Todd Klein's Blog, page 48

Most Cover Appearances of a Klein Logo

Logo design from my files, all images © the respective copyright holders.

Recently Anthony Tollin, who I worked with in the DC Production Department in the late 1970s-early 1980s, wrote to me on Facebook:

Hey, Todd, it occurs to me that your COMICS REVUE logo has probably appeared on more issues than any other logo you designed. It’s appeared on around 352 covers (290 regular issues, 80 double-issue covers plus two CR Annuals). Offhand, are there any other logos you designed that have appeared on more covers?

This is something I’ve noticed myself every five or ten years when I realize the magazine is still being published! It’s been rolling out regularly from Rick Norwood’s Manuscript Press since 1983 and has always been a hefty collection of comic strips, some reprinted from the glory days, some more recent.

From COMICS REVUE #11, 1985

My 1985 logo first appeared on issue #11, above. I know I was contacted by Rick Norwood, but didn’t remember how we connected. I asked Anthony, and he said he recommended me to Rick. Anthony was a fan of the magazine and started doing color guides around this time, and was the editor for a few years. I was on staff at DC, and therefore not allowed to letter comics stories for competing companies, but logo design work was okay, and I had already designed a number of logos for Fantagraphics and other companies and individuals met while at DC. I don’t recall anything about the process on this one except that I wanted to use press-down letters for the subtitle using the font Cooper Black, and I designed the title to work with that. I also thought it should have a retro feel to match the older strips and characters often used on the covers.

From COMICS REVUE #299-300, April 2011

I never received any free copies of the magazine, which I was fine with, Norwood’s budget was small, and he was licensing all those strips, so it always surprises me when I see a cover like this one reminding me it’s still coming out, and still using my logo, minus the subtitle. With issue 281-282, Norwood began doing double issues, allowing more strips per issue but less frequent releases.

From COMICS REVUE #439-440, Dec 2022

Here’s the most recent issue, out this month. Wikipedia reports:

As of 2020, it has published more than 350 issues, making it the longest running independent comic book (beating the record of Cerebus the Aardvark). It reprints comic strips such as Alley Oop, The Amazing Spider-Man, Barnaby, Batman, Buz Sawyer, Casey Ruggles, Flash Gordon, Gasoline Alley, Hägar the Horrible, Krazy Kat, Lance, Latigo, Little Orphan Annie, Mandrake the Magician, Modesty Blaise, O’Neill, Peanuts, The Phantom, Rick O’Shay, Sir Bagby, Star Wars, Steve Canyon, Tarzan, Akwas, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

And nearly all of them with my logo on the cover! I guess Rick Norwood likes it…!

From SUPERMAN #6, Sept-Oct 1940 and SUPERMAN #386, Aug 1983

It’s comparatively rare for a comics logo to last more than a few years, though there are certainly exceptions. Ira Schnapp’s revision of Joe Shuster’s Superman logo first appeared on issue #6 in 1940, and on every issue to #385 in 1983. The Milton Glaser studio’s revamp has appeared on nearly every Superman comic since, and both have appeared on many other titles too, putting the cover appearances of each in the many hundreds, perhaps over a thousand. Another long survivor with many spin-offs is the ARCHIE logo. In the early days of comics, logos were rarely revised or replaced, but titles often did not last more than a decade. By the 1960s, a new logo became one way some companies tried to interest new buyers, though I doubt that ever succeeded. It did mean more logo design work for people like Artie Simek at Marvel and Ira Schnapp and Gaspar Saladino at DC. When I started doing logos in 1978, it was often for one-shots, short-lived series, or ones that were struggling and didn’t last much longer.

One of my first logos, for DC COMICS PRESENTS, designed in 1978, was an exception, it lasted for 89 issues before being replaced. Of course, I only designed the COMICS PRESENTS part, the DC was created by the Milton Glaser Studio.

From DC COMICS PRESENTS #1, July-Aug 1978

Still, it was a good run, and I like the logo. The only DC Comics logo I can think of that had more cover appearances is this one:

Designed in 1980, it first appeared on THE NEW TEEN TITANS PREVIEW in DC COMICS PRESENTS #26, then on about 100 issues of two runs of the comic, though some of those removed the telescoping and the burst around NEW.From THE NEW TEEN TITANS #1, Nov 1980

There were a few spinoffs that used the logo, and I think it’s the one by me with the most DC cover appearances. I also did other versions later with slightly different titles. By the 1980s, logos were often revised or replaced, sometimes with dizzying speed.

For instance, THE LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES had many different logos, here are four I designed. If I could count all the issues they appeared on as one total, it might be the front runner, but that’s not what we’re talking about here.

The only logo design of mine that comes close in number of cover appearances to the one on COMICS REVUE is this design from 1994. Marvel had commissioned a logo from me for the X-Men character Sabretooth:

It was the era of pointy and dangerous logos (and characters), and Marvel loved it. So much that they asked me to do something similar for Spider-Man, and the result is above, the pointy Spider-Man logo which ran on all the titles featuring the character for some years, and is still sometimes in use today, though with a somewhat modified logo. I also did a version without the curve, which I’m including, as it’s really the same logo. Going through the Grand Comics Database, I get a rough estimate of 250-300 cover appearances of my pointy Spider-Man logo, depending on what you want to include, and the number might well be higher. I think COMICS REVUE holds the record for most logo appearances, though, and clearly does for most consecutive appearances on one series! Thanks to Anthony Tollin for reminding me.

