Todd Klein's Blog, page 103

Ira Schnapp in REX THE WONDER DOG

Images © DC Comics

Starting in 1952, DC Comics launched this title about a reasonably realistic white German shepherd who acted heroically, often with his master Danny, in many locations and situations from the American west to Europe and elsewhere. Rex was smarter and stronger than average dogs. He was perhaps inspired by the real dog Rin-Tin-Tin who was rescued from a World War One battlefield and starred in a series of successful films from 1922 to 1931, or by films about Lassie, an equally heroic Scottish collie created in the book Lassie Come Home by Eric Knight in 1940, and in a popular film of the same name in 1943 and sequels. Rex’s predecessor at DC, though, was Streak the Wonder Dog.

Created by writer Robert Kanigher and artist Alex Toth, also the creators of Rex, Streak first appeared in (Golden Age) GREEN LANTERN #30 in 1948. Streak was soon starring in his own stories, as in the example above from issue #36, and when the series was cancelled two issues later, Streak was essentially the star.

Editor Julius Schwartz must have thought a dog series by Kanigher and Toth would sell, and it did well through the rest of the 1950s, though Toth departed after a few issues, and artist Gil Kane became the regular penciller and cover artist after that. There were 46 bimonthly issues ending in 1959. The logo for the first issue, above, is one of the largest and, I think, best efforts of Ira Schnapp. THE ADVENTURES OF is repeated from previous DC titles, most recently THE ADVENTURES OF BOB HOPE, the rest is new. Ira also did the lettering on this and most of the series covers. He only lettered two stories inside the book.

Here’s issue #12 from 1953 with typical Schnapp blurb lettering. There’s something compelling about the large letters of REX in the logo. I was only able to find and read a few issues when I was a kid, and I loved them, perhaps because at the time we didn’t have a dog of our own, even though I wanted one. Watching the Lassie TV show beginning in 1954 probably reinforced that.

The caption for issue #17 from 1955 offered Ira a chance to use some of his Old English style in the story title.

Issue #18’s cover is unusual for the thought balloon from Rex, I think the only one on a cover.

Issue #26’s strange cover suggests Rex as a media star with nice Schnapp lettering on the Autograph book cover.

The final cover of the series was once again lettered by Ira Schnapp. Here are the covers he worked on: 1-8, 10-21, 23-27, 29-37, 39-41, 44-46. That’s 40 in all.

Most issues had two Rex stories. Beginning with issue #4, a second feature, Detective Chimp, was added with a logo by Ira, who also lettered the character’s stories in two issues. One of them is above from issue #7. Gaspar Saladino was the main letterer on REX, he did nearly all the stories, missing just a few with Rex and perhaps ten with Detective Chimp. Only issue #36 has no Saladino lettering at all.

Here are the stories lettered by Ira Schnapp, totaling 12 pages:

#7 Jan/Feb 1953: Detective Chimp 6pp

#11 Sept/Oct 1953: Detective Chimp 6pp

Rex the Wonder Dog on Wikipedia.

Detective Chimp on Wikipedia.

Other articles in this series and about Ira Schnapp are on the Comics Creation page of my blog.

The post Ira Schnapp in REX THE WONDER DOG appeared first on Todd's Blog.

Ira Schnapp in THE FOX AND THE CROW

Images © DC Comics

The Fox and the Crow were cartoon characters from Screen Gems originally based on the Aesop characters, but developed in a much more modern way for most of their cartoons, with streetwise, Brooklyn-accented, cigar-smoking Crawford Crow pitted against upper-crust but gullible Fauntleroy Fox in an eternal battle for laughs where the Crow won most often. They began appearing in REAL SCREEN COMICS from DC in 1945 and COMIC CAVALCADE in 1948. Their own title began with a Dec 1951/Jan 1952 cover date and ran for 108 issues, though from issue #95 on the title was gradually taken over by a new feature, “Stanley and His Monster,” and that became the title for issues 109-112. The book was edited by Larry Nadle for years, then taken over by Murray Boltinoff with #86.

Ira Schnapp might have created this logo, or it might have been done by artist and animator James Davis (not the creator of “Garfield”) who certainly did the characters in the logo. I’m leaning toward Davis because the script words in the logo are not in Ira’s style. The word balloon and caption are probably by Ira. He lettered many of the covers, though a fair amount had no lettering, or just repeated lettering. Inside, Ira lettered lots of stories, about half of them I think, until the book was usurped by Stanley and His Monster.

Most covers on this series were simple gags. The second issue has one that required some extra lettering by Schnapp.

Issue #35 from 1956 has more balloon lettering than most of the covers, and contest lettering by Schnapp that ran on all DC titles for a few months.

Generally there were several Fox and Crow stories with one featuring The Hound and the Hare, but other humor features showed up occasionally, like Twiddle and Twaddle, with a blurb picked up from another James Davis comic FLIPPETY AND FLOP, and not by Schnapp, though he lettered the rest.

Issue #58 from 1959 shows a revised logo by Ira Schnapp without the characters in it and using typical Schnapp letters for the small words, as well as a caption for Hound and Hare that would be used on many issues. This logo began with issue #56, but was used intermittently with the old one.

By issue #86 in 1964, promotional blurbs by Ira began to appear, perhaps suggesting that sales were slipping. The title had moved from eight times a year to bimonthly in 1959. Or this might just have been the preference of new editor Boltinoff.

The sell was pushed harder by issue #93 in blurbs probably written by Boltinoff.

Something else was needed to sell this title, and a new feature, The Brat Finks, was tried for a few issues beginning with #94, lettered by Ira.

