A Titan Cover (Part 3): Closing Time

 

Peter Capaldi's last day filming Doctor Who,
photo by Sandra Franklin. 

Back in 2017, which feels like a whole other dimension in time and space, compared to what was to come in the next few years. Back then, I'd been waiting probably my whole life to see one of my illustrations published on the cover of a comic book.

Unfortunately, this was also an event that suffered from terrible timing.

First off: The Chaos

My comic cover in a shop in Liverpool.
(Thank you, George!)

The same week, my apartment's kitchen sink exploded— a waterfall resulted from maintenance trying to repair a stopped-up drain. Whatever was going on in the plumbing under the apartment complex affected four different apartments, where mine apparently was the epicenter of the disaster. (Ground Zero for tree roots growing into the pipes, or something like that.) This led to professional plumbers being called in who proclaimed that the floor must be jack-hammered open and investigated, which  turned into an extensive archaeological excavation.

So, I ended up with a crater in my kitchen. (Think the Sarlacc pit in Return of the Jedi.)

 ... and eventually I wound up with a new apartment.

I had wanted to move... but just not then. And not during the hottest Phoenix summer on record. The process of packing up my entire apartment began, and I somehow developed strep throat on top of it all. In fact, it got so bad that I drove myself to the emergency room at three in the morning because I was having trouble swallowing. (I think a lot of that actually had to do with stress and anxiety, to be honest.)

To make a long story short: if you ever find yourself living in a desert in the middle of summer and you have to pack everything up and relocate... try not to. I do not recommend it. 

This marred the celebratory event of my going to pick up Issue 3.4, Variant Cover D, that had my artwork of the Twelfth Doctor on it. But pick it up I did. I looked exhausted in the selfie that I took in All About Books and Comics, which was then my local comic shop in Phoenix.

All of the variant covers (including mine) would later be reprinted in a book of collected issues. My illustration was the last in the gallery but ended up getting a page to itself. (below) Very cool.

It was absolutely amazing to finally hold it in my hands. My online friends took photos of it displayed in their local shops, in places as far away from me as Liverpool.

Could it get better? Yes. 

Sandra Franklin meets Peter Capaldi...again. 

Freakin' Sandra  

My friend, photographer Sandra Franklin, lives in Cardiff, Wales. The running joke with her is that she always manages to be "taking pictures of squirrels in a nice park setting" when, "Oh, would you look at that! Doctor Who appears to be filming here! Oh, and here comes Peter Capaldi. Again."

Freakin' Sandra...

I lost count of how many times this had happened. 

I have to clarify that I jokingly call her "Freakin' Sandra" because she freakishly manages to do things like this all the time which results in many superb, evocative photographs. She had asked me to sign and mail a copy of my comic cover to her.

I signed my comic for her and mailed it back, adding "wiwer" over top the clockwork squirrel on the Doctor's guitar amp.  ("Wiwer" is Welsh for "squirrel".)

It turns out that Sandra had some more squirrelly business with which to surprise me. 

The cover signed by Peter Capaldi to me, (left) and the one
signed by me and then Peter, for Sandra. 

Closing Time

Peter Capaldi signing my comic on his last day of filming Doctor Who.

Freakin' Sandra manifested on the last day of Peter Capaldi filming his scenes as the Twelfth Doctor. He wandered outside to say hello and to greet fans. He signed autographs. He ended up signing a particular comic book cover as well—twice. "Two for one closing sale," he joked.
                        
                    Thank you, thank you, thank you, Sandra.

This was so surreal.

When she posted about her adventure online, Sandra shared mobile photos and said that she would be sending the autographed comic to me by post. I was in blissful disbelief. I kept checking my phone to look at it all again with a big stupid grin on my face.

I soon forgot about the record heat of the Arizona summer and my having to move out of my old apartment.

This had made my entire summer. 

More of Sandra's photos from that day...

                                                            ... Freakin' Sandra. 

All ready to hang on the wall of the new apartment.

It would take another year to finally meet Peter Capaldi
 myself, but that's a story for another post...

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!