Todd Klein's Blog, page 55

And Then I Read: ENOLA HOLMES AND THE ELEGANT ESCAPADE by Nancy Springer

I’ve read all the Enola Holmes stories, this is the newest. My only issue with them is that they’re too short! Enola is the much younger sister of Sherlock Holmes who is following in his footsteps as a detective, specializing in missing persons, and like Sherlock, she lives on her own in London, lodging in a club for independent women. Enola’s freedom and career choice were hard fought, and in this book she continues to spar with Sherlock, as both are on the same case independently. Enola’s friend Lady Cecily Alastair is the missing person, but Enola knows something that Sherlock doesn’t: Cecily has a split personality, one aspect is timid and obedient, the other bold and rebellious. The rebellious side has taken over and escaped from Cecily’s domineering and cruel father, who is once again trying to quash his daughter. Can Enola find her in time to help before the timid side returns when Cecily is alone in London somewhere and unable to fend for herself?

Though some characters return, this is a new and well-written adventure. I also finally watched the first Enola Holmes film on Netflix and enjoyed that more than I expected. Even though there are many changes from the books, the spirit of the character and the ideas are intact and well presented, though I didn’t much like the actors playing Sherlock and Mycroft Holmes. Maybe that was intentional, it makes Enola all the more appealing. The book and the film are recommended.

Enola Holmes and the Elegant Escapade by Nancy Springer

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GASPAR SALADINO in JOHN CARTER WARLORD OF MARS

All images © Marvel and Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc. From JOHN CARTER WARLORD OF MARS #4, Sept 1977

After many years at Western Publishing and a few at DC Comics, Marvel acquired the license to comic book versions of Burroughs characters. Unlike DC, they made a series of this one, and it did well, lasting 28 issues from 1977 to 1979. Gaspar Saladino didn’t letter any of the covers, but he did letter the first page of several stories, something Marvel often asked him to do in the 1970s. I think they felt his skills might sell a few comics to newsstand browsers who opened a comic for a quick look inside. The first one, above, shows his ability to create exciting, dynamic story titles that made readers want to know more. I’m sure Gaspar enjoyed lettering over pencils by his friend Gil Kane.

From JOHN CARTER WARLORD OF MARS #11, April 1978

While known for his strong titles, Gaspar was equally good at elegant ones, as seen here. His years of work on DC Comics romance stories was good training for this, and the credits are equally elegant. As always, Gaspar put in the name of the person lettering the rest of the pages if it was known, and their styles were often quite different.

From JOHN CARTER WARLORD OF MARS #18, Nov 1978

Back to full-on action/adventure for this title, and the sound effect is very Saladino.

From JOHN CARTER WARLORD OF MARS #19, Dec 1978

On this title, Gaspar makes the first word small to give more room to the rest. His banner caption for the credits is beautiful.

From JOHN CARTER WARLORD OF MARS #24, May 1979

You can’t get much more dramatic and energetic than this title! Even the dark color inside can’t quell it.

From JOHN CARTER OF MARS #25, July 1979

This one’s quieter, but only a little. I wonder if the single quotes around the N were in the script he got, or if he added them? No way to know. They signal a contraction of AND, of course.

From JOHN CARTER WARLORD OF MARS #26, Aug 1979

The black ink on this page is heavy, making the bottom left banner a bit hard to read, but it is readable, showing how strong the lettering is. Again, Saladino knows which words to emphasize in the title.

From JOHN CARTER WARLORD OF MARS #28, Oct 1979

The final issue has another great Gaspar title, notice how he extends parts of some letters to add interest.

