Todd Klein's Blog, page 215

And Then I Read: SUPERMAN 41

Image © DC Comics.

Gene Luen Yang takes over for Geoff Johns as writer this issue, and as I was enjoying Johns’ run, I thought I’d give it a try. I liked it.

Superman is still trying to figure out his new power, which is a burst of nova-like energy he has a hard time controlling, and that leaves his powers drained for a while. Clark Kent, meanwhile, is receiving texts from a mystery person who seems to know far too much about him. How Clark attempts to deal with that is a large part of this issue, along with the news story that he, Jimmy and Lois are all working on about high-tech weapons in the wrong hands, and how they got there.

The writing seems fine, I’m intrigued to see where the story goes, and I’m still enjoying John Romita Jr. and Klaus Janson’s art.

Recommended.

Family Visits

On Thursday afternoon my brother Russ and his sons Nathan and Jayden arrived at our house with my mom for an overnight visit. They live in California, and we don’t see them often, so it was great having them. Thursday afternoon we had a fine time at the beach, and Friday morning we went to the Cape May Point State Park where we walked on one of the trails…

…and climbed the 200 or so steps inside the Cape May Lighthouse to see the views from the top. At least, all of us including Ellen, but not my mom, who wisely chose to sit comfortably in the shade below. We had a fine visit, then Friday afternoon Russ and the gang drove back to Mom’s place in north-central New Jersey.

On Saturday morning Ellen and I drove to my other brother Doug’s home in northeastern New Jersey where the whole family met to spend more time together, and on Saturday evening, had a fine dinner out to celebrate my mom’s 90th birthday. The restaurant is in a former bank, with the large vault in the background. Here are Ellen, Doug, his wife Lena, and Mom’s grandsons Dylan, Jayden, Nathan and Charlie, Russ and Mom. Great meal.

On Sunday morning many of us drove to Yogi Berra Stadium at Monclair State College to see an exhibition baseball game in which Charlie Klein, Doug and Lena’s son, was playing. It was a fun experience. It’s a minor league stadium, and very professional looking. Charlie played a number of positions, including catcher, center field and short-stop, as seen here. He’s quite a good player for his age, 11, and this is a town team. He also plays on other teams.

Charlie hit two singles and a double in four at-bats, and drove in three runs. Here’s one of his hits, note the ball at upper right.

Charlie looking alert on second base.

And scoring a run. The team did great, winning 10 to 3. They play on a field about 3/4 the pro size, as far as base positions, and six innings, or two hours whichever comes first. There were some special rules at this exhibition game, but it was all very enjoyable to watch.

Here are some Klein men and boys at the game: Nathan, Charlie, Doug, Jayden, Russ and myself. We’re proud of Charlie, and of our family, especially our mom, who is still going strong.

And Then I Read: MISTER MAX, THE BOOK OF LOST THINGS by Cynthia Voigt

Cover art by Iacopo Bruno

Max Starling is the son of William and Mary Starling, owners of the Starling Theater where their popular theater company performs in the Old City part of Queensbridge. One day an extraordinary offer appears by mail, accompanied by lavish gifts. The offer is to perform exclusively, and at excellent pay, in a distant country. The Starlings have a fine life, but William and Mary find the adventure tempting, and agree. Max is told he will go with them, but on the day they are to leave by steamship, Max arrives at the harbor to find his parents have disappeared, leaving only a cryptic note. Max’s only remaining family is his grandmother, who fortunately lives in the house next to his, and Max concocts a plan to continue living at home in secret. The theater is closed, and all Max’s friends believe he’s gone with his parents, except for Max’s art teacher.

Meanwhile, Max and his grandmother begin investigating the disappearance of Max’s parents, and Max finds other opportunities coming his way to be a sort of private detective. He discovers he’s pretty good at it (except for the case of his parents), and with the help of a few new friends, Max becomes what he calls a “solutioneer,” a solver of problems and finder of lost things. This gives him enough income to survive, and the hope that he will eventually be able to find out what happened to his parents.

