Todd Klein's Blog, page 216

SDCC 2015 Friday

On Friday I went to two panels, but mostly walked around the con finding friends and talking with them. In the evening I went to the Eisner Awards. I see all the pictures I took are of artists, writers, panelists and friends, I neglected to get any of the con at large, so I’ll have to do more of that today.

The first panel was one of several focused on Will Eisner, and it was moderated by Paul Levitz, above. Paul has written a book coming out from Abrams in the fall, “Will Eisner, Champion of the Graphic Novel,” for which I did chapter heading illustrations, and I’m looking forward to seeing it.

Other panelists were Jeff Smith, of BONE fame…

…cartoonist Sergio Aragones…

…Eisner’s friend, publisher and agent, Denis Kitchen…

…and former Marvel editor Danny Fingeroth. All told of their discovering Will’s work on THE SPIRIT or in his pioneering graphic novels (in Sergio’s case in the 1940s in Mexico), how it impacted their own work, told stories about Will the man and creator, and considered Will’s place in comics history, which is an important one. Great panel.

Back on the Con floor I talked to Mark Wheatley, who was about to announce a new project he’s involved in, a multi-media theatrical show, “POW! BAM!” which will bring to life classic characters like Dick Tracy and Tarzan on a 3-D CGI stage, so I think a combination of live actors and digital sets. Sounds intriguing! We also talked about the art show he put together of art from his and Marc Hempel’s BREATHTAKER that will be touring at least 6 museums around the country.

Here’s Richard Starkings and his daughter (afraid I didn’t catch her name) at the Comicraft booth, had a good chat with him about his own book ELEPHANTMEN. He has most of the run for sale in collections, but said his best sales these days come from digital downloads on Comixology.

Gary Gianni continues to work on “Game of Thrones” projects with George R.R. Martin. Last year it was a calendar, this fall will see the publication of a new book of short stories in the “Game of Thrones” series illustrated by Gary that looks great. The stories have seen print before, several were adapted as comics, but I still want to get and read this new version.

Taking over as PRINCE VALIANT newspaper strip artist from Gary is Thomas Yeates, and here he is with one of his pages. Looks great, and Tom is enjoying the strip. I don’t see it, but hope to find it collected at some point.

Artist Steve Lieber was doing a Thor sketch in someone’s sketchbook when we talked, it was good to see him.

Here’s artist Mike Zeck ready for a commission.

Writer/artist Mark Schultz with a book from Flesk Publications that he wrote and drew, a combination of text and full-page illustrations. Looks terrific, I bought one and will enjoy reading it. He said he’s also working on a new XENOZOIC TALES.

Joshua Reed letters all the Aspen Comics books. I had seen him talking about lettering in a panel on Thursday, and enjoyed chatting with him again about that.

Talked to Paul Guinan and Anina Bennett about what they’re working on next. Paul is doing a new comics story for the first time in a long time, one on Aztec history, and is also preparing for another quasi-historical volume similar to his very popular BOILERPLATE.

In the afternoon I attended a comics history panel, “Twisted Roots of the Comics Industry,” which I enjoyed. Moderating was Nicky Wheeler-Nicholson, granddaughter of Major Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson, the founder of the company that eventually became DC Comics, and someone I’ve corresponded with but not met, so it was nice to meet and listen to her. Her slide show included photos from my blog with my permission. Also shown here are Michael Uslan and Gerard Jones, Brad Ricca was also on the panel along with Danny Fingeroth. I knew most of the material covered, but it was fun to hear about it from these folks, comics historians all.

Back in Artist’s Alley, Bernie Wrightson was signing prints and talking to fans. It was good to see him there, he’s had serious health problems recently.

I talked to former DC Comics workmate Anthony Tollin about his reprints of “The Shadow” pulp magazines and many other things.

It was good to see Chrissie Zullo, we talked about the end of FABLES, where we worked together occasionally, and I love her charming artwork.

In the afternoon I was dragging, so went back to my hotel room for an hour’s nap and some down time. I now had it to myself, as Gene and Andrew had checked out. Gene was heading home, and Andrew had another room of his own lined up for two nights, so I now got this great room at the Marriott, right next to the convention center, to myself. I enjoyed rooming with them, it worked out well, but am also glad to still have this room until I head home Monday.

Around 6:30 I changed and head over the the Bayside Hilton for the Eisner Awards. I thought I could walk there in 15 minutes, but forgot the con’s main hall would close at 7 PM, and the crowd outside I had to get through was massive. I made it eventually by around 7:20, and found a seat at my table next to Steve Leialoha and Trina Robbins, as well as Michael and Laura Allred, and Vertigo chief Shelly Bond. Our table was not close enough to the podium for me to get pictures, so I just have this one of some of the winners being photographed afterwards. The lettering category was first up, and the award went to Stan Sakai, who is a fine letterer, and still doing it all by hand. I was happy to see him win. Stan has had a rough year, losing his wife Sharon, and I wish him all the best. I was kind of relieved not to win myself, it allowed me to enjoy being there as a nominee, feeling appreciated and part of the comics world, but I’ve won plenty of Eisners already and don’t need more, really. The awards went smoothly for the most part, the presenters and recipients were generally entertaining, with perhaps the funniest moments from the final presenter, British talk-show host and comics fan Jonathan Ross, and the show wrapped up in about two and a half hours, which makes it a relatively short one.