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Rereading: THIEF ISLAND by Elizabeth Coatsworth

Here’s another old book from my collection that I’ve recently reread before listing it on eBay. Coatsworth was a prolific author of children’s books, but little remembered today even though she won the Newbery Award for “The Cat Who Went to Heaven” in 1931.

In a harbor town on the coast of Maine, the Little family: father Dave and his children Susan and John, are forced to leave their home because of a bad investment deal their father was talked into, which caused them to lose their house and land. Dave Little is a hard-working lobsterman, first out and last in, and his children work hard too, at home and in school. What will they do, and where will they go? The auction sale of all their belongings will give them some cash, but it won’t be enough to buy or rent a new home. The answer lies out in the ocean a few miles from town, Thief Island. The Little family has property there and a house that’s in poor shape, but one that can hopefully be restored to living conditions. The Littles pack their remaining belongings, buy food and supplies, and travel to the island on Dave Little’s lobster boat, where they find things in even worse shape than they expected. There was once a small community on the island, but it’s been abandoned for some years after superstitious stories about a ghost haunting the lonely place. The Littles are not afraid, and ready to tackle the hard work of making their old family home livable again. Dave returns to his lobster fishing as soon as he can, while Susan and John explore the island and work on the house and grounds. The children find evidence that someone has been there, and Susan hears a horrible shriek in the woods that scares her. Despite that, they are determined to make Thief Island their home. Then a fierce storm approaches while their father is away in town. What will happen when the flooding tides and fierce winds attack?

A fine story, hard to find, but worth reading.

Thief Island by Elizabeth Coatsworth

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And Then I Read: FAR SECTOR by N.K. Jemisin and Jamal Campbell

Image © DC Comics. Cover art by Jamie McKelvie

Recently I read a fantastic trilogy of award-winning science fiction novels by Jemisin, beginning with “The Fifth Season,” and when I reviewed them, several people told me I should read her Green Lantern series from DC. I’m out of touch with new comics, so I didn’t even know about it, but I followed that advice, and I loved the twelve-issue series (bought the digital collection on Amazon).

Sojourner “Jo” Mullein is an Earth woman with a history of trying to help others and prevent crime. She’s been a soldier and a police woman, and when offered the chance to become a new Green Lantern, she jumps at it. Her ring is not a standard one, it charges itself from the energy of its wearer. It’s not as powerful as the usual GL rings, and takes longer to charge. Mullein has been assigned to a sector of space far from our planet. So far, she doesn’t even know what the sector number is, and contact with others in the Corps is nonexistent. A GL has been requested by the governing council of The City Enduring, a massive place with billions of inhabitants of three diverse peoples and also digital beings. It has long kept its peace through mandatory treatments that repress emotion, but some rogue inhabitants have found a way to get around that, and Jo finds herself facing the first murder in The City Enduring in hundreds of years. And it won’t be the last. Mullein’s investigation takes her deep into the hidden sides of the city, and to the highest levels of government. Will she have the strength and ability to solve the case?

Wonderful work, highly recommended. Jimisen creates a complex setting full of complex people, but makes it work beautifully as an exciting story. The art is excellent, too.

Far Sector by Jemisin and Campbell

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Rereading: THE MYSTERY OF BURNT HILL by Keith Robertson

Keith Robertson was and is one of my favorite writers of novels for young readers. He wrote dozens of books, and produced two series, one telling the humorous adventures of Henry Reed, the other featuring teenagers Neil and Swede and their Carson Street Detective Agency. This is the first of those. It’s an extremely rare book, I’ve searched for a copy for about fifty years with no luck, and finally recently got one on eBay. It was expensive, but worth it to me, first because I really wanted to reread it, second because it’s the only Keith Robertson book not in my collection. I found it in early December, the seller raises funds through eBay to support Mare’s Rest, a sanctuary for retired thoroughbred brood mares, which I thought was a worthy cause, but I hesitated to write about the book here because I knew interested readers wouldn’t be able to find it. I even considered scanning the entire book and offering to readers. Fortunately, this week someone sent me a link to a scan of the book on the Internet Archive, which I will share at the end of this post. Finally you can read the book yourself in pdf form if you like, and I highly recommend it.

Neil and Swede live in a small town in west central New Jersey, an area Robertson often wrote about once he moved there, I think in the late 1940s. As the book opens, their “detective agency” has yet to receive a single case, but the boys have fun in their headquarters over the garage. Neil has trained several pigeons to carry messages, using invisible ink to keep them secret from Neil’s sister Eileen. They also enjoy fishing, and a hike to a remote lake brings them to the area of Burnt Hill, several miles from town, where they meet elderly Clara Hankin, who lives alone in her ramshackle farmhouse, the last survivor of her family. She gets on well enough to impress the boys with her skills as a gardener, hunter and homemaker, but Clara is obviously just getting by financially. While they visit, Clara offers to give them an old desk she doesn’t want that’s in the way in her barn, and the boys decide it would be just right for their detective agency office. They come back with a friend who has a truck to get it another day. Neil and Swede have plans to paint the desk green, but when Neil’s mother sees it, she tells them it’s a valuable antique that should be restored and refinished. The boys agree, taking it to a furniture repair shop in town owned by Clem Auerbach. A plan is made to restore the desk and sell it at an antique show, giving most of the proceeds to Mrs. Hankin.