This book is charming and well written, the characters are believable and entertaining. The setting is sort of English Victorian, but kept vague, and the town of Queensbridge is nicely mapped so we can follow Max’s exploits from one end of it to the other, and beyond. Max’s new “assistant” Pia is a very talkative girl who can be quite annoying, but also resourceful and helpful. Max’s cases run from small ones like a lost dog to large ones like an extremely valuable silver serving spoon carved by a master silversmith. Hovering over Max at all times is the danger of being discovered as a parentless child living alone in his home, not going to school, and not under the care of anyone official. That makes the many disguises Max has borrowed from his parents’ theater props all the more important.

Great fun, and the first of a trilogy. I’ve already read the second book, and am looking forward to the third, which is out this fall. Cynthia Voigt has had a long career as a writer of children’s novels, and a Newbery award for her book “Dicey’s Song.” This series is lighter than some of her other books, but even more to my liking.

Recommended.

And Then I Read: COMIC BOOK PEOPLE 2 by Jackie Estrada

Image © Jackie Estrada.

I supported this handsome 9 by 12 inch hardcover on Kickstarter, and was able to pick up my advance copy at the San Diego Con from Jackie. It’s just as terrific as her first book covering the 1970s and 1980s. I’ve been in comics for a long time and met tons of the people in it, but there are plenty of folks in both books I’ve never met or seen in person. Jackie was lucky enough to be at the right place and time, and with good camera equipment and skills, and she was also savvy enough to believe pictures of the creators and other comics industry individuals would be a valuable resource. These books prove her right. I can tell you from my own comics history research how difficult it can be to find good pictures of people in our field and related businesses, especially ones from before 2000 when the internet was not such a ready resource. Just recently I sent someone who needed a photo of a golden age comics editor but couldn’t find one to Jackie, and she had just what he needed. Most of the photos are in black and white, but there’s a nice color section too. And hey, even I’m in here, so what’s not to like?

Highly recommended.

Delirium Speaks

Images © DC Comics.

When I lettered the original run of THE SANDMAN, it was all hand lettered except for a few bits in the last few issues. Where we had time, it was often lettered on the pencilled art. Where we didn’t it was lettered on vellum overlays. Each of Sandman’s siblings had a unique style, suggested by Neil Gaiman and realized by me. The most unusual was the style used for Delirium. Our idea was to make it seem unfocused and constantly varying in pitch and loudness, which I accomplished by making the lettering continually larger and smaller, and in wavy lines, as you see above. This was fun in small amounts. On the “Brief Lives” storyline it got to be less fun, as there was a lot of it, and it did take longer than regular lettering, but I got through it okay.

As the years went by, I was only asked to use this style once since computer lettering became the required norm at DC, and that was on THE SANDMAN: ENDLESS NIGHTS, the hardcover anthology Neil wrote about ten years after the series ended. For that book I developed fonts from my own hand lettering for all the regular Sandman characters used, with the exception of Delirium. There’s no possible way to imitate what I did for her lettering on the computer, except possibly using a stylus and tablet, which I haven’t tried, but I don’t think I could make that work either. Certainly no font could possibly be as random as what I did by hand. As it turned out, there were only three balloons needed in the classic Delirium style in ENDLESS NIGHTS, and I hand lettered those, then scanned them and through a series of time-consuming steps, brought them into my computer-lettered file.

So, I’m lettering the new THE SANDMAN: OVERTURE series, and wondering if Delirium is going to show up. I get to issue 6 pages 8-11, and there she is, so I followed my previous plan for her lettering. There were 14 Delirium balloons on those pages, and the following process was used for each of them.

When I work with artist J.H. Williams III, he gives me balloon placements on a copy of his art file, at printed size. When I lettered comics by hand, the art was usually about 150% of printed size, but in this case I thought I should work a little larger to give my out-of-practice lettering skills a better chance, so I made 200% copies of Jim’s placements for Delirium’s balloons, and hand lettered over them on vellum using the same Castell TG-1 technical drawing pens I used on the original series.