Walking back to my hotel later, this was something I hadn’t seen before, people allowed to camp out in front of the con center. I thought maybe it was part of the line for the big media events the next day in Hall H (for which people wait for days, something I can’t fathom), but I asked one person, and he said he was just waiting to get into the show on Saturday. Perhaps these are folks with passes but no hotel room, I don’t know, but it was kind of surprising they’re allowed to camp there.

Okay, time to wrap this up and head out for more adventures, I’ll write about them tomorrow.

 

SDCC 2015 Thursday

San Diego Comic-Con was already bustling when I arrived on the con floor a little before 10 AM. It only got more crowded through the day. Once Thursday was considered a light day for attendance, but now it’s busy every day, and usually filled to capacity. Even with a huge event hall, the aisles soon fill.

Here’s a vendor I thought I’d never see, Arkham Bazaar, selling only H.P. Lovecraft-inspired items. Old H.P. would be mighty puzzled by this development, I bet.

The Century Guild’s booth seemed smaller this year, but with beautiful Art Nouveau work on display, as always.

I was happy to find Steve Leialoha in his usual spot, and here showing an advance copy of FABLES 150, which we’re all proud of, due out soon.

Had a good chat with Chris Staros about his merging Top Shelf with IDW. He seems happier and more relaxed, with less weight on his shoulders financially, and feels it’s a great deal for both publishers. I suggested Top Shelf would fill a role at IDW similar to Vertigo at DC, and he agreed that’s what they’re thinking.

At Neal Adams’ booth I spotted him enjoying talking to artist Russ Heath, two solid pros discussing their careers.

Here’s long-time Judge Dredd artist Carlos Esquerra doing a sketch for a fan at the 2000 AD booth.

In the DC booth, glass cases held costumes from many of the current DC-based TV shows. Here’s the Flash costume, a show I enjoy watching, with the Golden-age Flash’s helmet tossed into this year’s final episode as a teaser.

I was happy to see and talk to Kevin Nowlan, one of this year’s guests.

Here’s Dave Elliott and some of the books he publishes, Dave and I worked together for several years, and he’s perhaps best known for his A1 anthologies, but these all look good.

As usual, I ran into super-fan Henrik Andreasen pretty early on Thursday, out getting things signed in Artist’s Alley. In the backpack are Thursday’s books for signing.

I was attracted by this Green Goblin Silicone mask, more for the logo I designed really, but it’s well done.

Here’s someone trying on their Hulk mask. Looks good, but of course the face doesn’t move realistically.

Always good to talk to my old friend Scott Hampton, I’ll have breakfast with him one day at the con.

Great to see Marv Wolfman at the show, nearly completely recovered from his broken hip last year. Here he’s posing with a woman dressed as his Marvel creation The Black Cat, with her first cover appearance as a poster. Danny Fingeroth and some spider guy as well.

Going up the front escalator to the panel rooms, the classic “through the wormhole” view.

Looking down from upstairs at the main intersection in front of the con center, bustling as well.

Sat in on a panel where several artists talked about the elements they combined and crafted on one or two pages of their comics, and particularly enjoyed hearing old friend Scott McCloud talk about his SCULPTOR.

Another area upstairs, “Under the Sails,” includes a section for portfolio reviews. Here’s someone waiting for one from Disney. It’s hard to get your work in front of  publishers or companies these days, and this is a great opportunity.

At a panel discussing Inkers, Letterers and Colorists, letterers Dave Lanphear and  Joshua Reed did a fine job on that subject, even with such a small amount of time to cover it.

Talked with Dave afterwards, looking snappy in a dark shirt and tie.

Outside it was another gorgeous San Diego day, as so many are, and I sat and had some snacks while I watched the passing pageant of costumes and fans.

The big panel today for me was the Vertigo Announcement one, where editor Shelly Bond and a dozen creators announced a massive fall launch of 12 new titles, five of which I’m lettering. People have been asking what I’m working on, and I couldn’t give specifics, but now that these are announced I can. I’m working on RED THORN, ART OPS, NEW ROMANCER, CLEAN ROOM and will soon be working on LUCIFER, as well as a few other projects for DC, not to mention ones for Marvel and Dark Horse that aren’t announced yet, so I’m keeping busy! Hope the big publicity push and relaunch of Vertigo goes well, the ones I’m on are all excellent, in my opinion, and I’m looking forward to reading many of the others.

Friday evening I joined Andrew Pepoy’s group for dinner at a good Greek restaurant. Here are John Lustig, Brian Apthorp, myself, Andrew, and two model friends of his, Ludella and Minnie. Good conversation with everyone, even though it got very noisy in there.

Have to get on to today’s activities, more tomorrow!

Getting to San Diego

Getting to San Diego is definitely NOT half the fun. Yesterday morning I was up at 5 AM, and off to Philadelphia International Airport by 6:45. I arrived at my gate around 8:30, plenty of time for a 9:50 flight. Then I began looking around and realized all the flights on United (my airline) were on hold due to a computer system crash nationwide. Not a good start to the trip! I had an egg sandwich and did some reading, and the system came back on, but our flight was still delayed about 2 hours leaving. I had a connection in Houston, but since all United flights were delayed, that was not a problem, in fact that flight left almost 3 hours late. I ran into Craig Yoe and his family there, and we had a good time talking about the comics biz, so the time went pretty quickly. I finally landed in San Diego around 6 PM, about two hours behind the planned landing, so they made up an hour in the air.

