. Okay: gods, magic, I get it. In some ways he’s kind of a zombie version of Thor, but Walt gives him so much power and energy, I soon left that impression behind, and settled back to enjoy the ride. A fine ride it is, too. Everything the main character knew and loved is gone, but that doesn’t stop him from raging against fate, and fighting every last horrific enemy that rises to oppose him. He may be the last of his kind, but he’s not finished quite yet!

Highly recommended.

And Then I Read: THE AUTUMNLANDS 8

Image © Busiek and Dewey.

Just when it seemed that Learoyd, the warrior conjured up from the distant past, was the only human on this strange version of Earth, where the inhabitants are humanoid animals, Kurt Busiek throws a curve ball. Learoyd and his human-terrier companion Dusty are exploring the foothills of a large mountain range, which seems like the Rockies, trying to get away from their enemies, the Bison-men. Rising early one morning, Learoyd finds himself in the presence of a human woman, and one using what seems to be high tech machines. She gives Learoyd new clothes and food while hardly letting him get a word in edgewise, and then is gone. What could this mean?

New, warmer clothes are just the thing as the pair gets into snowy heights, and meet a new sort of enemy, as depicted above. I love the art on this book by Benjamin Dewey as much as the writing.

Recommended.

And Then I Read: JUSTICE LEAGUE 46

Image © DC Comics.

The Darkseid War has gone on too long. Darkseid is apparently dead (for now), and his remaining minions are scrabbling for power. Then we have the Anti-Monitor and his minions, the evil version of the Justice League, some of the New Gods, and finally the Justice League itself, with some of their supporting characters like Steve Trevor. Writer Geoff Johns is good at finding character moments, and keeping these balls in the air, but it’s getting tiresome all the same. As for the art, I love the work of Francis Manapul, it’s charming and full of emotion and heart, but I feel it does not serve this kind of epic battle story well. He’s great on the character moments, but the rest feels unfocused and kind of soft. Wish I could like it more, but there you go.

Mildly recommended.

Logo Study: DEADPOOL

Images © Marvel.

In April or early May of 1992 I was contacted by a Marvel Comics editor and asked to design a logo for their character Deadpool, who had first appeared in THE NEW MUTANTS #98 cover dated Feb. 1991. A mini-series featuring the character was being planned. I was doing lots of logo work then for DC, Marvel and other companies, and creating logos by hand, as I had not yet purchased my first Apple computer. My usual procedure was to draw three sketches on white typing paper, first in pencil, then inked with markers. The sketch above is one of those, and the only Deadpool sketch that I can find in my files. It looks like I thought the character’s name was two words, and I stacked them. Marvel liked this sketch, and only requested one change, the addition of a hyphen because the name was one word. You can see it penciled in.

I next traced the sketch carefully in ink on Denril plastic vellum, my procedure at the time. This is a photocopy from my files of the finished logo that I would have Fedexed to the editor. That was the last I heard about Deadpool for a while. I wasn’t seeing many Marvel comics, as the company only sent me copies of ones where I lettered the stories, and I had no nearby comics shop.

In the summer of 1993 the first Deadpool mini-series saw print. The cover of the first issue of DEADPOOL: THE CIRCLE CHASE is above. I’m not sure when I first saw it, probably not for a while. When I did, I was dismayed to see that my logo had been stretched vertically almost to the point of being unreadable, and it looked awful. In order to do this, someone had to trace my hand-drawn logo in Adobe Illustrator to create a vector file, which could then be stretched. The open drop shadow was not included, which is good. That would have made it even harder to read. A much better solution would have been to ask me to create a very tall version of the logo, but no one did. I would have made it look less distorted, at least. It’s possible that there was no time for that.

A second mini-series in 1994 used my complete logo — still vertically stretched, but not as much. I don’t know that I ever saw it. In 1997 the character gained a regular series, and I did see issues of that occasionally. I must have been unhappy enough with the uses of my logo that I essentially forgot I had designed it, though. I have to admit that I’ve never to this day read any Deadpool stories.