Next I scanned those vellums (each was about 8.5 by 11 inches), and combined all the lettering into one image for convenience. On the sample above, you can probably see some areas that came out a little too light, and a slight smear on the final period. There are lots of other small imperfections that are harder to see.

On this image I’ve adjusted the brightness and contrast, and then made digital touch-ups in Photoshop using the brush tool to add blacks and the eraser tool to remove unwanted dirt and blobs and rough edges. This was the most time-consuming part of the process, and I probably overdid it. One of the dangers of Photoshop is that you can zoom in real close and see mistakes that are practically invisible on the actual lettering, but if I see them, I HAVE to fix them.

My goal was not to end up with perfect letters, just to make everything look clean and readable. Once I’d done that, I converted the color scan to grayscale and then to bitmap so that there is only 100% black and 100% white on the image. Then it goes back to grayscale for the next step.

And that is to place the image in a new file in Adobe Illustrator and auto-trace it, allowing the computer to virtually draw an outline along the edges of all the black shapes. The auto-trace is not perfect, if you look closely you’ll see some small variations from the image before, but it’s close enough. So, there’s now a vector file (rather than the Photoshop bitmap file) of black and white shapes. Next I ungrouped everything, then selected all the white shapes and deleted them. Then I regrouped just the black shapes in each balloon, the letters and border, so what you see here is one group.

I’d be nearly done except that Delirium’s balloons also need those radial gradient color fills, and that’s part of the lettering job now, too. So, I put a new layer BELOW the black shapes, locked the upper layer with the black shapes on it, and using the Illustrator pen tool, drew a light green color shape below the balloon. This is similar to the masking process used by many colorists in Photoshop, but it takes longer in Illustrator.

The next step was to create the color gradients and drop them into the green shape, as above, trying to get something similar to what the colorists on the original series had done. Something different for each balloon, of course.

When that was finished, I copied and pasted each balloon into the correct spot in my lettering document for each page, having to reduce them about 50% to fit the original art size, which is what I work at. Minor adjustments and changes were need there, I’d misjudged some of the tail positions, and so on.

So, start to finish, about six hours to letter and place 14 balloons. The rest of the lettering for those four pages was far from standard, and took about another two hours, but all using fonts, so a much simpler process. I don’t know if Delirium will show up again in this final issue of THE SANDMAN: OVERTURE. (I don’t like to read ahead.) If she does, I’ll be doing more of this, but I kind of think she won’t be back. At one time Neil talked about doing a Delirium mini-series, and she is a wonderful character, but I really hope that never happens! I couldn’t possible make a living wage lettering it.

And Then I Read: STORMS AT SEA by Mark Schultz

Image © Mark Schultz

This is not a comic, it’s a novella with full-page illustrations similar to the one on the cover on every left-hand page, and text on the others. Mark Schultz excels at both writing and art, and this 80-page 11 by 9 inch hardcover is a fine example of that. I just got it at the San Diego Con, and enjoyed reading it a great deal.

The feel is pulp and noir, with elements of science fiction and monster films like “King Kong” and “The Lost World.” The setting is a near future when energy stores are depleted, and our civilization is failing. Ex-scientist and tough guy Griff is summoned to the laboratory of Arthel Vermund by his daughter Asha, and is soon hearing an almost unbelievable story about who Arthel and Asha really are, and the secret new energy source Arthel was working on. Asha is sure Arthel’s death was no accident, and the story reveals why — a powerful, hidden group of puppet masters for the entire human race called the First Order don’t want Arthel’s discoveries to become known. They’re based on an energy source from a mysterious South Seas island called Pushkara, where the First Order are based, an island with all sorts of monstrous creatures as well as the energy source, itself of biological origin. As Arthel’s body lies on his laboratory floor, Asha reads his notes to Griff, and is herself amazed by parts of them even she didn’t know. Meanwhile, tension builds as we wait for someone else to discover what’s happened, or perhaps to come and finish the job.