Once out of the airport I took a taxi to my hotel. I’d had no luck with the con’s room lottery this year, but fortunately was invited to share a room very close to the convention center with Gene Ha and Andrew Pepoy, so that worked out well for me, and many thanks to Gene for the offer. I met Gene at the hotel, and he invited me to dinner with some other friends. I was starving at this point, having not eaten for about 8 hours, but I wanted to pick up my con badge first, so agreed to meet them at the restaurant. The photo above is the line for picking up pro badges, which stretched from in front of Hall A to Hall D, but it moved pretty quickly, and I was through with my badge in about a half hour. I had thought I’d spend some time in the con that evening (Preview Night), but I was too hungry, and opted for dinner instead. 

After waiting about half an hour outside the restaurant, one I hadn’t been to called “The Lion’s Share,” we went inside for a fine meal. Here are myself, Marie Javins, Gene Ha, Jim Chadwick and Stuart Moore in a photo from Jim’s phone taken by the waitress, and posted by Jim on Facebook. Stuart is not really as drunk as he looks, he was trying to get into the shot.

Here’s myself and Marie with one of many unusual animal paintings the place is decorated with, also from Jim’s phone.

And one of Jim Chadwick and Stuart Moore from my phone. Didn’t get a good photo of Gene, but I’m sure he’ll turn up again.

This morning, after a good night’s sleep, I’m out on the balcony of our room enjoying the usual lovely San Diego weather, and typing this up, an early riser, as usual. Soon I’ll go get breakfast and head to the Con, which opens at 10 AM. More tomorrow!

 

Logo Study: DC Comics Cover Logos 1939-1949 Part 3

All images © DC Comics

In 1947 National Comics started a new licensed title that was a teen humor book based on a popular radio show. The logo style definitely says “humor,” and the word JUDY is large and well-designed. A DATE WITH is not so good, having uneven shapes and strokes, but maybe that was intentional, to make it more fun and jazzy.

With issue 4, A DATE WITH became much larger and more important, and is redrawn. I think it’s quite possible Ira Schnapp designed this one. The rest of the cover lettering on issue 1 looks like his work, too.

The other new title for 1947 was GANG BUSTERS, as DC dipped a toe in the lucrative but often denigrated crime comics genre. This looks like another Ira Schnapp design to me. The very thin strokes at the middle of the G, B and E don’t work very well, but in general these letter forms look like Ira did them.

Early 1948 brought another new crime comic with a logo that I think was designed by Ira Schnapp. Ira had become the go-to man for logos, in my opinion, and in 1948 the number of new titles was increasing. Super-hero comics sales were declining, and National Comics was looking for entry into other genres that might give their sales a boost. This logo has the same too-thin center bar of the E as the one above, but overall is solid and appealing.

Another new genre for National, the western, was the topic of this title, also looking very much like it was designed by Ira Schnapp. Ira did not often use the kind of rough-edged letters seen here in WESTERN, but the shapes of the letters look like his work to me. COMICS in an Art Deco style is picked up from previous titles. The other cover lettering, especially that EXTRA, looks like Ira too.

National also converted the long-running ALL-AMERICAN COMICS to ALL-AMERICAN WESTERN with a logo I think is probably also by Schnapp. The banner is somewhat awkward, but the look of WESTERN is professional and appealing, even if it doesn’t have much of a western flavor. Note that Schnapp is using either a double outline or a heavy drop shadow on many these logos to help them read better against cover art. The style of ALL AMERICAN is from the previous logo for a small amount of continuity, though I imagine kids looking for the super-hero comic would have been puzzled by this anyway.

Roy Rogers comics were already being published by Dell, so National licensed a series featuring Roy’s movie sweetheart, Dale Evans with a logo I think is by Ira Schnapp. The remaining issues had the word EVANS to the right of DALE, but here they were stacked to leave room for the horse’s head. That text at the top is classic Ira Schnapp cover lettering, and around this time he seemed to be doing more of that.

Also in 1948, National began this new teen humor book with a logo that I think is by Ira Schnapp. It has a nice combination of wide well-formed letters that read well and also have a humorous bounce. The shape of the Y is unusual, like an upside-down H, but it works fine for me.

I’ve already shown 1948’s SCRIBBLY by Sheldon Mayer, but I’ll put it here again so you can compare the style with BINKY. Mayer’s letters are less consistent, the strokes uneven, but he manages to make it very appealing all the same. His Y is more cartoon standard, too.

By 1949 I believe Ira Schnapp had moved from being a freelancer for the company to a staff position, where he became the regular logo designer and cover lettering man, while still working on story page lettering. He would soon begin to produce the elaborate “house ads” promoting new titles and continuing titles that ran in all the comics. Certainly by 1950, all or nearly all that work was by Ira, and continued to be until Gaspar Saladino began getting some of it around 1967, and took over most or all of it when Ira left the company in 1968. Ira Schnapp, through his somewhat old-fashioned but very professional and distinctive style, leaning heavily on the Art Deco and classic show-card alphabets that were his favorites, created a company look for National or “DC” comics that appealed to kids, and helped sell new titles through their familiar trade dress. THE ADVENTURES OF ALAN LADD looks like his work to me, using show-card styles, and more follow.

THE ADVENTURES OF OZZIE AND HARRIET, another TV show license, is one of the open script styles that Ira Schnapp used through the rest of his time at DC. This example is uneven in spots, and could have been crafted more carefully, but it’s pure Schnapp.

A similar script style was used for the movie cowboy licensed title JIMMY WAKELY, one I think meant to represent the man’s signature. Not terribly appropriate for a western comic, but well done, and a bit reminiscent of the WONDER WOMAN logo. Definitely Schnapp, in my opinion.

