Todd Klein's Blog, page 53

GASPAR SALADINO in MASTER OF KUNG FU

All images © Marvel. From MASTER OF KUNG FU #26, March 1975

This series perhaps inspired by the 1972 “Kung Fu” TV show, continued the numbering from SPECIAL MARVEL EDITION where it appeared in the last two issues, and ran 109 issues from #17 to #125, 1974 to 1983. Gaspar Saladino lettered some of the covers, some page ones, and also a few full stories. I’ll begin with covers. On the first one, above, he did the two blurbs. The thin outlines on the open letters are typical, as is the small banner for AT LAST!

From MASTER OF KUNG FU #27, April 1975

The style of this caption is similar, and notice the sharp corners on these open letters. The other main cover letterer at the time was Danny Crespi, and his open letters tended to be more rounded in general.

From MASTER OF KUNG FU #33, Oct 1975

The style of MADNESS here is typical for Saladino, a controlled rough brushwork look.

From MASTER OF KUNG FU #74, March 1979

After a few years of doing only inside page lettering on this title, Gaspar returned to covers with this issue.

From MASTER OF KUNG FU #77, June 1979

The treatment of BLOOD is in Gaspar’s scary style with rough outlines and texture.

From MASTER OF KUNG FU #84, Jan 1980

While Gaspar’s work on many Marvel books ended in the 1970s, on a some he continued a few more years. DRAGON is very much in his style.

From MASTER OF KUNG FU #89, June 1980

A completely different style for DRAGONS on this one.

From MASTER OF KUNG FU #90, July 1980

This fine blurb works as a sign on the wall.

From MASTER OF KUNG FU #94, Nov 1980

Saladino often used this layout for cover blurbs with an arched bottom line around a small word in the center.

From MASTER OF KUNG FU #95, Dec 1980

This blurb should have been larger, but the figure placement made that difficult.

From MASTER OF KUNG FU #96, Jan 1981

I love the limited color palate on this cover. Gaspar’s banner adds excitement. I wonder if the yin-yang symbol was his idea or drawn in by cover artist Mike Zeck?

From MASTER OF KUNG FU #99, April 1981

I’m not sure this one is lettered by Saladino, but the styles in the arrow suggest it is.

From MASTER OF KUNG FU #104, Sept 1981

The final Gaspar cover has his script style on FEATURING.

From MASTER OF KUNG FU #30, July 1975

Now on to inside page lettering, and this one was a chore! It looks back to comics of the 1950s where a third or more of the page is lettering. Gaspar had done plenty of those. Marvel hired him to do just the first page on many stories in the 1970s, I think because they thought it might sell comics to browsers. I can’t imagine many browsers wading through this long first caption.

From MASTER OF KUNG FU #31, Aug 1975

On the next issue there was little for Saladino to do, perhaps as payback. The credits are in type. Wonderful title.

From MASTER OF KUNG FU ANNUAL #1, Aug 1976

Saladino did page one lettering for the only Annual produced for this series. The story title is very much in his style.

From MASTER OF KUNG FU #43, Aug 1976

Gaspar lettered this entire issue, and used his own first name in the credits. He was not yet getting printed credit at DC Comics.

From MASTER OF KUNG FU #46, Nov 1976

Usually he put in the letterer’s name on the rest of the story, and their work was often quite different. Great dry-brush work on SPIDER in this long title to make that word pop.

From MASTER OF KUNG FU #48, Jan 1977

Another long title made more interesting by emphasizing just three words of it and making the rest small.

From MASTER OF KUNG FU #54, July 1977

More clever choices for emphasis and design in this title.

From MASTER OF KUNG FU #56, Sept 1977

There was so little room for this long story title that Gaspar used headline type. It doesn’t look good.

From MASTER OF KUNG FU #60, Jan 1978

This one is more like it!

From MASTER OF KUNG FU #61, Feb 1978

Here the title has unusual letter shapes and glass shine marks to add interest.

From MASTER OF KUNG FU #62, March 1978

Having resisted the temptation thus far, here Saladino uses the standard oriental style in the title that prevailed for many years, and which is disliked now by those of Asian descent.

From MASTER OF KUNG FU #63, April 1978

Lower case for this quiet title for variety.

From MASTER OF KUNG FU #65, June 1978

Here the title has meanings that Gaspar could use for style choices, and the result is great.

From MASTER OF KUNG FU #66, July 1978

A busy page, but at least the title is short.

From MASTER OF KUNG FU #68, Sept 1978

Saladino liked angular letter shapes, in this title they’re extremely so. Not as successful as many of his other titles in my opinion.

From MASTER OF KUNG FU #69, Oct 1978

The style of RAGE adds drama and contrast.

From MASTER OF KUNG FU #72, Jan 1979

Gaspar’s final story lettering for the book was this full story. The title and captions are beautifully balanced with the art. He’s credited himself as GASPAR S. to match the colorist credit style.

To sum up, I found Saladino lettering on these covers: 26-27, 33, 74, 77, 84, 89-90, 94-96, 99, 104. That’s a total of 13. Below are the details of his story lettering.

