Todd Klein's Blog, page 105

Ira Schnapp in THE ADVENTURES OF BOB HOPE

All images © DC Comics

Having had moderate success with licensed humor comics from radio shows like A Date With Judy and The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriett and a few featuring Hollywood stars Dale Evans and Alan Ladd, DC decided to launch this book featuring one of Hollywood’s most popular comedians, who was busy on, as the subtitle says, “Stage, Screen and Radio.” It was very popular, lasting seventeen years and 109 issues, and it paved the way for other similar comics from DC. The format of the comic, perhaps something Hope or his agent asked for in the contract, was unusual. Instead of three or more short humor stories like almost all other humor comics, THE ADVENTURES OF BOB HOPE featured book-length adventures, though broken up into usually three chapters that were formatted like separate stories. Very few comics of any kind were telling stories as long as the ones in this title until decades later. The Bob Hope character in the comic was a single guy who lived in an apartment, often interacting with his landlady Mrs. Peabody, and each issue he would get involved in some kind of sports (golf and skiing were popular), job or travel adventure while always in wolfish pursuit of pretty girls and making plenty of wise cracks in every situation. I haven’t really read more than a few pages here and there, but they seem amusing, if socially incorrect for today. The first few covers used photos before reverting to typical drawn art. It was edited, like all DC humor titles then, by Larry Nadle and later by Murray Boltinoff.

The logo has large rounded letters for BOB HOPE with varying sizes, and at first that suggested the work of an unidentified letterer I’ve nicknamed Proto-Schnapp because I think his work was the inspiration for Ira Schnapp’s own lettering. After some thought, I’ve decided that this logo is too carefully done and consistent for Proto-Schnapp, and is the work of Ira himself. Proto-Schnapp’s logos have more bounce and cartooniness. This is also around the time Proto-Schnapp’s work was disappearing from DC and Ira was taking over as the main logo designer and cover letterer. Most of the covers that had lettering were done by Ira, whose work for this title was massive.

The first cover with a Schnapp word balloon is #8 from 1951, which also includes an appealing caption with lots of energy in the title.

Issue #15 has another caption describing the plot, but those soon faded away in favor of just word balloons giving Bob a chance to make some kind of wise crack, usually.

I like this cover lettering for issue #43 from 1957 with the translated cave-talk.

Issue #59 from 1959 introduced a new logo by Ira with tall block letters, less cartoony and more like a movie marquee perhaps, with THE ADVENTURES OF relegated to small script. The layout left big blank areas at the top, but on a humor book perhaps that wasn’t important.

As the series reached #87 in 1964, sales must have been slipping, and a talking dog was introduced to attract readers. He didn’t last very long. Ira’s caption here fits a lot of info into a small space.

Issue #93 in 1965 sported another new Ira Schnapp logo, and I like it the best of the three. It combines the squared letters of the second logo with the cartoony feel of the first, and takes up less space. Having Hope’s head on the left is also a good idea, but one can’t help seeing some desperation here. Sales are falling? Let’s try a new logo.

Desperation reached new depths with issue #95 and the introduction of Bob’s nephew Super-Hip, as if that wasn’t an indication of how UN-hip the idea was. The title was on a downhill slide by this time, and this gimmick did not help either. Even great art by Bob Oksner (and Neal Adams on the last few issues) was not enough to save it.

Ira Schnapp’s last cover lettering for the title was on issue #108 cover-dated January 1968, the next to last one, over Adams art. Neal Adams had befriended Ira in his last years at DC, and probably asked for him rather than Gaspar Saladino, who was doing much of the cover lettering at this point, but I find Ira’s lettering not a good match for the art in this case.

These are the covers I see Schnapp lettering on: 8-53, 55-81, 83-90, 92-93, 95-101, 103-108. That’s 96 covers.

Here’s a typical page of lettering from the first issue. The style is one that both Ira and Proto-Schnapp used, but Proto-Schnapp’s letters were usually wider than Ira’s, and at first I thought this was his work. It could be, but other things make me think it, and almost all the Bob Hope story lettering, is by Ira. First, we have a new title featuring a high-profile movie star that DC would want to look consistent. Next, we have very long stories in each issue. That doesn’t seem like an assignment that would be given to Proto-Schnapp, who I think was an older man about to retire, as his work is mostly gone from the company’s comics by the end of 1950. It seems more likely they would have Ira be the regular letterer, and this is around the time I think Ira started working on staff and taking on a lot of Proto-Schnapp’s other workload. One possible reason for Ira to letter wider is that I think the artist on most early Hope stories, Owen Fitzgerald, drew in the balloon shapes on his finished art. Fitzgerald was an animator living in California, and the usual process for DC artists like that was to send them a script and have them produce finished art, including the balloon shapes drawn around their pencilled-in lettering. When the art arrived in New York, the letterer would fill in the balloons, but perhaps Fitzgerald left shapes that were too wide for Ira’s usual letters, causing him to go wider to fill them better. After 1950 it’s almost certain that Ira was the only one using this style until years later when some other letterers began to imitate him.

Here’s a fun page from issue #2 that I bet Ira enjoyed working on.

Issue #5 has some creative non-English “lettering” by Ira simulating Arabic.

As I said earlier, the book-length Bob Hope stories were broken into chapter-like sections, though not labeled as chapters, and there were no story titles until many years later. The last page of each section said CONTINUED at lower right, as seen here in issue #10…

…and the first page of the next section had the Bob Hope logo as if it was a separate story, though the action continues from the previous page. I can’t think of another DC comic that worked this way, especially a humor title.

There were other short features in the book sometimes lettered by others and sometimes by Ira, as in this Bob Hope bio from issue #16. Some short features had continuing characters appearing in other DC humor titles, and there were the usual assortment of one or two-page fillers, text pages, public service pages and house ads, the later two items often lettered by Ira, though I’m not counting them here.

I have counted a few one-pagers by artist Mort Drucker like this one from issue #74. Drucker had worked alongside Ira as a DC production artist for a few years honing his drawing talent before finding success as a freelance artist at MAD, DC and other companies in the mid 1950s.

By issue #90 in 1964, Drucker was occasionally drawing the main Bob Hope feature. Story titles and chapters were introduced with issue #88 at a time when longer stories were another way to attract readers, or so DC thought. I find this amusing, since this title had already been using them for its entire run. Note the writer and artist credits, something seen rarely at DC then. Still no credits for lettering and coloring yet, and this was the last issue where Ira lettered the Bob Hope story.

After that they were often lettered by Stan Starkman, who also used the pen name Stan Quill. Issue #102 has what may be the first lettering credit on any DC Comic, in this case for Stan, and also a credit for colorist Tommy Nicolosi. It was the only issue to include them. Perhaps it was seen and squashed by management. Gaspar Saladino also lettered a few of the last issues.

Here are the stories lettered by Ira Schnapp. Bob Hope is the star unless otherwise noted, and even though the stories are book-length I’m listing the page counts for each section, as lettered on the pages. Late in the run the numbering changed to continuous through the three sections, so from there I list it as one item.

#1 Feb/March 1950: 8pp, 12pp, 12pp

#2 April/May 1950: 9pp, 6pp, 15pp

#3 June/July 1950: 8pp, 14pp, 10pp (1 page intro not lettered by Schnapp)