Now here’s a western comic logo with real artistic skill in evidence, and I have no doubt it’s the work of Ira Schnapp, this time working very carefully to create convincing and well-shaped letters from rope and logs. Rather old-fashioned, in fact this kind of log lettering looks back to Victorian times really, but you have to admire the craftstmanship. Getting rope to work as letters and still look like rope is not small task, either. And a heart to emphasize the cross-genre combination of romance and western comics, the idea of editor Julie Schwartz for this title, which didn’t last long.

A new funny animal title with a very rounded logo that I think is by Ira Schnapp. Notice the thinner central arm of each E, for instance, and the generally even and consistent rows of letters. The drop shadow helps it read well and pop off the cover.

MISS BEVERLY HILLS OF HOLLYWOOD was a short-lived attempt to attract female readers, and the logo, I believe, is by Ira Schnapp. That graceful curve of BEVERLY HILLS allows room for the other words to fit in without taking up too much vertical space, a technique Ira used on other long logos, and this one is very long. The Art Deco style Ira loved is perfect to suggest movie star elegance. The EXTRA in the top banner looks like Ira’s work, but not the rest, which might have been filled in by someone else.

Speaking of female readers, DC was also getting into the romance comic genre created a few years earlier by Simon and Kirby, and very popular. I’m not sure Ira Schnapp designed this logo, the thin letters are not something he did as a rule, but on the other hand it has lots of style and graceful curves, and some elements that do suggest Ira to me, so perhaps he did design it, and the thin letters were the editor’s suggestion.

The other new romance title of 1949 has a logo that looks more typical of Ira Schnapp to me, and the black shading on the letters give it a touch of elegance that I find appealing. Sorry for the poor quality of the images on these last two, the best I could find. Note that both romance logos use larger first letters on each word, something Ira liked to do, as evidenced by many of the logos here.

We’ll finish off this logo study with the first new super-hero title from DC in several years, and a logo I’m sure is by Ira. This is a scan of the original logo from DC’s files. The graceful arc, the Art Deco style, the deep drop shadow that makes it read well and pop off the surface are all the work of one of DC’s longest-running and most important designers and letterers.

Here’s how it looked on the first cover, accompanied by Ira Schnapp’s word balloons, and in color for a change. I find it easier to study the logo designs themselves without color, but of course, color is part of the appeal of comics. Ira Schnapp, now firmly ensconced as the company’s staff logo and cover lettering man would continue his long, successful reign in that position, and kids like me soon learned his style was a signal for entertaining comics.

Hope you’ve enjoyed this logo study. Other articles you might like can be found on the COMICS CREATION and LOGO LINKS pages of my blog, including several about Ira Schnapp.

Logo Study: DC Comics Cover Logos 1939-1949 Part 2

All images © DC Comics.

FLASH COMICS had been a success for All-American Comics, one of two sister companies under the DC symbol along with National Comics, and in 1941 they began a new title for the character. Officially ALL-FLASH, the QUARTERLY was short-lived as the title soon became more frequent. This is one of my favorite logos from the All-American roster. ALL-FLASH is beautifully rendered in a dynamic brush style that looks appealing and fresh, though it was probably not rendered in single brush strokes as it appears. QUARTERLY is equally masterful square-ended letters, and the entire logo is in “show-card” style, meaning the kind of hand-lettering then very common in many places, from movie-theater lobbies to department stores to advertising in magazines. I have no idea who designed it, it looks unlike any other logos from the company, but it’s tempting to think it could have been designed by veteran letterer/designer Ira Schnapp, who had done plenty of show-card lettering in the past. We have no way of knowing if Ira worked on any All-American logos, but he could have. The logo was slightly redrawn a few times for later issues, but always followed this model closely.

By contrast, another new title and character from All-American was GREEN LANTERN, and his logo was a hot mess of ragged flames surrounding and emerging from poorly designed block letters. This logo is also unlike anything else the company put out, but in a bad way! My guess is that it’s by Green Lantern artist and co-creator Martin Nodell. The cover artist of this first issue is Howard Purcell, but looking closely, the GL face in the lantern, and the lantern itself in the logo are subtly different from what Purcell has drawn, which I think would eliminate him as the logo designer. And the fact that this logo was also used on all the inside stories drawn by Nodell cements the idea that it was his design. That’s my guess, anyway.

Over at National Comics, STAR SPANGLED COMICS began with a logo that used the Art Deco COMICS from earlier titles, but probably redrawn, and an upper and lower case STAR SPANGLED with swooping S shapes that add interest. On the now-standard banner, carefully-drawn stars in a random pattern help make this an attractive logo. While it all works together well, the shapes of some letters in STAR SPANGLED are uneven, and that suggests to me it wasn’t designed by Ira Schnapp, but I could be wrong. I have no other ideas.

At the end of 1941, National began another new title whose logo has a lot in common with the previous one, though this COMICS is an older version used on several previous National titles beginning with NEW FUN COMICS #11 in 1936, and also on DETECTIVE COMICS and ADVENTURE COMICS. The main clue is the extra space between the C and S. You can see those logos HERE. LEADING is similar to STAR-SPANGLED, but the letter forms are more consistent and correctly proportioned, though the slightly larger A is a bit odd, and the L does not follow the same thinner-horizontal strokes plan. Another logo that could have been worked on by Ira Schnapp, or it could be the work of whoever designed those earlier National logos. Unlike many other National logos of the time, LEADING skipped the horizontal banner.