#30 July 1975: page 1 only

#31 Aug 1975: page 1 only

Annual #1 Aug 1976: page 1 only

#43 Aug 1976: 17pp

#46 Nov 1976: page 1 only

#48 Jan 1977: page 1 only

#54 July 1977: page 1 only

#56 Sept 1977: page 1 only

#60 Jan 1978: page 1 only

#61 Feb 1978: page 1 only

#62 March 1978: page 1 only

#63 April 1978: page 1 only

#65 June 1978: page 1 only

#66 July 1978: page 1 only

#68 Sept 1978: page 1 only

#69 Oct 1978: page 1 only

#72 Jan 1979: 17pp

That’s a total of 49 pages. Other articles in this series and more you might enjoy are on the COMICS CREATION page of my blog.

The post GASPAR SALADINO in MASTER OF KUNG FU appeared first on Todd's Blog.

GASPAR SALADINO in OTHER MARVEL TITLES

All images © Marvel. From MARVEL ADVENTURE #1, Dec 1975

Among Marvel books from the 1970s, by far the most begin with the word MARVEL, and this article collects Gaspar Saladino work on those with only a one or a few examples each. Many were reprint titles. This one ran six issues in 1975-76. The caption at upper left is by Morrie Kuramoto from the original DAREDEVIL cover, Gaspar did the burst and lower caption. This often happened with reprinted covers, the original lettering was retained and some new lettering was added.

From MARVEL COMICS SUPER SPECIAL #3, 1978

This was a magazine-size comic, larger dimensions, but full color, that ran four issues in 1977-78. This issue was an adaptation of the hit film “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” with the story lettered entirely by Saladino. More evidence that he was often called on for high-profile projects at this time.

From MARVEL DOUBLE FEATURE #7, Dec 1974

This reprint title ran 21 issues from 1973 to 1977. Some covers were reprints, but this one is new with new Saladino lettering.

From MARVEL DOUBLE FEATURE #13, Dec 1975

Another new one with fine Jack Kirby/Frank Giacoia art and Gaspar lettering. His dry-brush work on BERSERK is a clear indication of that.

From MARVEL FANFARE #49, Feb 1990

Gaspar lettered just one issue of this long-running series featuring new material using his favorite pen name made from the names of his children.

From MARVEL FEATURE #10, July 1973

MARVEL FEATURE had two short runs, this is from the first. Gaspar hand-lettered everything here except DOCTOR NEMESIS, which is probably press-down type that he sometimes used for variety.

From MARVEL FEATURE #4, May 1976

The second series was home for Red Sonja, and I think Gaspar designed her logo, though the subtitle is type, as well as adding drama to this cover with his dynamic balloons.

From MARVEL FEATURE #6, Sept 1976

He also lettered this cover, where his rough, scary styles are used in the caption.

From MARVEL PRESENTS #5, June 1976

This series ran twelve issues from 1975 to 1977, and had new stories featuring The Guardians of the Galaxy for most of them. Gaspar did page one lettering on this issue, the rest was by the credited letterer, Karen Mantlo. His story title manages to balance on the boundary between humor and drama effectively.

From MARVEL PRESENTS #6, Aug 1976

This one is more serious even though the art seems a bit silly. Gaspar gives it gravitas.

From MARVEL PREVIEW #4, Jan 1976

This title was magazine size with black and white interiors, running 24 issues from 1975 to 1980. Gaspar lettered the entire second story in this issue. I think he just inked artist Ed Hannigan’s logo and story title, though.

From MARVEL PREVIEW #8, Sept 1975

Gaspar lettered only the first page of this story, the final one in the issue, which seems like an odd place for him, but perhaps this story was originally going to be the first one. I love the title.

From MARVEL PREVIEW #9, Nov 1976

Here’s an even odder use of Gaspar’s talent, he lettered just the final page of this adaptation of Philip Wylie’s “Gladiator,” considered one of the inspirations for Superman. I can’t think of a good reason to use him here, there isn’t even a story title.

From MARVEL SPECTACULAR #1, Aug 1973

In addition to the logo, Saladino lettered the balloons and blurbs on this cover. I like the angular Greek-style letters in the rectangular caption.

From MARVEL TRIPLE ACTION #9, Feb 1973

This reprint title had a healthy run of 47 issues from 1972 to 1979. In addition to designing the logo (but not the three bursts right of it), Gaspar lettered the blurbs on this cover, though part of the round one is type.

From MARVEL TRIPLE ACTION #45, Dec 1978

The X-Men reprint in this issue had three new explanatory pages added, which were lettered by Gaspar.

From MARVEL’S GREATEST COMICS #41, March 1973

Finally we have this long-running Fantastic Four reprint title. Many of the covers were reprints too, but this one is new with new Gaspar lettering.

From THE INHUMANS (Marvel Graphic Novel #39), 1988

There are two more oversized comics I’m going to include here that are informally part of the MARVEL GRAPHIC NOVEL series. Marvel only numbered the first twenty of them, the rest are informally numbered, see THIS Wikipedia page. (Publishers seem to like to make things difficult for indexers!) This story with art by Bret Blevins looks great, and Gaspar’s lettering adds to that, though he only lettered pages 30 to 49 (if I’ve counted right), the rest is equally good work by Jim Novak.