But the real success came with Stanley and His Monster, which started in issue #95.

By issue #102, Stanley had a large second-billing logo by Ira Schnapp and was featured on the cover.

By issue #106 from 1967, the Stanley logo by Schnapp was as big as the Fox and Crow one, and he continued to dominate the covers. I like the different size word balloons by Schnapp here.

With issue #109, the title had been renamed and Fox and Crow were gone. This logo and cover lettering are by Ira, the last he did for the series. The word STANLEY is type, though, perhaps press-down type, something Ira is not likely to have done. I suspect it was added after Ira had completed the logo. Perhaps the editor didn’t like Ira’s handling of the word. By 1968, Ira’s work was considered old-fashioned, and he was let go that year and died in 1969. This newly named title only lasted four issues, the last three with another logo probably by Gaspar Saladino.

Here are the covers I believe have Ira Schnapp lettering, not counting repeats: 1-4, 6, 8-18, 20-21, 24-26, 28-29, 31-36, 38-45, 47-49, 51-52, 54, 58, 66, 86, 91, 93-109. That’s 54 in all.

Like FLIPPETY AND FLOP, the Fox and Crow stories were pencilled and inked by California artist and animator James Davis before he sent them to DC in New York, probably with the lettering pencilled in. Ira Schnapp lettered many of them starting with the first issue. Davis put in his own balloon shapes with a brush, and Ira was usually able to make them work, but some, like the first two balloons, were not a good match for the lettering. I think Davis also did all the story logos, which were mostly different every time and often also inked with a brush.

In issue #2, a special style was needed for the Fox trying to hypnotize the Crow. Ira went with a squared style that looks more like robot speech to me.

Ira also lettered some of the Hound and Hare stories like this one from issue #10, which includes lots of signs and some typically odd Schnapp music notes.

The series went on unchanged for years, but by issue #55 in 1959, Ira was adding his own balloon borders, making for a better match to the lettering.

Issue #94 from 1965 had a new feature with a logo and lettering by Ira, though again the balloon shapes were done by the artist. Brat Finks only ran a few issues, but I like the logo.

Stanley and His Monster began as the new lead feature with issue #95, and none of those were lettered by Ira. He didn’t do the logo either. It seems to be an amusing concept by writer Arnold Drake about a boy and his pet monster, which no one else can quite see as he and the readers do.

Until the title change, Fox and Crow stories continued as backups, though many were reprints. The last new story lettered by Ira was this one in issue #102 from 1967.

Here’s a list of all the stories lettered by Ira Schnapp. Fox and Crow (hereafter FC) had multiple stories in each issue and are numbered. Hound and Hare (hereafter HH) usually had just one.

#1 Dec 1951/Jan 1952: FC 6pp, 6pp, 6pp, 5pp (1-4), HH 4pp

#2 Feb/March 1952: FC 4pp, 1pp (2-3), HH 6pp

#3 April/May 1952: HH 4pp

#4 June/July 1952: HH 6pp

#5 Aug/Sept 1952: FC 6pp, 6pp, 6pp (1-3)

#6 Oct/Nov 1952: FC 6pp (2)

#7 Dec 1952/Jan 1953: FC 6pp, 2pp (2 & 4), HH 5pp

#8 Feb/March 1953: FC 6pp (1)

#9 April/May 1953: FC 6pp (2), HH 6pp

#10 June/July 1953: FC 6pp, 6pp (1 & 3), HH 6pp

#11 Aug/Sept 1953: FC 5pp, 5pp (2 & 4)

#12 Oct/Nov 1953: FC 6pp, 6pp, 5pp (1-3), HH 6pp

#13 Dec 1953/Jan 1954: FC 6pp, 4pp, 4pp, 4pp (1-4)

#14 Feb 1954: FC 6pp, 4pp, 6pp (1-3), HH 6pp

#15 March 1954: FC 6pp, 6pp, 6pp (1-3), HH 4pp

#16 April 1954: FC 6pp, 6pp (1-2), HH 5pp

#17 June 1954: FC 6pp, 6pp, 6pp (1-3)

#18 Aug 1954: FC 6pp, 3pp, 7pp (1-3), HH 6pp

#19 Sept 1954: FC 6pp, 5pp (1-2), HH 6pp

#20 Oct 1954: FC 7pp, 6pp (2-3), HH 6pp

#21 Dec 1954: FC 6pp, 5pp, 4pp (1, 3-4)

#22 Feb 1955: FC 6pp, 7pp (1 & 4), HH 6pp

#23 March 1955: FC 7pp, 6pp (2-3)

#24 April 1955: FC 6pp, 1pp, 6pp, 6pp (1-3, 5)

#25 June 1955: FC 6pp, 6pp, 6pp (1-2, 4)

#26 Aug 1955: HH 6pp

#27 Sept 1955: FC 6pp, 6pp (1-2), HH 6pp

#28 Oct 1955: FC 6pp, 6pp (1-2), HH 6pp

#29 Dec 1955: FC 6pp, 6pp (2-3), HH 6pp

#30 Feb 1956: FC 6pp, 6pp (2-3), HH 6pp

#31 March 1956: FC 6pp, 1pp, 1pp (1-2, 4) HH 6pp

#32 April 1956: FC 1pp, 6pp (3-4)

#33 June 1956: FC 6pp, 1pp (2-3), HH 6pp

#34 Aug 1956: FC 6pp, 1pp, 6pp (2-4)