At All-American, Wonder Woman debuted in ALL-STAR COMICS #8 cover-dated Dec. 1941, and the following month became the lead feature in this new title. The slanted block letter SENSATION is a little like the second FLASH COMICS logo and I’ve always thought it held bad design choices. The first S is much larger, but also much thicker than the rest, the second S adds serifs or extra extensions at upper right and lower left, which none of the other letters have, and the O is an oval, while all the other letters are sharply squared. These things do not go together well! And those very sharp corners on the first S look bad to me, too. COMICS is in a different Art Deco style that I actually like better and think looks fine. The horizontal banner helps it read well, as does the drop shadow, and in all, it’s not a terrible logo, just not a good design, in my opinion. I have no designer guess.

Later in 1942 Wonder Woman got her own title. A variation of this logo first appeared on her initial story in ALL-STAR #8, and it’s very well-designed, if a little hard to read in places where there are multiple loops in a row. I don’t know who designed the logo, but would sure like to!

That first story in ALL-STAR #8 had this rather crudely-drawn version of the logo, very likely by series artist H.G. Peter, so he might have had a hand in the logo design, but I suspect he was copying (badly) an already existing logo by someone else. In small print under it are the words “Trade Mark Application Pending.” That application was made with what was called an “ashcan” edition of her first regular issue shown here:

The ashcan edition (made to secure copyright protection), is probably from late 1941, using the cover art from SENSATION #1, but there’s a different version of the logo in the cover lettering below, one with less-tall letters. Perhaps whoever did that promotional lettering beginning with FEATURING also did the second version of WONDER WOMAN. Or, perhaps both versions of the logo were designed at the same time, and pasted in here. It’s tempting to assign Ira Schnapp as the possible designer. Certainly it’s well-crafted, and something I can see Ira doing, though I don’t know of any other work by him in this style. I can imagine a situation where, as with SUPERMAN, Ira was asked to make a professional version of a poorly designed logo by H.G. Peter. Unfortunately, I have no evidence of that or who the actual designer was. Unless new information comes forth, it will remain a mystery.

To digress for a moment, a note at the top of this cover says, “Rejected U.S.P.O. 1942.” Not sure what that means, but it’s intriguing! It can’t mean the copyright was rejected, as the Copyright Office handled that, not the Post Office, so perhaps it means a second class mailing permit was rejected. ADDED: Devil Thompson reads it as “Registered” rather than “Rejected,” which makes more sense, and he points out the acronym in this case would stand for “United States Patent Office,” so the note makes more sense now. Thanks, Devlin.

Another title from National in 1942 was the wartime effort BOY COMMANDOS from the studio of Joe Simon and Jack Kirby. Simon was in the habit of designing logos for their titles, at least since CAPTAIN AMERICA in 1941, so it seems possible he designed this one. The style is Art Deco, but with many differences in approach from the other Art Deco logos of DC. I don’t find it very appropriate for what is essentially a war comic, but if Joe Simon did design it, perhaps he was trying for something that fit in with National’s existing Art Deco approach. It’s certainly not up to the standard of his CAPTAIN AMERICA logos, though, so perhaps it is by someone else, but I’d say not Ira Schnapp.

1943 saw the introduction of this title from National, a typical humor approach for ALL FUNNY, not too different from many others on the stands. COMICS is a mix of the previous approach used on NEW YORK WORLD’S FAIR COMICS, with the S from other titles like ACTION COMICS. I’d guess it was designed by the same person who worked on those.

Over at All-American in 1943, COMIC CAVALCADE, a new anthology began with a logo that has some Art Deco elements and steep one-point perspective centered below the letters, giving the title the feeling of leaning out of the cover toward the reader. The letters are well formed, though there seems too much space between the words to me. I don’t have a designer guess. 1943 also brought this thick one-shot with ALL-AMERICAN very much in the style of that comic, but THE BIG and COMIC BOOK in the open script style of COMICS in ALL-STAR COMICS, which I suggested might have been designed by Shelly Mayer. The script is not as consistent or carefully done here, but the similarities are there. Perhaps Mayer worked on this logo as well, and if he did that ALL-AMERICAN, I can suggest he might have worked on other logos for his company that use block letters, but that’s just a guess.

There’s no doubt in my mind that 1944’s FUNNY STUFF from All-American is designed by Sheldon Mayer, who also did the cover art. It’s very much in his style, and the huge initial letters here make it different and appealing. This logo, with minor variations, continued on the covers until the title was changed to DODO AND THE FROG in the 1950s.

At National, a teen humor title, BUZZY began, along the lines of ARCHIE. The logo might have been designed by the cover artist George Storm, or it might possibly be by Ira Schnapp. I would say the other cover lettering is definitely not by Schnapp.

By 1945, interest in super-heroes was declining, and National was trying more humor comics, using cartoon-like characters, or actual cartoon characters under license.

With issue 2, FUNNIES became COMICS. Both words were common parlance for the form, but National always preferred Comics. I have no guess as to who might have designed these, they don’t look anything like Ira Schnapp’s work to me.

A similar logo look, with rubbery, rounded letters was featured in this new title from 1946, possibly by the same unknown designer. It’s worth noting that by this year, All-American Comics as a separate company was no more. M.C. Gaines, unhappy with his partnership with Jack Liebowitz (and through him probably Harry Donenfeld) broke up their business, forming his own Educational Comics at the All-American address, while many of the existing All-American titles and staff moved to National’s 480 Lexington headquarters.

