Banshee in the Well By Robin Lovejoy Tolkein
This fantasy adventure begins at Monastery Farm, Cumbria. Niall Carver, the farmer’s twelve-year-old son, hears a blood-curdling scream and tracks down the sound to an ancient well in the farmhouse garden. From the well he rescues a gothic-looking, dark-haired girl in leather boots and a short dress, her limbs dappled with black markings. The girl introduces herself as Sathra.

Niall carries out some internet research and confirms the truth, that Sathra has come through a time warp from the thirteenth century to the present day. At first Niall suspects she’s a banshee, though Sathra insists that she’s a dryad. The distinction is important because whilst banshees were evil, dryads were the exact opposite. What Niall doesn’t know is that, to return to her own time, Sathra the Banshee must restore her magical powers by sacrificing a boy her own age. Niall would fit the bill perfectly, though she has to lure him to a place of sacrifice, an ancient stone circle about a mile from the farm. Now believing Sathra is a dryad, Niall looks forward to a series of escapades of the kind that feature in his favourite books.

These adventures certainly follow, but all the while Sathra is plotting the dreaded sacrifice…

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First of all I respect and understand the need for a company to revise their image. It makes perfect sense that as a part of their new corporate structure DC would need to redefine their identity. This kind of design challenge fascinates me as well. I personally love how a designer can express a complex idea with a simple symbol or mark. In fact when you think about it, marks and logos are almost synonymous with comics. Can you think of anything more recognizable than the Bat symbol or Green Lantern’s lantern? Logos like their characters have the ability to take on a life of their own. So too they can engender strong emotional responses.

A while back another company decided to freshen up their mark by rolling out a new design. Some of you may remember the “Gap Flap” of 2010. The Gap logo made such a negative impression that it was removed after only one week amidst a flurry of apologies. I’m not suggesting that that will happen with DC’s new logo design or that it should happen for that matter. I do believe however that a company shouldn’t take lightly public reaction to their identity system.

Now for my critique. When teaching logo design I suggest the following principles for evaluating success or failure. A logo should: 1. Be simple and clearly defined. 2. Be symbolic and recognizable. 3. Use limited color and complimentary type.

1. Simple and clearly defined. DC’s new logo is simple. It is a combination of basic shapes. I like the fact that the “D” and “C” have similar shapes and it seems logical that they can be overlaid together. With this rendition however the “D” is the least recognizable character which seems like an after thought because your eye is immediately drawn to the “C”. Ironically some of the defense of this design has appeared to be “Wait until it’s animated.” or “It will make sense once you see it in color.” etc, etc. In logo design terms that is a huge no no. A logo must read in black and white all on it’s own, period.

2. Symbolic and recognizable. In this category I think the new logo falls completely flat. The best I can surmise is that the “flap” could symbolize a turning page but I still think that’s pretty weak. The star became a really integral part of the DC logo from years past. It surprises me that they would abandon it entirely. Many of the best logos are a “dual” image as I like to call it or they incorporate a hidden symbol. The most famous of these is the “Fedex” logo with it’s hidden arrow. I may be totally wrong but I see no attempt at this in DC’s new design. In an odd way sometimes I think I see a profile of Darkseid when looking at the logo, but I’m sure that’s not on purpose either.

3. Limited color and complimentary type. I’m sorry folks but thanks to 50 years of branding DC is blue and Marvel is red. Gray just won’t do. I will admit that the gray does set off the bright colors of the decorated logos but…so would a pale blue. Unfortunately the type doesn’t help. I’m fine with the sans serif but the stacking doesn’t work. It seems to cry out for hierarchy. In fact, if the “DC” was clearer in the mark you wouldn’t need the “DC Comics” written below. Apple stopped writing “Apple Computer” under their logo long ago.

These are just a few of my thoughts on the matter. I think it’s a fair assessment of the design. What’s your opinion?

Thanks to Heidi MacDonald and her great reporting. ComicsBeat.com

**Updated** DC has officially confirmed their new branding system. Read Here

The first inkling I had that I might have made a mistake was after reading a few posts by Skottie Young who, after just a few hours announced that he was taking his back because it was an awful comic reader. In spite of this I was determined to give mine a shot. Well, I’ve held out for 4 days now trying my best to like it but I can’t fool myself any longer, I don’t.

Here are a few of my complaints: First, I don’t like the touch screen sensitivity. To me it’s not even as good as what I have on my iPhone. There’s a perceptible lag and sometimes even a failure to register my touch and I find myself tapping trying to get it to respond. Second, I hate, I mean HATE the carousel. Why oh why can you not customize it? I really don’t want all my searches, books, movies, etc listed. Third, although I do like reading comics on it, even better than my iPhone, it’s just a fraction of an inch small enough that I have to scroll and zoom on some panels and I don’t like that. There are other small annoyances and what it really amounts to is that I might be able to over look any one of them by themselves but when you add them up together they make the user experience tiresome. Don’t get me wrong the Fire is a decent product but if what you really want is an iPad, get an iPad.

Blair Butler was kind enough to show the card I drew for her on this week’s Fresh Ink Online, G4’s Comic Review Show. I heard she was a Thor fan so I drew for her an original Beta Ray Bill. Share my joy by clicking the link below:

At the 2011 San Diego Comic-con I ran into Nathan Fillion (ABC’s Rick Castle and Firefly’s Captain Malcom.) He happened to be exiting the Marvel Comics booth after his signing event. I impulsively called his name as he was walking by and he turned to look my way and waive. In the process he accidentally poked his security guard in the face. What follows is a quick hug, a million dollar smile, and laugh. What a truly nice man he is. Darn you Nathan for being so loveable, now my wife likes you even more!

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