Posts tagged: Jim Chadwick

Creating a Cover: Young Justice #12

Time to break down the creation of another cover! This time it’s Young Justice #12, the second part of a storyline featuring Clayface, for a story that tells the unique Young Justice continuity origin of the character.

Once again we had to developing the cover before a finished script was available. To be clear, this isn’t meant to imply that the scripts were late or anything. Rather it’s a function of how early the cover is needed for solicitation/promotional purposes. DC likes action covers whenever possible, and the confrontation between Clayface and The Team didn’t come until the end of the story. There was some earlier conflict between Clayface and Batman and Robin, but Batman and Robin had featured on the previous issue’s cover, so there was a real desire to show the Young Justice Team. So we fell into one of my pet peeves of comic covers – we essentially tease the issue’s cliffhanger ending on the cover. Oh, well. C’est la vie.

So the cover became less of a conceptual challenge and more of a compositional one. The mission: Design a cover featuring Superboy, Miss Martian, Robin, Kid Flash and Aqualad all fighting Clayface in a sewer location. First off, the sewer had to be big to allow for all this action. The second issue was how to occupy all five heroes in combat simultaneously against a single opponent. Thankfully Clayface is not only large, but is a shape-shifter, frequently seen growing extra limbs to perform various tasks. So I placed a large Clayface figure in my sewer tunnel, with a separate arm holding each of four of the team members, with Superboy punching Clayfaces’ body, showing the futility of such an attack by splashing harmlessly into Clayface’s torso. Since Miss Martian is also a shape-shifter who has also produced extra limbs in the TV show, I thought it would be fun to give her an extra arm while she grappled with her own Clayface appendage. I placed her in the foreground so the figure would be a little larger and the extra limb a little easier to see. I wanted to have the solid parts of Clayface emerging from an amorphous mass of clay in the bottom of the sewer, making it feel the heroes were surrounded by Clayface – that we was coming from everywhere!

Young Justice #12 - Cover Sketch

Young Justice #12 – Cover Sketch

The sketch was well-received overall. Greg was concerned that Clayface wasn’t imposing enough, and suggesting making his figure more central. Jim Chadwick and Mark Chiarello at DC liked the asymmetrical design, and it was suggested to make Clayface proportionally larger than the heroes. They also wanted Clayface to appear more “solid” as they were already concerned about the sewer setting making Clayface look like a poo-monster.

So there wasn’t much room to make the Clayface figure bigger, so I made the heroes proportionally smaller. Rather than having the arm grappling with Miss Martian emerging from the bottom of the sewer, I had it at winding around from Clayface’s side, and I ended up flipping her position to make her work better in this tweaked composition. I also turned Clayface’s head so he was less in profile, hoping it would make him a little more menacing-looking.

As I said, this cover largely teases the cliffhanger moment at the end of the issue, and when the scene picks up at the beginning of issue 13, the script called for an arrangement remarkably similar to the cover here, so I kind of got to draw the scene again from a slightly different angle.

Pencils and inks by me are seen below, plus color by Zac Atkinson.

 

Young Justice #12 - Cover Pencils

Young Justice #12 – Cover Pencils

Young Justice #12 - Cover Inks

Young Justice #12 – Cover Inks

Young Justice #12 - Cover Colors

Young Justice #12 – Cover Colors

And there you have it! So this probably would have been a better cover for issue #13, but we used it on #12. So what did we do for #13? Watch for the next Creating a Cover blog entry to find out! Check this issue of Young Justice out in digital form or at your local comic shop. Watch for a Commentary blog entry on this issue soon!

Back from Gallifrey

Chris & Dalek & Hal

At Gallifrey One 2012


Last month I had the pleasure of returning to the great Los Angeles Doctor Who convention Gallifrey One. I started to draft an extensive write up on the trip, but upon my return found myself so busy I haven’t been able to finish the blog entry – until now!