To sum up, these issues have page one only lettering by Saladino: 4, 11, 18-19, 24-26, 28, that’s eight in all. 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 IRON MAN Part 3

All images © Marvel. From IRON MAN #288, Jan 1993

In 1992, when this cover lettering was commissioned, Gaspar Saladino was doing almost no cover lettering for DC Comics or Marvel, though he was still lettering lots of story pages. I don’t know why that happened, perhaps his style was considered old-fashioned, but at DC I was given a lot of that work, and at Marvel it was often done by staffers at this time, or younger freelancers. As I know from experience, each editor at Marvel ran his own small kingdom, and usually made decisions about things like who would do cover lettering. In this case, editor Nel Yomtov must have decided that Gaspar’s talent was just the right thing for IRON MAN, and he had Saladino lettering most of the covers for about two years. I almost missed this run of Gaspar’s work, but finally noticed it, and I’m happy to say it’s just as good as his earlier cover work seen in Part 1 of this study. On the first cover, above, the style of the circular border is unusual and interesting, the rest is classic Saladino work.

From IRON MAN #289, Feb 1993

Another unusual border on this blurb, and I like the way the second L overlaps the first.

From IRON MAN #290, March 1993

Lots of exciting Gaspar lettering here.

From IRON MAN #291, April 1993

This top blurb shows Gaspar knew what to emphasize and how to make it stand out.

From IRON MAN #293, June 1993

This circular burst uses open lettering for contrast and emphasis as well as size. This must be an Australian edition, which is why the currency and month don’t match the US version. I use what I can find.

From IRON MAN #294, July 1993

Same for this cover. Gaspar gets interesting texture in the open lettering, but it’s still easy to read.

From IRON MAN ANNUAL #14, 1993

The background color on these blurbs is dull (not Gaspar’s choice), but they still read well.

From IRON MAN #295, Aug 1993

More amorphous caption shapes here, which I think work well against the angular and high contrast art.

From IRON MAN #297, Oct 1993

Not much room for lettering here, but Saladino’s blurb is still exciting.

From IRON MAN #298, Nov 1993

Gaspar goes the extra mile by making STONE look like stone.

From IRON MAN #299, Dec 1993

When there was room for the lettering to be larger, it has even more impact. This blurb uses several styles that work well together, and the torn edges of the border add energy.

From IRON MAN #300, Jan 1994

Who could resist this fine cover lettering and what it offered inside?

From IRON MAN #302, March 1994

The line of type above the logo is unreadable, while Saladino’s burst jumps out at you.

From IRON MAN #305, June 1994

This caption again mixes several appealing styles together in a way that shouldn’t work, but does. Need a small Hulk logo? Sure, I’ll just letter one, says Gaspar.

From IRON MAN #306, July 1994

Not a typical Saladino style on these open letters, but he did use it elsewhere occasionally.

From IRON MAN #307, Aug 1994

Light gray bursts work well against this op-art background full of circles.

From IRON MAN #308, Sept 1994

Contrast and style choices are perfect in this burst.

From IRON MAN #309, Oct 1994

A cleverly-written blurb makes readers want to know how the hero gets out of this predicament. That giant IS sells it.

From IRON MAN #310, Nov 1994

I like the single jags in the tails of these balloons to indicate Iron Man’s speaker voice.

From IRON MAN #311, Dec 1994

This top blurb and chapter bullet are beautifully done, but not by Saladino. It must have been a story running across several titles. I don’t know who did it. Gaspar’s burst is effective.

From IRON MAN #312, Jan 1995

Here’s that repeating blurb again with two creative ones by Saladino, all different and all appealing.

From IRON MAN #313, Feb 1995

This blurb is similar to some that Gaspar did for holiday stories at DC, though I’m not sure what kind of greenery that’s meant to be in the border.

From IRON MAN #314, March 1995

Here the coloring really pops the blurb against the dark background. At this time Marvel had put the title into a Force Works imprint, hence the big FW.

From IRON MAN #315, April 1995

Gaspar’s final cover blurb is again full of diverse styles that work well together, something he’d figured out over the years. Soon digital cover lettering would become the norm at both DC and Marvel, and Gaspar had no interest in doing that.