Clem Auerbach has a shifty reputation, though he’s good with furniture, and Neil and Swede decide to keep checking up on him. While spying on him in the shop, they see him find a secret drawer in the desk containing an old notebook. Thus begins the mystery and the adventure that will put their lives in danger and take them to unexpected places and discoveries, making for a great read. The Carson Street Detective Agency has its first case, and it’s a dangerous one.

Here’s the link if you’d like to read the book in digital form:

The Mystery of Burnt Hill at Internet Archive

The rest of the series is equally good, here are my reviews and possible ways to buy them, though the second and third books are also rare and also available at Internet Archive:

Three Stuffed Owls

The Crow and the Castle

The Money Machine

Amazon links:

Three Stuffed Owls by Keith Robertson

The Crow and the Castle by Keith Robertson

The Money Machine by Keith Robertson

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GASPAR SALADINO at DISNEY COMICS

All images © Disney. From CHIP ‘N’ DALE RESCUE RANGERS #18, Nov 1991

Walt Disney Productions had been licensing their properties to comic book publishers for many years, Western Publishing for decades, then Gladstone starting in 1985, but from 1990 to 1992, Disney decided to publish their own comics. They brought in comics veteran Len Wein as editor-in-chief, and Len was soon hiring many creators he’d known from DC and Marvel, including his favorite letterer Gaspar Saladino. Gaspar lettered quite a few stories and this one cover for Disney Comics in those years, and later he returned to letter stories for the digest-size magazine DISNEY ADVENTURES in 1996-97. I’ll write about that last. First, the work he did in 90-92, taking the titles in alphabetical order (using the titles from the indicias). As the logo designer and letterer of DC’s SWAMP THING with Len Wein, Gaspar was the perfect choice for the cover blurb above!

From DISNEY’S DARKWING DUCK LIMITED SERIES #1, Nov 1991

Saladino lettered the entire 24-page story for the first issue of this cartoon tie-in series, though not the story title, which is type, and he didn’t do all of the sound effects, some are by artist John Blair Moore. The Grand Comics Database has him as the letterer for all four issues of the series, but I haven’t found examples online of the other issues. I will accept their credits on all this Disney work, though.

From DISNEY’S NEW ADVENTURES OF BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, 1992

This was a two-issue series, and Gaspar lettered all the stories in both issues, three eight-pagers in issue #1 and a 16 and 8-pager in issue #2, but as with many of these comics, it’s difficult to find images online. I imagine Disney polices that more that most companies. This is the final page of an eight-pager, but I’m not sure which issue it’s from.

From DISNEY’S THE LITTLE MERMAID LIMITED SERIES #2, March 1992

Another four-issue series for which Saladino did all the lettering, but I’ve found only one example online. The story title here is by Gaspar.

From DISNEY’S THE RESCUERS DOWN UNDER, 1990

A 62-page adaptation of the Disney animated film, all lettered by Saladino. Again, I don’t think he did the sound effect. Of the work Gaspar did for Disney Comics, this has the earliest publication date, though the release date isn’t known.

From THE ROCKETEER: THE OFFICIAL MOVIE ADAPTATION #1, June 1991, original art courtesy of Heritage Auctions

Another adaptation, this time of a live-action film, and Gaspar was a fine choice for letterer over art by Russ Heath. I like the energy in the first balloon, and I think he did the photo inscription in panel 4.

From THE ROCKETEER: THE OFFICIAL MOVIE ADAPTATION #1, June 1991

Here’s a page from the printed comic. The story was 64 pages. Of course the film was adapted from a comics series by Dave Stevens, which is superior in my opinion, but I like this version too.

From ROGER RABBIT’S TOONTOWN #5, Dec 1991

This series was a five-issue spinoff from the main ROGER RABBIT comic, itself a spinoff from the live action/animated film. Gaspar lettered only one story for the final issue. I designed the WEASELS logo. I particularly like the small lettering in the comics art page in panel five.

From WALT DISNEY’S DONALD DUCK ADVENTURES #30, Nov 1992

Donald Duck comics had been around for decades, and were very popular around the world. Some countries created and published their own Donald stories, which were then available to whoever held the US Disney Comics license to reprint. That happened in this series when they weren’t reprinting Carl Barks classics from the Western Publishing era. Gaspar lettered this entire story, his only one for the book, and he also did the story title. The art is by Chilean artist Victor Arrigada Rios (Vicar) done for the Danish publisher Egmont.

From WALT DISNEY’S SPRING FEVER #1, April 1991

Disney Comics put out several seasonal anthologies. Gaspar lettered several stories for this one, but I could only find this one poor image from a Goofy single-page story. The story title and sound effects are by Saladino.

From WALT DISNEY’S SUMMER FUN #1, June 1991

Another seasonal anthology. Gaspar lettered a four page story inside, but I have no image of it, so I’m putting the cover here as a place-holder. Gaspar did no work on it.

From DISNEY ADVENTURES Volume 3 #1, Nov 1992

Now we come to this square-bound digest-size magazine full of all things Disney, with many issues including one or more short comics stories. I think it sold well at supermarket checkouts and by subscription if not in comics shops, and it lasted from 1990 to 2007, continuing to be produced by Disney itself after the comic book license returned to Gladstone and then went to Gemstone. Gaspar lettered one eight-page story for this issue, his only one in the 90-92 time period. (He did no work on this cover.)

From DISNEY ADVENTURES Volume 3 #1, Nov 1992

The story featured Darkwing Duck and was created with 3-D effects, so this image doesn’t reproduce well, but you can see some Saladino balloon lettering on it, and he also did the newspaper lettering.