From SPIDER-MAN: SPIRITS OF THE EARTH (Marvel Graphic Novel #63), 1990

Excellent art and story by Charles Vess on this one, and as you can see, Saladino’s lettering is again a fine addition.

To sum up I found Saladino lettering on these covers:

MARVEL ADVENTURE #1

MARVEL DOUBLE FEATURE #7, 13

MARVEL FEATURE #10 (first series), #4, 6 (second series)

MARVEL SPECTACULAR #1

MARVEL TRIPLE ACTION #9

MARVEL’S GREATEST COMICS #41

That’s nine in all. Below are the details of his story lettering.

MARVEL COMICS SUPER SPECIAL #3: 46pp

MARVEL FANFARE #49: 26pp

MARVEL PRESENTS #5: page 1 only

MARVEL PRESENTS #6: page 1 only

MARVEL PREVIEW #4: 19pp

MARVEL PREVIEW #8: page 1 only

MARVEL PREVIEW #9: page 52 only

MARVEL TRIPLE ACTION #45: 3pp

MARVEL GRAPHIC NOVEL #39: 20pp (30-49)

MARVEL GRAPHIC NOVEL #63: 70pp

That’s a total of 188 pages. More articles in this series and others you might enjoy are on the COMICS CREATION page of my blog.

The post GASPAR SALADINO in OTHER MARVEL TITLES appeared first on Todd's Blog.

GASPAR SALADINO in MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE Part 2

All images © Marvel. From MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #4, July 1974

Continuing this look at Gaspar Saladino’s lettering for the 100 issues of this Thing team-up title, Part 1 dealt with covers, here we look at page lettering, which is nearly all for the first page of stories otherwise lettered by others. Marvel hired Gaspar for this I think because they felt his superior skills might sell comics to browsers. It helped give the line a more cohesive look, too. In the first example above the scary style choice for the title is kind of odd, but the balloon and caption lettering is definitely by Saladino. As usual, he put the name of the letterer of the rest of the pages in the credits, and their work was often clearly different from his.

From MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #8, March 1975

Appropriate contrasting styles in this story title, and a great sound effect.

From MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #9, May 1975

Great dynamic title here, but perhaps it shouldn’t have gone over the figure.

From MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #13, Jan 1976

The main title word here is well done and perhaps unintentionally amusing. The balloons have horizontal top and bottom edges to save space.

From MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #14, March 1976

Dramatic scary letters for GHOST make this otherwise static page exciting.

From MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #15, May 1976

I forgot to point out that Gaspar also often did the top line with the character credits for these issues, as here.

From MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #16, June 1976

Not only a fine Saladino title, but I love the burst balloon.

From MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #17, July 1976

No one did flaming letters as well as Gaspar.

From MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #19, Sept 1976

The books most often chosen for Gaspar’s page one treatment were those with new, less dynamic or less skilled letterers, but that wasn’t always the case. Sometimes I think it was just a matter of what was available when Gaspar came into the Marvel offices, which was probably once a week.

From MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #21, Nov 1976

The unique look and creativity of BLACK SUN here was something many other Marvel letterers couldn’t match.

From MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #22, Dec 1976

This title has four different styles that all work well together, not easy to do.

From MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #24, Feb 1977

Gaspar’s style of block letter R had the notch on the right side below the center of the middle horizontal, as if the right leg had been added to a letter P. Sometimes the notch was so small the letter didn’t read well, as here.

From MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #25, March 1977

Gaspar liked to use a serif I where that letter begins a word, like INKER and IRV in the credits here. I don’t like that myself, but he makes it work.

From MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #28, June 1977

Here a burst balloon adds drama.

From MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #30, Aug 1977

Ben Grimm on Big Ben in London? A story that can’t miss! Great title by Saladino.

From MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #32, Oct 1977

Gaspar had been using this style for the word INVISIBLE since the early 1950s, representing the letters fading away.

From MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #33, Nov 1977

For once the word DEATH doesn’t dominate in this story title. That kiss looks a bit painful.

From MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #34, Dec 1977

Masterful dry-brush lettering here on MONSTER.

From MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE ANNUAL #3, 1978

Oddly, Gaspar’s single lettering page in this book is on page 28 of the story.

From MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #39, May 1978

Small creative touches make Gaspar’s title work more interesting, like the tiny THE and the lower case I here.

From MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #45, Nov 1978

Saladino liked more rounded Art Deco block letters for science fiction themes, as ANDROMEDA would suggest.

From MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #46, Dec 1978

Adding bounce and round elements was another way to make titles interesting.

From MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #47, Jan 1979

And here we have even more bounce and roundness for a very effective title.

From MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #48, Feb 1979

The double-bordered frame helps this long title word read better.

From MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #49, March 1979

The brush lettering in this title is creepy and impressive, too bad the dark coloring almost obscures OF.

From MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #52, June 1979

The title word KNIGHT isn’t thought out very well, but I love Gaspar’s newspaper lettering. If only real newspapers were that interesting!

From MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #53, July 1979

While he continued on covers for some time, this is the last page one lettering by Saladino on the series. Perhaps Marvel felt that they no longer needed it to attract readers.

To sum up, Gaspar lettered one page in each of these issues: 4, 8-9, 13-17, 19, 21-22, 24-25, 28, 30, 32-34, 39, 45-49, 52-53, Annual 3. That’s 27 in all. More articles in this series and others you might like are on the COMICS CREATION page of my blog.

The post GASPAR SALADINO in MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE Part 2 appeared first on Todd's Blog.

And Then I Read: ILLUMINATIONS by Alan Moore

I wanted to like this, but didn’t. I love Alan’s comics writing. I read and enjoyed his first novel, “Voice of the Fire,” though the first section was tough going, and it’s not a book I would read again. Haven’t read his second novel, “Jerusalem.” This book is dominated by an almost novel-length story about the American comic book business, “What We Can Know About Thunderman.” All the characters are based on real comics creators and business people under other names, but it’s not a simple one-to-one guessing game, as most of the characters are composites of several real people, and there are elements of the story that are clearly made up entirely. The plot does include stories I’ve heard before (sometimes about more than one person), and most of those stories focus on shady doings, character flaws, and bad behavior. As was true of all the stories in the book, there was no one I really connected with and could root for, everyone seemed lost, troubled, unhappy, misguided, or downright evil. I can understand Alan’s feelings about comics (and perhaps other things) being quite different from mine, but this story does not represent the comics business I’ve been in for more than forty years as I experienced it. When you read a story you like, you don’t want it to end. When the opposite is true, you keep checking to see how much longer it is, and that was the case here, and with the entire book. I didn’t find any stories or characters I liked or could identify with, and finishing the book became more of a chore than a pleasure. Your experience might be different. Certainly the quality of the writing is excellent, it simply doesn’t say anything I enjoyed reading.

Illuminations by Alan Moore

The post And Then I Read: ILLUMINATIONS by Alan Moore appeared first on Todd's Blog.

GASPAR SALADINO in MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE Part 1

All images © Marvel. From MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #2, March 1974

This title ran 100 issues from 1974 to 1983 and starred The Thing teamed with a wide variety of other Marvel characters, similar to MARVEL TEAM-UP and Spider-Man. They were all new stories I believe, and Gaspar Saladino lettered many of the covers and first story pages. Part 1 will look at covers, story pages are in Part 2. On the cover above, the bottom caption has the kind of angular thin-outlined open letters that Saladino liked, and the circle caption has a lower case AND, another style clue.

From MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #6, Nov 1974

In the right caption here, Gaspar has emphasized DEATH by doubling the outline. DESTINY has some interesting non-standard shapes.

From MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #8, March 1975

One reason I think Saladino worked on a lot of these covers is because he could also provide a logo for the co-star if needed. Existing logos were used where possible, but as happened here, sometimes Gaspar just redrew them to fit better, in this case for a GHOST RIDER logo he’d designed.

From MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE ANNUAL #1, Sept 1976

Gaspar also did work on a few annuals for the series. Here I think he also did the Thing logo, and I’m not sure if it was ever used again. Love the stars in LIBERTY LEGION.

From MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #32, Oct 1977

The bottom caption on this cover is very Saladino, and he also did the Invisible Girl logo. (I haven’t included any of these in my Saladino logo pages, which begin HERE, as most could be considered cover lettering.)

From MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE ANNUAL #3, 1978

Danny Crespi also did a lot of these covers, and this one is similar to his work in some ways, but the smaller balloon lettering looks like Saladino’s work, wide and angular with a slight arch to the legs of each E.

From MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #51, May 1979

These logos are all pulled from other places, Gaspar did the burst balloons and the bottom blurb.

From MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #52, June 1979

Not sure about the Moon Knight logo, but the blurbs are definitely by Saladino. He even put a crosshair symbol in the O of CROSSFIRE.

From MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #53, July 1979

This is Gaspar’s Quasar logo, which I like better than the one used on his book later.

From MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #58, Dec 1979

I think Jim Novak did the Aquarian logo, but the blurb is by Gaspar.

From MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE ANNUAL #5, 1980

The style of STRANGER in this blurb is very Saladino. He also did 48 BIG PAGES.

From MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #59, Jan 1980

Look at the creative inline style of the first letters of TOWERING INFERNOS.

From MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #62, April 1980

Not sure if Gaspar did the Moondragon logo, but the blurbs are his.

From MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #64, June 1980

Again, not sure who did the Stingray logo, it could have been Gaspar. Small creative touches enhance the bottom caption.

From MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #67, Sept 1980

The Hyperion logo is definitely by Saladino, as are these blurbs.

From MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #68, Oct 1980

Not sure about the Angel logo, but the caption left of it is by Gaspar.

From MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #69, Nov 1980

The creative scary treatment of FOG here is pure Saladino.

From MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #71, Jan 1981

Gaspar wasn’t doing much Marvel work by this time, I think they kept him on covers for this title as long as they did because he could do the guest-star logos so well.

From MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #72, Feb 1981

MAELSTROM on this cover is very Gaspar, and I think he did the Inhumans logo.

From MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #73, March 1981

The Quasar logo gets used again, and the bottom blurb is by Saladino.

From MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #76, June 1981

Cover lettering was usually done larger than the cover art size and reduced photostats were pasted on. The details in CIRCUS for this one suggest that.

From MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #77, July 1981

Both captions here are full of Gaspar style.

From MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #78, Aug 1981

Wonder Man is probably by Saladino along with the blurbs here.

From MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #79, Sept 1981

Someone put a lot of work into that Blue Diamond logo, probably not Gaspar. The blurbs are definitely by him.

From MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #80, Oct 1981

The style and texture of DEATH RACE is typical for Saladino, not sure if he did this Ghost Rider logo.

From MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #81, Nov 1981

MODOK is again very Gaspar, he might also have done the Sub-Mariner logo.

From MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #82, Dec 1981

The energy and drama in these blurbs is very much in Saladino’s wheelhouse. It’s the last cover I think he did.

To sum up, I found lettering by Gaspar on these covers: 2, 6, 8, 32, 51-53, 58-59, 62, 64, 67-69, 71-73, 76-82, Annuals 1, 3, 5. That’s 27 in all. Inside page lettering will be in Part 2. Other articles in this series are on the COMICS CREATION page of my blog.

The post GASPAR SALADINO in MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE Part 1 appeared first on Todd's Blog.

GASPAR SALADINO in MARVEL TREASURY EDITION

All images © Marvel. From MARVEL TREASURY EDITION SPECIAL FEATURING CAPTAIN AMERICA’S BICENTENNIAL BATTLES #1, Sept 1976

This was Marvel’s tabloid-size comics series, giant square-bound issues that were often filled with reprints, but did contain some new material. It ran 28 issues from 1974 to 1981 with a few one-shots not in the regular numbering, as above, for which Saladino lettered only the back cover and the inside back cover. Gaspar Saladino contributed some story and page lettering to this series, not a lot, but enough for a separate article.

From MARVEL TREASURY EDITION #13, 1976

For this issue featuring holiday stories Gaspar lettered ten pages that were interspersed between the reprints. His story title and credits are stylish and festive.

From MARVEL TREASURY EDITION #14, 1977

For this reprint issue, Saladino lettered an elaborate title page, something he often did for DC Comics reprints or extra-long books. I think he also did the logo.

From MARVEL TREASURY EDITION #15, 1977

Another title page by Gaspar, though I don’t think he did that illuminated C for CONAN, that looks like something that might have been pulled from elsewhere, perhaps a book of medieval manuscripts.

From MARVEL TREASURY EDITION #18, 1978

This contents page is in a more familiar comics style, and the logo is the standard one.

From MARVEL TREASURY EDITION #19, 1978

The blurbs on this cover are by Gaspar, his style is more obvious in the left one.

From MARVEL TREASURY EDITION #23, 1979

In this Conan issue I was startled to find a reprinted run of a “Conan the Barbarian” newspaper strip, which I didn’t know about, and the seven weeks of dailies and one Sunday are all lettered by Saladino. Rather than count it here, I’m adding it to my existing article on Gaspar’s Newspaper Strip lettering.

From MARVEL TREASURY EDITION #24, 1979

This burst blurb seems small, but remember the comic is quite large. It’s by Saladino. He probably also did 80 GIANT PAGES.

From MARVEL TREASURY EDITION #26, 1980

This cover follows the same model as the previous one, and MODOK is more obviously in Saladino’s style.

From MARVEL TREASURY EDITION #27, 1980

Lots of Saladino lettering on this cover. I’m not sure if he also did the logo, the S in SPIDER-MAN doesn’t look like something he would do.

From MARVEL TREASURY EDITION #27, 1980

Inside the book Gaspar lettered this new short story with his usual panache.

To sum up, I found Saladino lettering on these covers: CAP’S BICENTENNIAL back cover, 19, 24, 26-27, five in all. Below are the details of his story lettering.

CAP’S BICENTENNIAL Sept 1976: inside back cover

#13 1976: ‘Tis the Season 10pp

#14 1977: Contents 1pp

#15 1977: Contents 1pp

#18 1978: Contents 1pp

#27 1980: Angel 5pp

That’s 19 pages in all. More articles in this series and others you might like are on the COMICS CREATION page of my blog.

The post GASPAR SALADINO in MARVEL TREASURY EDITION appeared first on Todd's Blog.

GASPAR SALADINO in MARVEL TEAM-UP Part 2

All images © Marvel. From MARVEL TEAM-UP #48, Aug 1976

Continuing my chronological look at the lettering work of Gaspar Saladino for this long-running Spider-Man team-up title, most of his work in this second half was on first story pages otherwise lettered by others (in some cases he did more than one page). Gaspar’s fine block letters are in this story title, with the most important word largest and all black for emphasis.

