Mel Ford's DC fan art

Mel Ford's art caught my eye two weeks ago as I was browsing around the internet checking out chat forums and etc. I really like Mel's work. I'm having trouble coining the term here, but I feel his art would fit somewhere along the lines of 'abstract art' - mainly because he's using lines and shapes to capture the essence of the subject rather than visual realistic details. Additionally, Mel seems to like all of the same characters I grew up reading. I managed to track down Mr Ford and chat with him about his work and influences.

DC80s: Do you have an art background? How long have you been illustrating for?

Mel Ford: I've worked off & on in Graphic Design over the years. I've taken the usual array of basic drawing classes as well. Really though I think my illustration style didn't take off until last year when I started trying to figure out how to create art on my IPad. That's how I do all my art now. So I've been doing it as long as I can remember, but feel like I haven't made any real progress until recently. I'm hoping to get comfortable enough to create all ages Graphic Novels or children's book illustrations.

Which DC comics did you grow up reading? What Marvel comics did you grow up reading?

I read almost EVERYTHING. I loved team books most of all, though. So Justice League of America, Brave and The Bold, Legion of Superheroes, Teen Titans and most definitely All-Star Squadron! Ordway and then Kubert? Who could resist that? On the Marvel side, again it was mostly the team books: Avengers, Defenders, Fantastic Four, and X-Men. Plus I loved the reprint stuff Marvel did back then, especially Marvel Triple Action and Marvel's Greatest Comics (and let's not forget Treasury Editions!) To this day I have most of my Avengers issues from back then and filled in most of the issues I'd missed.

Were you still reading comics in the 80s? If so, which ones stood out?

The issues I remember most from the 80's may be the Death of Captain Marvel and The New Mutants Graphic Novels. But I read comics all through college, We had a regular ritual of hitting the comic store every week when new stuff came out. I definitely remember when Crisis on Infinite Earths came out and essentially destroyed three of my favorite books (i.e. All Star Squadron, Infinity Inc, and Legion of Superheroes).

Some of your illustrations are making me nostalgic for the DC Animated Universe and the art of the late Darywn Cooke (i.e. DC: The New Frontier, 2004). Were you influenced whatsoever by Bruce Timm's rendition of DC characters?

I was late to discovering Darywn Cooke's artistic style, I wasn't paying attention to comics at all at that time, but it's definitely a huge inspiration to me now. I love the Bruce Timm style as well. My favorites were the Justice League shows he did. It's definitely an influence figuring out how to say what you want to say without getting too fussy with the lines etc. Some of that is down to process though. I only draw digitally these days, but for whatever reason I hate using a stylus. So I'm just using my fingers to draw everything. When I had a smaller screen that limited how detailed I could get, so I had to figure out how to make the figures work with less detail.

So, if someone wanted to order a commission from you, how could they reach you? Do you have any current projects you are working on that you'd like to share?

Really not doing commissions. Trying to concentrate on doing some work with some very cool indie creators I've met just through posting stuff online and still trying to attract some attention to my kid lit illustrations.

We've posted a few of Mel's illustrations in this article, but we're not even scratching the surface. For more of his work (including lots of Marvel stuff), check out Mel's Twitter and Instagram accounts.

Why yes, Mel also does page layouts (click to enlarge)

USENET Fandom - Fan reaction to John Byrne taking over Superman in the mid-80s: Byrne vs Bates and all about Power Girl

Before we had the World Wide Web, we had UseNet. Developed in 1980, UseNet allowed a collection of computer users to interconnect via dial-up modems and post messages onto newsgroups (which resemble BBSes). Anywhere and anytime comic fans are able to congregate, you know they will be exchanging opinions and ideas about comic books - particularly DC comic books. In today's segment, Chris Sheehan examines what online comic fans were saying about Crisis on Infinite Earths. Please note: usernames have been removed for privacy reasons.
 

Over the past several entries, we looked at SM’s discussion piece wherein he opines on the no-longer-rumor of John Byrne coming in to revitalize the Man of Steel for the complex 1980’s DC Comics fan. Today we will finish up looking at the conversation his post encouraged.