From DISNEY ADVENTURES Volume 6 #5, March 1996

By 1996, Heidi MacDonald was the comics editor for the magazine, and she began using Saladino again on comics stories. This issue had a 12-page Aladdin story he lettered according to the Grand Comics Database, but I’ve found no images from it. Gaspar did no work on this cover.

From DISNEY ADVENTURES Volume 6 #6, April 1996

Gaspar lettered part two of the Aladdin story also, another twelve pages, which appeared in the next issue. I’ve found an image from that one, and it includes Saladino sound effects.

From DISNEY ADVENTURES Volume 7 #4, Jan 1997

I’m going to skip over Gaspar’s other story lettering for the magazine except for two examples, the only ones I can find images for, though Saladino’s fine title work at the top is clear enough on the one above. This is “Part 2,” but I have no record for Part 1, clearly it ran in some previous issue, but I don’t know which one. It’s not listed for the issue before this in the GCD, but that could be an error.

From DISNEY ADVENTURES Volume 8 #4 Feb 1998

Here’s a page from the last Saladino story I can find with my limited resources, I’ve probably missed some. Everything but the Hercules logo is by Gaspar on this page.

To sum up, Saladino lettered the cover of CHIP ‘N’ DALE RESCUE RANGERS #18 and the stories listed below

DISNEY’S DARKWING DUCK LIMITED SERIES 1991-92 #1: 24pp, #2: 26pp, #3: 25pp, #4: 25pp

DISNEY’S NEW ADVENTURES OF BEAUTY AND THE BEAST (MINI-SERIES) 1992 #1: 24pp, #2: 24pp

DISNEY’S THE LITTLE MERMAID LIMITED SERIES 1992 #1: 24pp, #2: 24pp, #3: 26pp, #4: 26pp

DISNEY’S THE RESCUERS DOWN UNDER 1990: 62pp

THE ROCKETEER: THE OFFICIAL MOVIE ADAPTATION #1 1991: 64pp

ROGER RABBIT’S TOONTOWN #5 1991: 8pp

WALT DISNEY’S DONALD DUCK ADVENTURES #30 1992: 22pp

WALT DISNEY’S SPRING FEVER #1 1991: 1pp, 6pp, 1pp, 10pp

WALT DISNEY’S SUMMER FUN #1 1991: 4pp

DISNEY ADVENTURES Vol 3 #1 Nov 1992: Darkwing Duck 8pp

Vol 6 #5 March 1996: Aladdin 12pp

Vol 6 #6 April 1996: Aladdin 12pp

Vol 6 #13 Oct 1996: The Lion King’s Timon & Pumbaa 10pp

Vol 6 #14 Nov 1996: Mighty Ducks 16pp

Vol 7 #4 Jan 1997: Gargoyles 12pp (this is Part 2, which is puzzling, where is Part 1? It’s not listed in the previous issue, but is probably there. I have no way to check)

Vol 7 #5 Feb 1997: Goof Troop 1pp, Mighty Ducks 12pp

Vol 7 #8 May 1997: Aladdin 1pp, Timon & Pumbaa 2pp, Aladdin 4pp

Vol 7 #9 June 1997: Mighty Ducks 12pp

Vol 7 #10 June 1997: Timon & Pumbaa 1pp

Vol 7 #11 July 1997: Timon & Pumbaa 2pp

Vol 7 #12 Aug 1997: Mighty Ducks 12pp

Vol 7 #15 Oct 1997: Timon & Pumbaa 4pp

Vol 8 #2 Dec 1997: Mighty Ducks 1pp, Timon & Pumbaa 1pp

Vol 8 #4 Feb 1998: Hercules 8pp, Timon & Pumbaa 1pp

That’s a total of 558 pages, a good amount of lettering, and in the 1990s, when Saladino wasn’t getting as much work from DC and Marvel as he had been in previous decades. More articles on Saladino’s lettering are on the COMICS CREATION page of my blog.

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GASPAR SALADINO at APPLE, ARIA, DARK HORSE & TRIAD

All images © the respective copyright holders. From MR. FIXITT #1, Jan 1989, Apple Comics

This article covers four publishers for which Gaspar Saladino did a small amount of lettering work. Artist Howard Bender worked for several years in the Marvel Comics production department and several more at DC Comics, where we worked together. In 1988 he and writer Craig Boldman created MR. FIXITT for Apple Comics (unrelated to the computer company). There was an ashcan preview and two regular issues. Howard told me: “Gaspar and I were friendly, and he had been to my home. Even so, it was still good of him to consent to letter the logo and first two issues of Mr. Fixitt.” On the cover above, which has a similar design to some of the 1960s DC Comics annuals, there’s a great deal of fine lettering by Saladino, who also did the logo based on Howard’s concept. The lettering adds charm and energy.

From MR. FIXITT #1, Jan 1989, Apple Comics

I’m going to show a few pages from each issue, as I find the art and lettering very appealing. Howard pointed out that Gaspar did all the sound effects and signs as well as the balloons, but I can tell that from the style, and there’s plenty of both here.

From MR. FIXITT #1, Jan 1989, pages 2-3, Apple Comics

Here’s the title spread with a fine Saladino title going across the center. Making the letters black helps them stand out on the black and white art, while the thin outlines around it keep it separate from the art. Note the special balloon style for the robot in the first panel.

From MR. FIXITT #2, March 1990, Apple Comics

The second issue had no new Saladino lettering on the cover, but did repeat some of the blurbs from the first one. This first story page is easy to read because Gaspar creates a clear trail through it with his word balloons.