#4 Aug/Sept 1950: 6pp, 12pp, 14pp

#5 Oct/Nov 1950: 13pp, 5pp, 15pp

#6 Dec 1950/Jan 1951: 14pp, 5pp, 13pp

#7 Feb/March 1951: 10pp, 13pp, 7pp, Miss Beverly Hills 5pp

#8 April/May 1951: 10pp, 12pp, 11pp

#9 June/July 1951: 9pp, 10pp, 12pp, Miss Beverly Hills 5pp

#10 Aug/Sept 1951: 10pp, 9pp, 14pp, Miss Beverly Hills 5pp

#11 Oct/Nov 1951: 6pp, 9pp, 8pp, 6pp

#12 Dec 1951/Jan 1952: 8pp, 10pp, 6pp

#13 Feb/March 1952: 8pp, 10pp, 6pp

#15 June/July 1952: 8pp, 9pp, 8pp, Miss Melody Lane 5pp

#16 Aug/Sept 1952: 8pp, 8pp, 7pp, Kitty Karr 5pp, The Bob Hope Story 5pp

#17 Oct/Nov 1952: 8pp, 10pp, 6pp, Kitty Karr 5pp

#18 Dec 1952/Jan 1953: 6pp, 10pp, 10pp, Kitty Karr 6pp

#19 Feb/March 1953: 10pp, 10pp, 7pp, Kitty Karr 6pp

#20 April/March 1953: 5pp, 9pp, 8pp, Fittin’ Thing 2pp, Kitty Karr 6pp

#21 June/July 1953: 8pp, 8pp, 8pp, Fittin’ Thing 2pp, Kitty Karr 3pp

#22 Aug/Sept 1953: 8pp, 10pp, 6pp, Kitty Karr 7pp

#23 Oct/Nov 1953: 7pp, 10pp, 12pp, Rusty 4pp

#24 Dec 1953/Jan 1954: 10pp, 10pp, 9pp

#26 April/May 1954: 8pp, 8pp, 10pp, Liz 5pp

#27 June/July 1954: 10pp, 8pp, 8pp, Liz 6pp

#28 Aug/Sept 1954: 8pp, 10pp, 10pp, Kitty Karr 3pp

#29 Oct/Nov 1954: 8pp, 12pp, 6pp

#30 Dec 1954/Jan 1955: 10pp, 9pp, 7pp

#31 Feb/March 1955: 8pp, 8pp, 8pp

#32 April/May 1955: 8pp, 8pp, 8pp, Liz 4pp

#33 June/July 1955: 10pp, 8pp, 6pp

#34 Aug/Sept 1955: 8pp, 8pp, 8pp

#35 Oct/Nov 1955: 8pp, 8pp, 6pp

#36 Dec 1955/Jan 1956: 8pp, 8pp, 6pp

#37 Feb/March 1956: 8pp, 8pp, 6pp

#38 April/May 1956: 8pp, 8pp, 6pp

#39 June/July 1956: 8pp, 8pp, 6pp

#40 Aug/Sept 1956: 8pp, 8pp, 6pp

#41 Oct/Nov 1956: 6pp, 8pp, 8pp

#42 Dec 1956/Jan 1957: 8pp, 8pp, 8pp

#44 April/May 1957: 8pp, 8pp, 6pp

#45 June/July 1957: 8pp, 8pp, 6pp

#47 Oct/Nov 1957: 8pp, 8pp, 6pp

#48 Dec 1957/Jan 1958: 8pp, 8pp, 6pp, Willy Nilly 3pp

#49 Feb/March 1958: 8pp, 8pp, 8pp

#50 April/May 1958: 8pp, 8pp, 8pp

#51 June/July 1958: 8pp, 8pp, 8pp

#52 Aug/Sept 1958: 8pp, 8pp, 8pp

#53 Oct/Nov 1958: 8pp, 8pp, 6pp

#54 Dec 1958/Jan 1959: 8pp, 8pp, 8pp

#56 April/May 1959: 26pp

#57 June/July 1959: 26pp

#58 Aug/Sept 1959: 27pp

#59 Oct/Nov 1959: 26pp

#60 Dec 1959/Jan 1960: pp 17-26 only (10pp)

#61 Feb/March 1960: 26pp

#62 April/May 1960: 26pp

#63 June/July 1960: 26pp

#64 Aug/Sept 1960: 26pp

#65 Oct/Nov 1960: 26pp

#66 Dec 1960/Jan 1961: pp 1-15 only

#67 Feb/March 1961: 28pp

#68 April/May 1961: 26pp

#69 June/July 1961: 26pp

#70 Aug/Sept 1961: 26pp

#71 Oct/Nov 1961: 26pp

#72 Dec 1961/Jan 1962: 26pp, Beat 1pp

#73 Feb/March 1962: 26pp, Teen Dictionary 1pp

#74 April/May 1962: 26pp, Beat Nick 1pp

#75 June/July 1962: 26pp, Teens on the Job 1pp

#76 Aug/Sept 1962: 26pp

#77 Oct/Nov 1962: 24pp, Prof Aubit 1pp

#78 Dec 1962/Jan 1963: 26pp

#79 Feb/March 1963: 26pp, Beat Nick 1pp

#80 April/May 1963: pp 9-26 only (18pp)

#81 June/July 1963: 26pp

#82 Aug/Sept 1963: 26pp

#83 Oct/Nov 1963: 26pp

#84 Dec 1963/Jan 1964: 26pp

#85 Feb/March 1964: 26pp

#86 April/May 1964: 26pp

#87 June/July 1964: 26pp

#88 Aug/Sept 1964: 24pp

#90 Dec 1964/Jan 1965: 24pp

#97 Feb/March 1966: Mad Views 1pp

That’s an amazing total of 2,219 pages on this series! And I have a feeling I’ll find more DC humor books from this era with just as much Ira Schnapp lettering. Stay tuned.

Bob Hope on Wikipedia.

This comics series on Wikipedia.

The post Ira Schnapp in THE ADVENTURES OF BOB HOPE appeared first on Todd's Blog.

Ira Schnapp in PETER PORKCHOPS

All images © DC Comics

The final new DC title of the 1940s was this one, launched with a Nov/Dec 1949 cover date. It was headlined by friends/adversaries Peter and Wolfie, no doubt inspired by Disney’s “Three Little Pigs.” The book was edited by Larry Nadle and ran to issue #62 dated Oct-Nov 1960. I don’t know who designed the logo, it could have been Ira Schnapp, though he didn’t often use letters as rounded as this. It might also have been the unknown letterer I’ve nicknamed Proto-Schnapp because I think his work was the model for Ira’s own lettering. The sign on this cover could have been by either of them, but I’m giving the nod to Proto-Schnapp because of the wide letters in the last two lines.

The first cover lettering on the series I think is by Ira Schnapp is on issue #12, where he was able to use some handsome archaic styles. Many covers in the series, especially early on, had no lettering and were simply sight-gags.

By issue #24 in 1953, typical Ira Schnapp balloons were beginning to appear and became more common after that.

Ira’s cover style was well established by issue #39 in 1955, and seen on most DC covers of the time. This title’s ideas were simple and probably easy for him to do.

Issue #57 is the last one with Ira’s lettering. I see it on these issues: 12, 16, 24, 27, 29-32, 34-36, 39, 41-42, 44-55, 57. That’s 27 in all.

Ira did a fair amount of lettering on stories for this series beginning with most of the first issue, sample above, where his lettering is larger than usual. That trend did not last long. This page has an unusual attempt to show Peter throwing his voice to make it sound like Wolfie in the fifth panel. It’s not entirely successful. Most issues had less of Ira’s work than the first one.

As with all the DC funny animal books, this was an anthology with other features than the main one. Ira sometimes lettered those too, as with this Goofy Goose story from issue #10, where Ira’s method of fitting balloons in tight spaces is evident in the places where they overlap the panel above. That’s something I think he learned from Proto-Schnapp.

Some of the stories have small titles, many do not. This one from issue 31 has a title but it was kept small to fit the space.

Ira gradually did more stories for the book, but was never the main letterer, and identifying his work is made more difficult by at least two other letterers using a similar style, perhaps told to imitate Ira to make the book more consistent. There are several indicators of Ira’s work to look for including his question marks, which are small and like a number 2 over a dot, as seen in the first panel here from issue #50.

Ira lettered this story for the final issue #62, which appeared about a year after #61, so probably published to use up some inventory.

Here are all the stories I see lettered by Schnapp. Peter Porkchops is the only character in each issue with more than one story, so I’ve numbered those.

#1 Nov/Dec 1949: Peter Porkchops (hereafter PP) 6pp (1), 6pp (2), Goofy Goose 5pp, Ruff & Reddy 7pp, PP 6pp (4)

#2 Jan/Feb 1950: Goofy Goose 4pp

#4 May/June 1950: PP 6pp (2)

#5 July/Aug 1950: PP 6pp (1), 6pp (2), 6pp (3)

#6 Sept/Oct 1950: PP 10pp (2)

#7 Nov/Dec 1950: PP 14pp (1), 10pp (2)

#8 Feb/March 1951: PP 8pp (1), Goofy Goose 6pp, PP 8pp (2), Bertie Bacon 1pp

#9 April/May 1951: PP 8pp (1), 8pp (2), Biggety Bear 6pp

#10 June/July 1951: PP 8pp (1), Goofy Goose 6pp, PP 8pp (2), Biggety Bear 6pp, PP 8pp (3)

#11 Aug/Sept 1951: PP 10pp (1), 8pp (2), 6pp (3)

#12 Oct/Nov 1951: PP 8pp (1), 4pp (2), Goofy Goose 5pp, PP 6pp (3)

#13 Dec 1951/Jan 1952: Biggety Bear 4pp, PP 5pp (2)

#14 Feb/March 1952: Goofy Goose 5pp, PP 6pp (2)

#15 April/May 1952: Goofy Goose 6pp, Biggety Bear 5pp

#16 June/July 1952: Biggety Bear 5pp, Goofy Goose 5pp

#17 Aug/Sept 1952: PP 6pp (1), Goofy Goose 6pp, Biggety Bear 4pp

#18 Oct/Nov 1952: PP 6pp (1), Goofy Goose 5pp, Pinky & Winky 3pp

#19 Dec 1952/Jan 1953: Pinky & Winky 4pp

#20 Feb/March 1953: PP 4pp, 4pp, 4pp (2-4)

#21 April/May 1953: Pinky & Winky 5pp

#22 June/July 1953: PP 4pp (4)