I traveled to the convention with the ever-lovely and photogenic Hal (she who is awesome and built this blog), who was making her first visit to Los Angeles. After checking into the convention hotel we made our way to Hollywood Boulevard to meet my friend Josh Elder for dinner. We arrived a little before Josh, so Hal and I spent some time exploring the Hollywood Boulevard tourist attractions, primarily Grauman’s Chinese Theater.

Hal at Graumans

Hal at Grauman's Chinese Theater

The forecourt in front of Grauman’s is of course home to its famous collection of celebrity signatures, handprints and footprints in the pavement. Hal is generally not big on seeing famous landmarks or other touristy stuff, but she was still pretty delighted to find the signature and handprints of William “The Thin Man” Powell and the ENTIRE CAST OF STAR TREK! The cast members all left hand prints in addition to their signatures. It should be noted that James Doohan used his right hand with the missing finger (good for him), and Leonard Nimoy placed his hand in the position of the Vulcan salute.

Star Trek Cast in Cement

Next to Grauman’s is the Hollywood location of Madam Tussaud’s Wax Museum. We didn’t buy tickets to go in, but coincidentally I noticed Morgan Freeman standing near the entrance. I went over to say hello and compliment his work on the Electric Company, but apparently he wasn’t interested in discussing that era of his career and wouldn’t even make eye contact with me. Maybe if I’d asked him to narrate a documentary of some kind…

Morgan and Me

Morgan and Me

After dinner with Josh, Hal and I headed back to our hotel where we eventually met up with Mike and Alicia with whom we were sharing a room for the weekend. The next morning the convention began, and the first tasks at hand were to pick up our badges and get my art entered into the Gallifrey One Art show.

Chris at the Gallifrey One Art Show

I feel obligated to mention that the various Doctor Who-related prints I had in the art show are available in my Etsy Store. If you don’t want to pay the shipping fees, look for me at my next convention appearance.

The rest of the weekend was largely a blur of panels, celebrity spotting and enjoying amazing cosplay (see below). I had a chance to reconnect with a few folks I don’t often see, and got to meet some great new people. One highlight was getting to witness what was unquestionably the highlight of Hal’s weekend: Meeting John DeLancie. John was at the convention because of his role in Torchwood: Miracle Day, but ever the Trekkie, Hal was excited to meet him because he was Q in Star Trek: The Next Generation. Note the difference between Hal’s usual, easy smile for the camera and the extra-wide grin that threatens to rip her face in twain in the picture below.

Hal with John DeLancie

Hal with John DeLancie

We met a Cyberman, but he seemed to take to Hal more than he did to me.

Hal & Cyberman

Hal & Cyberman

Chris & Cyberman

Chris & Cyberman


I got to meet K-9, which was a treat. This replica looked *perfect* and was zipping about on remote control, as there were no 1970s-era BBC-TV cameras to interfere with it or vice-versa. I also got to see the beautifully restored TARDIS console prop on display at Gallifrey One. This prop was the centerpiece of the TARDIS set that was arguably the best thing about the 1996 Doctor Who TV-movie. You can read more about the loving restoration of this prop here.

Chris & K-9

Chris & K-9

Chris and TARDIS Console

Chris and TARDIS Console


This photo doesn’t fully convey how fabulous this lady was. The wheelchair was totally tricked out with Tron detailing.
Wheelchair Tron

Wheelchair Tron


Idris made a cosplay appearance at the convention, as well as several suitors.
Idris and Suitors

Idris and Suitors


The Tiki Dalek made an appearance at the con, along with Tiki Davros. Yes, those are coconut halves serving as Dalek bumps.

