Todd Klein's Blog, page 305

San Diego Comic-Con 2012 Saturday

Photos © Todd Klein.

Another fun day at the con yesterday, and even less time to describe it, as I have a breakfast meeting in half an hour!

Attended a fun panel about working in comics in the 1970s with Mark Evanier, Steve Skeates, Steve Englehart, Trevor Von Eeden, Elliot Maggin and Marv Wolfman. The capper was an anecdote by Skeates in which he managed to sell the same story plot nine times!

Had a great time talking to Neal Adams about former DC lettering staffer Ira Schnapp, who Neal knew well. That will appear in my blog when I can get to it.

My favorite costume of the day.

Signing at the DC booth with the creative team from FABLES, shown are Steve Leialoha, Mark Buckingham and Andrew Pepoy.

Found Dave Gibbons talking to Mike Mignola.

We had a catch-up talk, and I also introduced him to Scott Hampton. I’ve worked with both since the late 1970s, and they just worked together on a ROCKETEER story, but hadn’t met.

A busy signing for Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodriguez of the wonderful series LOCKE & KEY.

Artist J.H. Williams III with editor Karen Berger.

J.H. signs at the DC booth, his wife Wendy just behind him.

Writer/publisher Richard Starkings with a con sketch of his own of an ELEPHANTMEN character.

Writer Len Wen, always good to see one of my favorite writers and editors from my time on staff at DC.

Another original logo on cover art seen here. I’m thinking about buying this one today.

Finally, my yearly pics of the audience at the FABLES panel. Thanks for coming, everyone!

Afterwards a fun dinner with the “Fables and Friends” group that now needs two long tables at the restaurant, and I didn’t even get to meet everyone.

More tomorrow or perhaps later today.

San Diego Comic-Con 2012 Friday

Even more photos today, so even shorter comments! The Exhibition Hall runs from letter A on the west end to letter H on the east end. This morning I walked the aisles of halls A and B and took some photos of what’s for sale there. T-shirts, for instance…

…toys, lots and lots of toys…

…here’s a gentleman selling wooden mustaches, which fits in with the growing steampunk craze…

…hats also fit in with that theme…

…posters and prints…

…jewelry…

…animation art, like these unicorns from Disney’s “Fantasia”…

…Chinese clothing…

…more hats…

…and, of course, comics in collected book form…

…as well as single issues. These are new or collectible singles, back issues are also here in countless boxfulls.

There are also original comics art dealers, where I grabbed a few more logo photos.

Some of the folks I enjoyed talking to in my wanderings: IDW editor Scott Dunbier and designer/author Chip Kidd.

Mark Evanier, who informed me he had saved my life Thursday by nearly but not quite running me down with his car outside the Hyatt. I was blissfully ignorant of the entire incident! We agreed that he’s now responsible for my life, since he saved it.

One more pic from that movie prop auction: a Christopher Reeve Superman costume, and a piece of prop Kryptonite.

Here’s writer/artist of funny comics like SNARKED, Roger Langridge.

Over in Artist Alley I had a nice chat and sit-down at Zander Cannon’s table.

Writer/artist Howard Chaykin was there in support of a new Buck Rogers series he’s working on.

Artist Tom Yeates working on a sketch at his table.

For lunch I walked up into the Gaslight District for a panini and salad. As you can see, promotions are everywhere.

Back at the con I did more walking and talking. I had planned on taking in a few afternoon programs, but around 3 PM I realized I was totally zombified and exhausted, so headed back to my room for a nap instead. Later I returned to the con via the shuttle bus. Easy on the feet, but very slow through the traffic. the sidewalk outside the show was jam-packed, too. I made it to the Eisner Awards at the Indigo Ballroom around 7:15 PM eventually, where I’d been invited to sit at one of the Vertigo tables with Shelly Bond and others. There was a pretty good buffet beforehand. Here are photos from the Eisners.

The first award was for lettering. I wasn’t nominated this year, and was happy to see it go to Stan Sakai. He name-checked me in his acceptance speech, which was a nice surprise.

Here are writer/artist Darwyn Cooke and Scott Dunbier, each award winners.