#35 Sept 1956: FC 6pp, 5pp, 6pp (1-3), HH 6pp

#36 Oct 1956: FC 6pp, 6pp (2-3), HH 4pp

#37 Dec 1956: FC 6pp (1), HH 6pp

#38 Feb 1957: FC 6pp, 6pp (1 & 3), HH 6pp

#39 March 1957: FC 1pp, 6pp (3-4), HH 6pp

#40 April 1957: FC 6pp, 1pp, 6pp (1, 3-4)

#41 June 1957: FC 1pp, 1pp (3-4), HH 6pp

#42 Aug 1957: FC 6pp (2), HH 6pp

#43 Sept 1957: FC 6pp, 6pp (1 & 3)

#44 Oct 1957: FC 6pp, 6pp (1 & 3)

#45 Dec 1957: FC 6pp, 6pp (1-2)

#46 Feb 1958: FC 6pp, 1pp, 7pp, 6pp, 1pp (1-5), HH 6pp

#47 March 1958: FC 6pp (2), HH 6pp

#48 April 1958: FC 6pp, 1pp, 5pp (1-2, 4)

#49 June 1958: FC 1pp, 6pp, 1pp, 6pp (2-5)

#50 Aug 1958: FC 6pp, 6pp (2-3), HH 6pp

#51 Sept 1958: FC 8pp, 6pp (1 & 3)

#52 Oct 1958: FC 8pp (1), HH 6pp

#53 Dec 1958: FC 6pp, 4pp (1 & 3)

#54 Feb/March 1959: FC 4pp, 6pp (1 & 3), HH 6pp

#55 April/May 1959 FC 8pp, 4pp, 4pp, 6pp (1-4), HH 6pp

#56 June/July 1959: FC 4pp, 4pp (3-4)

#58 Oct/Nov 1959: FC 8pp, 6pp, 6pp (1-3)

#59 Dec 1959/Jan 1960: FC 6pp, 8pp (1 & 3), HH 6pp

#60 Feb/March 1960: FC 6pp, 6pp, 6pp (1-3), HH 6pp, Three Mouseketeers 3pp

#61 April/May 1960: FC 6pp, 6pp (1 & 3), HH 6pp

#62 June/July 1960: FC 6pp, 4pp (2-3), HH 6pp

#63 Aug/Sept 1960: FC 6pp (1)

#64 Oct/Nov 1960: FC 6pp, 4pp, 6pp (1-3), HH 6pp

#65 Dec 1960/Jan 1961: FC 6pp, 6pp, 6pp (1-3), HH 6pp

#66 Feb/March 1961: FC 6pp, 6pp, 6pp (1-3), HH 6pp, Twiddle & Twaddle 4pp

#67 April/May 1961: FC 6pp, 6pp (1-2), HH 6pp

#68 June/July 1961: FC 6pp, 6pp, 6pp (1-3), HH 6pp, Flippety & Flop 4pp

#69 Aug/Sept 1961: FC 6pp, 6pp, 6pp (1-2, 4), HH 6pp

#70 Oct/Nov 1961: FC 6pp, 6pp, 6pp, HH 6pp

#71 Dec 1961/Jan 1962: FC 6pp, 6pp, 6pp (1-3), HH 6pp

#72 Feb/March 1962: FC 6pp, 6pp, 6pp (1-3), HH 6pp

#73 April/May 1962: FC 6pp, 6pp, 1pp, 6pp, 1pp (1-2, 4-6), HH 6pp

#74 June/July 1962: FC 6pp, 6pp, 6pp (1-3), HH 6pp, T&T 4pp

#75 Aug/Sept 1962: FC 6pp, 6pp (2-3), HH 6pp

#76 Oct/Nov 1962: FC 6pp, 6pp (1 & 3), HH 6pp

#77 Dec 1962/Jan 1963: FC 6pp, 6pp, 1pp, 6pp (1-4), HH 6pp

#78 Feb/March 1963: FC 6pp, 6pp, 6pp (1-3), HH 6pp, T&T 4pp

#79 April/May 1963: FC 6pp, 6pp, 6pp (1-3), HH 6pp

#80 June/July 1963: FC 6pp, 6pp, 6pp (1-3), HH 6pp

#81 Aug/Sept 1963: FC 4pp, 4pp, 6pp (1-3), HH 6pp

#82 Oct/Nov 1963: FC 6pp, 6pp (1 & 4)

#83 Dec 1963/Jan 1964: FC 6pp, 5pp, 4pp (1-2, 4), HH 6pp

#84 Feb/March 1964: FC 6pp, 6pp, 4pp, 4pp, 6pp (1-5)

#85 April/May 1964: FC 6pp, 6pp (1 & 4), HH 6pp

#86 June/July 1964: FC 6pp, 6pp (1-2)

#87 Aug/Sept 1964: FC 6pp, 6pp, 6pp (1-3), HH 6pp

#88 Oct/Nov 1964: FC 6pp, 6pp, 6pp (1-3), HH 6pp

#89 Dec 1964/Jan 1965: FC 6pp, 4pp, 4pp, 6pp, HH 6pp

#90 Feb/March 1965: FC 6pp, 6pp, 4pp (1-3)

#91 April/May 1965: FC 6pp (1)

#92 June/July 1965: FC 4pp (2), HH 6pp

#93 Aug/Sept 1965: FC 6pp, 6pp, 6pp (1-3)

#94 Oct/Nov 1965: FC 6pp, 6pp (1 & 3), Brat Finks 8pp

#95 Dec 1965/Jan 1966: FC 6pp (2), Brat Finks 6pp

#96 Feb/March 1966: FC 4pp (2)

#97 April/May 1966: FC 4pp (2)

#99 Aug/Sept 1966: FC 6pp (2)

#102 Feb/March 1967: FC 6pp (2)

That’s a total of 1,628 pages on this title, a large amount of work. More articles in this series are on the Comics Creation page of my blog.