To sum up, I found Saladino lettering on these covers: 288-291, 293-295, 297-300, 302, 305-309-315, Annual 14. That’s 24 in all. 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 IRON MAN Part 2

All images © Marvel. From IRON MAN #75, June 1975

In part 1 of this article I discussed Gaspar Saladino’s early cover lettering, here I’ll look at his story lettering, which is all only the first page of stories lettered by others. Marvel hired him to do this in the 1970s I think because they thought his dynamic titles and strong style might convince browsers to buy the comics. This title certainly fills that order. As always, Gaspar puts in the name of the letterer of the rest of the story, and their work often looked quite different.

From IRON MAN ANNUAL #3, 1976

The creative overlaps and extensions in this story title point toward Saladino.

From IRON MAN #85, April 1976

This story title grabs the eye with energy and personality. It’s a long title, but Gaspar knew just what to emphasize.

From IRON MAN #90, Sept 1976

The contrast between the first two words and the rest of this title make it more interesting.

From IRON MAN #94, Jan 1977

Another energetic title, FRENZY reminds me of Artie Simek’s work, and Gaspar sometimes used a rounded Art Deco style for the credits that I like, as here.

From IRON MAN #95, Feb 1977

These sound effects are classic Saladino, and I like the arrow in the balloon before the title.

From IRON MAN #98, May 1977

Gaspar loved to draw flames, and the ones around this story title work well and add interest.

From IRON MAN #101, Aug 1977

Gaspar’s classic MONSTER lettering works well here. The nickname for editor Archie Goodwin, “asseverative,” is a word I didn’t know until I just looked it up.

From IRON MAN #103, Oct 1977.

Lots of fine Gaspar lettering here, distinctive sound effects, and notice the script signature at bottom left.

From IRON MAN #106, Jan 1978

In effect, Saladino was creating a house style for Marvel on these first story pages in way that he never did at DC, though he lettered plenty of stories there, but always full stories. Gaspar would soon be, or already was, working with penciller George Tuska on “The World’s Greatest Superheroes” newspaper strip for DC too.

From IRON MAN #110, May 1978

Another great title, and its energy is matched by the art.

From IRON MAN #111, June 1978

Look at the creative styles in this title, with a burst around it to add to the excitement. What casual reader could pass this issue by?

From IRON MAN #113, Aug 1978

They just keep coming. I love the RN’s in this title, and STARK never looked so good.

From IRON MAN #114, Sept 1978

A non-typical style for Saladino in ARSENAL, but everything else looks like his work, so just trying something different.

From IRON MAN #115, Oct 1978

Another atypical title, perhaps pencilled in by new artist John Romita Jr., but Gaspar did add his usual R style with the right side indent below the center of the middle stroke, though here it’s just a little below.

From IRON MAN #116, Nov 1978

Gaspar was an expert at dry-brush lettering, used here on ANGUISH.

From IRON MAN #119, Feb 1979

While he continued to letter covers for a while, this was the last page 1 lettering by Saladino for the title. S.H.I.E.L.D. might be pulled from a logo, it looks like the work of Sam Rosen to me. I’ll continue with Gaspar’s later covers in Part 3.

To sum up, I found page one only lettering by Saladino on these issues: 75, 85, 90, 94-95, 98, 101, 103, 106, 110-111, 113-116, 119 and Annual 3. That’s 17 in all. Other articles in this series and more you might like are on the COMICS CREATION page of my blog.

The post GASPAR SALADINO in IRON MAN Part 2 appeared first on Todd's Blog.

GASPAR SALADINO in IRON MAN Part 1

All images © Marvel. From IRON MAN #55, Feb 1973

One of Marvel’s most popular characters, Iron Man starred in his own book that ran 332 issues from 1968 to 1996. Gaspar Saladino lettered quite a few covers from 1973 to 1981 and made a return to lettering covers in 1993-95. He also did a good number of first story pages otherwise lettered by others. I will look at early covers in this part, inside pages in Part 2, and later covers in Part 3. The cover above is credited to Gaspar in the Grand Comics Database. I agree that the bottom blurb is by him, I’m less sure about the balloons. They might be, but if so, someone has rearranged the second one in an awkward way that I don’t think Gaspar would have done. Possibly they’re by someone else. I will still count this as Saladino’s first IRON MAN cover.