#23 Aug/Sept 1953: PP 6pp (1), Biggety Bear 4pp, PP 4pp, 6pp (3-4)

#24 Oct/Nov 1953: PP 6pp, 4pp (1-2), Goofy Goose 6pp

#25 Dec 1953: Pinky & Winky 5pp

#26 Jan 1954: PP 6pp (1), Goofy Goose 6pp, PP 4pp (3)

#27 March 1954: PP 6pp (4)

#28 April 1954: Goofy Goose 5pp, PP 4pp (3)

#29 June 1954: Pinky & Winky 5pp, Bernard 4pp, PP 6pp (3)

#31 Sept 1954: PP 6pp (1), 4pp (2)

#32 Oct 1954: PP 5pp (2), Dizzy Dog 6pp

#33 Dec 1954: PP 4pp (2)

#34 Jan 1955: Pinky & Winky 4pp, PP 4pp (3)

#35 March 1955: PP 4pp (2)

#36 April 1955: PP 6pp (1), Doodles Duck 4pp, PP 6pp (3)

#37 June 1955: PP 4pp, 6pp (2-3)

#38 July 1955: PP 6pp (1)

#39 Sept 1955: PP 6pp, 4pp (1-2), Roly & Poly 6pp, PP 4pp (3)

#40 Oct 1955: PP 4pp, 6pp (3-4)

#41 Dec 1955: PP 4pp, 4pp (2-3), Dizzy Dog 6pp, PP 6pp (4)

#42 Feb/March 1956: PP 6pp (1), Doodles Duck 6pp, PP 6pp (3)

#43 April/May 1956: PP 6pp, 4pp (1-2)

#44 June/July 1956: Doodles Duck 6pp

#45 Aug/Sept 1956: PP 6pp, 4pp, 4pp (1-3)

#46 Oct/Nov 1956: PP 6pp (1), 4pp (3)

#47 Dec 1956/Jan 1957: PP 6pp (3)

#48 Feb/March 1957: PP 6pp, 4pp, 4pp, 4pp (1-4)

#49 April/May 1957: Dizzy Dog 6pp, PP 6pp (3)

#50 June/July 1957: PP 6pp (1)

#51 Aug/Sept 1957: Bo Bunny 6pp, PP 6pp (3)

#52 Oct/Nov 1957: PP 6pp, 6pp (2-3)

#53 Dec 1957/Jan 1958: Barney Beagle 6pp

#54 Feb/March 1958: PP 6pp (1), Barney Beagle 6pp

#55 April/May 1958: PP 6pp, 4pp, 4pp, 4pp (1-4)

#56 June/July 1958: PP 6pp, 4pp, 6pp (1-2, 4)

#57 Aug/Sept 1958: PP 6pp (2), Custer Cat 5pp, PP 6pp (3)

#58 Oct/Nov 1958: PP 6pp (2), Biggety Bear 5pp

#59 Dec 1958/Jan 1959: PP 6pp, 6pp, 7pp (1-3)

#60 March-May 1959: PP 8pp (1), Biggety Bear 5pp, PP 6pp (3)

#61 Sept-Nov 1959: PP 12pp, 8pp (1-2)

#62 Oct-Dec 1960: PP 6pp, 6pp (1 & 3) Note: story 2 is a reprint lettered by Schnapp

That’s a total of 796 pages on this title. More articles in this series and others you might enjoy are on the Comics Creation page of my blog. Next, on to titles that began in 1950.

The post Ira Schnapp in PETER PORKCHOPS appeared first on Todd's Blog.

And Then I Read: THE ISLANDS OF THE BLESSED by Nancy Farmer

I read this book some time ago and apparently forgot to review it. It’s the third book of a trilogy, the first two are reviewed here:

The Sea of Trolls

The Land of Silver Apples

The Saxon boy Jack lives in a small town on the coast of England around the year 800 A.D. He has been drawn into perilous magic adventures first through an old magician named The Bard, then with his friend the Viking shield-maiden Thorgil. Jack is at the center of three belief systems: Christianity, Norse mythology and Celtic mythology, all of which seem to be in contention for the hearts and minds of the people around him, and the latter two are embodied in very real beings and places he’s visited.

This third book begins when a storm destroys Jack’s small town, and he must go on a quest to set things right with Thorgil and The Bard. It’s an adventure full of danger and unusual characters, including mermaids, hobgoblins, sea hags, and Norse gods, and takes them to the magic land of the title. I know I enjoyed this book just as much as the first two, though I no longer remember many of the details, but all three are full of well-researched lore and legends, impressively creative magic, wonderful characters, and exciting plots.

Recommended!

The post And Then I Read: THE ISLANDS OF THE BLESSED by Nancy Farmer appeared first on Todd's Blog.

Ira Schnapp in SECRET HEARTS

This and all images © DC Comics

DC’s second romance title followed quickly on the first, GIRL’S LOVE STORIES, beginning the following month and dated Sept/Oct 1949. Once again I believe Ira Schnapp created the elegant logo. He’s the only designer at DC who I think could have pulled off this appealing style with well-structured curved forms having open areas for color, but very readable. He probably also lettered “In this issue” and did the ornaments around DREAM MODEL, though the story titles are type. As with their other romance book, DC at first used stock photos on the covers to distance it from typical comic books and hopefully attract new female readers. Both titles did well, so it must have worked. While editing credits are not certain, this one probably had the same roster of uncredited editors: Robert Kanigher, Zena Brody, Phyllis Reed, Jack Miller, Barbara Friedlander, and by the end of its run in 1971 Dick Giordano and Dorothy Woolfolk. Once again I was astounded to discover the huge amount of work Ira Schnapp did for the title, as you’ll see.

By issue #7 in Jan. 1952, the photo covers had given way to drawn art, and the logo had an attractive banner subtitle drawn by Ira, who also did the cover lettering. From that point on until early 1968 Ira lettered most of the covers, often using his appealing cursive styles in story titles.

While most issues in this anthology title had unrelated stories, DC did try a few continuing series, like the one in Ira’s cover lettering above. Note also that the DC logo is missing in this period to further separate the romance books from DC’s usual fare. A new version of the logo without the shadows is also featured.

By issue #27 in 1955, the banner subtitle was gone in favor of a new tagline at the top lettered by Schnapp. This cover also features one of Ira’s word balloons with a puzzling amount of bubbles going to the thinker and thicker than usual border. Maybe one was a correction and the other should have been removed. A very large comics code seal covers too much of the logo at upper right, but it was a new addition the company wanted to make sure was seen.

By issue #57 in 1959, we have a National Romance Group symbol at upper left instead of the usual DC bullet, also lettered by Ira. By this time his word balloons on romance covers had thinner letters and borders, perhaps a suggestion from the editor.

Issue #100 from 1964 had this new Schnapp logo and a new continuing character, Amy Ames, as well as an overblown caption.

That logo lasted only two issues, replaced by another Schnapp one using wide, solid block letters, perhaps to suggest a slick magazine rather than a comic. No one did them more artfully than Ira.

By issue #116 in 1966 we’re into the nadir of DC cover design with the “Go-Go Checks” at the top and a new Schnapp logo in a large heart shape. Nothing wrong with that, but it’s an awkward fit on this and other covers.

Ira’s final cover lettering for this title appeared on issue #127 dated April 1968. His logo had been modified again to remove the heart shape, and the open letters in his balloons add to the melodrama. By then Ira’s cover work was gradually being replaced by others, usually Gaspar Saladino. He left the company in 1968 and died in 1969.

Here are the covers from SECRET HEARTS that Schnapp lettered: 1, 4, 7-24, 26-37, 39-87, 89-92, 94-96, 98-108, 110-112, 114-119, 122-124, 127. That’s 112 issues in this series, an impressive number.

The first story lettering I’ve found for Ira Schnapp in this series is two stories in issue #7, example above. As always, Ira’s small lettering was an asset in stories with a lot of text. Early issues also had many stories lettered by Gaspar Saladino. Despite the very off registration of the colors on this page, Ira’s title is still perfectly readable.

By issue #15 in 1953, Ira was often lettering the entire thing, sample above. With up to five stories per issue, Ira had to widen his title styles to make them all different. This one uses an E style he liked in an unusual way.

Ira’s story lettering was quiet, small, and somewhat bland, but remarkably consistent. Here in issue #50 from 1958 his story title gets a nice pop from red color and a black drop-shadow, while his newspaper lettering is as even as type.

In this story from issue #100, Ira’s title matches the one he did on the cover, seen above, but is relettered.

Some of Ira’s lettering was in reprinted stories in the later 1960s. The last new one I see is from issue #123 dated Oct. 1967, above. The title is just as appealing as ever.

Here’s a list of the stories Ira lettered for SECRET HEARTS, not counting reprints. I’ve listed the titles since there are almost no continuing characters or features. Some titles are very similar, or might even be repeats with new art and script.