On October 10, 1985 prolific netterhack JM addresses our previous piece’s Negative-Nellie TM’s concerns when he posts:

JM brings up some good points. It’s odd hearing an observation of Byrne’s "nostalgia dredging" even some thirty odd years ago. That is one of the more common contemporary Byrne complaints, so finding that it was also a fan-concern in the mid-1980s is quite eye-opening. I echoed this same complaint during John Byrne’s unfortunate 2004 Doom Patrol revival, which saw the team returned to a more back-to-basics approach, which frustratingly attempted to cancel out all that came before it.

It appears JM is cautiously optimistic about Byrne’s impending arrival, comparing it to what writer Cary Bates has brought to the table over the past several years. From my time digging through the usenets and any historical accounts available, I've concluded that folks were kind of burnt out on the kind of pre-Crisis stories Mr. Bates was serving up. He was responsible for the overlong Trial of the Flash epic, which perhaps invited the sort of fan-malaise his name brought with it. Following the Crisis on Infinite Earths, Mr. Bates would take on the revitalized Captain Atom in a wonderful series.

The final response to SM’s initial missive comes to us from JG, who on October 24, 1985 had this to say about Power Girl:

Well, here’s a good one. I suppose we can look at this a couple of different ways.

First, let’s play it straight. JG’s opening line is oddly prescient, as it points out the post-Crisis Power Girl thinks she’s from Krypton. Initially during this era Power Girl did believe herself to be a relation to the Man of Steel. In the hotly discussed Secret Origins v2 #11 (1987), she finds herself onboard her symbio-ship... which appeared to have actually weathered the Crisis. She is an amnesiac with only the dimmest of memories of being raised on a sort of alien landscape. When she gives her ship the command to "find family", it zeroes in on Superman. It is, of course revealed that she is in actuality a descendant of the Lord of Atlantis himself, Arion, who had manipulated the situation to make Kara believe she was of Kryptonian heritage.

The Power Girl/Arion connection

Now with that out of the way, let’s take this on with the snark in which I feel it was intended. Ol’ JG is clearly having a bit of fun here referencing the whole nebulous Phoenix-Jean Grey dynamic over in Marvel’s X-Men.

Following Jean Grey’s apparent transformation into the Phoenix in Jamaica Bay, and later "darkening" and death, the X-Men were left without one of their founding members. When Marvel sought to expand the X-Men comics line with titles such as New Mutants and X-Factor, editorial had the idea to have the "original five" mighty mutants reassemble… the only problem was, Jean was dead. It was a hotly controversial and publicized death to boot, so it would certainly be a challenge to undo.

In issue #286 of Fantastic Four (1986), written by "You Know Who" (John Byrne wrote this, but left his name off perhaps to illustrate his disagreement with the proceedings), Jean Grey was found by the Fantastic Four and the Avengers alive and kicking in a Cocoon at the bottom of Jamaica Bay. As it would turn out the Phoenix Force and Jean Grey were two distinct beings rather than one in the same... this would assuage Jean of any of the guilt for the atrocities committed by the Phoenix entity, rendering her completely innocent and thereby "useable" once more. Well played there, JG... your snarky remark made me bust out some of my Marvel knowledge.

Jean Grey cocoon

That wraps up our coverage on SM’s John Byrne/The Man of Steel related entry (a subject that we will be sure to revisit). Next time we will be checking out the reaction to the arrival of another outsider to an established character, when we sit in for Alan Moore’s Anatomy Lesson from Swamp Thing #21. As I mentioned in our last several pieces... I know some corners of the interwebs have amazingly knowledgeable and passionate Superman fans, so if you have any additions or corrections, please feel free to contact me in care of this website. Thank you for reading.

-Chris

Can't wait for the next installment in this series of articles? For more of Chris Sheehan, check out his highly recommended Chris is on Infinite Earths blog.