From IRON MAN #57, April 1973

The balloons on this cover are not convincingly Gaspar in my view, and again might be by him, or possibly not. The bottom blurb is definitely his, and I love the shape of the M in MANDARIN. Usually cover lettering was all done by one person, but at Marvel it seems more common to have two letterers on one cover, perhaps one adding new things that weren’t asked for from the first letterer, perhaps changing dialogue at the last minute.

From IRON MAN #60, July 1973

These balloons are definitely lettered by Saladino, they have his wide, angular style that’s different from everyone else doing cover lettering at Marvel at the time. The large open letters in the bottom balloon also look like his work.

From IRON MAN #61, Aug 1973

This all looks like Gaspar’s work, the clincher is the style of THE in the bottom blurb.

From IRON MAN #62, Sept 1973

When I see large letters like these in a thought balloon, I always wonder just how loud that thought was! (My thoughts are always quiet.) The display lettering is strong and exciting, though, which is the intent.

From IRON MAN #63, Oct 1973

One reason Gaspar was suddenly doing a lot of Marvel covers in 1973 is that Sam Rosen stopped lettering in late 1972, reportedly for health reasons, making room for someone new to step in. Gaspar had already worked for Marvel a little since 1967, and was well known and admired for his DC Comics work, so he seems a natural choice, and he was good enough and fast enough to work for both companies.

From IRON MAN #65, Dec 1973

Lots of fine Saladino lettering here. The other person who stepped into the gap left by Sam Rosen’s departure was Marvel staffer Danny Crespi. I’ve written a lot about his cover lettering beginning HERE. His style was sometimes similar to Gaspar’s but generally more rounded and with thicker outlines on open lettering and borders. There are other more subtle differences. Other staffers like Morrie Kuramoto did some cover lettering, as did freelancers like John Costanza, and until his death in 1975, Artie Simek continued to do some covers.

From IRON MAN #66, Feb 1974

Notice how Gaspar adds emphasis to THUNDER GOD at the bottom with a heavier rough outline.

From IRON MAN #68, June 1974

More emphatic thoughts from Saladino, and a curved arrow caption, something he liked to do.

From IRON MAN #69, Aug 1974

The best clue to Gaspar’s work on this cover is the shape and style of the small banner caption above the circle, with serif I used twice at the beginning of words.

From IRON MAN #71, Nov 1974

Strong, angular open lettering, and again note the style of THE in script in the top caption.

From IRON MAN #74, May 1975

Gaspar had a particular way of doing tall display letters, and it’s here in SUPER-VILLAINS and THINKER. MODOK was first outlined with a thin pen, that still shows on the inner shapes, then outlined a second time around the outside for more emphasis.

From IRON MAN #81, Dec 1975

The style of WAR probably done with a brush or thick pen point puts this firmly in Saladino’s camp, though the rest is all his style too.

From IRON MAN #83, Feb 1976

Saladino would flatten balloon tops to fit better, as with the first one here, and the graceful banner is clearly by him.

From IRON MAN #95, Feb 1977

Gaspar’s balloon lettering is easy to identify here, and his burst shape too. Notice how his letter S tends to have a straight almost horizontal section in the middle.

From IRON MAN #115, Oct 1978

The blocky, uneven letters of BETRAYAL signal Saladino here, as does the serif I in IRON MAN in the burst.

From IRON MAN #119, Feb 1979

The top caption would be a tough call by itself, but in the open letters below, notice that the indent on the right side of the R is below the center of the middle bar, as if the right leg was attached to a letter P.

From IRON MAN #120, March 1979

The same R shape is in SUB-MARINER here, and I think Gaspar left out the hyphen, which was added on top by someone else.

From IRON MAN #129, Dec 1979

The unusual and uneven shapes of the letters in the bottom blurb are something Saladino liked to do for the right subject.

