geekosystem

The 21st GLAAD awards were held in last night, seeking as always to "recognize and honor media for their fair, accurate and inclusive representations of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community and the issues that affect their lives." The award for Outstanding Comic Book went to Detective Comics. Specifically, to Greg Rucka's run on Detective Comics featuring Batwoman as the title character and The Question as a short second feature in each issue. Both storylines had gorgeous art delivered by J.H. Williams III and Cully Hamner. In their current incarnations, both Batwoman and The Question are lesbian women. Bleeding Cool Comics briefly summarizes the long, jerky process of putting a gay character into the Bat-family. Leave your Seduction of the Innocent jokes at the door, please.

When was the last time you heard someone say, perhaps while in line at the comic store counter, "I don't normally read this title but I had to pick it up this week. ______ ______ is my favorite letterer?"

Not recently, huh? Todd Klein's series of alphabet prints have made me wish that it would happen more often. Klein was responsible for the lettering on Watchmen, Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Swamp Thing, Fables, Top 10, and a good deal of the comics that made me like comics, including Batman: Year One, and Sandman. For Sandman, specifically, Klein created seven distinct styles of lettering for the voices of each of the Endless, from Destiny's hard italics to Delirium's candy colored balloons.

Klein is currently doing a series of alphabetically themed prints showcasing his talent and the talents of some of the biggest names in comics; letters A through E have been completed.