From MARVEL TEAM-UP #50, Oct 1976

This story title has a banner to separate it from the background art, and I like the way THE is tucked into the M in MYSTERY to allow that word to be larger.

From MARVEL TEAM-UP #52, Dec 1976

Saladino was a freelancer who lived a good distance away from Manhattan (home of both DC and Marvel Comics), and his usual plan was to come to the offices once a week to hand in and drop off work. Sometimes he would do a few rush jobs there before heading home. This cover might have been one of those, not that the work looks rushed, but his cover work at Marvel declined some in the later 1970s I think because Marvel’s output grew and deadlines were always tight, so it made more sense to have most of the covers lettered by staffers who were always on hand, Danny Crespi being the main one, but also Morrie Kuramoto and others.

From MARVEL TEAM-UP #54, Feb 1977

I think the deadlines on these first pages were usually less frantic because Gaspar only had to letter one per story in most cases, while the main letterer needed time to trudge through the rest, but he might have also done a few of these on his office visits.

From MARVEL TEAM-UP #55, March 1977

The reproduction is poor on this image, but Gaspar’s title lettering still stands out.

From MARVEL TEAM-UP #57, May 1977

I like the graceful Art Deco S’s in this story title for the character’s name. Stan Lee-inspired jokes and nicknames in the credits had faded away by this time, so they were a little easier.

From MARVEL TEAM-UP #58, June 1977

Brush work on PANIC sets it apart, creates interest, and provides contrast to the rest of the title.

From MARVEL TEAM-UP #59, July 1977

This story title is surprisingly small and subdued for Gaspar, but the dynamic balloons at the bottom make up for it. The title and Gaspar’s lettering continue on the next page.

From MARVEL TEAM-UP #60, Aug 1977

This title is more like it! DEATH gets the usual extra effort for emphasis.

From MARVEL TEAM-UP #61, Sept 1977

The use of archaic forms Thy and Thee in this title might have suggested something Medieval, but Gaspar went with his unique rough letters instead, including lower case E’s.

From MARVEL TEAM-UP #62, Oct 1977

This title could have been boring if all lettered the same way, but Saladino makes it interesting through emphasis and style choices. I also love the Skrull balloon.

From MARVEL TEAM-UP #64, Dec 1977

DEATH is one of the most frequently used words in comics titles, and Gaspar always made it dramatic.

From MARVEL TEAM-UP #66, Feb 1978

The story title, well designed by Tom Orzechowski, is on a later page of this issue. Gaspar also did the top banner lettering.

From MARVEL TEAM-UP #67, March 1978

Again, contrast in styles makes the title interesting. The indents on the right sides of the R’s are almost invisible.

From MARVEL TEAM-UP #71, July 1978

This extended version of Death in the title has rough edges and texture to add drama.

From MARVEL TEAM-UP #74, Oct 1978

A memorable team-up with the Saturday Night Live cast, Gaspar lettered three pages of the story, the first and the title spread on pages 6-7. This is one of those.

From MARVEL TEAM-UP #81, May 1979

The large title is a bit hard to see here due to the dark coloring. I love the incantation balloon at the bottom.

From MARVEL TEAM-UP #82, June 1979

The newspaper headline and credits in perspective are by Gaspar here.

From MARVEL TEAM-UP #84, Aug 1979

A poor scan is all I could find for this title page, but Saladino’s lettering looks fine.

From MARVEL TEAM-UP #87, Nov 1979

I almost overlooked this cover blurb, but the shape of the S caught my eye, it’s surely by Gaspar.

From MARVEL TEAM-UP #87, Nov 1979

Inside the book he also did this fine first page, with a typical THE in the title.

To sum up, I found Saladino lettering on these covers: 12, 14-15, 19-20, 23, 34, 38, 52, 87. That’s ten in all. Gaspar’s story lettering is in these issues, always just the first story page except as noted: 8, 10, 12, 23, 35-36, 38-45, 48, 50, 54-55, 57-58, 59 (2pp), 60-62, 64, 66-67, 71, 74 (3pp), 81-82, 84, 87. That’s a total of 36. More articles in this series and others you might like are on the COMICS CREATION page of my blog.

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GASPAR SALADINO in MARVEL TEAM-UP Part 1

All images © Marvel. From MARVEL TEAM-UP #8, April 1973

This long-running title allowed Spider-Man to team up with a wide variety of other Marvel characters in new adventures. It ran 150 issues from 1972 to 1985. Gaspar Saladino lettered covers and first story pages from 1973 to 1979, but only a quarter of them were covers, so this time I’ll go through everything chronologically and not divide my two-part article into covers and story pages. The first example, above, has an impressive title with telescoping on the left half and a banner behind the rest. Marvel assigned these to Gaspar I think hoping his skill and energy might sell a few comics to browsers, and it helped give Marvel a more cohesive look, at least as far as the first story pages. (In a few cases there were other pages chosen for Saladino to letter, usually the ones with the title and credits.)

