Elasti-Girl

Over thirty years ago, I did my one and only job for DC Comics, which was a pinup page in their Who's Who series. This particular series was comprised of oversized loose-leaf pages meant to go into a binder (sold separately). Each character was drawn by a different artist, with bio pages on opposite sides.

Back in 1990, I was a newbie. I had submitted some comic book penciling samples to Vertigo editors, mostly of Sandman characters, Animal Man and John Constantine, which were my personal favorites.

Tom Peyer, who was then the editor on both Animal Man and Grant Morrison's run on Doom Patrol, liked my early pencil attempts and gave this unknown artist a chance by assigning me a nearly forgotten character: early Doom Patrol member, Rita Farr, aka Elasti-Girl, who was still "deceased" at that point in time. She got better, however. In the long tradition of superheroes, she was magically resurrected years later, *finally* changing her name to Elasti-Woman. Currently, the character is brilliantly portrayed by April Bowbey in the fantastically bizarre Doom Patrol television series (which I love!)

This was one of my very early comic book jobs and I was still learning. It would take a brilliant inker to make my uncertain pencil lines have more life and style, and for thirty years, the identity of this inker had remained a mystery...

… until 2020.

Tom Peyer had wanted the same white cover panel that was then featured on issues of Doom Patrol to feature in the illustration, so that was what I built the composition around. Because this was pre-internet, I had been mailed photocopied reference about the character, whom I had been unfamiliar with, despite having been an avid reader of Morrison's run on the series. From these, I was able to research her, and I learn what her powers were. My initial idea was making a sort of movie poster, depicting her more gigantic aspect; sort of, "Attack of the 50-Foot Elasti-Woman." I also remember trying to base her appearance loosely on Emma Thompson.

In the crowd scene below her are various little characters. And yes, the guy who looks like he's missing his arms actually had them bent back at a weird angle, but it looks hilarious today. I even included a tiny John Constantine. I'm thankful to the colorist, Anthony Tollin, for getting this and giving him blonde hair and a beige trench coat. (Including Costantine was an in-joke that made Tom laugh on the phone— which is how you talked to editors long distance in those days before email.)

I also drew little pictures for the bio-side of the page, of different stages of Rita's life. Mark Waid was the writer of the text.

However, the inker was listed as "Alan Smithee," which was a pseudonym that was notoriously used by film directors who didn't want their name associated with their projects. "Alan Smithee" was obviously a professional, and he had managed to make my novice pencils look both stylish and polished. (This was long before I had learned to ink myself with any confidence.) Friends in the comic industry had recognized Ty Templeton's style instantly—but it was only in 2020, when I was told about a wonderful planned podcast about the DC Who's Who binder series, that someone actually asked Ty on Twitter if this was indeed his work, and he finally confirmed it.

A thirty-year mystery finally solved!

I remember being amazed at having been sent a check from DC even before I'd finished the work. It seemed unbelievable because it sometimes took independent publishers months to pay me for work, and then sometimes only in installments. (You could understand why I've always maintained a steady day job ever since.) You'll see that my name is credited as "Lorraine Szramski" here, rather than my nickname Raine. My full name ended up on the paycheck and it's also what ended up here.

For the record, my last name is pronounced Shram-skee. The z (zed) throws everyone off. However, I'm more than used to my name being mangled by now, lol.

I want to thank the Fire and Water team for such a fantastic podcast and for all their kind words about my artwork, both past and present. (The segment about Elasti-Girl starts at about the 35:30 mark.) I thank them again for contacting me with questions about this old illustration.

I also want to extend a huge thank you to Ty Templeton for having anonymously helped me out when I was a beginner. He enhanced my original pencils with his gorgeous inking style, and I've waited three decades to tell him how much I appreciated that!