This book reads like an introduction to a series, with most of the content a history and explanation of the First Order, and action coming just at the end. Despite that, I was thoroughly drawn into the world Mark Schultz has created, and found both the story and the art very entertaining and satisfying. Hope he gets the chance to do more.

Recommended

And Then I Read: THE AUTUMNLANDS 6

Image © Kurt Busiek and Benjamin Dewey

Over the last few issues of this title we’ve seen the wizards and residents of the fallen city beset by many squabbles within their own ranks, but the man they’ve pulled from the distant past to be their champion knows the real threats are from outside: the army of bison-men led by Seven-Scars in the forefront, and others waiting to see if they have a chance for plunder. The Champion, Learoyd, has been carefully crafting his plans surrounding a parley with Seven-Scars. Or will it be a duel to the death? Writer Kurt Busiek knows how to build suspense, and how to deliver the action. Artist Benjamin Dewey is equally skilled at the quiet character moments and the heat of battle. The characters in this book are anthropomorphized animals, but at heart this is a human story where heroism and smart thinking can save the day, or lose it, depending on how things go. There are twists and turns galore. This issue ends the story arc, but not the series, and I’m looking forward to more.

Highly recommended

And Then I Read: LITTLE NEMO RETURN TO SLUMBERLAND 4

Image © Eric Shanower, Gabriel Rodriguez and IDW

The final issue of this storyline (and the last for now) is just as visually stunning as the others, with excellent art by Rodriguez and bright, rich colors by  Nelson Daniel. The storyline takes some entertaining twists, like having the lead characters slide into an underground kingdom, and later fall into a lake made of black ink. It all comes back to the palace and the decision of the new Nemo: will he stay in Slumberland as a companion of the princess? The story is light-weight, but the same can be said of the original Winsor McCay strip, and Shanower does a good job with it. I found issue 3 of the series the best and most creative visually, but all are good, and Eisner voters agree, as it won for Best Limited Series.

Recommended

SDCC 2015 Sunday

A bit deceiving that title, as I’m beginning with Saturday evening. After a good rest at my hotel I decided to get out and explore the other side of the train and trolley tracks. Here I’m waiting at the busy corner near my hotel to cross wide Harbor Drive.

There’s a walking path and a fairly narrow strip of park over there, and it’s lined with themed interactive exhibits, promoting various shows and movies. On this one you climb the tower and jump into a huge inflated bag. There were, of course, lines for the activities. There were also food and merchandise vendors, giving a street fair vibe, and restaurants with music blaring and path-side wine bars.

Looking back toward the convention center. I was getting hungry, and looked around for a place to eat, settling on the Japanese restaurant Nobu. I’d eaten there two years ago on DC’s tab for a company meal, and knew it was expensive, but I also knew all the cheaper places would be packed, and decided to splurge. The sushi was excellent, and as pricey as I expected. A glass of saké helped ease the pain.

After dinner I headed over the the Hyatt’s Ballroom D to see a documentary on the steampunk movement called “Vintage Tomorrows.” It had been recommended by Anina Bennett, she and Paul Guinan are in it, and were involved in the production. It’s an excellent documentary, which I enjoyed, and they also gave out copies of the book it’s based on, seen above, which I will read at some point. I’m not a fan of steampunk really, but I do like some of the themes and visuals of it, and this is a good exploration of the genre.

After that I headed back to my room for some photo editing and reading and called it a night. No partying this time.

As I left for the con Sunday morning, Shaun the Sheep was outside waiting for a ride. There are lots of cartoon characters I don’t know, but Ellen and I have been watching some of Shaun’s clay animation shorts recently, and enjoying them. Wearing costumes like this is a thankless task, hope this person was being paid well for it.