National began another funny animal title in 1946, with the logo in typical humor style, though this time with square-ended letters. No designer guesses.

The final new title from National in 1946 was at least a different genre, an attempt to make facts fun. In my estimation, this was more likely to appeal to parents than children, and perhaps that was the idea. The title is uninspired, and so is the logo. REAL seems tacked on at upper left, FACT is inconsistent in stroke widths, and COMICS is picked up from previous titles. All three words are in different styles that don’t work together well, in my opinion. It’s possible Ira Schnapp worked on it, the lettering on FACT and to the right of the logo looks like his, but if so, it was far from his best work.

We’ll continue in the third and final part of this study with logos from 1947-1949. Other articles you might enjoy can be found on the LOGO LINKS page of my blog.

 

 

 

Logo Study: DC Comics Cover Logos 1939-1949 Part 1

All Images © DC Comics. SUPERMAN 1 and 2, 1939.

In a previous blog post, “DC’S EARLIEST LOGOS,” I considered who might have designed the logos from the beginnings of the company in 1935 starting with NEW FUN and continuing through titles like NEW COMICS, MORE FUN, the landmark DETECTIVE COMICS in 1937, ACTION COMICS in 1938 and a revamped ADVENTURE COMICS the same year. This series of articles continues that study for another 11 years, during which time only 50 new titles began. That seems a small number today, but for the first half of the 40s, World War Two kept paper in short supply, and launching new titles was difficult. Growth at the company known in the 1940s as National Comics was slow, and many of the new titles were actually put out by a sister company, All-American Comics, begun in 1939. And before you ask, I’ve decided to run all the logos in grayscale, as I think it allows one to focus better on the design elements.

M.C. Gaines, Harry Donenfeld and Jack Liebowitz, 1940s, source and photographer unknown.

National’s main owner was Harry Donenfeld, with his partner Jack Liebowitz also holding a financial share, and possibly Paul Sampliner, the head of Independent News, their distribution company. All-American was begun by M.C. Gaines, already involved in comics reprinting newspaper strips since 1933, who came to Donenfeld for financial backing. Donenfeld agreed, but only if his partner Jack Liebowitz was made a partner in the new business. All-American set up shop at 225 Lafayette Street in downtown Manhattan, a 20 minute drive away from National’s offices at 480 Lexington (maybe less if you took the subway). For the most part, the sister companies employed their own staffers and freelance writers and artists, at least until they physically merged in 1945, though many All-American comics covers included National’s circular “DC” logo, and there were close ties between them, as we’ll see.

Beginning our study in 1939, National’s two huge successes were Superman and Batman. Superman had been the lead feature in the anthology title ACTION COMICS since his debut in 1938, and in 1939, National issued a new title, SUPERMAN, filled with stories about that character. The co-creator and original artist of Superman was Joe Shuster. Joe was doing much of the art, and all the covers for Superman’s appearances, and the first image above shows his logos for issues 1 and 2 of the new SUPERMAN title. Generally in magazine production, a logo is designed for the first issue of a new publication, and then photographic prints or photostats are made to use on later issues, but Joe Shuster was redrawing his Superman logo nearly every time. The logo he drew for issue 2 was used again on issue 3.

For issue’s 4 and 5, this new version was used. Shuster had a clear idea of what the logo should look like, but his versions are uneven and inconsistent. National must have thought a more professional look was needed, and they asked Ira Schnapp to redesign the logo based on Shuster’s ideas.

The superb result first appeared on issue 6, cover-dated Sept.-Oct. 1940. A long-time graphic design pro, Schnapp’s knowledge of perspective, lighting and classic letterforms made this one of the best and most memorable comic book logos of all time, and a rare example of a logo that remained unchanged for over 40 years. While it follows Shuster’s design most closely from the cover of SUPERMAN #1, it picks up a few ideas from other Shuster logos like the curve inside the U from issue 4 and the shading on the telescoping of the S from issue 2. Above all, it brings all Shuster’s ideas together in a consistent way with complex three-point perspective and beautifully-formed letters that really stands out as a worthy logo for the character. I’ve written several articles about Ira Schnapp’s work for DC, which can be found under the COMICS CREATION and LOGO LINKS headers at the top of the page, with more to come. SUPERMAN is the first logo he designed for the company, and there’s more about that in THIS article.

National’s other big seller was Batman, appearing as the lead feature in DETECTIVE COMICS, and in 1940 the company similarly launched BATMAN, filled with stories about him. For many logos of comics’ first few decades we have no information about who designed them, and can only guess and speculate, but for this one I know for certain it was designed by Jerry Robinson, then an assistant to Batman creator Bob Kane, because he told me himself! I’ve written about that HERE.  The combination of large Art Deco letters and a stylized bat shape with Batman’s head was another brilliant comics logo design that was used for decades…

…though there were small changes and variations for a while until it settled into this format a few issues later. All were the work of Jerry Robinson, an artist with a long career in and out of comics. He also designed the original Robin logo that first appeared on the cover of DETECTIVE COMICS #38.

For the rest of the logos in this study, I’ll be relying largely on guesswork and looking for similarities of style. The other new title from National in 1939 was this comic produced to promote the company’s characters at the Fair in the title. The style is Art Deco, still very popular since it’s beginnings and rise in the mid 1920s. One quirk is the slanted top of the K at upper right, not a typical form. The use of both slanted letters and straight up ones seems a bit awkward, but then the word COMICS was usually handled differently on the company’s covers, so it’s not unexpected. The shape of the S in WORLD’S is one that occurs often in comics, but not so often elsewhere. This logo is such an integral part of the cover, I suspect it may have been designed by cover artist and National editor Vin Sullivan, who I also suspect designed other early National logos, but that’s just a guess.