From MR. FIXITT #2, March 1990, Apple Comics

Another story page shows Saladino skillfully moving in and out of narrative captions as the main character explains the plot.

From MR. FIXITT #2, March 1990, Apple Comics

And this one has more great sound effects, special styles and even music!

From A DISTANT SOIL #1, June 1991, Aria Press

Colleen Doran’s epic fantasy series A DISTANT SOIL had a troubled early publishing history, which you can read about HERE. In 1991, Colleen decided to self-publish, beginning again from the start with new art. In the first issue, Gaspar lettered five pages, while some were by Bob Pinaha and perhaps others. Colleen told me: “I realized I could not afford to continue with a letterer, and so ended up redoing it all later. I thought he was fantastic tho. Really wish I could have kept him on, but I just couldn’t afford it. My own lettering was TERRIBLE.” There were two stories in the issue, for the one above, Saladino lettered just the first page.

From A DISTANT SOIL #1, June 1991, Aria Press

For the second story, “Seasons of Spring,” Gaspar lettered this first page, which has charming nature art by Colleen. Note the lower case “ahh” in the second balloon, typical of Saladino.

From A DISTANT SOIL #1, June 1991, Aria Press

The second page of the story with just the title I think was lettered by Colleen, at least it’s not by Gaspar. He did page 3 of the story, above, and pages 4-5, the rest is by someone else.

From DARK HORSE PRESENTS #56, Nov 1991, Dark Horse Comics

This long-running anthology introduced a wide variety of properties, some of which went on to their own series, some did not. “Fancies,” a fantasy by writer Jo Duffy and artist Joven Chacon had only two chapters, both lettered by Gaspar. How that came to be I don’t know, but he would have met Duffy when she was an assistant editor to Archie Goodwin at Marvel Comics in the late 1970s. The story title is type, and I’m not sure if the sign lettering is by Saladino or the artist.

From DARK HORSE PRESENTS #58, Jan 1992, Dark Horse Comics

There’s more Gaspar lettering on the first page of the second story, though the title is again type. Too bad there wasn’t more of this, it looks good.

From THE HONEYMOONERS #3, Oct 1987

Triad Publications seems to be a spinoff from David Singer’s publishing efforts in the 1980s, with Norman Abramoff as executive editor and plotter of this nostalgic return to “The Honeymooners,” the Jackie Gleason comedy TV show of the 1950s. Despite the ambitious “no. 3 of 24” on this cover, it ran to 12 issues. Gaspar Saladino did no work on covers, but lettered stories in issues 3 and 5.

From THE HONEYMOONERS #3, Oct 1987

This story was split between three letterers, with Saladino doing the first and largest part, suggesting a tight deadline. The balloon shapes are by the inker/colorist Vince Musacchia, and look nothing like Gaspar’s work, but the lettering in the balloons is clearly by him, note his typical upper and lower case style in the first caption and at lower left.

From THE HONEYMOONERS #5, Feb 1988

Gaspar also lettered the entire story in issue #5. Unfortunately something went amiss in either the art scanning or the printing, and all the black line work and lettering is too dark and somewhat run together. The balloon shapes are by Saladino this time, but he didn’t do the titles.

From THE HONEYMOONERS #5, Feb 1988

Just this one page got close to the correct amount of black ink in this copy, though of course it might have been a problem with only part of the print run and this book is a bad example. After this, I think all the stories were lettered by Tim Harkins.

To sum up, Saladino lettered the cover of MR. FIXITT #1 and the following stories.

MR. FIXITT #1: 28pp, #2: 20pp

A DISTANT SOIL #1 (1991): 5pp

DARK HORSE PRESENTS #56: 8pp, #58: 4pp

THE HONEYMOONERS #3: pp 1-19, #5 24pp

That’s 108 pages in all. More articles about Gaspar Saladino lettering can be found on the COMICS CREATION page of my blog.

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GASPAR SALADINO at CONTINUITY

All images © Continuity Publishing. From THE REVENGERS FEATURING ARMOR AND SILVER STREAK #2, (ARMOR #2), June 1986

Art genius Neal Adams burst onto the comics scene in the late 1960s at DC Comics, creating a new dynamic and hyper-realistic style of covers and story art that readers and fans loved. He also did fine work for Marvel Comics, and was an important part of the turnaround at DC in the 1970s, helping new publisher Jenette Kahn bring fans and readers back to the company. Neal formed his own studio, Continuity Associates, that did all kinds of work, from comics to advertising, and from 1984 to 1994 Continuity published their own comics. They were beautiful to look at, but the stories were sometimes odd and violent, and issues were often late, discouraging return buyers and retailers alike. Neal and his associates, many top creators themselves, did fine artwork, and from 1986 to 1988, Gaspar Saladino lettered some of their comics. In the first example above, he did all the balloon lettering, but the balloon borders may have been made thicker by someone else. I’m not sure if he did any of the top title lettering, I don’t think so, but as with nearly all these examples, he lettered the entire story. Gaspar and Neal had worked together at DC, of course, most famously on SUPERMAN VS. MUHAMMAD ALI, but on plenty of other things before that as well as comics features for NATIONAL LAMPOON, and I see Neal turning to Gaspar for story lettering as a sign that he was going all-in on quality.

From THE REVENGERS FEATURING MEGALITH #3 (ARMOR #3), Feb 1987

Gaspar did all the lettering on this first story page and again the rest of the story, and some of these were longer than the standard comics of the time. This story was 27 pages.