#7 Dec 1951/Jan 1952: Dangerous Interlude 6pp, Never Kiss a Stranger 8pp

#8 Feb/March 1952: Condemned Love 7pp, Our Last Kiss 8pp

#10 June/July 1952: My Awakened Heart 8pp

#11 Aug/Sept 1952: My Secret Vow 7pp, Meeting At Midnight 7pp

#12 Oct/Nov 1952: Love Is Everywhere 8pp, Helpless Heart 8pp, Romance By Request 8pp

#13 Dec 1952/Jan 1953: Remember The Day 8pp, My Husband’s Secret 7pp, Unlucky In Love 7pp, The Girl He Left Behind 8pp

#14 Feb/March 1953: Fleeting Romance 6pp, My Heart Is Lonely 8pp

#15 April/May 1953: Romantic Quotes 1pp, Every Girl’s Dream 8pp, Beyond the Rainbow 6pp, Love Without Question 6pp, Promise of Love 8pp

#16 June/July 1953: Love Came Too Late 6pp

#17 Aug/Sept 1953: Two Men And A Girl 7pp

#18 Oct/Nov 1953: Half-Hearted Romance 8pp, The Wrong Love 6pp

#19 Dec 1953/Jan 1954: As Love Danced By 8pp

#20 Feb/March 1954: Misleading Heart 6pp, Love Ruled My Life 6pp

#21 April/May 1954: Love Passed Me By 7pp, Never Is Too Long 6pp, We Found Springtime 7pp

#22 June/July 1954: A Fool’s Heart 7pp, Once To Every Girl 7pp

#23 Aug/Sept 1954: Must It Be Never? 7pp, End Of A Love Song 6pp, Stay My Darling 7pp, Jealous Heart 8pp

#24 Oct/Nov 1954: Love Is A Lie 9pp, Blind Date 6pp, Love Came Calling 6pp

#25 Dec 1954/Jan 1955: Loser At Love 8pp, Trip To Heartbreak 6pp, Will You Leave Me? 7pp

#26 Feb/March 1955: Impatient Heart 6pp, Bitter Sweetheart 7pp, The Kiss I Didn’t Want 8pp

#27 April/May 1955: Don’t Say Goodbye 7pp, Meet Me This Spring 7pp, Can This Be Love? 6pp, The Sweethearts Dance 8pp

#28 June/July 1955: Heartbreak Date 7pp, No Wedding For Me 7pp, I Learned Too Late 7pp

#29 Aug/Sept 1955: Sweetheart For A Day 7pp, To Dan With Love 6pp, Only The Stars Knew 7pp, Tomorrow Means Heartbreak 8pp

#30 Oct/Nov 1955: Never Mind Tomorrow 7pp, Unromantic Love 7pp, Wavering Heart 7pp, Unhappy Triangle 8pp

#31 Dec 1955/Jan 1956: No Kiss For Me 7pp, My Last Heartbreak 7pp, Here Is My Heart 7pp, Love–Keep Out 8pp

#32 Feb/March 1956: Unhappy Parting 7pp, Where Is My Love? 7pp, Delayed Romance 7pp, Last In Love 8pp

#33 April/May 1956: Wishing Won’t Make It So 7pp, Remember Me Tomorrow 7pp, Restless Heart 7pp, Love Chose Another 8pp

#34 June/July 1956: One Magic Moment 6pp

#35 Aug/Sept 1956: Heartbreak For Three 7pp, Love Is A Game 6pp, No Time For Tears 7pp, Love Is Forever 8pp

#36 Oct/Nov 1956: Meant For Each Other 7pp, Only In My Dreams 7pp, For Love Alone 6pp, End Of A Summer Love 8pp

#37 Dec 1956/Jan 1957: Loser At Love 7pp, Romantic Escapade 7pp, Stars In My Eyes 6pp, Exit Love 8pp

#38 Feb/March 1957: Awakened Heart 7pp, Old Love New Love 7pp, Unlucky Bridesmaid 8pp

#39 April/May 1957: Secret Love 7pp, Sweetheart’s Wish 7pp, Appointment With Heartbreak 7pp, Love Is A Riddle 8pp

#40 June/July 1957: Hello Heartbreak 7pp, Stand-in For Love 7pp, Beautiful Stranger 7pp, Love Must Be Told 8pp

#41 Aug 1957: Love Finds A Way 7pp, To Bill…With Love 7pp, Your Dreams Are Mine 7pp, Lonely Lovesong 8pp

#42 Oct 1957: Dance Till Dawn 7pp, Lovingly Yours 7pp, Love Of A Lifetime 7pp, Who’ll Believe My Heart? 8pp

#43 Nov 1957: Too Late For Tears 7pp

#44 Jan 1958: Winter In My Heart 7pp, Tomorrow Is Never 7pp, Love Lost Its Way 8pp

#45 Feb 1958: Tears For A Dream 7pp

#46 April 1958: How Wrong My Love 7pp, Love Without End 7pp, Be Still My Heart 8pp

#47 May 1958: The Man In My Dreams 7pp, The Last Goodbye 7pp, Take Back Your Heart 7pp, The Anguish Of Love 8pp

#48 July 1958: Why Can’t I Love You? 7pp, Image Of Love 8pp

#49 Aug 1958: Catch A Dream 7pp, Pretending Heart 7pp, Diane 7pp, Come Back Heartbreak 8pp

#50 Oct 1958: Letter To Laura 7pp, Change Of Heart 7pp

#51 Nov 1958: Our Moment Was Forever 8pp, Dreamer’s Discovery 7pp, No Escape From Yesterday 8pp

#52 Jan 1959: Four Kisses And One 7pp, Second Love 7pp, Kiss Love Goodbye 7pp

#53 Feb 1959: The Frightened Heart 7pp, Dark Tomorrow 9pp

#54 April 1959: Eyes Of Love 7pp, A Mask For Cinderella 7pp, A Heart Is For Loving 9pp

#55 May 1959: Near My Heart 9pp, They Who Loved 6pp, To You With Love 7pp, A Stranger At Heart 8pp

#56 July 1959: Castle of Dreams 6pp, One Face of Love 7pp, Two-sided Heart 8pp

#57 Aug 1959: Change of Heart 7pp, Never Borrow Love 8pp

#58 Oct 1959: His Magic Spell 6pp, Out of Love’s Reach 7pp, A Heart Full of Pride 8pp

#59 Nov 1959: Be True and Betrayed 7pp, Dial H for Heartbreak 8pp, Favor My Heart 7pp, All Love’s Magic 8pp

#60 Jan 1960: A Thing Called Love 7pp, What Might Have Been 8pp, Our Midnight 7pp, Tears For Tomorrow 8pp

#61 Feb 1960: Enchant Me Forever 6pp, Love Comes Running 7pp, Charm In Romance 1pp, Mail-order Romance 7pp, A Promise to Keep 8pp

#62 April 1960: Twice Lost 7pp, Love Against Time 8pp, My One And Only Love 7pp, I’ll Take That Chance 8pp

#63 May 1960: Two-faced Heart 7pp, Fool’s Embrace 7pp, Heartbeat of Jealousy 8pp

#64 July 1960: Bitter Moment 7pp, Captive of Love 8pp, I’ll Never Love Again 7pp, Something Borrowed–Something Blue 8pp

#65 Aug 1960: Dream’s Awakening 5pp, Serenade To A Broken Heart 8pp, Goodbye…? 7pp, Betrayed Heart 8pp

#66 Oct 1960: Someone So Wonderful 11pp, Song of the Bells 6pp, Sad Song of Love 8pp

#67 Nov 1960: Come Home, My Heart 8pp, Believe Me, Beloved 7pp, Stop-over Love 7pp, The Girl In His Life 8pp

#68 Jan 1961: Pledge of Love 8pp, Happily Ever After 7pp, Too Beautiful to Love 7pp, A Love to Remember 8pp

#69 Feb 1961: So Little to Ask 8pp, A Date With Jon 7pp, Don’t Stop Loving Me 7pp, The Life in her Laughter 8pp

#70 April 1961: Girl In Love 9pp, Saturday Night Date 5pp, His Other Girl 8pp

#71 July 1961: So Many Souvenirs 8p, Love Me, Love Me Not 7pp, Hand-me-down Love 7pp, A Telling Glance 8pp

#72 July 1961: Dreamer’s Paradise 9pp, Reach Out to Love 6pp, No Magic in my Heart 7pp

#73 Aug 1961: Past All Pride 7pp, Uninvited Guest 7pp, Weep No More 8pp

#74 Oct 1961: In Somebody Else’s Arms 8pp, Part of my Heart 7pp, A Heart Must Lie 7pp, Ask Me No Questions 8pp

#75 Nov 1961: Goodbye To All That 7pp, Just Dreaming 8pp, The Shadow of Love 7pp, One More Kiss 8pp

#76 Jan 1962: It’s Only You 7pp, Better Late 7pp, Stranger To Love 7pp, Too Much to Hope For 8pp