Presenters Kayre and Bill Morrison. Kayre also hands out all the awards to recipients.

Undergound comix writer/artist Gilbert Shelton was added to the Hall of  Fame.

Dark Horse publisher and editor Mike Richardson, winner for best anthology.

Famed SF author George R.R. Martin was a presenter.

Laura and Michael Allred were presenters, Laura also won for Best Colorist, while Michael was nominated twice but didn’t win.

Tom Spurgeon won for Best Comics Journalism. I enjoy his site, The Comics Reporter.

Writer Mark Waid won several of the big awards, including Best Writer, and seemed genuinely flabbergasted and pleased.

Rick Hoberg was a presenter, an artist I haven’t seen in many years.

The final presenter, and I think the best, was British talk-show host Jonathan Ross. He was hilarious, as always. The awards went smoothly, and wrapped up in just over two hours, record time. I heard less complaining about the long night, and everyone seemed to have a good time, though I wish some of the other creators I work with had won. But in all I felt all the awards went to deserving creators.

More tomorrow!

San Diego Comic-Con 2012 Thursday

Photos © Todd Klein except as noted.

Lots of pictures today and not a lot of time for comments, so they’ll be shorter. Entering the con Thursday morning, lots busier, lines to get badges, but I had mine, so I avoided that.

Writer Marv Wolfman, once again with a beard, and not too happy this morning. The DC booth had on display a costume and mask for Deathstroke, from the upcoming Green Arrow TV show. It’s a character Marv co-created, and no one had even told him he’d be used in the show.

Batgirl and Harley Quinn, two of the more appealing costumes walking the halls.

Mark Buckingham (“Bucky”) doing a lovely watercolor sketch at the Hero Initiative booth, raising funds for that charity that helps elderly and ailing comics creators.

Marvel’s big display this year is seven life-size Iron Man suits in support of the next film.

Assuming they’re chronological (I think so) the two oldest suits, the left one very Jack Kirby…

…and the most recent versions.

Artist Eddie Campbell at the Top Shelf booth, not only selling a new book, but showing me a great piece of art that will figure large in fan interest by year’s end. I can say no more.

Took more logo pics, this being the most interesting to me. It’s original logo art on a cover by Otto Mesmer.

Artist Gary Gianni talking to a fan. “I have two more Prince Valiant Sundays for you to letter,” he told me. That means he sold them, and the buyer wants to pay my additional fee to hand-letter the captions onto the art. Normally they’re done on a computer, printed out, and taped in place.

This is the only movie promo display I’ve yet seen that interests me. Fine character portraits in lenticular 3D on show, and some behind-the-scenes film clips.

I enjoyed catching up with artist Trevor Von Eeden, who I worked with on the comic THRILLER many years ago.

Here’s writer, film producer and Batman fan Michael Uslan and his wife…

…chatting with another one-time DC staffer, colorist and now publisher Anthony Tollin, showing off one of the Shadow pulps he puts out. The cover art on this one has a painstakingly restored painting that now shows a large area of the art once covered by an ugly type-filled box on the original pulp magazine.

Had lunch outside on a cloudy but still very pleasant day.

Gulls were standing by for any food dropped.

And for entertainment just around the corner, knights in home-made armor where whacking each other with swords.

After lunch I attended several panels. Lines were long for all the panels today. First I caught one about Tarzan and John Carter of Mars. In addition to artists, the one-time Tarzan actor Ron Ely was there, and told some great stories about filming in South America and Mexico. Didn’t get any good pictures there, though.

Then a Spotlight Panel featuring writer Mike Carey. I’ve worked with him a lot over the years, currently lettering his THE UNWRITTEN. Shelly Bond did an entertaining interview and overview of Mike’s career, and he received an Inkpot Award from the Con.

Lastly, the Vertigo panel hosted by Vertigo head Karen Berger, and featuring lots of artists and writers. Here are Dan Abnett, Bill Willingham, Scott Snyder and Scott Nguyen. All current and upcoming Vertigo projects were shown in projected slides and discussed. But the biggest news came at the end.

Image © DC Comics, Inc.