Tiki Dalek

Tiki Dalek

Tiki Davros

Tiki Davros


Oh, so this happened.
Hal vs Dalek

Hal vs Dalek


Then this happened.
Dalek vs Angel w Hal

Dalek vs Angel w Hal


While Hal was pleased to use the recently-announce Star Trek/Doctor Who crossover comic coming from IDW as an excuse to wear some of her standard Star Trek costumes at the convention, she did don her Novice Haim outfit, complete with fur-covered mask by Bill Hedrick.
Hal as Novice Hame

Hal as Novice Hame


Hal and I both huge fans of NBC’s Community, and are particularly enamored of their recurring references to Inspector Spacetime, a Doctor Who pastiche. So we were delighted to meet Inspector Spacetime himself, Travis Richey, at the the convention!
Hal & Chris meet Inspector Spacetime

Hal & Chris meet Inspector Spacetime


The convention was a lot of fun, and I hope to be there again for Gallifrey One in 2013!
So long Gallifrey One 2012

So long Gallifrey One 2012


The Monday after the convention Hal and I rented a car and changed hotels, as we were parting company with Mike and Alicia for the remainder of the trip, and the Mariott’s convention rate was over. I found a fun, inexpensive little hotel called the Tangerine Hotelin Burbank, centrally located for the remainder of out plans in Los Angeles.
Tangerine Hotel

Tangerine Hotel


That afternoon we attended a taping of The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson. We primarily learned three things:

1) The Late Late Show studio is even smaller than you’d think from watching the show on TV. Imagine how big you think it might be. It’s half that size.

2) All the pre-show coaching and the warm-up comedian made the experience feel like a job interview to Hal.

3) When you hear that a studio is kept cold, make sure Hal brings a winter coat. Seriously.

That said, it was fun seeing Craig Ferguson in person, especially when I’d just done a print riffing on Craig’s Doctor Who fandom. No, I didn’t get to give Craig a copy. You can’t bring ANYTHING like that into the studio and there’s a policy against trying to do that sort of thing.

Tuesday was a very full day. We started out by visiting the DC Entertainment offices in Burbank, and I got to finally meet Jim Chadwick, who has been my editor on Young Justice since I started work on the title a year ago. That’s part of the fun of the comics industry – you do so much long-distance collaboration and often never meet the folks you communicate with by email and phone.

Saray Gaydos, Jim Chadwick, Batman and Me

Sarah Gaydos, Jim Chadwick, Batman and Me


The DC Entertainment offices are very cool. Like the DC Comics offices in New York they have a ton of fun memorabilia on display, but the DC Entertainment building is a little newer and has a slightly snazzier feel. Jim and his assistant Sarah Gaydos were good enough to give me a tour, and I got to see everything from the library to the bullpen where all kinds of digital production work is done in-house using tablets and other hardware that would make any computer graphics person drool.

After leaving DC, Hal and I met Greg Weisman and Kevin Hopps for lunch at Warner Brothers Animation. Greg is a producer and the head writer for the Young Justice animated series and Kevin is a writer for the show, and together they write the Young Justice tie-in comic that I draw. I’ve met Greg before on a few occasions but I hadn’t met Kevin before. I got to see the offices where the Young Justice staff work, and Greg and Kevin and I got to talk about plans for the comic as well as the peculiarities of the comics and animation businesses. All in all it was a grand time.

Me with Greg Weisman and Kevin Hopps

Me with Greg Weisman and Kevin Hopps


I wanted to share an observation I’d made when I’d visited DC and Marvel Comics in New York and it was true at DC Entertainment and Warner Brother Animation as well. There is a cubicle farm quality to some of the office space at all of these places, similar to what you might see in offices at any large company. But think of all the clipped out newspaper cartoons, calendars, and personal effects reflecting every possible personal interest those corporate workers might have that is considered permissible to have in their workspace. Now replace all of that with comics stuff. Cover art. Cartoons. Action figures and toys. Just massive amounts of the stuff, piled on every horizontal surface and pinned to every cubicle wall. With high-end prop replicas and movie memorabilia in glass display cases and lighted alcoves. And the people working there are all creative, talented people doing something for a living that’s somebody’s dream job.

THAT’S what it’s like visiting these places. It’s fantastic.

Wally, Adam and I

Wally, Adam and I

With Rob and Bob. Bob's looking at me.

With Rob and Bob. Bob's looking at me.


