In the 1980s, Klein mainly worked for DC, where in addition to lettering many of their titles, he also designed logos and title headers for various letter pages. As DC emerged from a late 1970s/early 1980s slump, new opportunities opened up for freelancers. Klein got more work as a letterer (and also a fair amount as a writer), keeping him very busy. Books he worked on during this period included Alan Moore's "Swamp Thing", ', and "Detective Comics"; as well as his own scripts for "Omega Men". As a freelancer, Klein also performed production work on such works as Moore and Dave Gibbons' "Watchmen", Frank Miller's "Ronin", and '.