Writer Neil Gaiman, in a video clip, announced he’ll be writing a new 6-issue SANDMAN series detailing what happened right before the beginning of the original 75-issue run. Art will be by J.H. Williams III, promo sample above. And here’s a scoop: everyone from the DC slide show runner to USA Today has the art at the wrong angle, here it is shown correctly, as confirmed by my pal J.H. I’ll be lettering the series, and am looking forward to it. First issue won’t be out for at least a year. The crowd went wild. Neil texted Karen, “It went huge.”

One more pic from the Exhibit Hall, this is the one and only copy of the world’s largest graphic novel. A smaller and more useful sized one is for sale, but the publisher told me they did actually get a few orders for this ridiculously large version.

After regrouping and changing at my hotel, I walked over to the Hyatt to meet Karen Berger, J.H. Williams III and his wife for dinner. Karen had invited us to celebrate the SANDMAN announcement, and we had a fine meal and lots of great conversation. On the way I spotted Cinderella’s carriage…

…and found out what Supergirl is doing at the con: pedalling a bike taxi. Bet she has plenty of customers. More tomorrow!

 

 

San Diego Comic-Con 2012 Wednesday

Photos © Todd Klein.

This year I decided to travel to the largest U.S. comics and media con of the year on Wednesday rather than Thursday, and the travel went smoothly. At around 5 PM San Diego time I was on the approach to the convention center. This corner, which is often mobbed on the regular con days of Thursday to Sunday was still relatively quiet on Wednesday, when the con is only open in the evening for Preview Night.

It’s also when many con-goers pick up their entrance badges, and there was quite a long line for Pro badges as well as regular ones. I’m not sure how many professional badges the con gives out these days, but it must be thousands. I was hungry, so before getting in line, I walked across Harbor Blvd and up Fifth Avenue to a Japanese restaurant for some sushi.

Along the way I noticed a growing trend. In addition to many restaurants and typical touristy shops there are some comics/animation ones. This Chuck Jones gallery was there last year…

…and it was joined this year by this Archie-themed makeup store, and another called “Bettie Page” featuring clothing in 1950s styles, among other things.

Back at the con, I got in the pro line, which despite being long, moved quickly.

Along the way I was asked for a photo ID and my online registration form. I was given the green check of approval.

Inside my form was scanned, and my badge printed instantly by this helpful person, one of many doing the same job, keeping things moving right along. The process was handled well, and actually more quickly than in past years. I picked up my program schedule and headed into the exhibit hall.

The con floor was already quite busy and crowded, in fact jammed with folks in a few places I had to skirt around. Interesting, considering only those with full-con badges were allowed in to Preview Night.

As often happens, nearly the first person I know that I met here was Danish comics fan and friend Henrik Andreasen. We met at the con in 1993, and have renewed our acquaintance here every year since. Henrik has some things for me to sign, and I’ll do that today.

I made my way to the DC Comics booth, where I had the first of probably many chats with editor Shelly Bond, and said a few words to the FABLES creators, who were there signing. I also enjoyed an exhibit of some painted MAD covers, including this one by Alex Ross…

…and this by Dave Gibbons. I haven’t read MAD in a very long time, but these covers are great.

Wandering further, I ran into another old friend, artist Don Rosa, who was buying some old TV-related comics like these featuring Gerald McBoing Boing. Don and I had a good talk. I thought he, like me, had given up collecting old comics, but it’s not so. He still loves searching out obscure titles like these and adding to his collection.

One booth (not Mile High, as it might seem here) has a fabulous collection of large and small movie props that are up for auction. Here’s a model of The Nautilus from Disney’s “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea” along with an Edward Scissorhands costume, and part of the motorcycle from “Ghost Rider.”

My favorite piece is this Marlon Brando Jor-El costume from the first Superman movie. In normal light it’s a dull gray, but being covered with reflective material, when shot with a flash, as here, it glows just like in the film! Very cool. I might take more pictures in this booth later.

I stopped at the booth of an original art dealer and was allowed to photograph a few old covers with logos I need for my “Logo of the Day” feature on Facebook. Not ideal lighting conditions, but I think I can still use them.