#77 Feb 1962: Game of Hearts 8pp, My Friend, My Rival 7pp, Lost Love 7pp, My Leading Man 8pp

#78 April 1962: Here Was Love 7pp, A Time For Tears 7pp, Rain, Rain–Wash Away My Tears 8pp

#79 May 1962: This Guilty Love 8pp, Sudden Storm 7pp, Make My Heart Sing Again 8pp

#80 July 1962: The Edge of Yesterday 7pp, The Moment For Goodbye 7pp, Tide of Love 7pp, Cry Me No Tears 8pp

#81 Aug 1962: Childhood Sweetheart 8pp, Nothing But Despair 8pp, Second to None 6pp

#82 Oct 1962: The Net of Love 7pp, Jealous Love 8pp, Your Love Is Mine 7pp, Another Face, Another Love 8pp

#83 Nov 1962: Run For Love 7pp, Angry Heart 8pp, Only Heartbreak 7pp, My Love Will Know Me 8pp

#84 Dec 1962: Don’t Run, My Love 8pp, New Lives For Old 7pp, Have–But Not Hold 7pp, A Walk Through The Park 8pp

#85 Jan 1963: Please Say Goodbye 7pp, The Ache of Love 7pp, Look the Other Way 7pp, Heartbreak On Order 8pp,

#86 March 1963: No Heartbreak For Me 8pp, No Love For a Soldier 7pp, Missing Heart 8pp, The Secret of Love 8pp

#87 April 1963: My Wayward Heart 8pp, Farewell To Tomorrow 7pp, So Little Time 7pp, Loser’s Wish 8pp

#88 June 1963: Exit Love–Enter Heartbreak 8pp

#89 July 1963: A Fool’s Dream 7pp, Close My Eyes 7pp

#90 Sept 1963: Not Good Enough for Him 8pp, When My Time Comes 7pp, A Change of Heart 7pp, Dream With Danny 8pp

#91 Oct 1963: Heartbreak In Paradise 7pp, He Just Played With My Heart 7pp, Letter To A Lost Love 8pp

#92 Dec 1963: Plain-faced Me 7pp, No Relation To Each Other 8pp, Give Him Your Heart 7pp, Love–Look The Other Way 8pp

#93 Jan 1964: The True Glamor 8pp, One Perfect Love 7pp

#94 March 1964: Catch Me If You Can 8pp, The Only Man For Me 7pp, Come Back To Me 7pp, Love Letters 8pp

#95 April 1964: Go With Her 8pp, My Heart Deciding 7pp, Measure of Love 7pp

#96 June 1964: Be Careful…It’s My Heart 8pp

#98 Sept 1964: Never Give My Heart Away 8pp, Kiss Him For Me 15pp

#99 Oct 1964: The Love That Haunted Me 7pp, The False Face of Love 15pp

#100 Dec 1964: Run For Heartbreak 15pp

#101 Jan 1965: Unhappy Anniversary 7pp, Love Is Two Strangers 15pp

#103 April 1965: Old Love, No Love 13pp

#104 June 1965: A Woman Has Two Faces 13pp

#105 July 1965: Too Many Loves 13pp

#106 Sept 1965: Wait, Love–Wait 13pp, The Strings of My Heart 13pp

#107 Oct 1965: Heartbreak–Take Me 13pp, Girlfriend Number 1,001 6pp

#109 Jan 1966: One Love Too Many 9pp, What About Some Love For Me? 11pp

#110 March 1966: Reach For Happiness Part 1 15 pp

#111 April 1966: Don’t Trust Your Boyfriend 8pp, Reach For Happiness Part 2 15pp

#112 June 1966: Don’t Tell Me That You Love Me 6pp, The Truth About Love 7pp, Reach For Happiness Part 3 15pp

#114 Sept 1966: Reach For Happiness Part 5 15pp

#116 Dec 1966: Nobody Loves Me 7pp, Heart’s Choice 7pp

#118 March 1967: Waiting For the One I Love 6pp

#119 April 1967: Reach For Happiness Part 10 15pp

#120 June 1967: Please, Please–Don’t Let Me Wake Up 6pp

#122 Sept 1967: The Battle For Love 7pp

#123 Oct 1967: A Stolen Dream 6pp

That’s a total of 2,027 pages, a massive amount of work! Clearly Ira’s involvement in DC romance books was a large part of his output.

More articles in this series and others you might enjoy are on the Comics Creation page of my blog.

Pop artist Roy Lichtenstein created several paintings from the story “Run For Love” in issue #83 that Ira lettered, though the artist’s lettering does not look like Ira’s work.

The post Ira Schnapp in SECRET HEARTS appeared first on Todd's Blog.

Incoming: DOLLHOUSE FAMILY, FABLES COMPENDIUM ONE

Collecting the miniseries I lettered last year, this hardcover is part of Joe Hill’s “Hill House” imprint at DC, now folded into their Black Label division. Yes, it’s horror, and has some scary parts, but it’s also well written and well-drawn historical and fantasy subject matter from writer Mike Carey and artists Peter Gross and Vince Locke. I’ve enjoyed working with Mike and Peter in the past on projects like THE UNWRITTEN. This is just as good. When is a dollhouse not a dollhouse? Read this to find out. Retail price is $24.99.

DC is also reprinting FABLES, one of the longest and best series I lettered in the 2000s and 2010s. Imagine all the fairy tale and fables characters you remember from childhood hiding out in New York City and New York State (mostly) trying to avoid evil forces who have caused them to flee from their homelands. These are refugees with power, but they must also remain in hiding, so their power must be used sparingly. Great stuff from writer Bill Willingham and main artists Mark Buckingham and Steve Leialoha with help from many others like Lan Medina and cover artist James Jean, though it’s nice to see a new cover on this book by Mark Buckingham. The previous collection of the series in the FABLES DELUXE EDITION hardcovers (15 volumes at $30 each retail) remains the best and most lasting version. This paperback is almost 1,200 pages and two inches thick. It collects issues 1-41 and three longer stand-alone stories: The Last Castle, A Wolf in the Fold and 1,001 Nights of Snowfall. The reproduction and paper quality are excellent. The glued binding is not likely to hold up well over time, but the price of $59.99 for all that great reading makes it a bargain all the same. I’m guessing there will be two more volumes.

Both books are due out in October. Amazon links below, or check with your comics retailer.

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The post Incoming: DOLLHOUSE FAMILY, FABLES COMPENDIUM ONE appeared first on Todd's Blog.

Ira Schnapp in GIRLS’ LOVE STORIES

Like most comics publishers of the 1940s, National (DC) Comics kept an eye on what others were having success with. The genre of romance comics began at Prize with Joe Simon and Jack Kirby’s YOUNG ROMANCE in 1947. It did quite well, and in 1949, DC entered the fray with this title. It had a long run of 180 issues, and a number of uncredited editors steered it through the 1950s and early 1960s including Robert Kanigher, Zena Brody and Phyllis Reed. Later in the 1960s it was briefly under Larry Nadle, then edited by Jack Miller, Barbara Friedlander and Joe Orlando in the late 60s. Ira Schnapp designed this elegant logo using much thinner forms than was usual for him. Perhaps he was instructed to imitate slick women’s magazines of the time. Comics printing on covers was always better than interiors, and the logo worked fine. The other copy was typeset on some early issues, again trying to look more adult and less like a comic book.

Ira Schnapp’s slightly old-fashioned cover lettering was the obvious choice when they did use it, as on issue #3 here, where his upper and lower case style works perfectly. Notice also that the DC Comics round symbol or bullet has been replaced by a round version of the series title, also by Ira.

As you can see, DC further distanced the look from comics on early issues by using stock photos. I’m not sure the lettering on this caption is by Ira, as it’s not typical of his work, but it probably is.

By issue #10, March/April 1951, the series had reverted to line art covers with captions by Ira. He lettered most of them until 1968.

Issue #15 had a new logo by Ira Schnapp following the plan of the first one, but with much wider letters, a thicker outline, and a second thin outline outside that to leave room for a second color and help the logo stand out against cover art. No problem with that here. These logo letters are in a more typical serif style for Ira.

By issue #32, Nov/Dec 1954, we see more familiar Ira Schnapp cover lettering with word balloons and a caption with the story title. Some issues continued to have no word balloons.

Issue #62, May 1959, is an example where they filled in the outer shape of the logo to make it a heavy black outline. The lettering on this one is overwritten and melodramatic. Note that the book title in a circle at upper left has been replace with a new one by Ira saying NATIONAL ROMANCE GROUP with a heart. The DC romance titles always seemed to be placed in a separate arena from the others.

By issue #101, Feb. 1964, the standard DC bullet was in place at upper left. On many of the later romance covers, Ira seemed to use thinner pens for the lettering, perhaps to give it a classier look.