From IRON MAN #130, Jan 1980

On most Marvel books, Saladino’s work stops with the end of the 1970s, but in a few cases it continues for a year or two more, as here. Jim Novak was now doing a lot of lettering for Marvel, and he became the best Saladino mimic of any of us, so it’s possible a few of these are by him, but I think I’ve made the right calls on them. Here again is typical Gaspar scary lettering on DEMONS with added texture.

From IRON MAN #135, June 1980

Saladino’s R shape, as in HERO here, is something that Novak imitated at times, but I feel this is by Gaspar.

From IRON MAN #137, Aug 1980

The small letters in the top circle are in a style Gaspar used and no one else did.

From IRON MAN #139, Oct 1980

These open letters look convincingly like Gaspar’s work to me.

From IRON MAN #141, Dec 1980

Gaspar did open block letters in perspective when the layout called for it, but one hidden clue to his work is that it was fake perspective. If you put a piece of tracing paper over this blurb and extended the perspective lines with a pencil and ruler, you’d find they didn’t all go to the same single vanishing point. Gaspar learned to fake it to save time at DC, and it’s usually hard to spot.

From IRON MAN #142, Jan 1981

Saladino or Novak? I say Saladino. Jim copied some of Gaspar’s styles, but not all of these I think.

From IRON MAN #143, Feb 1981

Perhaps cover artist Bob Layton was the one who asked for Gaspar’s lettering on these covers. The creativity of SUNTURION is a good result, if so.

From IRON MAN #144, March 1981

Knowing what to emphasize and where to go large was an important skill that Gaspar learned over time at DC.

From IRON MAN #147, June 1981

I’m a little less sure about this cover, the circle blurb looks a bit off for Saladino, but the rest seems right.

From IRON MAN #148, July 1981

Again putting the strength into the last, most important word.

From IRON MAN #150, Sept 1981

The brush style of DOOM here is classic Saladino work. He also did the blurb over the logo.

From IRON MAN #151, Oct 1981

I believe this is the last Gaspar cover lettering in this period, and he creates a nice logo for Ant-Man.

To sum up, I found Saladino lettering on these covers: 55, 57, 60-63, 65-66, 68-69, 71, 74, 81, 83, 95, 115, 119-120, 129-130, 135, 137, 139, 141-144, 147-148, 150-151. That’s 31 in all. I’ll look at his story lettering in Part 2. Other articles in this series and more you might like are on the COMICS CREATION page of my blog.

The post GASPAR SALADINO in IRON MAN Part 1 appeared first on Todd's Blog.

GASPAR SALADINO in IRON FIST & INHUMANS

All images © Marvel. From IRON FIST #11, Feb 1977

Here are page ones lettered by Gaspar Saladino for two unrelated series, and a single cover, above, for IRON FIST, which ran 15 issues from 1975 to 1977. Gaspar’s wide, angular balloon lettering is easy to identify, and the very square open letters in the caption are typical for him. I will look at this title first, and INHUMANS after.

From IRON FIST #2, Dec 1975

From about 1973 to 1980, Marvel Hired Saladino to letter just the first page for many of their stories. I think they felt his skill and dynamic title work might sell comics to browsers opening an issue to have a quick look inside. The title of this one is a good example, with a strong brushed DAMNED. The words before it are so regular they look like type, but I’ve never seen Gaspar use type this large, I don’t know where he would get it, so I think it’s hand lettered. As always with these, Saladino adds the name of the letterer of the rest of the pages, Joe Rosen in this case, whose work is quite different.

From IRON FIST #3, Feb 1976

These images are from recolored reprints, so I doubt the colors are the same as on the original comics. The fire effect in BURNING is kind of crude, perhaps it was better on the original. Not something Saladino was involved with anyway. I like the large sign.