The Fox and the Crow on Wikipedia, with cartoon info.

Stanley and His Monster on Wikipedia.

The post Ira Schnapp in THE FOX AND THE CROW appeared first on Todd's Blog.

Rereading: MOOMINSUMMER MADNESS by Tove Jansson

Art by Tove Jansson, image © her estate.

I’m rereading the Moomin books by Jansson in the order of publication. Last time I covered Moominpappa’s Memoirs from 1950. The next one was a picture book for younger readers, which I’ve already reviewed, The Book about Moomin, Mymble and Little My, a cleverly made story from 1952 with cutouts on each page that change the narrative as you turn the pages. The next full-length novel is this one from 1954.

A volcano near Moomin Valley erupts, causing an earthquake and a tidal wave that floods the valley, and soon the Moomins and their friends are forced up to the roof of their house. As they watch the world float by and exchange greetings with strangers floating on an uprooted tree, a large structure they don’t recognize floats up to their roof. It’s actually an outdoor theater shell, but they don’t realize that for some time. As the waters continue to rise, the Moomins decide to climb aboard the structure and take their chances in it. Behind the front curtains are all kinds of puzzling things: scenery, props, and a person who stays hidden but plays tricks on them. When the theatre rests against a tall tree, Moomin and the Snork Maiden decide to move into it with their new friend Misabel, but the theater floats away again in the night, leaving them stranded. The tree is close to other trees, and the three find their way from one to another to land, but there’s no sign of the theater.

Many more adventures follow, as Moomintroll and his friends get arrested, and once the theater is stranded on shore, a play is put on for the whole valley, who arrive in boats.

This is a charming book, like the others, and full of fine, funny characters and entertaining events. Tove’s drawings are excellent, too, as always.

Recommended.

The post Rereading: MOOMINSUMMER MADNESS by Tove Jansson appeared first on Todd's Blog.

Ira Schnapp in FLIPPITY AND FLOP

Images © DC Comics

Unlike many DC Comics funny animal characters, Flippity the canary, Flop the cat and Sam the family dog did appear in four cartoons from Screen Gems, though they were never as popular or as well-known as Tweety and Sylvester from Warner Bros, or even The Fox and The Crow, also from Screen Gems. Their comic began with a Dec 1951/Jan 1952 cover date and ran to 47 issues, ending in 1960. The characters had already appeared in other DC anthologies. The comic was edited by Larry Nadle. Each issue had several stories featuring the team and usually one starring two mice, Twiddle and Twaddle. Most, or perhaps all, were drawn by west coast animator Jim Davis, not the same man who created Garfield.

Ira Schnapp was the main story letterer for this book, handling about two thirds of the page lettering. He also lettered some covers, but many had no lettering. It’s possible Ira designed the logo, but he did not do the rest of the cover lettering on this first cover. I suspect the logo and lettering might have been done by artist Jim Davis, but that’s just a guess. the blurb in a circle appeared on many later covers.

The first cover I see Ira Schnapp balloon lettering on is issue #12 from 1953, though Ira did not do the balloon shapes, Jim Davis did. Since Davis was in California, I believe his habit was to turn in finished art with lettering pencilled in and inked balloon shapes, and that was done here.

Issue #19 from 1954/55 has some unusual rough display lettering in this balloon by Ira, and by now he was also doing the balloon border.

Issue #37 from 1957-58 is typical of Ira’s balloons at the time on all DC covers, but the round blurb from issue #1 is still the same.

Issue #40 from 1958 has no Schnapp cover lettering, but it does have a new version of the logo I think he designed, with thicker letters and a much heavier outline. There was no new Schnapp work on covers after this. Here are the covers I think Ira lettered: 12-13, 15-16, 19, 23, 27, 33, 35-37, 39, that’s twelve in all.

Here’s a sample of Ira’s story lettering from the first issue. Again, artist Jim Davis put in the balloon shapes, so Ira had to make his lettering fit. His generally small work fit well in some places, but left extra white space in others.

By issue #20 in 1955, Schnapp was doing his own balloon shapes, so something must have been worked out with the artist to allow that, perhaps Davis just left pencilled dialogue and balloon shapes and Ira did them in New York. I think having a letterer do those shapes always looks best.

Twiddle and Twaddle were the other stars of the book. I think Davis always did the character names, as they varied a lot and always look like they were inked with a brush.

A page from the last issue with Ira’s lettering. There was a large gap between issue #46 (Aug-Oct 1959) and issue #47 (Sept-Nov 1960), so the latter was probably issued to use up inventory, though two of the stories in it were reprints. Here are the stories lettered by Ira Schnapp, with FF meaning Flippity & Flop (stories numbered), and TT meaning Twiddle & Twaddle:

#1 Dec 1951/Jan 1952: FF 6pp, 4pp, 3pp (1-3), TT 4pp, FF 5pp (4)

#2 Feb/March 1952: FF 6pp, 6pp, 5pp (1-3)

#3 April/May 1952: TT 3pp, FF 6pp (3)

#4 June/July 1952: FF 6pp (1) Hound & Hare 6pp, FF 6pp (2)

#5 Aug/Sept 1952: TT 6pp, FF 6pp (3)

#6 Oct/Nov 1952: TT 3pp, FF 7pp (2), TT 4pp, FF 5pp (3)

#7 Dec 1952/Jan 1953: FF 6pp, 6pp, 6pp (1-3) TT 6pp

#8 Feb/March 1953: TT 6pp, FF 5pp (3)