From ARMOR #4, July 1988

Gaspar lettered all the balloons and captions on this page, but the title is mostly repeated from earlier issues, and probably not by him. I think the captions have double outlines, but the color is so dark it’s hard to be sure. I like the burst in the first balloon.

From ARMOR #5, Dec 1988

The burst balloons on this page are great, full of drama and energy. Gaspar didn’t receive lettering credits, but that was probably okay with him, he didn’t seem to care about that, and perhaps preferred not to have it at companies other than DC, his main employer.

From THE REVENGERS FEATURING MEGALITH #3, Nov 1986

On the other hand, Saladino did get a lettering credit on this issue, so it may have just been overlooked on others. I’m not sure if Gaspar did this CAPTAIN LAW logo, he might have, or maybe not. I like the final burst balloon on this page.

From THE REVENGERS FEATURING MEGALITH #4, March 1988

Another issue with a Saladino credit. You can see from the long time between these issues how erratic and haphazard the Continuity titles could be, which didn’t help sales. They looked great, though. I think the coloring was done using the blueline method: the art was printed in light blue on watercolor-friendly paper and in black on acetate, which the colorist used to check the work. Here the black plate is a little out of register, so there are color areas intruding into some of the lettering.

From TOYBOY FEATURING TORGEN AND MEGALITH #1 (TOYBOY #1), Oct 1986

Here again Gaspar is not credited, though the balloon lettering is typical for him. Someone else might have thickened the balloon borders, and Gaspar did not do the logo.

From TOYBOY #4, Feb 1988

Saladino is credited here, so that seems somewhat random. The very rectangular balloon near the bottom shows how he adapted to fit the space and the words in some cases.

From TOYBOY #5, June 1988

Here Gaspar lettered the story title under the existing logo. A circle behind a larger initial letter is a familiar style for him in some captions.

From TOYBOY #6, Nov 1988

This story is incorrectly credited to Ken Bruzenak, who was doing lettering work for Continuity at the time, but his style is different from Gaspar’s.

From CAPTAIN POWER AND THE SOLDIERS OF THE FUTURE #1, Aug 1988

This 24-page story is lettered by Bruzenak except for pages 2-6, which are by Saladino. Perhaps he started it and couldn’t continue. I don’t know why Gaspar didn’t letter more stories for Continuity after 1988.

To sum up, here are the details of Saladino’s story lettering.

ARMOR #2: 25pp, #3: 27pp, #4: 25pp, #5: 19pp

CAPTAIN POWER #1: 5pp

REVENGERS #3: 25pp, #4: 25pp

TOYBOY #1: 24pp, #4: 24pp, #5: 25pp, #6: 23pp

That’s a total of 247 pages, a good amount of work at this small publisher. More articles about Gaspar’s lettering are on the COMICS CREATION page of my blog.

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GASPAR SALADINO at ATLAS/SEABOARD Part 2

All images © Nemesis Group. From SAVAGE COMBAT TALES #1, Feb 1975

As I explained in Part 1, this company is referred to as Atlas/Seaboard to set it apart from the Atlas Comics name used by Marvel in the 1950s. It was a large but short-lived line from former Marvel publisher Martin Goodman, with all titles having a 1975 cover date, and none later than October of that year. Continuing to look at the cover and story lettering by Gaspar Saladino, this war title shows that Goodman was trying to compete in many then-current comics genres, but perhaps spreading resources too thin. Gaspar’s excellent war comics lettering was perfect for this cover, but the war comics audience was already dwindling and I think not likely to pick up new titles.

From SAVAGE COMBAT TALES #2, April 1975

It always amuses me when thought balloons have such strong emphasis. Those are mighty strong thoughts! But, of course, it adds to the drama, as Saladino knew well.

From THE SCORPION #2, May 1975

Here the dialogue verges into melodrama, but it does explain the scene perfectly.

From TALES OF EVIL #1, Feb 1975

You can’t get more dramatic than this cover logo, who could resist it, or that dynamic scream?

From TALES OF EVIL #2, April 1975

Goodman wanted his comics to compete with Marvel and DC and look very much like them, and they did, partly due to Gaspar’s logos and lettering. Here the concept is similar to DC’s Swamp Thing, but Saladino wisely didn’t go in quite the same direction.

From TALES OF EVIL #2, April 1975

Saladino also lettered two stories for the horror anthology, here’s one. Letterer and colorist credits were not included, which was probably okay with Gaspar. WEREWOLF in the title is fine brush lettering.

From TALES OF EVIL #3, July 1975

More brush lettering in this story title, and great contrast between the two parts of it.

From TARGITT #1, March 1975

The bottom section of the caption here is oddly shaped, I suspect THE BOSTON originally sat on top of TEA PARTY, and that whole title was larger, but it was changed and rearranged after Saladino did it.

From THRILLING ADVENTURE STORIES #1, Feb 1975

In addition to color comics, Atlas/Seaboard also put out a line of magazine-size black-and-white titles meant to compete with Marvel’s similar line and those from Warren. Gaspar’s story title is bursting with energy.

From THRILLING ADVENTURE STORIES #2, Aug 1975

The story title on this fine page by Walter Simonson is probably by the artist, who also did the balloon and caption shapes, but Saladino’s lettering works well with it.

From TIGER-MAN #1, April 1975

Most of the Atlas/Seaboard so-called superheroes had a horror feel to them. In this lettering, Saladino pushed the superhero aspect, while the art by Ernie Colon goes more toward horror, I’d say.

