Twenty-eight years after he first appeared on campus, a Stanford superhero has returned to save unwary undergraduates from improper turns into oncoming traffic.
Campus bicycle program coordinator Ariadne Scott resurrected Sprocket Man, a comic book character created to promote bicycle safety in the 1970s, as part of a new safety drive this year.
She asked Sprocket Man’s creator, Louis Saekow, who now teaches design at The Art Institute in San Diego, to revamp the superhero’s look. Saekow, ’76, was happy to revisit the character, which he developed after his sophomore year as part of his work-study obligation. After graduating with a degree in biological sciences, he abandoned plans to attend medical school and instead started Louis Saekow Design. “Without Sprocket Man, I’d probably be a doctor by now,” he says.
The new, hipper Sprocket Man promotes many of the superhero’s old messages on posters around campus: “Ride on the right. Use a light. Wear a helmet. License your bike.” He also appears on T-shirts and in advertisements in the Stanford Daily.
“It’s an excellent way to deliver a serious message about bicycle safety in a fun, creative way,” says Scott, whose office has given away 5,000 bike lights as part of the safety campaign. “How could you not like a superhero?”