#9 April/May 1953: FF 6pp, 6pp (1 & 3), TT 6pp

#10 June/July 1953: FF 6pp, 6pp (1-2)

#11 Aug/Sept 1953: FF 6pp, 3pp, 6pp (1, 3-4) TT 4pp

#12 Oct/Nov 1953: FF 4pp, 3pp, 7pp (1, 3-4), TT 5pp

#13 Dec 1953/Jan 1954: FF 6pp, 6pp, 7pp (1-3), TT 4pp

#14 Feb/March 1954: FF 4pp, 6pp (2 & 4)

#15 April/May 1954: FF 6pp, 6pp, 6pp (1-3), TT 4pp

#16 June/July 1954: FF 6pp, 6pp (1-2), TT 5pp

#17 Aug/Sept 1954: FF 6pp, 7pp (1 & 3)

#18 Oct/Nov 1954: FF 6pp, 6pp (1-2) TT 5pp

#19 Dec 1954/Jan 1955: FF 6pp, 6pp (1-2), TT 6pp

#20 Feb/March 1955: FF 6pp, 6pp (1-2), TT 4pp, TT & Fago 1pp

#21 April/May 1955: TT 6pp, FF 7pp, 6pp (2-3)

#22 June/July 1955: TT 4pp, FF 6pp, 6pp (2-3)

#23 Aug/Sept 1955: FF 6pp, 6pp (1 & 3), TT 6pp

#24 Oct/Nov 1955: FF 6pp, 6pp, 6pp (1-3), TT 6pp

#25 Dec 1955/Jan 1956: FF 6pp, 6pp, 6pp (1-3), TT 6pp

#26 Feb/March 1956: FF 6pp, 6pp (2 & 4)

#27 April/May 1956: FF 6pp, 6pp (1 & 3), TT 5pp

#28 June/July 1956: FF 6pp, 6pp, 6pp (1-3), TT 6pp

#29 Aug/Sept 1956: FF 6pp, 6pp, 6pp (1-3), TT 4pp

#30 Oct/Nov 1956: FF 6pp (1), TT 6pp

#31 Dec 1956/Jan 1957: FF 6pp (1), TT 6pp

#32 Feb/March 1957: FF 6pp, 6pp (1-2), TT 6pp

#33 April/May 1957: FF 6pp, 6pp (1-2)

#34 June/July 1957: FF 6pp, 6pp, 6pp (1-3)

#35 Aug/Sept 1957: FF 6pp (2) TT 6pp

#36 Oct/Nov 1957: FF 6pp (3)

#37 Dec 1957/Jan 1958: FF 6pp, 6pp, 6pp (1-3), TT 6pp

#38 Feb/March 1958: FF 6pp, 6pp, 6pp (1-3)

#39 April/May 1958: FF 6pp, 6pp, 6pp (1-3)

#40 June/July 1958: FF 6pp, 6pp, 6pp (1-3), TT 6pp

#41 Aug/Sept 1958: FF 8pp, 6pp (1-2) TT 6pp

#42 Oct/Nov 1958: FF 8pp, 4pp, 4pp, 6pp (1-4), TT 6pp

#43 Dec 1958/Jan 1959: FF 8pp (1)

#45 May-July 1959: FF 4pp, 6pp, 6pp (2-4), TT 4pp

#46 Aug-Oct 1959: FF 6pp (2), TT 6pp

#47 Sept-Nov 1960: FF 6pp, 6pp (1 & 5) (2 & 4 are reprints)

That’s a total of 787 pages on this book. More articles in this series can be found on the Comics Creation page of my blog.

Flippity and Flop on Wikipedia.

Jim Davis information.

The post Ira Schnapp in FLIPPITY AND FLOP appeared first on Todd's Blog.

Ira Schnapp in HOUSE OF MYSTERY

Images © DC Comics

Horror comics were a popular category in the early 1950s, and DC decided to try it with this title launched with a December 1951/January 1952 cover date. DC’s horror books (which they preferred to call mystery comics) were always a lot tamer than similar offerings from other publishers, but they did include stories about ghosts and traditional monsters like the werewolf on this first cover that attempted to be frightening. The editor of record in 1950s issues was Whitney Ellsworth, like all DC titles, but it was probably edited by Jack Schiff with his team of George Kashdan and Murray Boltinoff, and it must have sold well, as it went monthly with issue #5 and remained a monthly until 1963, about 130 issues. Later issues were edited by Kashdan alone, and in 1968 editing was taken over by Joe Orlando, but after Ira Schnapp’s participation ended, so I won’t cover that here.

Ira Schnapp designed the cover logo. It’s rather bland and has nothing scary about it, an interesting choice. That may have been Ira’s choice, or the editor’s, but I find Ira’s scary lettering about the least effective thing he did, so perhaps it’s just as well. Certainly the logo is easy to read and in the DC house style of other Ira Schnapp logos, setting it apart from the horror comics of competitors. Ira also lettered this and most of the series covers until 1967. Again, he rarely attempted to be scary, but his work was easy to read, and perhaps the familiar style made it an easier sell. Most of Schnapp’s lettering on this title was on covers, though he did do occasional stories until 1964.

Issue #7 from 1952 shows the groove the cover lettering fell into for many issues: a scary scene, a word balloon or two, and a list of story titles, often at the bottom.

Issue #30 from 1954 shows Ira making an extra effort in the Asian style of the cover story title.

Issue #73 from 1958 has another special treatment on the word ICICLE. This sort of thing became common later, but was less so in the 1950s. By now the list of story titles had been dropped.