Issue 118, April 1966 saw the advent of this new logo by Ira. It was a dreadful period for cover design at the company, with those “Go-Go Checks” at the top of each cover, blocky logos, and often too much cover lettering. This is no exception.

Ira’s final cover lettering on this series was on issue #134, April 1968, also using a new logo by him that I don’t think works well at all. I call it “The Egg.” Ira’s lettering works fine, but was being replaced by that of Gaspar Saladino on many issues, and Ira left the company in 1968 and died in 1969. He had an amazing run on these covers, here’s a list:

3-5, 10-35, 37-59, 61-67, 69-94, 96-115, 117-122, 124-127, 129-131,133-134. That’s 120 covers for this title.

Now on to story lettering. I knew Ira had done a lot of romance stories, but I had no idea how many until going through the first 146 issues of this comic. Issue #10, sample above, is the first one with his page lettering. That gradually increased.

By issue #20, above, he was sometimes lettering nearly entire issues! Ira’s style seems a good match for romance stories, it’s small, so he could fit the words in less space, and it has a somewhat old-fashioned look that worked well.

Here’s a page from issue #50, I’m just showing a few at random, as there are so many.

This example from issue #75 has a title employing a style similar to one Ira used on covers. I can only guess that he enjoyed working on these books. As an older man, he was 66 in 1960 when this book was published, the subjects may have appealed to him more than superheroes, though Ira also did lots of work on humor titles.

I like the title in this example from issue #106, it has more energy than many of Ira’s story titles.

The last new story I’ve found is this one from issue #142, April 1969. Ira had left the company at least a few months earlier, so this one may have sat for a while until they got to it. Again it shows his creativity in the title even at age 74. It will be interesting to see if DC’s other romance titles have as much story lettering by Schnapp as this one.

Here’s a list of all the stories Ira lettered, cross-checked with the Grand Comics Database to eliminate any reprints. There were very few continuing features or characters, almost none, so I felt the best way to list them is by story title. More work for me, but clearer. There may be duplicate or very similar titles on some stories. Starting with issue #116 some Schnapp stories from this and other romance titles are reprinted, I haven’t listed those.

#10 March/April 1951: Romantic Rebel 8pp, Storm in My Heart 8pp

#11 May/June 1951: Broken Vow 8pp, Tangled Hearts 8pp, Lonely Masquerade 8pp

#12 July/Aug 1951: Nobody’s Sweetheart 8pp, Destined for Heartbreak 8pp

#13 Sept/Oct 1951: You’ll Never Be Mine 10pp

#14 Nov/Dec 1951: Meddling Heart 8pp, The End of Love 8pp, One Way to Heartbreak 10pp

#15 Jan/Feb 1952: Footsteps to Heartbreak 8pp, Romantic Reunion 8pp, Jealous Rival 10pp

#16 March/April 1952: Tragic Bargain 8pp

#17 May/June 1952: For Just One Kiss 7pp, Return to Tears 7pp, Love Walked Out 9pp

#18 July/Aug 1952: Lost Happiness 7pp, Destination Heartbreak 8pp

#19 Sept/Oct 1952: Adventure for Three Hearts 9pp, Stand-in for Love 11pp

#20 Nov/Dec 1952: Kiss Me Once More 8pp, Flowers for Fran 6pp, My Foolish Dream 7pp, Ghost of Love 8pp

#21 Jan/Feb 1953: Loves of My Life 8pp, Deadline for Happiness 6pp, Farewell to Love 7pp

#22 March/April 1953: Change of Heart 7pp, Homecoming 6pp, Vacation From Love 7pp

#23 May/June 1953: Don’t Call It Love 7pp, Lonesome Heart 7pp

#24 July/Aug 1953: No Happy Returns 8pp, I Met My Love Again 8pp

#25 Sept/Oct 1953: Friends…Not Sweethearts 6pp, Too Young to Love 7pp

#26 Nov/Dec 1953: Too Few Kisses 7pp, One More Spring 7pp, Double Heartbreak 8pp, Gazing at the Stars 1pp

#27 Jan/Feb 1954: Doorway to Heartbreak 9pp, What Love Forgives 6pp

#28 March/April 1954: Exit Romance 8pp, I’ll Always Doubt You 6pp, Beloved Yesterday 6pp, Lost Love 8pp

#29 May/June 1954: No Hope for Love 6pp, I’ll Have a Lonely Heart 7pp

#30 July/Aug 1954: Romance Came Too Soon 7pp, False Kisses 7pp, Fool’s Awakening 6pp

#31 Sept/Oct 1954: Love Isn’t There 9pp, Tomorrow Means Goodbye 6pp, I Belong to You 6pp, Memory of Love 8pp

#32 Nov/Dec 1954: Marriage of Convenience 7pp, Give Me Your Love 7pp

#33 Jan/Feb 1955: There’ll Be No Wedding 7pp, Love Between Strangers 6pp, Change of Heart 8pp

#34 March/April 1955: Heart On Fire 9pp, Love Can Be Cruel 6pp, Escape to Nowhere 6pp, Heartbreak Crown 8pp

#35 May/June 1955: Maybe You’ll Love Me 7pp, Heartbreak Melody 7pp, I Found My Heart 7pp, This Time It’s Goodbye 8pp

#36 July/Aug 1955: My Only Love 7pp

#37 Sept/Oct 1955: Letter From An Unknown Love 7pp, Brooding Heart 7pp, Friend of the Bride 7pp, Love, Don’t Leave Me 8pp

#38 Nov/Dec 1955: Romantic Challenge 7pp, Stolen Sweetheart 7pp, Angry At Love 6pp, Heartbreak Bargain 8pp

#39 Jan/Feb 1956: A Special Kind of Love 7pp, Unhappily Ever After 7pp, Is This Heartbreak? 7pp, No Love For a Queen 8pp

#40 March/April 1956: Frightened Heart 7pp, Fools Fall in Love 7pp, End of a Dream 7pp, Mask of Love 8pp

#41 May/June 1956: Don’t Weep For Me 7pp, Window to Heartbreak 7pp, The Man We Loved 7pp, One Wish For Love 8pp

#42 July/Aug 1956: No Chance At Love 7pp, Long After Heartbreak 7pp, The Boy Next Door 7pp, Only A Dream Bride 8pp

#43 Sept/Oct 1956: Once To Every Heart 6pp, Dearest Stranger 7pp, Yesterday’s Kisses 7pp, Storm-Swept Heart 8pp

#44 Nov/Dec 1956: Somebody Else’s Dream 7pp, Free Me From You 7pp, Impatient Heart 6pp, Romance For A Day 8pp

#45 Jan/Feb 1957: Clash of Hearts 7pp, Rich Man Poor Man 7pp,

#46 March/April 1957: Second Choice 7pp, I’ll Only Love Once 6pp, Previous Engagement 7pp, You’ll Never Come Back 8pp

#47 May/June 1957: Undecided Heart 7pp, Laugh At Love 7pp, Empty Arms 7pp, Sleeping Heart 8pp

#48 Aug 1957: Two Loves Have I 7pp, No Right to Dream 7pp, Listen to Your Heart 7pp, No Love for Cinderella 8pp

#49 Sept 1957: Many Happy Returns 7pp, End of the Rainbow 7pp, Someone Somewhere 7pp, Shadow of Love 8pp

#50 Nov 1957: Rival’s Return 7pp, The Way of the Heart 7pp, On Stage For Heartbreak 9pp

#51 Dec 1957: This Was My Love 7pp, Lost in a Dream 7pp, Tears for my Wedding 8pp

#52 Feb 1958: Go ‘Way, Darling 8pp, Take My Heart With You 8pp

#53 March 1958: A Lesson in Love 7pp, Ring Around My Finger 7pp, Take My Love to Heart 8pp

#54 May 1958: Never Let Your Heart Say Yes 7pp, Love is a Stranger 8pp

#55 June 1958: Love of my Dreams 7pp, Love Looked the Other Way 8pp

#57 Sept 1958: Guest At His Wedding 7pp, Too Dangerous to Love 7pp, Picture of Heartbreak 8pp

#58 Nov 1958: Almost Sweethearts 7pp, The Hunted Heart 8pp

#59 Dec 1958: Out of Luck, Out of Love 8pp, Pity My Heart 7pp, Chain of Doubt 7pp, Look Into My Eyes 8pp

#60 Feb 1959: My Secret Love 7pp, Waiting 7pp

#61 March 1959: Asking for Heartbreak 6pp, The Lonely Walk With Love 7pp

#62 May 1959: Hearts Break Twice 7pp, Forget Her 7pp, The Evil Heart 7pp, A Second Chance For Love 8pp

#63 June 1959: Not Mine To Love 7pp, Letter of Love 6pp, Cold Cold Heart 9pp

#64 Aug 1959: More Than Friends 8pp, Heart-Shy 7pp, Dream of Love 8pp

#65 Sept 1959: Stars In Her Eyes 8pp, Only Us 7pp, I Thought You Cared 7pp, Wish On The Moon 8pp