The new company All-American Comics began with two titles, this one having the same name. The word COMICS is again very Art Deco, and similar to the logo above it, except for the shapes of the M and S. This might mean the same person designed both, but not necessarily, as the Art Deco style was known and used by many. ALL-AMERICAN is slanted and thinner, but the entire design in a stylized shield is attractive, with two small stars for added interest, and a bit of American patriotism. It seems unlikely Vin Sullivan would have been involved in designing it. The cover artist is Sheldon Mayer, a fine cartoonist involved in comics from the beginning, and also the editor-in-chief for All-American. It’s possible he was involved in the design, but it’s not typical of his work.

With issue 16, cover dated July 1940, a new logo began, and one with a very interesting element. The word COMICS is from…

…National’s ACTION COMICS! Here’s proof that there was definitely some design cooperation between the two sister companies. And it makes sense to let this style of COMICS create a brand for the books of both, just as the much smaller DC symbol did. The large A in ALL-AMERICAN has some similarities to the A in ACTION too, perhaps not an accident. Even the extended right arm of the N echoes the one in ACTION. While not as well designed, this ALL-AMERICAN logo seems to be telling readers of ACTION they’ll find more good reading within. I have no guesses about the designer.

The other debut title for All-American was the short-lived MOVIE COMICS. COMICS once again is Art Deco, reminiscent of the one in ACTION, but with a number of differences. MOVIE has a glow and tiny marquee lights, but in general is not as well designed. The horizontal strips with sprockets representing movie film are a nice touch. No designer guess.

Also beginning in 1939 from All-American was MUTT & JEFF, which already had a long and popular run as a comic strip in newspapers, and even a few book collections. I think the logo is based on one used in the newspaper strip, though I haven’t found a contemporary example. At any rate, the logo is probably by the strip’s creator and artist Bud Fisher. Much of the art for the comic as it went on was actually by Al Smith, but I’d guess Fisher did the first cover at least.

Logos on the series continued to vary greatly, probably drawn on the cover art, until settling into this repeated logo with issue 24 in 1946.

In 1940 All-American started ALL-STAR COMICS. Even though the contents included costumed heroes like The Flash, The Sandman, The Spectre and more, the logo takes a cartoony approach, especially on the word STAR. Even the decorative stars in it are loose and casual. ALL is more straightforward, and COMICS is a very handsome open script. I do have a guess for the designer, I think it’s Sheldon Mayer. Compare it to this logo:

SCRIBBLY was Mayer’s creation, writing and art, and the character got his own title in 1948 with a logo I feel sure was designed by Mayer along with the rest of the cover. The S is very similar to the one in STAR above, and both logos have a loose, friendly feel that I associate with Mayer’s work. Just a guess, but I’m sticking with it! ALL-STAR COMICS became the home of the Justice Society of America with issue 3, and all the covers featured a team of the company’s most popular heroes (and heroines), but kept the informal logo.

Also in 1940, All-American introduced FLASH COMICS, and the word COMICS is very similar to the one in ALL-STAR COMICS, and clearly by the same person, I would say. FLASH, on the other hand, is very blocky, and while it does use slanted letters and speed lines to suggest the character’s swift movement, I don’t find the letters very appealing. Could this also be designed by Mayer? Maybe so, and revealing Mayer’s lack of skill with square block letters.

With issue 8 later in 1940, a new logo added a COMICS similar to ACTION, but redrawn with a wider space in the O, and a version of FLASH without speed lines, but angled further and with a rather crude lightning bolt running behind. Like the revamp of ALL-AMERICAN, horizontal bars echo the logo and trade dress of National’s super-hero comics, and this seems another attempt to give the hero comics of both companies a similar look. I have no guess for the designer.

A second large issue of NEW YORK WORLD’S FAIR COMICS came out from National in 1940, and while there are many similarities to the first issue, this one’s letters look better designed to me, except for the crowding of COMICS. The S in WORLD’S is particularly graceful. It could be the work of Ira Schnapp, though I’m not convinced it is.

Combining Superman and Batman on the same cover seemed popular with readers, even if they didn’t appear in the same stories inside, and National decided to continue the idea in a new title in 1941. The logo is very similar to the one above, but there are some improvements: a heavier outline to help it read better, a more classic apostrophe, and better spacing between the letters. Also the S in Comics now matches the other two. In all, this fine logo looks to me like the work of Ira Schnapp, and it seems reasonable that National would give him more logo design work after his stellar performance on SUPERMAN.

With issue 2 the title became WORLD’S FINEST COMICS, and oddly, the logo took a step back in design quality. Here the letters are thinner, and the inner shapes are not as consistent, especially in the S in COMICS. If this is Ira Schnapp’s work, I’d say it was not a good day for him, or perhaps someone else did it.

Whoever did it, that first WORLD’S FINEST logo remained on the book until replaced by this new Ira Schnapp version first seen on issue 96 cover-dated Sept. 1958, original logo from the DC files. Maybe all three are by Schnapp, certainly the last one is.

We’ll continue next time with more new titles from 1941. Other articles you might enjoy can be found on the LOGO LINKS page of my website.