DC had several layers of proofreading before anything went to the printer, including the editor, an official proofreader, and printer proofs, but things still slipped by occasionally. Can you find the error in this balloon?

After the Comics Code took effect in 1954 (as evidenced by the code seal at upper right of each cover), the story emphasis moved away from traditional horror themes to more science fictional monsters and aliens, which I guess were considered okay by the Code.

By issue #143 in 1964, superheroes were all the rage and sales must have been flagging on HOUSE OF MYSTERY. J’onn J’onzz, Manhunter from Mars, who had first appeared in DETECTIVE COMICS in 1955, began a series of lead stories in this book with his alien sidekick Zook.

With issue #156 in 1966, a new lead feature began, pushing the Ira Schnapp logo to the side. I don’t know who lettered the Dial H for Hero logo or the rest of the lettering on this cover. It’s not Ira and doesn’t look like Gaspar Saladino either, the next most likely candidate. It’s probably by some other DC production artist like Joe Letterese. The Dial H logo is poorly done in my opinion.

Issue #163 from later in 1966 is firmly in the worst period of DC cover design, with too much lettering and trade dress, and those awful “Go-Go Checks” at the top. This cover’s lettering has several creators. Ira did the balloon, fly paper signs and caption at the lower right as well as the HOM logo, Gaspar Saladino lettered the copy in the horizontal yellow band, and an unknown person did the Dial H logo and blurb. It’s almost as if someone thought piling on more lettering was going to save this sad cover.

Schnapp’s final cover lettering was on issue #172 dated Jan/Feb 1968. At least this cover has an interesting image and much less copy.

Here are the covers I think are lettered by Ira Schnapp: 1, 3-32, 34-45, 47-70, 72-81, 84-134, 136-143, 145-159, 161-167, 169-172. That’s 162 in all, a fine run.

Ira did not letter many stories for this series. Here’s the first page of the first one from issue #2. I like his scroll caption.

There’s not a lot to say about the stories in this series. There were no continuing characters until issue #143 in 1964, that’s a lot of short stories that had to introduce characters and plot and resolve it in a few pages while giving readers a chill. Not an easy task.

This story from issue #100 in 1960 is a typical weird monster tale. Even coming up with so many different monsters must have been a challenge.

Issue #147 of 1964 has the last story lettered by Ira, though there was at least one reprint after that. Here are the stories lettered by Ira Schnapp:

#2 Feb/March 1952: The Tree of Doom 8pp

#3 April/May 1952: I Was a Victim of Black Magic 4pp

#6 Sept 1952: I Was a Ghost For Hire 6pp

#9 Dec 1952: Secret of the Little Black Bag 8pp, Ghost Writer 4pp

#13 April 1953: The Tell-Tale Mirror 6pp

#14 May 1953: I Hired a Ghost 6pp

#15 June 1953: The Winged Demon 6pp

#16 July 1953: His Name On A Bullet 6pp

#38 May 1955: The Gloves of Fate 6pp

#45 Dec 1955: The Four Forbidden Secrets 6pp

#47 Feb 1956: They Call Me the Prince of Liars 6pp

#75 June 1958: The Fatal Masquerade 6pp

#81 Dec 1958: Menace of the Alien Test Tubes 8pp

#83 Feb 1959: Mystery of the Martian Eye 9pp

#84 March 1959: The 100 Century Doom 6pp

#100 July 1960: Curse of the Ghost Caravan 8pp, The Beast Beneath the Earth 9pp

#102 Sept 1960: Cellmate to a Monster 8pp

#104 Nov 1960: The Seeing-Eye Man 9pp

#108 March 1961: The Weird Weapons of Zabadu 8pp

#110 May 1961: The Costume of 100 Powers 8pp

#111 June 1961: The Return of the Sorcerer’s Satellite 8pp

#115 Oct 1961: Case of the Perilous Pet 8pp

#119 Feb 1962: The Man Who Tuned In the Unknown 9pp

#123 June 1962: Lure of the Decoy Creature 9pp

#128 Nov 1962: Captives of the Robot Brain 8pp

#129 Dec 1962: The Ride to Disaster 8pp

#147 Dec 1964: Riddle of the Weird Warrior 8pp

That’s a total of 209 pages. More articles in this series are on the Comics Creation page of my blog.

House of Mystery on Wikipedia.

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And Then I Read: JIMMY OLSEN #11 & #12

Images © DC Comics. Written by Matt Fraction, art by Steve Lieber, colors by Nathan Fairbairn, letters by Clayton Cowles.

I was reading this series on Comixology and really enjoying it. Then it slowed way down due to Covid issues, no doubt, and I forgot to read the last two issues…until now.

What writer Matt Fraction and artist Steve Lieber have created in this 12-issue series is remarkable. It’s a return to the silly but fun Jimmy Olsen stories of the 1950s-60s in the character’s first series, it’s an intricate history of the Olsen and Luthor families and their continuing conflicts and impact on Metropolis, and it’s full of humor, appealing characters and surprises. Each issue is told in brief segments following different plot threads from one to several pages, each with an entertaining opening caption similar to those on the old comics, but with Fraction’s droll humor. There are plenty of Easter eggs thrown in by artist Steve Lieber. Jimmy himself fills a wide range of roles, and then there’s his siblings and friends, including Superman and Batman, Jimmy’s workmates at The Daily Planet and his reporting fiascos, and a major plot thread about someone trying to kill Jimmy that adds mystery and police drama. There’s science fiction (a wife from another world, robots, alien invaders), giant animals, microscopic adventures, and a wide variety of weirdness that will charm and delight readers, even jaded oldsters like myself.