Over at the con I spent several hours exploring areas I hadn’t seen yet, or revisiting vendors for a second look. Here’s a gigantic painting with Star Wars elements in a Middle Eastern carpet style that was impressive, but I’m afraid I failed to get the name of the artist.

Want kimonos or other Asian costumes? Here they are.

How about weird contact lenses for your fantasy/horror film or to freak out your friends? This vendor has them.

I found this poster amusing, but again failed to get the artist’s name. I really should try harder to do that.

I had passed the booth of legendary Filipino artist Alex Niño several times, and his head was always down over his work, so I couldn’t get a better picture, but he’s still a remarkable artist, and has been for decades.

The traditional overhead view of a small part of the con floor from the windows on the mezzanine level, looking toward the DC Comics booth at upper right.

This year the DC booth was always crowded and congested as people gathered around the many comics-related TV show costumes on display in the center of the space. I walked through a few times, and saw a few folks I know, but it wasn’t as easy as in past years to find anyone.

I did have a good chat with Mike Carlin, a long-time work associate and friend of this blog. Mike is now involved with the animated shows put out by Warner Bros based on DC characters, and loves his job. Great to see him doing well.

Here’s something from the Heritage Auction booth that I loved seeing, one of Murphy Anderson’s most popular STRANGE ADVENTURES covers featuring the Atomic Knights aboard their giant dalmations. I particularly enjoyed seeing Ira Schnapp’s original cover lettering pasted on it. And that reminds me to mention that I had a chat with Arlen Schumer on Sunday, and we agreed to put aside past disagreements and keep in touch, in the joint appreciation and promotion of the work of Ira Schnapp, which we both love.

I was getting hungry again, and decided to go outside for another ramble, this time on the harbor side of the convention center. I emerged from the end near Hall H, the largest room in the con center, and one I’ve never been inside. It’s where all the movie and TV studios put on their presentations and previews, with cast member appearances, and people line up for days to see them. Not the way I’d want to spend my con, but to each his own.

There’s a larger park at this end of the convention center, and behind it, where lots more promotional displays and activities can be found, each with a line, of course. I stopped first at the frozen yogurt place in the Bayside Hilton, then went on to explore.

In the harbor itself, just beyond the Hilton, a Dole ship from Equador was unloading containers of what I’d guess are pineapples and/or bananas, which is probably one reason why the fruit here is so fresh and good.

Here’s a haunted house activity promoting the “American Horror Story” TV series.

And an entire carnival full of games and rides promoting the Adult Swim TV cartoon shows.

I was still hungry, so I strolled along the harbor promenade back toward the rear of the con center, past more activities.

As I neared the con center I spotted what looked like two food trucks in a corner I’d never explored, and next to what looked like an elevator to the mezzanine level. This looked promising!

Sure enough, it was Mexican and American food truck food, with hardly any line. How could I never have known about this? The owner, taking orders, told someone this was his regular spot all year.

I got a fish burrito, then took the elevator and found a good spot in the shade outside to enjoy it. Delicious! And better than most of the food on offer inside. Not expensive, either, as you’d expect. Something to remember.

Back inside the con, I ran into Andrew Carl, and congratulated him on the two Eisner wins for LITTLE NEMO: DREAM ANOTHER DREAM. He seems to be in happy shock about it.

Speaking of the Eisners, I was happy to be able to congratulate Stan Sakai on his third Eisner for best lettering. It couldn’t go to a nicer man, and one whose work is stellar.

In Artist’s Alley I enjoyed talking to Zander Cannon, who wanted to point out his Lucky Cat, and the KAIJUMAX series he’s currently working on. I’m looking forward to reading them.

I said hello to Bob Layton, who I haven’t seen since the 1980s.

I enjoyed chatting with color artist supreme Laura Martin and her husband Randy. Laura and I keep up with each other on Facebook.