From IRON FIST #5, June 1976

This title is amazing! The letters of SCIMITAR mimic that kind of curved sword, even the dots over the letter I’s and in the exclamation point. No one else in comics at this time was putting so much skill and creativity into story titles at this time as far as I recall.

From IRON FIST #6, Aug 1976

This title follows the perspective of the staircase, though the panel breaks work against that. I don’t know if the colorist’s name was left out in the original comic, but that might have happened at times. Gaspar would have left the space blank if it wasn’t assigned yet, and no one filled it in. Or this could be something that happened in the reprint.

From IRON FIST #9, Nov 1976

This title adds contrast by making the first two lines upper and lower case. I love the special balloon at upper right.

From IRON FIST #10, Dec 1976

The credits on the newspaper are type, not sure if Saladino did those or if they were added later, but it’s interesting that there’s no lettering credit. The balloons have lots of energy.

From IRON FIST #13, June 1977

This title is a great example of ways in which Gaspar added interest through his creativity. The arrow shape is perfect for the first word, and the rivets on IRON are clever. I also like the way ST is joined.

From IRON FIST #14, Aug 1977

This story title must have been pencilled in by John Byrne, but Gaspar makes it read well and fill the space perfectly.

From THE INHUMANS #6, Aug 1976

This title spun off from THE FANTASTIC FOUR and ran 12 issues from 1975 to 1977. Saladino lettered some first story pages but no covers. His depiction here of Black Bolt’s scream is impressive.

From THE INHUMANS #7, Oct 1976

The contrast between DOOM and the rest of the title makes it more interesting.

From THE INHUMANS #11, June 1977

This one is puzzling. The style of the R’s in the title is something Gaspar rarely if ever did as far as I recall, they seem misshapen, but they do at least follow his style point of adding the right leg to a P, so I guess it’s just a bad design choice. The rest looks like his work.

From THE INHUMANS #12, Aug 1977

This title is pure Saladino, he even drew his own Hulk logo with telescoping. The credits are odd for him, perhaps they were pencilled in and he just followed what was there. That could explain why WIACEK is misspelled.

To sum up, Saladino lettered the cover of IRON FIST #11 and these first pages:

IRON FIST: 2-3, 5-6, 9-10, 13-14

INHUMANS: 6-7, 11-12

That’s 12 in all. More articles in this series and others you might enjoy can be found on the COMICS CREATION page of my blog.

The post GASPAR SALADINO in IRON FIST & INHUMANS appeared first on Todd's Blog.

And Then I Read: THE QUEEN OF SUMMER’S TWILIGHT by Charles Vess

I’ve known Charles for many years, and have long been a fan of his art. This is his first novel, years in the making, and I enjoyed reading it. I was a little disappointed not to find more illustrations, there are just two: the excellent cover above and a small one on the title page.

Janet Ravenscroft lives in a mansion in Scotland that’s more like a private prison. Her father, a wealthy businessman, does all he can to keep her there, and will never speak about Janet’s mother. Their relationship is hostile, and Janet escapes to nearby Inverness whenever she can to have some fun, drown her sorrows, and express her anger. Meanwhile, at a long-abandoned farmhouse in the countryside, a man with oddly antique clothing is exploring the family graveyard and finding a way into the locked garage, where an old motorcycle waits to take him on a new adventure. This is Tom Lynn, and the farm was once his home many decades ago before he accidentally found himself in Faery. There he became the consort of the Queen, and served her for years, until the Queen fell into madness, and Thomas learned that she sent part of herself into the mundane world. Thomas is on a quest to find those missing parts of the Queen so that she may regain her sanity and restore her kingdom, which has fallen into ruin.

When Thomas meets Janet in Inverness, the wheels of chance and fate spin them together onto a whirlwind journey, pursued by the agents of Faery’s Lord of Darkness, who also wants the elements of the Queen which seem to be buried deep in Janet’s mind. In time they are drawn into Faery, where they become prisoners of the Lord of Darkness and all hope seems lost, but is it?