 

 

 

 

Eight Years Running

Today is the eighth anniversary of this blog, and we nearly didn’t make it. A few months ago continuing difficulties with my previous web host were taking up way too much of my time, and I was considering pulling the plug, but I’m now on a new web host that seems to be working fine for me, so on we go. One problem is, after eight years of near daily entries, some quite long, the data size of the blog is several gigabytes, a lot in website storage terms. There have been 2612 blog posts so far, and though only a few dozen get the majority of the traffic, random searches do add to the load. So far the new host is handling it all well.

I plan to continue, and hope to bring more content-filled posts in the future. A new three-part logo study begins here Sunday, and I’m working on several comics history projects that will eventually appear when finished. It’s hard to find time for the good stuff, but I work on it when I can. Thanks for reading, hope to see you here again soon!

Logo Design: COMIC-CON PREVIEW

Images © Entertainment Weekly

On June 10th I received an email from Jennie Chang, the managing art director of ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY magazine, asking if I was available to do a logo for their upcoming Comic-Con Preview insert. We talked terms and price, and I agreed to do it. She told me her design director had found my website, and they loved the logo samples I have up there. They were thinking they wanted something similar to my NEW TEEN TITANS logo:

The hardest and most time-consuming part of a logo design is coming up with an idea that the client likes, so a client who has an idea and knows what they want always makes things easier. I was particularly happy to hear they’d found my website, as I’d just finished moving it to a new web host, which was a hassle, and I had been wondering to myself if it was even worth the effort to keep the site going, so this proof that potential clients were finding it made my day. I drew up a logo idea in pencil, inked it with markers, and sent it in — it’s the first image in this post. We weren’t sure exactly what the cover art by John Cassaday would look like yet, but the rough sketch suggested there might not be enough room for PREVIEW at the top, so I did it as a separate burst that could be placed anywhere it fit. Soon thereafter I received the message:

This is PERFECT.   We all LOVE it.  It’s exactly what we wanted.

And the idea of having the preview be a burst is such a smart idea too.

Music to my ears!

I scanned my sketch and worked out the finished logo in Adobe Illustrator, tracing what I’d done in the sketch, and finessing the details of the telescoping and perspective there. Then I put a new layer under the black line art and added color. They had asked for a color Illustrator version, noting they might change the colors to match the cover art, and I was happy to do that. A design like this always looks better in color, and by doing the color myself I was able to make sure I had all the matching colors linked, to avoid mistakes, and that the trapping (the way the black overprints the colors) was correct.

Here’s the finished faux comic cover with terrific art by John Cassaday and colors by Laura Martin, and it looks like my logo colors were used as sent or nearly so. There was room for PREVIEW at the top after all, and it all works fine in my opinion.

Here’s how it actually appears in the magazine, a clever design that I like a lot. It goes on sale today, if you’re interested in getting a copy. I don’t do a lot of logo designs these days because I can never tell how long the process will take, and it’s hard to schedule the time for it, but this job went smooth as silk, and I’m delighted with the result. Wish they all went so well!

And Then I Read: TWO BY JANE LOUISE CURRY

Cover art by Michael Mariano and Rick Turner

These might be the last fantasy books by Jane Louise Curry I hadn’t read, and I’m a little sad about that, I’ve enjoyed many of her books. While separate stories, they’re closely connected and best read together.

The viewpoint characters are small men and women of the Tiddi people, a wandering group who cover a regular yearly circuit through part of the land of Astarlind. Several young Tiddi get swept up in unexpected serious trouble  with Men, wolves, ice giants, magicians, and a large cast of people and (sometimes) talking animals. Magic stones from ancient times have surfaced, and an hidden evil presence is seeking them, sending his goblins and other dire creatures to find them. Runner, Fith and Cat, the young Tiddi, become part of a mission to destroy an evil outpost in a northern ice-bound land in the first book, and another mission to uncover the hidden evil and missing magic stones in the second.

These books are highly derivative of Tolkien, which is good in some ways, bad in others. For one thing there’s a deep back story giving events resonance, but Curry does not explain it as well as Tolkien, probably because there isn’t room. Second, some characters keep reminding the reader of Tolkien’s: the Tiddi of Hobbits, Lek the conjuror of Gandalf, and so on, but they aren’t as memorable or well-rounded in my opinion. Yet, there is an epic feel to the books that I liked, and lots of imaginative ideas.

Both books are full of exciting adventures and good characters who traverse an interesting and diverse land, and I did enjoy reading them, but I wouldn’t put them among Curry’s best work. Still, recommended.

And Then I Read: CITIZEN OF THE GALAXY 2

Image © Robert A. Heinlein

Three things that make the writing of Robert A. Heinlein tops in my book are the ideas, the author’s voice (narration) and the dialogue. This adaptation tries hard to make a comic out of the novel, but it feels incomplete because the author’s voice is largely missing. The ideas are there, at least some of them, same for the dialogue, but the few captions can’t begin to represent what reading Heinlein is like, and there the effort falls short. As it is, we have lots of talking heads, and not much action, though the story itself is quite interesting. A slave boy on a distant planet is gradually finding out he’s much more than that through a series of revelations. We follow his rise through a clan of space-faring traders, then his entrance into the Hegemonic Guard, a sort of space Navy, and his realization he needs to follow his own story to Earth. I enjoyed touching base with the characters, the pencil art by pro Steve Erwin is fine, though the digital “inks” are rough in spots. It’s an honest attempt, and worth a look if you’re a Heinlein fan, but not nearly as satisfying as the novel.

Mildly recommended