The character grew in popularity, developing a fan following for his unlikely  combination of deadly violence and whacky humor (so I hear), and continues to star in his own regular series, mini-series and one-shots to the present day. Many variations of his original logo were developed. The telescoped version above was seen quite a bit. It uses the letter forms from my design as a starting point.

There were also many clever parody covers like the one above mimicking DETECTIVE COMICS #27, the first appearance of Batman. Some of those also used my logo letter forms, some did not.

Some covers have used my logo almost exactly as I created it. The most recent one I see in a quick search is this cover dated Nov. 2014.

Here’s the official movie logo for the about-to-open film. When I saw it, I felt there was something familiar about the letter forms, but I had to look through my files to confirm I had designed them. That’s when I found the original sketch and logo seen above. There are minor differences: some odd angles in the A and L, and the treatment is very Hollywood, but clearly the movie logo is based on my original design, though the movie logo designer probably didn’t know it. Hey, even I wasn’t sure! In 2014 I wrote a blog post about a NEW TREND IN MARVEL MOVIE LOGOS, where they seem to be bucking the usual bland Hollywood designs and going to the comics for inspiration. In that article you can see their use of my Doctor Strange comics logo as part of the promotion for the upcoming film, though if it will actually become the official movie logo is unclear. At least with Deadpool there’s no doubt that I have finally designed a movie logo — sort of!

When I wrote about this on Facebook yesterday, some friends suggested I was due financial compensation, or at least a credit line in the film. That would be nice, but it’s very unlikely. The contracts for logo design in comics state that the company owns all rights in exchange for a generous one-time payment. I knew that then, and have no problem with it. As far as I know, logo designers have never been given any kind of royalties, incentives or profit sharing for other uses. In 1992 I was paid $500 for the logo design, at a time when my story page lettering rate was about $25 per page, so it seemed like a good deal to me, and still does. As for credit, no one at the comics companies keeps track of who designed their logos. Much of that information is only in the hands of the logo designers, or is lost forever. That’s partly what my Logo Studies are about, as well as my “Logo of the Day” feature on Facebook. You can find my logo studies on the LOGO LINKS page of my blog, if you’d like to read more. Meanwhile, I have to say I’m modestly pleased that my design, in essence, is on the movie logo, even if very few people will ever know it. Now, you’re one of them.

And Then I Read: SUPERMAN 47

Image © DC Comics.

Superman finally has it out with Hordr_Root, a computer villain with a far less interesting name than Brainiac, for instance. Hordr certainly is odd and unusual, but I don’t find him very menacing. When forced to stand and fight, he’s not that impressive. The best thing about this issue is the use of Jimmy Olsen as Superman’s friend, in more ways than one. That made it work for me. On the negative side, the great diversity in art styles by different artists again pulled me out of the story near the end.

Mildly recommended.

And Then I Read: ASTRO CITY 30

Image © Juke Box Productions.

The conclusion of a two-part story of an alien invasion from the viewpoint of a young alien boy, with the invaders being Astro City’s super team, The First Family. When Zozat, the alien boy, finds one of the dreaded enemy, the human boy Karl, injured and on the ground near his home, the two of them find they have more in common than either of them thought. And Zozat has to reevaluate much of what he’s always been taught. Writer Kurt Busiek brings insight and humanity to a story that resonates in today’s world when so many are fearful of those who are different, or might attack them and their way of life. Too bad most of the people who might learn from the story probably won’t ever see it, but perhaps a few will.

Recommended.

And Then I Read: JACKED 2

Image © Eric Kripke and Glenn Fabry

Josh’s life has been revitalized by a nootropic drug he ordered online. “Jacked” is the brand name, and it seems to have given him youthful vigor, enhanced perception, and even surprising strength. We know there’s going to be a price to pay for all this, Josh does too, but he’s feeling so good, he can’t stay away from the pills. His family are giving him new respect, and he’s doing things for them he thought were no longer possible.