And I finally had a chance to talk to Len Wein after a brief hello on Wednesday night. Len is looking good and feeling about 90% recovered from his heart surgery a few months back, he told me, and he’s looking forward to writing two new books for DC: METAL MEN and SWAMP THING, the latter with artist Kelley Jones. Len and Kelley’s two Swamp Thing issues for the CONVERGENCE crossover event were a big hit with many fans, including me, and I’ll enjoy reading both books.

It was about 3:30 PM, and I decided I was Comic-Conned out. I left the convention center for the final time and headed back to my room to work on this last con report. This evening I’ll have dinner with friends again, and head home tomorrow morning. Hopefully the traveling will go smoother than when getting here, and I’ll be back to work on Tuesday, while trying to readjust to New Jersey time. I have SANDMAN OVERTURE pages waiting…

SDCC 2015 Saturday

Today I’m going to offer a more general tour of the Con center, mostly on the inside. From my hotel, the Marriott, there’s a direct walkway from the parking garage to the Hall A end of the very large convention center building, that’s how I get there every morning.

Here’s that entrance. When I started coming here in 1993 there were Halls A to C, I believe. Now it runs from A to H, and the entire building is about a half mile long at least. Lots of security here in the yellow vests.

Inside is the front hall or foyer running the length of the building, and usually less crowded than the main event halls inside, so when you need to get from one area to another, a good plan is to  come back out here and walk along to where you want to be. This is particularly helpful if you need to get around the film/TV/media/game area running from the beginning of Hall D to the beginning of Hall F. They’re usually the most crowded and sometimes impassable. All the comics stuff is either side of that, with Artist’s Alley and many other artists in F and G, and the comics companies in B and C. You can also get around the roadblocks by going upstairs.

Inside Hall A, and in all halls, are a wide range of vendors, with the largest concentration in Halls A and B, but plenty elsewhere. There are some groupings by type, but it’s pretty mixed. Here’s a vendor dealing in animation art.

Used, rare and specialty book dealers are in decline, sadly, there are only a few this year. One of the best is Bud Plant, I always enjoy looking at his offerings, but his space is smaller than it used to be. Still good to visit, but I didn’t find anything I had to have this year. I’ll probably look again.

Vendors can be very specialized, here’s a shop dealing only in “Dr. Who” merchandise. (The long-running BBC science-fantasy TV show.)

Here’s one dealing in all metal items, most looking quite heavy.

Some vendors specialize in comics and comics art, of course, and I love looking through their booths, especially at old comics art. From a vendor dealing in old comics-related items, here’s a membership certificate for in the first Superman fan club, and I know this is the original version from the early 1940s, maybe even late 1930s, because it uses one of the earliest Superman logos by Joe Shuster. Later versions used the revised logo by Ira Schnapp that first appeared on SUPERMAN #6 in 1940.

There are hundreds of exhibitors large and small. Here’s NASA, with a cool model of an upcoming launcher. Theirs is a small booth.

At the other extreme you have exhibitors/vendors like special effects and costume designers WETA with a massive booth and huge exhibits of their work for the upcoming film “Warcraft.”

Not something I’m likely to go see, but I admire the craftsmanship on these life-size suits of armor.

Up close, every detail is impressive.

Here’s another vendor dealing mainly in items relating to the horror writings of H.P. Lovecraft. When I discovered Lovecraft in the late 1960s, his work was largely unknown and nearly forgotten. Now he’s way more popular than Edgar Allan Poe, and perhaps nearly as well-known as Stephen King.

They had this Annotated Lovecraft book which I had thought about buying, but after looking through it, decided not to. First, it doesn’t have nearly all of the man’s work, just a selection. Second, it takes you out of the stories to read notes about them, so kind of kills the chills. I have other annotated editions I’ve enjoyed, but decided not to get this one.

Animation companies and TV channels usually have very large booths and exhibits. Here’s one for a show I hadn’t heard of, and wouldn’t be likely to watch, but the display is interesting.