#66 Nov 1959: My Album of Love 7pp, One Man in a Million 7pp, No Time For Love 8pp, To Hide In A Dream 8pp

#67 Dec 1959: My Three Loves 7pp, Charm in Romance 1pp, The Trap of Love 7pp, Held in Heartbreak 8pp

#68 Feb 1960: Prophecy of Love 7pp, Charm in Romance 1pp, The Sound of Heartbreak 7pp, A Glimpse of Love 7pp, Hello Happiness 8pp

#69 March 1960: Heart After Happiness 8pp, A Runaway Heart 7pp, Charm in Romance 1pp, Love is Wonderful 7pp, Mistaken Identity 7pp

#70 May 1960: Too Young for Love 7pp, Charm in Romance 1pp, A Second Look at Love 8pp

#71 June 1960: Shadow of Love 8pp, Meet Me At Midnight 7pp, One Heavenly Moment 8pp

#72 Aug 1960: Beloved Stranger 9pp, Charm in Romance 1pp, Boy From A Dream 5pp, Is This My Love? 7pp, Too Many Tears 8pp

#73 Sept 1960: Duel of Hearts 7pp, Love Is A Sudden Thing 7pp, A Secret To Share 7pp, For Better Or For Worse 8pp

#74 Nov 1960: Forgive Me, Forget Me 8pp, Jinxed Heart 6pp, Charm in Romance 1pp, Storm In My Heart 8pp

#75 Dec 1960: Turnabout Heart 8pp, Here To Stay 6pp, Love’s Last Laugh 8pp, When Tomorrow Comes 8pp

#76 Feb 1961: I’ll Miss You Always 8pp, Island of Farewell 7pp, This is Goodbye 8pp

#77 March 1961: Remember This 7pp, To Have And To Hold 7pp, Familiar Moment 8pp, Tomorrow’s Tears 8pp

#78 May 1961: One Way to Loneliness 8pp, The Odds Against Love 7pp, Miracle of Love 7pp, Surrender to Heartbreak 8pp

#79 June 1961: The Look of Love 7pp, I Bet My Heart 7pp, A Fool In Love 7pp, Love Out of Season 7pp, Charm in Romance 1pp

#80 Aug 1961: My Midnight Love 7pp, Charm in Romance 1pp, Love Beyond Recall 7pp, What Love Should Be 7pp, Invitation to Tears 8pp

#81 Sept 1961: Blue Tomorrow 10pp, Too Happy To Last 7pp, First Date 6pp, The Wrong Time to Cry 8pp

#82 Nov 1961: The Perfect Girl 8pp, Wake Up To Heartache 7pp, Wait For Me 8pp

#83 Dec 1961: So Little Time 8pp, Another Broken Heart 7pp, Where Tomorrow Begins 7pp,

#84 Feb 1962: Sweetheart’s Cruise 6pp, There’s Only One You 8pp, Too Beautiful 7pp, Made For Each Other 8pp

#85 March 1962: Magic Moment 7pp, Believe Me, Beloved 8pp,

#86 May 1962: My Empty Heart 10pp, Stranger In My Heart 7pp, Not Mine To Hold 5pp, A Kiss Goodbye 8pp

#87 June 1962: Come Home To My Heart 8pp, Journey To Yesterday 7pp, The Season of Kisses 7pp, Tomorrow’s Heartache 8pp

#88 Aug 1962: Girl In A Red Dress 8pp

#89 Sept 1962: Two Sides Of A Coin 8pp, When Tomorrow Comes 7pp, Once In A Lifetime 6pp, No Love–No Life 8pp

#90 Nov 1962: The Next Time I Love 7pp, Heartbreak Came After 7pp, Sweet Mystery of Love 7pp, Three For Love 8pp

#91 Dec 1962: Tears Too Soon 7pp, Now It Can Be Told 8pp, Two Loves Have I 8pp, Love Lost Its Way 8pp

#92 Jan 1963: My Steady Star 8pp, Web of Heartbreak 7pp, Sealed With A Kiss 8pp

#93 Feb 1963: Flirting With Heartbreak 8pp, Gamble For Love 7pp, So Well Remembered 7pp, Love On Arrival 8pp

#94 April 1963: A Certain Kind of Love 8pp, Don’t Listen To Them 7pp, I’ll Never Be Back 7pp, The Face In My Dreams 8pp

#96 July 1963: Prisoner of Fate 7pp,

#97 Aug 1963: I Was A Teenage Model 8pp, A Love For Love’s Sake 7pp, Honeymoon For One 8pp

#98 Oct 1963: Be Still, My Love 8pp, I’ve Got a Right to be Happy 7pp, The One Man For Me 6pp, Never Mine 8pp

#99 Nov 1963: No Ring For My Finger 8pp, Come Back To Yesterday 7pp, Helpless Love 7pp

#100 Jan 1964: Love Is A Lie 7pp, The Wrong Bride 8pp

#101 Feb 1964: Old Love For New 7pp, Bride Without a Wedding 8pp

#102 April 1964: The Girl On The Pier 8pp, Knight in Shining Armor 7pp, Love Calls Twice 7pp

#103 May 1964: I Love You, I Hate You 7pp

#105 Aug 1964: Moment of Farewell 7pp, Stand-in For Heartbreak 12pp

#106 Oct 1964: Winter Weekend 7pp, Runaway Heart 7pp, Storm In My Heart 15pp

#107 Nov 1964: My Precious Love 8pp, Stars Don’t Cry 15pp

#108 Jan 1965: The Wrong Kind of Love 7pp

#109 Feb 1965: Midnight Cinderella 15pp

#110 April 1965: Stand-in For A Honeymoon 13pp

#111 May 1965: The Girl Who Hated Herself 8pp, Vacation From Love 8pp, Pity Me–Love Me 13pp

#113 Aug 1965: How Will I Know It’s Love? 13pp

#114 Oct 1965: Love, Love, Go Away, Come Again Some Other Day 7pp

#115 Nov 1965: Girl On The Run 10pp, Love–Love–Love 6pp

#117 Feb 1966: Don’t Pity Me 13pp

#118 April 1966: Double Date, Double Heartbreak 5pp

#122 Oct 1966: What Happens When He Finds Out? 7pp, Kiss Me Goodbye 13pp

#123 Nov 1966: The Girl I’d Rather Be 12pp

#125 Feb 1967: Fight For the One You Love 13pp

#126 April 1967: Love Came Too Late 11pp

#127 May 1967: Sweet Mystery of Love 7pp, He Couldn’t Be True To Me 14pp

#128 July 1967: My Past Ruined My Future 14pp

#129 Aug 1967: Love Was A Lie 10pp

#130 Oct 1967: The False Face of Love 9pp

#131 Nov 1967: A Girl Alone 14pp

#132 Jan 1968: A License To Love 11pp

#142 April 1969: So Long In Love 4pp

Whew! That’s a total of 2,422 pages on this title. An amazing amount! More articles in this series can be found on the Comics Creation page of my blog.

Ira Schnapp on Wikipedia.

The post Ira Schnapp in GIRLS’ LOVE STORIES appeared first on Todd's Blog.

Ira Schnapp in ALAN LADD and OZZIE & HARRIET

All images © DC Comics

Two Hollywood star titles that began with Oct/Nov 1949 cover dates are covered this time, THE ADVENTURES OF ALAN LADD and THE ADVENTURES OF OZZIE & HARRIET. Both were short-lived and neither have much involvement from Ira Schnapp, but I’m including them in my survey of his work for completeness. ALAN LADD ran nine issues and the editor of record is Whitney Ellsworth, though the actual editor may have been someone else. Ladd seems an odd choice for comics, though he may have had some appeal for kids of the time. I think the logo was designed by Ira Schnapp, and he probably also did the cover lettering, at least the parts that aren’t set in type. It’s possible they were done by the unknown letterer I’ve nicknamed “Proto-Schnapp” because I think his work was the model for Ira’s lettering, but Proto seems to have used a looser style for logos than what’s seen here.

The lettering at the bottom of issue #2 is by Proto-Schnapp. The line of script is very similar to work Ira did, but the lettering above it is definitely a style he never used: capital letters with more bounce, roundness, and serifs that Ira’s similar work, giving it a more casual feel.

The lettering at the bottom of issue #4’s cover is more like Ira Schnapp lettering, very regular and even, little bounce, and I think it’s by him.

Issue #5’s round blurb is also by Ira, I think.

The blurb on issue #8 is very much Ira’s work, including the story title in his version of Old English. And that’s the extent of Schnapp’s work on this title, four covers. Neither he nor Proto-Schnapp lettered any of the stories.