Tuesday night we met up with voice actor Wally Wingert and director/producer Robert Meyer Burnett for dinner at a restaurant of Wally’s choosing. That ended up being the Bob’s Big Boy within walking distance of our hotel. Hal and I arrived first, and were just starting to chat with Rob after his arrival when Wally called and said his was three minutes away and we HAD to meet him out in front of the restaurant. It was obvious he had something to show us. We dutifully assembled at the front entrance of the restaurant in time to see Wally pull up in his newly acquired Torino that was a perfect replica of the Starsky and Hutch car. Dinner was lovely, and afterward Hal and I paid a visit to Wally’s apartment which is packed to the gills with Wally’s amazing collection of Batman, Star Trek, Any Kaufman and other pop culture memorabilia. I never got to visit Forrest J Ackerman’s Ackermansion, but getting to visit Wally World took a little bit of the sting out of it.

After that it was back to the hotel for some sleep, since we had a redonkulously early flight back to Minneapolis the next day.

It was a grand adventure, and I can’t wait to visit LA again next year!

‘Twas the Clayface before Christmas

Here’s a little confection for you on the night before, what I hope will be (as Baldrick would say) a very Messy Kweznuz.

The script for Young Justice #11 called for not one but two creatures to emerge from a Lazarus Pit at Fortress al Ghul. Furthermore, the script called for them to emerge in the traditional manner – nude. The problem was that this was for an all-ages title, so this was immediately problematic.

YJ #11 page 16 pencils

YJ #11 page 16 pencils

YJ #11 page 16 inks

YJ #11 page 16 inks

YJ #11 page 16 color

YJ #11 page 16 color

First out of the pit was it’s owner, Ra’s al Ghul, as Sensei, Talia al Ghul and Ubu look on. I tried to position Ra’s so it was clear he was nude, but that nothing inappropriate could be seen. I had shadows and the fact that Ra’s was covered in goo from the pit to help me, but I didn’t even want to have goo dripping in a way that seemed overly suggestive or drew attention to what I was working to conceal. I wanted to deliver an image that was sure to sail past the standards and practices watchdogs without issue. FAIL! You’ll note that in the finished art, Ra’s is discretely wearing a pair of white shorts – introduced at the ink stage (by inker Dan Davis) and absent in the pencil art.

YJ #11 page 19 pencils

YJ #11 page 19 pencils

YJ #11 page 19 inks

YJ #11 page 19 inks

YJ #11 page 19 color 1

YJ #11 page 19 color 1

Page 19 was worse. A second figure climbs out of the pit, appearing at first in the shape of Ra’, then morphing into Talia, before beginning to shift into it’s final form as Clayface on the following page. (What’s going on here? Ready Young Justice #12 to find out!) Again, I was trying to use body position, shadows and goo to cover Clayface while in the forms of Ra’s and Talia, as you can see in the pencil and ink stages of the art. Again, this wasn’t deemed good enough, even though I would consider the bodies as “covered” as if they were wearing clothes. No “naughty bits” visible. Ra’s tighty-whiteys were again added at the ink stage, and more “shadows ” were added to Clayface-Talia’s chest. Both writer Greg Weisman and I were given a chance to offer feedback on the first pass at color (above right), and neither of us were happy with it. I thought it looked like Clayface-Talia was wearing a dress, and it seemdd like more Lazarus-goo was appearing AFTER Clayface climbed out of the pit. Greg and I were both hoping to get closer to the original intent, and our editor Jim Chadwick and colorist Zac Atkinson were generously willing to take another crack at it.

YJ #11 page 19 color 2

YJ #11 page 19 color 2

Here’s the revised version, which is a little better. I’m not thrilled that the Clayface figures seem all-green, but given the alternative I could live with it. The email conversations around all this had grown to the point where I was trying to see the humor in the situation, and I decided to volunteer my own revision to the final page of the story – the reveal of Clayface – which was non-humanoid enough that no one seemed to think needed to be covered up.

Clayface in Shorts

Clayface in Shorts

When I sent this out to the creative team an email soon came back from Greg Weisman who asked with some concern “You are kidding, aren’t you?” I assured him I was.

You can find issues of Young Justice at your local Comic Shop or you can buy a digital copy online!