From VICKI #1, Feb 1975

The company also imitated Marvel’s teen humor books, which in turn imitated those from Archie Comics, so no new ideas here.

From VICKI #3, June 1975

I like Saladino’s sound effects, especially the way one of them goes over the word balloon.

From WEIRD SUSPENSE #1, Feb 1975

Atlas/Seaboard got as close to Spider-Man as they could without copying it exactly, though here the approach is toward horror, and a face few readers could love.

From WEIRD SUSPENSE #2, April 1975

Lots of fine Saladino lettering on this cover, and I like the ragged caption border.

From WESTERN ACTION #1, Feb 1975

If Marvel was selling them, Atlas/Seaboard wanted to do the same, as with this western title, but the ones at Marvel had been running for over a decade, and had the edge. At DC, westerns were fading.

From WULF THE BARBARIAN #2, April 1975

Finally we have the Atlas/Seaboard version of Conan. I liked this one at the time. The caption is by Gaspar, I think the word balloons are by someone else.

To sum up, I found Saladino lettering on these covers:

THE BRUTE #1-3

THE COUGAR #1

THE DESTRUCTOR #2-3

THE GRIM GHOST #2

IRONJAW #2-3

MORLOCK 2001 #2

PHOENIX #2

PLANET OF THE VAMPIRES #1-2

POLICE ACTION #2

SAVAGE COMBAT TALES #1-2

THE SCORPION #2

TALES OF EVIL #1-2

TARGITT #1

TIGER-MAN #1

VICKI #1, #3

WEIRD SUSPENSE #1-2

WESTERN ACTION #1

WULF THE BARBARIAN #2

Thats a total of 27. Below are the details of his story lettering.

THE COUGAR #1: 20pp

PHOENIX #2: 20pp, #3: 11pp

PLANET OF THE VAMPIRES #2: 20pp

POLICE ACTION #1: 10pp, #2: 10pp

TALES OF EVIL #2: 9pp, #3: 12pp

THRILLING ADVENTURE STORIES #1: 8pp, #2: 11pp

That’s 131 pages in all. More articles about the lettering work of Gaspar Saladino can be found on the COMICS CREATION page of my blog.

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GASPAR SALADINO at ATLAS/SEABOARD Part 1

All images © Nemesis Group. From THE BRUTE #1, Feb 1975

This article is about Gaspar Saladino’s work on cover and story lettering for the 1975 Atlas Comics from Seaboard Periodicals, referred to as Atlas/Seaboard to set it apart from the Atlas Comics name used by Marvel in the 1950s. Marvel publisher Martin Goodman sold his publishing business in 1968 and left Marvel in 1972, starting this new publishing business in 1974. To attract top talent, Atlas/Seaboard offered among the highest pay rates in the industry as well as return of original art, not yet being done by any other comics publisher. That worked to attract big name creators like Neal Adams, Steve Ditko, Russ Heath, John Severin, Alex Toth and Wally Wood, as well as such up-and-coming talents as Howard Chaykin, Larry Hama and Rich Buckler. Steve Mitchell was hired from DC as production manager, and he hired Gaspar to do all the logos for the company, which I’ve covered HERE and HERE. Saladino also did quite a bit of cover lettering, and some story lettering. In this article and in Part 2, I’ll look at that, going through the titles alphabetically. All were published with 1975 cover dates, and none lasted more than four issues, so the company made a big splash, but didn’t last long. On the cover above you can see lots of typical Saladino style in the caption.

From THE BRUTE #2, April 1975

This caption and balloon have lots of Saladino’s wide, angular lettering with some scary styles in the caption.

From THE BRUTE #3, July 1975

The same is true here. Note that the banner caption on the right is reversed, something Marvel often did too, ruining the shape of the banner. While Gaspar lettered all the logos, his cover lettering goes no farther than July 1975 titles, suggesting the company was trying to cut costs by not using him after that.

From THE COUGAR #1, April 1975

This cover lettering has elements of superheroes in the burst and horror in some of the caption lettering. It’s all similar to what Saladino was doing on many DC and Marvel comics at the time, this was a very busy year for him.

From THE COUGAR #1, April 1975

While Atlas/Seaboard titles did include credits for writers and artists (on this story they were on the page before), letterers and colorists were not credited, which was probably fine with Gaspar, though his style is easy to spot if you know it. Even his title here is a mix of horror and superheroes. He lettered the entire story.

From THE DESTRUCTOR #2, April 1975

When looking at Gaspar’s work at Marvel, I have to separate his cover lettering from that of Marvel staffers like Danny Crespi. At Atlas/Seaboard it’s easier, no one other than Saladino was doing this kind of dynamic lettering on covers. It really ups the drama here.

From THE DESTRUCTOR #3, June 1975

Another example that’s just as effective!

From THE GRIM GHOST #2, March 1975

The logo and main figure get the most attention on this cover, but I like the burst with SUPERNATURAL in almost a CinemaScope style.

From IRONJAW #2, March 1975

Here the banner looks like Gaspar’s work, but the letters in it are type. Saladino did the bottom caption, I like the texture in it. While DC style usually drew the line at one exclamation point, here Gaspar uses two.

From IRONJAW #3, May 1975

I would have made these captions larger. Cover lettering was generally done large on separate art paper and then reduced photographically by the production staff to the size wanted and pasted on the cover art along with the logo and trade dress (all the other stuff at the top).