Preview Night ran to 9 PM, but by 8 I was ready to leave, it being 11 PM my time, and I’d been up since 5 AM. I managed to get a good night’s sleep last night, not always easy here, in a fine hotel room overlooking the bay. Now that I’ve written this up, I’ll finish going through the program schedule to see what I might do today, then I’ll head back to the con for today’s adventures. More tomorrow.

And Then I Read: WALT KELLY

Images © OGPI.

I’ve been waiting a long time for this book, a handsome oversized hardcover about one of my favorite artists. At 238 pages, there’s lots to enjoy. It’s not a biography, it’s a series of essays about Kelly and his work, each focusing on different aspects and time periods from school days to early work for Disney to comic books to the Pogo newspaper strip, which made him famous. Some of the articles I enjoyed more than others. The ones about his Disney years, especially an interview with longtime Disney animator and Kelly friend Ward Kimball were great, I knew almost nothing about that period. Some of the Pogo essays, particularly the one about the politics of the strip, are not particularly well done, more a laundry list of politician appearances, and other essays are much less fun to read than the strip itself.

Where the book really excels is in the many reproductions of Kelly’s original art, often quite large. Big enough to see the smallest details in some cases, and revealing more of the man’s genius with every brush stroke and pencil line. (Much of the Pogo work was drawn in blue pencil, so you can see the drawing as well as the final ink lines.) Many examples of printed work are also included, quite of few of which I hadn’t seen. Hermes Press has done an excellent job with the photos/scans and the printing and production values on the book are excellent.

Here’s a sample page with a great panel of original art from the Pogo Prehysteria storyline, one of the best and most unusual in the strip’s history.

I highly recommend this book to Kelly fans, and fans of great comics art in general. I think there’s still room for a more thorough Kelly life story, but this volume will do fine in the meantime.

And Then I Read: THE FLASH 9

Images © DC Comics, Inc.

As you can see above, this issue is all about Grodd, a new version of the intelligent gorilla that has been a major foe of Barry Allen in the past, and a popular one with me. Sadly, this Grodd is not one I like so much. The thing that always appealed to me about Grodd was that he was smarter than The Flash most of the time. This Grodd seems to think with his muscles, and believes he can gain knowledge by eating his father’s brain. While some semblance of Gorilla civilization survives in this version, it’s a much more primitive one than previously. Also more African in feel, which is not a bad thing, but I miss the futuristic look of Infantino’s Gorilla City. So, in essence this confrontation is more like something out of Tarzan than the usual Flash fare. Meanwhile, Barry Allen’s friends are stuck inside the Speed Force, somehow drawn in when he came out, and back in Central City, things are getting crazy again, with no Flash in sight to help.

The art by Francis Manapul continues to be excellent, and I also have to commend him on his creative title layouts, very impressive and appealing. This time they encompass the panels of the first three pages, with the story going on inside giant letters on 2 and 3, really nice work.

Because of the art, this remains a recommended issue, despite some disappointment with the storyline.

Watching BRAVE

Image © Disney.

Though the Disney name comes first on the credits, there are many elements of this film that signal Pixar beyond the animation style. Yes, it’s another story about a princess, but beyond that it often diverges from the Disney model. Like other recent Disney heroines, Merida is feisty and talented, and in conflict with her parents over romance and her place in the world of Celtic/Gaelic Scotland. Merida’s talent happens to be archery, and she lives for the rare days when she can escape castle life and ride her giant horse through the forest shooting at targets and enjoying nature. Her parents, especially her mother, have other ideas: they’ve invited the three other clans they’re allied with to present candidates for Merida’s hand in marriage. When the clans and candidates show up, it’s clear there’s no Prince Charming among them, and Merida bests them all in a test of bowmanship, then flees into the forest to escape the whole idea of suitors and marriage.

All that can be seen in the film’s trailers, so I don’t think I’m giving anything away. What happens next is surprising, and not very Disneyish. One of the things I liked best about this film was that it did keep me guessing as to what would happen next, and when Merida gets herself and her family into deep trouble, I had no idea until near the end how they would get out of it.