From MARVEL TEAM-UP #10, June 1973

The drama, creativity, and impact of titles like this one were beyond the skill of many Marvel letterers, so I think having Gaspar do them was a smart move. As always, he credited the letterer of the remaining pages, though comparing those to his shows that they were often quite different.

From MARVEL TEAM-UP #12, Aug 1973

Here’s the first cover with Saladino lettering. Notice how angular the display lettering is with lots of sharp corners. The balloon lettering in the circle is wide and angular too.

From MARVEL TEAM-UP #12, Aug 1973

Inside that issue is one more page of fine Gaspar lettering. The first word of the title seems to be straining to escape from the panel borders.

From MARVEL TEAM-UP #14, Oct 1973

The lettering on this cover is harder to identify, but I think the shapes and very precise open letters of the bottom blurb are more like the work of Saladino than the other most frequent cover letterer, Danny Crespi, and unlike others lettering covers at the time.

From MARVEL TEAM-UP #15, Nov1973

There are only balloons on this cover, no blurbs, but the style in them is pure Saladino.

From MARVEL TEAM-UP #19, March 1974

The best clue to Gaspar’s work on this cover is the style of FEATURING above the bottom caption, but it’s all by Saladino. Marvel’s tendency to reverse or fill around the lettering makes it a bit harder to identify.

From MARVEL TEAM-UP #20, April 1974

These blurbs are small, but clearly by Saladino, note the lower case AND in the bottom one for instance.

From MARVEL TEAM-UP #23, July 1974

Saladino’s decorative approach to FIRE and ICE in the top blurb and his letter shapes for EQUINOX are good style pointers, and the balloon lettering is typical for him.

From MARVEL TEAM-UP #23, July 1974

With more room inside, he goes further with creative styles on this title.

From MARVEL TEAM-UP #34, June 1975

The rounded E’s in METEOR are something Gaspar did occasionally, and all the display lettering has his angular style.

From MARVEL TEAM-UP #35, July 1975

In this title, BLOOD is effectively done with a brush for maximum drama. He’s also done the lettering in the top banner.

From MARVEL TEAM-UP #36, Aug 1975

Gaspar had lots of styles in his repertoire to choose from, and sometimes he came up with new ones, as on CASTLE here, and more new lettering in the top banner.

From MARVEL TEAM-UP #38, Oct 1975

When the words fit better, Saladino sometimes used more rectangular balloon shapes, as here. GRIFFIN is another example of his creative letter forms that added excitement.

From MARVEL TEAM-UP #38, Oct 1975

Most letterers would have used the same style inside the book if given the chance, but Gaspar went in a completely different direction for this story title.

From MARVEL TEAM-UP #39, Nov 1975

Here he chooses a scary style for SLAY, adding interest and variety to the title.

From MARVEL TEAM-UP #40, Dec 1975

Again, many letterers would have looked for logos to drop onto some of these characters, but Saladino simply lettered everything anew, as if the characters had never been seen before, and he did it with style and variety.

From MARVEL TEAM-UP #41, Jan 1976

Gaspar was a master of dry-brush lettering, and he used it here on WITCH. Lots of other fine work here too, look at those creepy credits in perspective.

From MARVEL TEAM-UP #42, Feb 1976

Look at the contrast and creativity in this title, and VISIONS picks up the diamond symbol from the character’s chest and runs with it.

From MARVEL TEAM-UP #43, March 1976

I love that scary balloon style near the top of this page, and it kind of echoes the treatment of MAD.

From MARVEL TEAM-UP #44, April 1976

There are six words in this title, and Saladino knew just which ones to emphasize. The Y shapes in YESTERDAY are unusual and perhaps unique, and more great lettering in the top banner.

From MARVEL TEAM-UP #45, May 1976

Here’s another story title with an unusual style that makes it more interesting.

That completes Part 1, I’ll have totals in Part 2 after detailing the rest of Gaspar’s work on this title. Other articles you might enjoy are on the COMICS CREATION page of my blog.

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GASPAR SALADINO in MARVEL SPOTLIGHT

All images © Marvel. From MARVEL SPOTLIGHT #11, Aug 1973

Another of the many Marvel Comics series that was home to several different features over time. There were two series, the first ran 33 issues from 1971 to 1977, the second had 11 issues from 1979 to 1981. Gaspar Saladino did cover lettering and page one lettering for both. His first cover, above, has what is essentially a character logo at the bottom, though I don’t think it was used again. THE SPELLS OF THE is type, probably press-down letters. Saladino also did the two balloons, the blurb next to the logo is by someone else, carried over from past issues.

MARVEL SPOTLIGHT #12, Oct 1973

The small lettering in these balloons has Saladino’s angular style, and HELL in the bottom blurb is some of his fine flaming letters.

MARVEL SPOTLIGHT #13, Jan 1974

Danny Crespi was also lettering many covers at this time, and they had similar styles in some ways, but Crespi’s regular lettering was a little rounder, and his open letters also tended to be rounder. This is all by Saladino.