From MORLOCK 2001 #2, April 1975

Here Saladino’s second balloon border is made of two joined shapes, something he kind of had to do to fit in the long word CONTAMINATED on one line.

From PHOENIX #2, March 1975

Before the Marvel X-Men character Jean Grey became Phoenix, that name was used for this male superhero character. I like Gaspar’s rough balloon shapes.

From PHOENIX #2, March 1975

Gaspar lettered the story inside, though AND THE SEA RAN is press-down type, something he was doing at the time. His lettering on RED looks so much better.

From PHOENIX #3, June 1975

Saladino also lettered this issue, and here the title is all his handiwork and quite effective. It looks like the logo was a last-minute addition that didn’t get colored right.

From PLANET OF VAMPIRES #1, Feb 1975

This title looks like a combination of science fiction and horror, and Gaspar’s caption presents that well.

From PLANET OF VAMPIRES #1, Feb 1975

Gaspar also lettered the story inside. It didn’t help that the paper and printing used for comics at the time was at it’s worst point, but as a reader I didn’t notice that, as I had few better examples to compare it to. Saladino’s work was always clear and readable, and added to the drama.

From PLANET OF VAMPIRES #2, April 1975

Here again the combination of SF and horror works well.

From POLICE ACTION #2, April 1975

Atlas/Seaboard tried many genres, like this police thriller, in addition to horror and superheroes, probably trying to compete with Marvel and DC on newsstands, but I think spreading themselves too thin. A wiser course would have been focusing on one or two genres and a few titles. Martin Goodman was following the practices he used at the first Atlas (Marvel) in the 1950s, when he flooded the market with short-lived titles, hoping some would be hits, but it didn’t work as well this time. The Grand Comics Database lists two stories lettered by Saladino in issues 1 and 2. I’ve been unable to find images from them, but will include them in the totals.

More in Part 2, where I’ll do totals. Other articles on the work of Gaspar Saladino can be found on the COMICS CREATION page of my blog.

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Rereading: FIVE BOYS IN A CAVE by Richard Church

Illustration not credited

For over a year now I’ve been downsizing my extensive library. The ones I think will sell, I try on eBay (seller name tklein28). Any that don’t sell, or I think aren’t worth trying there, go to a local thrift shop as donations. At first I cherry picked what I thought would be in-demand titles and authors, and most of those did well: Stephen King, Harry Potter, Game of Thrones, etc. That worked for a while, but then I felt I needed to go through all the fiction hardcovers more systematically to decide which ones I really wanted to keep, and to start getting rid of anything I didn’t have an interest in reading again. I’ve been doing that for a few months now, eliminating about two-thirds of the hardcover fiction, and listing about ten to twelve books on eBay each week (most weeks). As I go along, I’ll be rereading more books from the collection to help me decide if they’re keepers, or if one more reading is enough, so my reviews here will include more old books. This is one of those. First published in England as “The Cave,” I read this 1951 American edition in my local library and liked it a lot. Later, at a library book sale, I found the copy I’d read and bought it. I haven’t read it since.

John Walters has been sent to live with an aunt and uncle in a rural part of England among limestone hills. A planned summer vacation boating with his brother had to be scrapped, and he’s been sent here instead, where life is boring, and only a few new friends have made his time more pleasant. While out walking in an open field near town, he follows an animal to a large hole that seems intriguing. It’s just large enough for him to crawl into, and he discovers it’s the entrance to a large cave, but the tunnel ends in a steep drop. To explore it, he’ll need equipment and help from his friends, who have banded together as the Tomahawk Club: quiet, sensible neighbor George Reynolds, impatient and energetic Harold Soames, genial heavyweight “Meaty” Sanders, and bossy Alan Hobbs, who considers himself the leader of the club. John and the others plan a day-long expedition to explore the cave, and decide not to tell any of their families so they won’t worry, but in the end John decides to tell his uncle, Dr. George Walters, just in case something goes wrong. Uncle George gives his permission, and some climbing gear to help, but cautions that if they’re not back by sundown on the day of the expedition, he’ll call out the authorities. But he feels John and the others will be careful, and have a fun adventure.

The boys assemble at the hole at sunrise with lots of gear, flashlights, and food, and enter one by one. From the beginning, things don’t go as expected. While most of the boys can get through, Meaty gets stuck, and it takes the gang a while to get him free. Once inside, flashlights reveal a deep drop of about 100 feet. John volunteers to be let down on their one long rope held by the others. It’s scary, and he cuts his leg on the wall going down, but reaches the bottom, though his flashlight gets broken. Back at the top, Harold agrees to go down next, and that’s accomplished, but then there’s an argument among Alan, Meaty and George at the top about what to do next, and in the heat of it, the rope is dropped over the edge. Now the group is separated with no way to get John and Harold back up, unless they can find another way down. There is a ledge going sideways from the tunnel, but it’s narrow and treacherous. The rest of the story follows the two groups as they struggle past physical obstacles and mental ones, trying to rejoin and find a way out of the cave. The adventure has turned deadly serious.

I enjoyed rereading this, it’s exciting and thrilling at times. The psychology of each boy is well handled, and something I didn’t appreciate as much as a child as I do now. It’s almost like a military sortie minus the chance of enemy gunfire. The cave itself is an important character in the book, and full of surprises. Definitely recommended if you can find it, my copy will go on eBay some time in the near future, as I don’t feel I’ll want to read it again.

Five Boys In A Cave by Richard Church

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