“Jacked” has not necessarily made Josh wiser, though. He has a thuggish neighbor with an annoying dog (see the cover), and while common sense would say stay away, Josh gets involved when the neighbor is beating his own wife. The repercussions of the encounter are already looking pretty dangerous for Josh.

I love the art, the writing is fine, and this book has been a nice surprise for me: not something I would probably have tried if it weren’t for the people involved, not really my kind of story, but I’m enjoying it a lot.

Recommended.

And Then I Read: AUTUMNLANDS 7

Image © Busiek & Dewey.

A new story arc begins with the surviving magicians and townsfolk from the fallen sky-city now apparently on a smaller sky-craft (sky village?), with their leaders still squabbling and fighting for control of their now limited power. Their savior, the soldier they conjured from the distant past, is not among them. Learoyd and his young friend Dusty have been left behind for dead at the scene of the battle with the bison-men. Learoyd nearly is dead until Dusty pulls him from the river. The rest of the issue is largely a dialogue between the two of them that covers lots of interesting ground: the history of this world, its magic, Learoyd’s past, their enemies, and what they might need to do next. I think this may be my favorite issue so far.

Recommended.

Pre-Raphaelites at the Delaware Art Museum

Images from the Delaware Art Museum collection.

The Pre-Raphaelite collection at the museum is the best I’ve seen outside England, and has the largest number of paintings by Dante Gabriel Rosetti, one of the founders of the movement. The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, as they called themselves, flourished in the second half of England’s 19th Century into the early 20th Century, and their name comes from the idea that they wanted to look back to Medieval times for artistic inspiration, before the Renaissance artists epitomized by Raphael. They also drew inspiration from natural forms. A good example is this book cover design in pen and ink by William Morris, my favorite creator of the group. It’s the only piece they have by him, but it’s a gem because it shows Morris’s process in the notes on the right.

The design was printed in gold leaf on dark green leather, though the lighting did not allow a great photo. I should point out that the design was drawn at printed size. The book is also written by Morris, a man of many talents, as were a lot of the group.

This is an ornately framed painting on the Sleeping Beauty theme by Edward Burne-Jones, who often worked with Morris, and is another favorite of mine. I’ve trimmed out the frames on most of the art I’m showing, but I had to include this one.

Here’s a detail from that painting showing the technique which I think applies paint with a dry brush, giving the appearance of pastels rather than oils.

Burne-Jones and Morris worked on many stained-glass windows together and separately. This is one done by for a client in the U.S. with a Viking theme, unusual for them. I happen to think Burne-Jones’ painting on glass is even better than on canvas.

Here’s a closer look at part of it.

This is one the the finest paintings I’ve seen by Dante Gabriel Rosetti, of “Mary Magdalene.” The Pre-Raphaelites favored young women with red hair, full lips and large eyes like this one.

Another Rosetti painting titled “Veronica Veronese.”

And a third by Rosetti titled “Water Willows.” The model is Jane Morris, William’s wife, and in the background is Kelmscott Manor, Morris’s home for many years, and a center for the group of artists. It’s open to tour occasionally,  and well worth a visit.

The special exhibit at the museum was the work of a female member of the Pre-Raphaelite group, Maria Spartali Stillman, whose work I’d never seen. Unfortunately that exhibition is now over, and it didn’t allow photos, but here’s an image from the museum’s website, one of the paintings we saw. I enjoyed seeing the work, and there was a lot of it. Maria was a close friend of Jane Morris, and there were a number of paintings from the grounds of Kelmscott Manor.

There was other interesting art to see, like these huge glass sculptures around the  entrance. We’ll have to go back some time and see the rest. I find I can only look at art for about two hours now before my eyes and my brain are full and I have to do something else!