I can’t think of a modern comic that entertained me more. The resolutions provided in the final issue were completely satisfying, too, something one rarely finds today. The collected edition of this series is out soon, link below, or check with your comics retailer. I highly recommend it!

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Ira Schnapp in ALL-STAR WESTERN

All images © DC Comics

ALL-STAR COMICS had been a flagship title of the publisher All-American Comics, a sister company of National (DC) Comics. When the two lines were merged in 1946, ALL-STAR continued as a superhero title for some years hosting the Justice Society of America. In 1951 interest in superheroes was waning and DC decided to change the title and theme to ALL-STAR WESTERN, with editor Julius Schwartz at the helm for the rest of the series, which ran from issue #58 to issue #119 in 1961. You might wonder why the company wouldn’t just end this title and start a new one. Several reasons: comics had to apply for lower postage rates, which cost time and money, and steering a title in a new direction meant they didn’t have to reapply for that. Also, first issues were not the top sellers they later became, and readers were more likely to keep picking up a familiar title than to try a new one.

I believe the new logo created here is by Ira Schnapp. ALL-STAR is similar to the previous version, but with horizontally-aligned letters that are more in Ira’s style, as are the letter shapes. The cover lettering is also by Ira. He lettered nearly all the covers of this series, and some inside stories, but not a lot.

Issue #71 from 1953 has a nicely varied selection of Schnapp lettering, including the feature list at the top. The Trigger Twins were most often on the cover until late in the run.

Occasionally Johnny Thunder got cover treatment too. Word balloons by Ira were used, but not as often as on many other titles.

On issue #108 from 1959, a new logo by Schnapp put Johnny Thunder firmly in the lead position. The gun-slinger must have been popular with readers. I like Ira’s letters in THUNDER with straight sides and broken ends, an idea I’ve copied myself.

The final issue of the series shows Johnny teamed with a female gunslinger in an attempt to pull in new readers, but it must not have worked. I love Ira’s lettering in her name in the caption.

Here are the covers I see Ira Schnapp lettering on: 58-60, 62-79, 81, 83-101, 105-119, that’s 56 in all.

While Ira did not letter any stories in the first few issues, I think he designed all the feature logos for the first page of each feature, and would also do that for new features as they appeared. Look how different they are from each other, yet all have some characteristic Schnapp style in the letter shapes. Gaspar Saladino was by far the most frequent story letterer in this title, often doing all the features in an issue, though Ira did have a presence too, and other letterers came in more often in the final third of the run.

The first story lettered by Schnapp was this one in issue #62 dated Dec 51/Jan 52. In general these Western stories seemed less lettering-heavy than other genres of the time.

Here’s a story Ira lettered for issue #63 with some of his handwriting in a letter.

The feature Ira did the most work on was this one, which also has his logo on it. He did a run of these cavalry stories.

Ira lettered a Trigger Twins story for issue #84 in 1955. His logo has been given a new layout to take up less space.

Schnapp’s final story lettering was this one for issue #94 in 1957. I don’t know how often stories featured the thoughts of a horse in Western comics, but it couldn’t have happened much!

Here are the stories I see Ira Schnapp lettering on:

#62 Dec 1951/Jan 1952: Don Caballero 4pp

#63 Feb/March 1952: Roving Ranger 6pp, Don Caballero 6pp

#79 Oct/Nov 1954: Sun-Dance of the Crow Indians 3pp

#83 June/July 1955: Foley of the Fighting 5th 6pp

#84 Aug/Sept 1955: The Trigger Twins 6pp

#85 Oct/Nov 1955: Foley 6pp

#87 Feb/March 1956: Strong Bow 6pp, Foley 6pp

#88 April/May 1956: Foley 6pp

#90 Aug/Sept 1956: Foley 6pp

#91 Oct/Nov 1956: Foley 4pp

#93 Feb/March 1957: Trigger Twins 6pp, Foley 6pp

#94 April/May 1957: Foley 6pp

That’s a total of 77 pages, not a lot for Ira. More articles in this series can be found on the Comics Creation page of my blog.

Ira Schnapp on Wikipedia.

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And Then I Read: SHAKESPEARE’S SPY by Gary Blackwood

This is the third book in a trilogy that began with “The Shakespeare Stealer” and continued with “Shakespeare’s Scribe.” American author Gary Blackwood has done a terrific job recreating the world of Shakespeare’s London and his theater company. Widge is a young apprentice actor sent to steal the playwright’s “Hamlet” in the first book, but who ends up becoming Shakespeare’s friend and joins his company playing female roles, as was the custom then. In Scribe, the company is on the road and encountering many problems while Widge transcribes Shakespeare’s work for him and also finds a possible father, something he never expected. In this third book, someone is stealing Shakespeare’s plays again, and Widge comes under suspicion. Despite the good will of his friends in the company, Widge is let go and decides he must join the company of the man who has been stealing the plays to see if he can find out more.

Other subplots abound, including a deadly walk across the frozen Thames, the presence of a forbidden Catholic priest in the company, the impending death of their patron, Queen Elizabeth, and the rescue of Widge’s friend in France. It all seems well researched and believable, from the language to the customs and atmosphere. I recommend all three books, links below.