Another thing that I liked was the music for the film, the original orchestral score by Patrick Doyle, and several songs NOT sung by the characters. I’m uncertain if he wrote those as well, but I saw no other song credits, so I’m guessing he did. Yes, there’s a bit of singing by the mother, but it’s not Disney Musical singing.

There are animals in the film, but they don’t talk, with one brief, humorous exception. Actually, some of the human characters have little or nothing to say as well, including Merida’s three young brothers, though they’re quite entertaining anyway. Merida and her parents have a lot to say, and that keeps the story grounded in family, another thing I liked.

The animation is terrific, as you might expect. I saw it in 2D, by the way, and don’t feel I missed anything. It takes time to establish setting and atmosphere, and though there are some frenetic parts, in general it does not feel as crammed with movement as some other recent films I’ve seen. It has atmosphere.

The film is often quite funny, but the characters all take themselves seriously, as they should, allowing the humor to flow from events, characters, and dialogue rather than jokes, mugging and buffoonery, though there is a helping of visual pratfall and prank humor, mainly from the three brothers..

In all, I loved the film, can’t think of a thing I didn’t like, really. Well done, all, and warm smiles for all the female members of the crew, from writer/co-director Brenda Chapman right through the effects and digital artists.

Highly recommended.

And Then I Read: BATMAN, DEATH BY DESIGN

Images © DC Comics, Inc.

There has always been something architectural about Batman for me, from Wayne Manor to The Batcave to Gotham City itself. Writer Chip Kidd uncovers that connection perfectly in this original graphic novel, combining his own love of the character with his proven interest in design. The Batman we see here is an early one, and though the time period is left vague, it has a strong 1940s film noir feel, while including more modern touches. At the heart of the story is an abandoned and crumbling train station in the spirit of New York’s Grand Central, once the design jewel of the city, now slated for demolition despite a strong protest movement led by Cyndia Roomhaus, a young and beautiful socialite. Several architects are involved; the one who designed the old station, now long missing, his son trying to preserve his father’s legacy and honor, and a new architect hired by Bruce Wayne to design a cutting-edge station to replace the old one. At least one of those men is out to create havoc in Gotham City, and The Joker also turns up to add to the chaos. As the plot unfolds, Bruce/Batman finds many layers and connections in the lives of these men and woman, some tied to his own life in unexpected ways. And just in case you might think this is too cerebral a story, there are plenty of thrilling moments and a few massive explosions as well!

The art by Dave Taylor is remarkably good and fitting for the story. He uses a variety of techniques, but mostly with textured and shaded pencils that add lots of atmosphere. There are touches of color on many pages, but black, white and shades of gray dominate his pallette. The amount of work evident in every page and panel is impressive, and the design work by Dave is not only up to the requirements of the story, it blows right past them. This is remarkably fine work!

Highly recommended.

And Then I Read: WORLD’S FINEST 2

Images © DC Comics, Inc.

Is it possible to enjoy a comic as you would an action movie, not paying a lot of attention to the plot? For me it is if it’s drawn by George Perez. The two heroine partners of this book spend much of it battling a glowing, perhaps radioactive guy in a metal power suit (or is it a robot?). George does this sort of thing better than anyone, and I love the ride he takes me on. There’s a flashback interlude drawn by Kevin Maguire that’s quite good, too. These two characters are from another reality, and still somewhat in the dark themselves about how they got here, so I don’t feel too bad that I’m not following the Earth 2 storyline where more things might be revealed. Writer Paul Levitz is keeping me entertained enough on a script level that I can gloss over some details and still have a fine time.

A page of wonderful action by George Perez.

Recommended.

100 Logos and Counting…

Image © DC Comics, Inc.

Over on Facebook, specifically my “Todd Klein, artist” page (link in the left column of this page) my feature “Logo of the Day” reaches 100 today with this logo, perhaps the one that could be said to have started it all as far as superhero comics go. One of several versions designed by Superman co-creator Joe Shuster, this is the first one to be seen on a published cover, SUPERMAN #1, Summer, 1939.

If you’re a logo fan and not yet following my Facebook page…why not? Incidentally, I’ll be starting a new album tomorrow for logos #101-200.