If you have kids, they’d probably find a favorite toy or property to drain your wallet. Any “My Little Pony” fans out there? Here’s your Mecca.

Warner Bros’ booth had displays for the upcoming Supergirl TV show. I saw the promo for that, and it looks promising. These booths also have the actors and actresses in the shows doing signings, one reason this area is so crowded. Sometimes they give things away, too.

Interrupting the tour for a moment, I went over to the Bayside Hilton, near the Hall H end of the con center, for a planned lunch arranged by my DC editor Shelly Bond with the creators of the iZombie comics and the writer and executive producer of the show, Diane Ruggiero. Here are Allison Baker and her husband Chris Roberson (Chris wrote the comics), Laura and Michael Allred (colorist and artist of the comics), Diane Ruggiero and myself (I lettered the comics). Three DC staffers were also there, including Shelly Bond, but this was the group that was still present when I thought of getting a photo. Diane’s husband took the picture for me. It was a fine get-together that I enjoyed immensely. Oh, and that problem I had with the credits on the TV show? Diane promised to fix it. How cool is that?

Back in the con center, some exhibitors are groups of writers or artists. Steve Seagle, a writer I’ve worked with in the past, is in a writer’s group, “Men of Action,” and I enjoyed chatting with him. He works on the “Ben 10″ cartoon show currently, and occasionally on comics.

In Halls F and G are the largest sections of artists, with some in groups. The Fantasy Illustrators group is one I always enjoy, so much wonderful painting work to see. Not something I can afford to buy, but I love seeing them.

Sometimes you can even see them at work. Here’s artist Donato Giancola working on a painting of Daenerys Targaryen and one of her dragons from George R.R. Martin’s “Game of Thrones,” or in this case perhaps the TV version. Wonderful skill.

Daenerys was a popular costume this year, I saw at least a dozen of them. Here are three doing a selfie out back of the con center.

Costumes are everywhere and prevalent. I don’t take pictures of many because that’s what most Comicon articles and posts feature, but here’s a Penguin one I liked.

Many of the artists and writers I’ve shown in previous posts are in or near Artist’s Alley in Hall G. Here’s Eric Shanower, an artist and writer whose work I’ve enjoyed since the 1980s, with his Eisner Award for writing a new series about Winsor McCay’s turn of the last century newspaper strip creation LITTLE NEMO: RETURN TO SLUMBERLAND. Little Nemo is having a major resurgence these days, another project I worked on, the huge book LITTLE NEMO: DREAM ANOTHER DREAM also won Eisners for Best Anthology and Best Publication Design. I did the logo for that one, and some story lettering.

In the afternoon there was one panel I wanted to attend, so I went upstairs and walked through the Sails area to get to it, finding these THOR cosplayers on the way.

The program was a slide show and lecture by Arlen Schumer on the work of one of my favorite letterers and designers for DC Comics, Ira Schnapp, based on Arlen’s show about Schnapp currently at the Type Director’s Club in New York City. I haven’t seen the show in person, this was a good tour of it, as well as lots of information about Ira. I’ve researched Ira Schnapp myself, along with my research partner Alex Jay, and have published several articles about him on my blog. I admire Arlen for championing Ira’s work, and getting his little-known career out to a wider audience, even though I don’t think he has all the facts right. New research I’m currently  doing on Ira will lead to more articles from me in the future that may help clarify some of that, I hope. Arlen was entertaining, and as comics historian Carol Tilley said to me during the show, “I should get a cape like that for my lectures.”

Late afternoon I headed back to my hotel for a rest, taking another route, out the back of the convention center, down many steps to the harbor promenade, then along to my hotel that way. All the big hotels have these gigantic advertising installations on them, I can’t imagine how they do that, but I’m glad my hotel room window doesn’t have one over it, though it may be hard to see from inside.

I did a bit more later, but that’s all I have time to write about today, so I’ll include that in tomorrow’s post. Time to have breakfast and get back to the show!