MARVEL SPOTLIGHT #16, July 1974

This is the first page one lettering by Gaspar, he was asked to do this by Marvel on many stories in the 1970s, I think they felt his work might help sell comics to browsers. Though most of the newspaper is actual newspaper type, Gaspar did the title, and the REPENT sign is typical of his work.

MARVEL SPOTLIGHT #18, Oct 1974

The wide oval of the first balloon, and especially the shape of the second one here are styles that Saladino used often. Also notice how angular the open letters of MADHOUSE are.

MARVEL SPOTLIGHT #19, Dec 1974

More angular Saladino balloon lettering here, look for the letter S with a wide, almost horizontal center stroke.

MARVEL SPOTLIGHT #19, Dec 1974

When lettering these first pages, Gaspar credited the letterer of the remaining ones if he knew it, as here, but their work often looked quite different.

MARVEL SPOTLIGHT #21, April 1975

Two clues to Saladino lettering here are the unusual shapes of the letters in the second line of the top caption, and the rough, scary styles used in the bottom one. Not one else did them quite like that.

MARVEL SPOTLIGHT #21, April 1975

I like the calligraphic script in the credits here.

MARVEL SPOTLIGHT #23, Aug 1975

Lots of creative, energetic lettering here by Saladino.

MARVEL SPOTLIGHT #24, Oct 1975

The style of DOOM alone is enough to make me sure this cover lettering is by Gaspar.

MARVEL SPOTLIGHT #26, Feb 1976

Saladino’s scary lettering was terrific, making the use of type for the word SPECTACULAR all the more surprising, but he did that sometimes, perhaps for contrast.

MARVEL SPOTLIGHT #27, April 1976

More distinctive angular display lettering, particularly in SYMBIONIC MAN.

MARVEL SPOTLIGHT #27, April 1976

This title has three very different styles that somehow work well together. DEATH uses Gaspar’s dry brush style.

MARVEL SPOTLIGHT #30, Oct 1976

I think writer Len Wein loved Gaspar’s work more than most comics writers and vice versa, they’d had a great triumph with SWAMP THING at DC Comics, and Gaspar always seemed to do particularly fine work on Len’s credit blocks.

MARVEL SPOTLIGHT #1, July 1979

In the second series now, with Gaspar doing the same fine page one lettering.

MARVEL SPOTLIGHT #5, March 1980

Gaspar’s only cover lettering for the second series was the top blurb on this cover, the bottom one is by someone else.

MARVEL SPOTLIGHT #5, March 1980

Gaspar’s final page one lettering shows his talent for knowing what to emphasize in the title.

To sum up, I found Saladino lettering on these covers: 11-13, 18-19, 21, 23-24, 26-27 (first series) and 5 (second series), for a total of 11. These issues have his page one lettering: 16, 19, 21, 27, 30 (first series), 1, 5 (second series), seven in all. More articles like this are on the COMICS CREATION page of my blog.

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GASPAR SALADINO in MARVEL CHILLERS & MARVEL TALES

All images © Marvel. From MARVEL CHILLERS #2, Dec 1975

Here are two of the many titles that begin with MARVEL, each with a few examples of Gaspar Saladino lettering. For CHILLERS he did only page one lettering where the rest of the pages were by others, the first is above. I think Gaspar also did the character logo in the top banner, and it’s unusual and appealing. The story title is as full of energy and drama as the art, and there are several kinds of special balloon and caption styles here in addition to one regular style balloon. I can certainly see how Saladino’s work on these first story pages added value.

From MARVEL CHILLERS #5, June 1976

Typically we read from left to right, then down and left to right again, but here Gaspar’s skill forces the reader to go left to right at the top, then follow the lettering trail from there to the bottom left corner. Masterful placement.

From MARVEL CHILLERS #6, Aug 1976

What jumps out here for me is the title first, then the burst balloon at lower right. Then I want to read the captions to find out what’s going on.

From MARVEL CHILLERS #7, Oct 1976

For this long title Saladino emphasizes three important words, making the others small, and adds drama with a fine dry-brush treatment for DEATH.

From MARVEL TALES #62, Oct 1975

While CHILLERS ran only seven issues, TALES ran a whopping 289 issues from 1966 to 1994, perhaps the longest-running Marvel reprint comic. Gaspar did new lettering for just two covers for it, often the cover lettering was reprinted from the original appearance. On the first one above, his wide, angular balloon lettering works fine added to the original Sam Rosen caption at the bottom.

From MARVEL TALES #96, Oct 1978

This is interesting, the word balloons are relettered by Gaspar instead of what appeared on the cover of AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #117, but the caption and sign are original, yet they also look like Saladino’s work. I didn’t include that cover in my survey of ASM I think because the balloon lettering looked like it was by someone else. I’ll just credit Gaspar here with the caveat that I’m not sure if he did that original lettering at the bottom, but now I’m thinking he might have.

To sum up, I found new Saladino lettering on these covers: MARVEL TALES 62 & 96. I found page one lettering by him on these issues of MARVEL CHILLERS: 2, 5-7. That’s six items in all. Other articles in this series are on the COMICS CREATION page of my blog.

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