OZZIE AND HARRIET lasted only five issues, and was probably edited by Larry Nadle, who was handling all the DC humor titles at the time. The Nelson family, touted here as radio stars, but they would move to a long-running TV show in 1952, seem a more likely choice for a DC comic. They probably had a fan base of kids already, but apparently that was not enough to make this book a success. The logo names are in a style that either Proto-Schnapp or Ira Schnapp might have used, but the top line looks more like the work of Proto-Schnapp, and I think he also lettered the rest of the cover. The casual feel of the logo and lettering puts it in the Proto-Schnapp camp for me. Proto also lettered the other covers and most of the stories in this series.

Here’s a typical page of Proto-Schnapp story lettering from the first issue, though the balloon borders may have been added by the artist. Notice how wide most of the regular lettering is, and the story logo is full of cartoony bounce that Ira was not so good at.

Issue 3 has several stories that look more like Ira Schnapp’s work to me, including this one about the family dog. It’s borderline as far as the width of the lettering, though, so I’m not sure.

This page from another story seems similar, but is the lettering a little wider? I think so. I’m having a hard time deciding on some stories in this issue, but since Proto did most of the lettering in the series, I guess I will have to give him the nod and say that none of it is lettered by Ira.

More posts in this series and others you might enjoy can be found on the Comics Creation page of my blog.

Alan Ladd on Wikipedia.

Ozzie and Harriet on Wikipedia.

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Rereading: STARMAN JONES by Robert A. Heinlein

Cover illustration by Clifford Geary

Max Jones lives in a future America where technology is advanced and space travel to distant stars is a reality. Max’s uncle had been an astrogator on a starship, a highly skilled and valued position right below the captain, and had left Max his astrogation manual and a promise to vouch for him with his guild when he was old enough. But both Max’s uncle and father are gone, and his mother has remarried a man Max hates. The boy runs away from his rural farm home heading for the nearest spaceport where he hopes to begin a career as an astrogation trainee. Sadly, when he asks at the guild headquarters, he finds his uncle had not left any word about him. A man named Sam that Max met on the road had stolen his astrogation manual and tried to use it to gain entry to the guild himself. That didn’t work, and both man and boy meet again outside. Max is reluctant to take help from Sam, but has no where else to turn. An apologetic Sam helps Max find food and shelter, and soon manages to get illegal access for both of them as crew on a departing starship, the Asgard. While spending many months on the ship in menial jobs, Max gradually makes friends, learns all about space travel, and eventually becomes the astrogation trainee he dreamed of, but not without many difficulties and roadblocks to overcome. Max is helped by his unusual memory that allows him to remember everything he reads exactly. When the ship goes off-course and is lost, Max will have a crucial role in the crew’s last hope for a return home after the planet they find is not as welcoming as it first seems.

I loved this book when first reading it, and have loved it every reading since, this is probably at least the fourth. Of the Heinlein juvenile series of novels for young readers, this is one of the most appealing. Any reader can understand and empathize with Max’s hopes, fears and dreams, and Heinlein makes it a pleasure to root for him. The characters are appealing (or horrible as required), and the insights into human nature are spot on. The science is dated, but it’s easy to overlook that and go with the flow.

Highly recommended.

Reviews of other Heinlein books can be found on the Book Reviews page of my blog.

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Incoming: BLACK HAMMER LIBRARY EDITION 2

This new oversized collection includes the comics BLACK HAMMER: AGE OF DOOM #1-12 plus the CTHU-LOUISE one-shot and THE WORLD OF BLACK HAMMER ENCYCLOPEDIA as well as many extras. Or so it says on the back cover, I haven’t opened it, as I already have previous collections of most of this. If you’re a Black Hammer fan, this is for you—if you can afford it: $49.99 US. I enjoyed working on the series, it’s a clever modern take on superheroes, and an Eisner Award winner, deservedly so. Fine writing by Jeff Lemire, fine art by Dean Ormston. Amazon link below, or check with your comics vendor.

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Ira Schnapp in SUPERBOY

This and all images © DC Comics

Superboy, the adventures of Superman when he was a boy, was the creation of Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster and first appeared in MORE FUN COMICS #101 dated Jan/Feb 1945. Soon after that Superboy stories moved to ADVENTURE COMICS and stayed there for decades. The character was popular enough that DC decided to launch his own title edited by Jack Schiff in 1949, though Mort Weisinger took over as editor with issue #24. The book was published bimonthly for a while, then eight times a year, and generally had three Superboy stories in each issue, occasionally two, and rarely a book-length story in three parts. The regular cast included Ma and Pa Kent, Clark Kent as Superboy’s secret identity, his super-dog Krypto, and his girlfriend Lana Lang. The logo and cover lettering on the first issue above were designed by Ira Schnapp. The original Superboy logo by Schnapp is one of the oldest still in the DC Comics files, here’s a scan of it:

The logo draws on Ira’s love for the Art Deco era that was popular when he was a young man in the 1920s. Ira lettered many covers for the title, but just a handful of stories inside.

Some early covers had no lettering or were lettered by others. I see his work on issue #4, Sept/Oct 1949 using an upper and lower case style he didn’t employ often on covers, but one he sometimes used on house ads.

By issue #22 in 1952, Ira’s cover work had settled into this familiar style of captions and word balloons. Notice the marks around the word SIGH in Lana’s balloon. They are parentheses broken into dashed lines. This was the intermediate style for what I call “breath marks,” used to set apart words made only with breath and not voice. The original style was parentheses, then these broken or dashed parentheses, then the marks began to form radiating lines outward from each end of the word, the form used today.

Editor Mort Weisinger and his writers came up with endless odd ideas for their stories like this one from issue #47 in 1956 nicely captioned by Ira.

As you can see, one of the draws on young readers they used involved money, not only as the subject of the story but in a prize contest, all lettered by Ira, including the text on the currency itself.

I think issue #74 from 1959 is the first of the book-length “3-Part Novels” in this title, they were also used in SUPERMAN and ACTION COMICS, and here involved Superboy’s native planet Krypton and his real parents.

The cover of issue #107 from 1963 has lots of Schnapp lettering, all of it appealing to me.

As the book moved further into the 1960s, the storylines became even odder, as seen here in issue #126 from 1966. Part of the story title is hard to read because of the color choice: red letters on an orange background.

DC published some Annuals, including one for Superboy in 1964 that used Ira’s cover lettering, and also experimented with 80-page Giant issues in the regular run like this one in issue #129, often filled with reprints. Only the cover and Ira’s lettering on it were new.

In the later 1960s, the cover lettering assignments gradually moved from Ira Schnapp to Gaspar Saladino. Issue #145 from 1968 is the last one with Ira’s cover lettering, which seems to have word balloons that are larger than usual. Ira left the company in 1968 and died in 1969.

Here are the covers on which I see Ira’s lettering: 1, 4, 11, 13-29, 31-45, 47-53, 55-68, 70-77, 79-101, 103-104, 106-113, 115-121, 123-130, 132-134, 136-137, 139, 141-145, SUPERBOY ANNUAL 1. That’s 124 if I’ve counted right, an impressive body of cover work.

SUPERBOY had many different story letterers over the many years of its run. In early issues the regular lettering looked like this, much wider than Ira’s work. It’s by a letterer whose name is unknown to me, but familiar from other DC titles of the time. This is not the other unknown letterer I’ve nicknamed Proto-Schnapp because I think Ira used his work as a model for his own. Proto-Schnapp lettered just a few early stories for this title.

Ira did letter one of the three stories in issue #1, a sample page is above. Notice how much narrower and generally smaller his letters are.

Here’s a page from a story Ira lettered in issue #23 in 1952. As you can see, the stories from this time often had lots of lettering and must have taken a long time to do.

This Ira lettering for issue #76 in 1959 is again full of lettering and signs, all expertly handled by Ira.

Issue #100 from 1962 had a few special feature pages, including this new one lettered by Ira. Another one he lettered, “How the Super-Family Came to Earth From Krypton,” was a reprint from SUPERMAN ANNUAL #2 of 1960.

Here’s a list of the stories Schnapp lettered in this series:

#1 March/April 1949: Superboy Meets Mighty Boy 12pp

#4 Sept/Oct 1949: Super Safety Boy 10pp

#13 March/April 1951: The Terrible Twigley Twins 12pp

#16 Sept/Oct 1951: Superboy on Mars 12pp

#23 Dec 1952/Jan 1953: The Super Superboy 10pp

#45 Dec 1955: A Trap for Superboy 8pp

#47 March 1956: Clark Kent’s Best Pal 8pp

#71 March 1959: Bad Boy Clark Kent 9pp

#76 Oct 1959: The Day Clark Kent Got a Haircut 8pp

#77 Dec 1959: The Grandson of Steel 8pp

#100 Oct 1962: Special 100th Anniversary Souvenirs 1pp

#103 March 1963: The Wild West of Jesse James pages 5-9 only

That’s a total of 111 pages. There may have been reprints of some his stories in later issues, I didn’t look past 1970. More posts in this series and others you might enjoy can be found on the Comics Creation page of my blog.

More about Ira Schnapp from Wikipedia.

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