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Ira Schnapp in MYSTERY IN SPACE

All images © DC Comics

In 1951 editor Julius Schwartz launched a second science fiction anthology title in the same vein as his STRANGE ADVENTURES. It followed a similar pattern of several unrelated short stories in each issue. Writer names were included on some early stories, but were not promoted as much as in the other title. MIS was bimonthly at first, then went to eight issues per year. Several continuing features had runs, but none with the popularity and impact of Adam Strange, featured in every issue from #53 to #100, the closest DC came to a science fictional super-hero in these two books. Adam Strange and another hero, Space Ranger, had first appeared in separate stories in SHOWCASE #17-19, but Adam found his home in MYSTERY IN SPACE after that. When editor Jack Schiff took over the title with issue #92, he also brought Space Ranger into it before turning the book over to a new character, Ultra, the Multi-Alien for the last eight issues.

The logo and cover lettering for the first issue, above, is by Ira Schnapp. The logo matches the style of his STRANGE ADVENTURES one, helping to tie the two similar books together for readers. His handsome script top line “Strange Stories of the Future!” is hindered by too much black ink, but still readable. Most of Ira’s work on this title was for covers, he lettered almost all of them, while working on just a few stories inside.

On issue #2, Ira’s caption doubles as a Wanted poster. His top lines show up much better this time.

Issue #9 from 1952 has the first Schnapp word balloon in the style familiar from nearly all the DC covers of the time. The top lettering is down to one line and in a box to read better.

Irwin Donenfeld of DC’s management was convinced that monkeys and apes on covers sold comics, so they appeared on many issues. I find this one’s monkey balloon by Ira amusing.

Here’s the first appearance of Adam Strange in the series, looking very much the super-hero. I enjoyed his adventures as a child, especially the ones drawn by Carmine Infantino, though this cover drawn by Gil Kane is fine too.

Adam Strange was so popular that by issue #75 in 1962 he was occasionally starring in book-length stories with guest stars like the Justice League of America. All that is touted in Ira Schnapp’s caption.

One of the most memorable Adam Strange covers on this series includes some fine caption lettering at the bottom by Ira in the form of a monument the character is standing on.

For a few issues, Adam was joined by Hawkman in separate stories, and in one combined adventure in issue #90, as Ira explains in his caption.

With Jack Schiff now editing, issue #103 heads in a very different direction, and Ira’s lettering takes a much larger part of the cover from here on as well. I never saw these issues, and don’t like the look of them much now.

Ira’s final cover lettering was on the last issue of this run, #110. I love his interpretation of flute playing on the left side.

Here are the covers I see Ira’s lettering on, not counting reused blurbs: 1-3, 5-83, 86-88, 90-96, 98-100, 102-110. That’s 104 in all.

Here’s the title page of the story in issue #1 that Ira lettered. Most of the story lettering on the first 30 issues is by Gaspar Saladino, and he lettered many stories after that too. Ira did only a few.

Another continuing feature of the series was Space-Cabbie, and Ira lettered two early ones. This is the second appearance in issue #24 from 1955.

While Ira did not letter any of the Adam Strange stories, he did design this logo that appeared on the first page of each one. The letter shapes are very much in his style.

The last story lettering by Schnapp in this book was a Star Rovers story in issue #86 from 1963. This was another continuing series, a clever idea where each of the main characters has a different take on what happens.

While Ira did not letter any of the Space Ranger stories, again he designed the logo for the title pages.

Ira also did the logo for Ultra the Multi-Alien, but it did not appear until the character’s second story in issue #104 from 1965. I like the shapes in ULTRA, and the lower case L, but the rest could have been more compact and in that space to the right of it.

Here are the stories with Schnapp lettering:

#1 April/May 1951: The Mind Robbers 8pp

#6 Feb/March 1952: Cowboy On Mars 8pp

#9 Aug/Sept 1952: The Martian Horse 6pp

#11 Dec 1952/Jan 1953: S.O.S. in Space 6pp

#24 Feb/March 1955: Hitchhiker of Space 6pp

#26 June/July 1955: One-Man Planet 6pp, Space-Cabbie 6pp

#27 Aug/Sept 1955: The Human Fishbowl 6pp

#29 Dec 1955/Jan 1956: Mystery of the Mind-Reading Jewels 6pp

#39 Aug/Sept 1957: Solar Olympics of 3,000 A.D. 6pp

#68 June 1961: Captain Baboon’s Space-War 8pp

#69 Aug 1961: Duel of the Star Gladiators 8pp

#72 Dec 1961: Doom-Trap for Earth 10pp

#86 Sept 1963: Star Rovers 10pp

That’s a total of 94 pages. More articles in this series can be found on the Comics Creation page of my blog.

Mystery in Space on Wikipedia, with a list of all the continuing features.

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Incoming: THE SANDMAN DELUXE EDITION BOOK 1

Image © DC Comics

DC is going to the Sandman well again with a new series of collections in the Deluxe format: hardcovers with art slightly larger than the original comics, printing and paper considerably better than the original comics, but not as good or as large as the expensive ABSOLUTE SANDMAN boxed hardcovers of some years ago (this one has a glued, not sewn binding, for instance). One surprising change is a delightful wraparound cover by artist Michael Wm. Kaluta rather than Dave McKean, who I think has done the cover art on all previous collections (but there have been many, so I could be wrong). I don’t recall my friend Michael working on the Sandman series, so his take on the characters is interesting. This book contains issues 1-16 of the original series plus the long stand-alone story SANDMAN MIDNIGHT THEATRE, which I don’t recall ever appearing as part of a Sandman collection, but again I could be wrong. In any case, this is a good book particularly for new Sandman readers who want to enjoy and shelve the entire series. The retail price is $49.99, and while not up to the quality of the best edition (ABSOLUTE SANDMAN), this one is appealing and would grace any bookshelf. It’s due out in early November. An Amazon link is below, or check with your comics retailer or local bookseller.

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