USENET fandom - more on Byrne's Superman revamp

Before we had the World Wide Web, we had UseNet. Developed in 1980, UseNet allowed a collection of computer users to interconnect via dial-up modems and post messages onto newsgroups (which resemble BBSes). Anywhere and anytime comic fans are able to congregate, you know they will be exchanging opinions and ideas about comic books - particularly DC comic books. In today's segment, Chris Sheehan examines what online comic fans were saying about Crisis on Infinite Earths. Please note: usernames have been removed for privacy reasons.

Over the past couple of entries, we dove in on SM’s discussion piece wherein he opines on the no-longer-rumor of John Byrne coming in to revitalize the Man of Steel for the complex 1980’s DC Comics fan. Today we will check in with some of the conversation his post encouraged.

On October 18, 1985, just three days after the initial post, one CF replied with:

As we discussed in the last entry, CF would not have to wait all that long to once more experience stories about the Phantom Zone and... "Supergirl". During the three-part Supergirl Saga starting in Superman v2 #21 (September, 1988), Byrne would sorta-kinda reintroduce both concepts. He would sadly have to wait quite a while for the reappearance of the one-true Krypto who would not show his snout until the Return to Krypton storyline that occurred in the year 2000.

DC would try to hold the Krypto-faithful over by including him as part of the Time Trapper’s pocket universe, and also as something of an Easter Egg several years later. Superman’s fav’rit fan, Bibbo Bibbowski, found a stray dog and hoped to name him Krypton after the home planet of his fav’rit sooperhero, but the fella he got to engrave the pup’s nametag only chiseled in the first six letters.

Eben and Sarah? What in the world? Okay. As it turns out, who we know as Jonathan and Martha Kent went through some naming-pains throughout their history. Originally they went by the names Sam and Molly, however, in 1942, a man by the name of George Lowther wrote a novel called The Adventures of Superman. In this novel, he named Superman’s adoptive parents Eben and Sarah Kent. These names would carry over to the Adventures of Superman 1950’s television series as well.

The names we are familiar with were introduced in the pages of Superboy stories in the early 1950’s. Their passing was covered in Superman #161 (May, 1963). As it turns out, shortly following Clark’s high school graduation, his adoptive parents take a trip to the Caribbean where they both contract a fatal tropical disease and pass in short order. Not the way you’d expect them to go... but, here we are.

The next day, October 19, 1985 RW piped in with the following:

Ai yai yai.

Power Girl is a toughie. Before the Crisis, Power Girl (Kara Zor-L) was Superman’s Kryptonian cousin. Sounds fairly reasonable. She shares a nearly identical origin to the Man of Steel, however, the rocket her parents loaded her into during the Fall of Krypton took much longer to arrive on Earth(2). Still, perfectly reasonable. She would go on to join up with the Justice Society of America, and becomes a full-fledged member when the Earth-2 Superman steps down.

Post-Crisis (and post-Man of Steel) the word came down that Superman was the sole survivor, the true last-son, of Krypton. Rather than shuffle Power Girl off to comic book limbo, DC Comics decided to tweak her character. The post-Crisis Power Girl believed herself to be the cousin of Superman, however, she was in fact now of Atlantean descent. She is told that she is related to the wizard Arion, of all people… further, in Secret Origins #11 (1987), she learns that she has been in suspended animation for thousands of years before waking out of it.

Secret Origins #11 (1987)

A couple of decades later due to the Infinite Crisis storyline, Kara’s Kryptonian heritage is finally reinstated. She reconnects with the Superman and Lois Lane of Earth-2, and plays a rather sizable role in the universe/continuity-shattering event.

That’s all we have room for this time, I try to keep these a reasonable (read: not overwhelming) length. Next time we will continue with discussion prompted by SM's initial post, including some umbrage taken with John Byrne's mention of the Bible. As I mentioned in our last couple of pieces... I know some corners of the interwebs have amazingly knowledgeable and passionate Superman fans, so if you have any additions or corrections, please feel free to contact me in care of this website. Thank you for reading.

-Chris

Can't wait for the next installment in this series of articles? For more of Chris Sheehan, check out his highly recommended Chris is on Infinite Earths blog.