October 27, 2005
UW prof: Comic book hero
When the press picks up on research a university professor is doing, he or she can win a bit of notoriety, but it’s a rare day that a professor winds up in a comic strip. That’s just what happened to Oceanography Professor Debbie Kelley, whose work on undersea vents was featured in the Mark Trail strip last Sunday.
Mark Trail is an informational strip aimed at children that is published in the Seattle PI’s comic section. The lead character, Mark Trail, is an environmental reporter. And though he’s fictional, he’s pretty clearly imagined by his creator, Jack Elrod. A link on the PI’s Web page for Mark Trail says this:
“Forever 32, this handsome outdoorsman and photojournalist for Woods and Wildlife magazine spends his days hunting, fishing and pursuing simple pleasures. But all too often his woodland paradise is threatened, and that’s when Mark Trail springs into action! When not plying his trade, Mark is preserving the nation’s dwindling wetlands, fighting the crass commercialism that is creeping into even the most remote forests, protecting wildlife from poachers, and keeping America’s greatest natural treasures free from the thugs, gangsters and goons who sometimes invade it.
When Mark’s not on the trail, he returns to his charming country house on the Lost Forest Game Preserve, where he relaxes with his wife, Cherry, and his beloved dog, Andy. Mark’s single most important goal: to preserve the integrity of the American wilderness for future generations.”
Kelley didn’t get to meet the dashing Mr. Trail, but she did get to see and approve what the strip had to say about her research. And she thinks it’s great that kids will get to learn something about the ocean through the strip.
As to the pictures, Kelley is a little more doubtful. The strip showed a squid and an angler fish that she doesn’t think would actually be found near the Lost City’s hydrothermal vents. And though Elrod based his drawing of her on a photo, Kelley says, “I couldn’t pick myself out of a lineup” based on the strip. However, she thinks these are small quibbles compared to the positive effect the strip could have.
Fred Gorell, public affairs director for the Ocean Exploration section of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is the man responsible for Kelley’s work winding up in the strip. Gorell sent Elrod the idea, complete with images from the research. Elrod actually wrote two strips — published Oct. 16 and 23 — that deal with undersea exploration, although Kelley only made a personal appearance in the second one.
Gorell said he pushed the idea because the July expedition Kelley headed up, which placed scientists on land interacting with scientists on board ship, was “the beginning of something that we think is going to grow. It marks a new turn in how ocean exploration is going to be done.”
This isn’t the first time someone at NOAA has suggested a strip idea to Elrod. In fact, NOAA has a 10-year relationship with Elrod, dating back to when he did a strip that supported NOAA’s weather radio program. NOAA now honors individuals and organizations that support weather radio by giving them Mark Trail Awards.
For more information about the Lost City expedition, see http://www.uwnews.org/article.asp?articleID=11324&Search=lost%20city.
As for Kelley, the fame of being in a comic strip hasn’t gone to her head. “It’s not what I live for,” she says, “but any way we can get the science out there is good.”