This book draws on Scottish folk ballads, especially those about Tam Lin, long an interest of Charles, but the story adds modern elements and takes surprising turns. It’s both a visual story, with descriptions from a painter’s viewpoint, and a musical story, with many ballad quotes and ideas. At first I found Janet’s anger hard to take, but I came around to her eventually. Thomas seemed more appealing, but later in the story he becomes such a foolish slave to his honor that I liked him less. Other characters, like Janet’s father John and the elderly witch Mother Hainter, have important parts to play, and the wonders of Faery, both light and dark, infuse the story alongside the realities of the modern mundane world, providing appealing contrast.

I recommend this book, though as a friend of Charles, how could I not be rooting for him? Still, if you like fantasy, I think you’ll find much to entertain you within. Well done!

The Queen of Summer’s Twilight by Charles Vess

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GASPAR SALADINO in THE INVADERS

All images © Marvel. From THE INVADERS #2, Oct 1975

This series was a chance for Roy Thomas to write about the Golden Age Marvel superheroes during World War Two, and it was popular for a while, running 41 issues from 1975 to 1979. Gaspar Saladino lettered some of the covers and a single first story page for the book. The first cover I think was lettered by Gaspar is above. (Issue #1 is credited to him in the Grand Comics Database, but I believe that one is lettered by Danny Crespi.) The caption under the logo looks like his work, I’m not sure about the bottom caption, which might be by someone else.

From THE INVADERS #3, Nov 1975

The lettering here is more obviously by Saladino, the creative styles used in the caption on the right point to that, and the smaller lettering is in his wide, angular style. Note also that the open lettering and the panel borders have relatively thin outlines. Crespi, the other most frequent cover letterer at this time usually did thicker ones, and his work tended to be more rounded in general. The signs are also by Gaspar.

From THE INVADERS #4, Jan 1976

The strongest evidence of Saladino’s work here is the lower case lettering in the next to last line of the circular caption. Note also the square shapes and thin outlines of U-MAN. The thick border was probably two thin ones that someone at Marvel filled in black.

From THE INVADERS #5, March 1976

More fine Saladino lettering styles here, especially in Captain America’s unusual balloon.

From THE INVADERS #7, July 1976

Look closely at the open letters of BARON BLOOD. The outlines were drawn first with a small pen point, and the inner shapes retain that. Then Gaspar went around the outside again to add thickness and emphasis. He often did that.

From THE INVADERS #8, Sept 1976

I’m less sure about this one, but it simply looks more like Saladino’s work to me than that of Crespi or anyone else lettering covers at the time (like Danny Crespi, for instance).

From THE INVADERS #11, Dec 1976

Another cover with subtle clues to Gaspar’s style that are hard to pin down but add up to a credit for him in my opinion.

From THE INVADERS ANNUAL #1, 1977

This one is easier, the style of the top burst caption is full-on Saladino.

From THE INVADERS #13, Feb 1977

When Marvel’s production department reversed the lettering, as here, it makes it a bit harder to tell who did it, but angular shapes in the first caption are a good clue that it’s Gaspar.

From THE INVADERS #14, March 1977

As an example of subtle Saladino style points, look at the word YANKS in the burst balloon. See how the S has a wide flat stroke in the middle with curves above and below that are shorter? That’s a Gaspar S, an extreme example, but most other letterers did them more rounded.

From THE INVADERS #16, May 1977

Another subtle point, notice how the horizontal strokes of the E and F in the small letters of the last balloon have an upward arch? That was Gaspar’s tendency, while Crespi usually did them very straight.

From THE INVADERS #17, June 1977

These blurbs have styles that Gaspar used regularly. The heavy border on the caption is a bit surprising for him, possibly someone else added to it.

From THE AVENGERS #19, Aug 1977

The burst balloon here is clearly by Gaspar, both the burst shape and the letter shapes in DIE are distinctive.

From THE INVADERS #37, Feb 1979

Lots of Saladino lettering on this cover despite the busy art. I love the stars in LIBERTY LEGION.

From THE INVADERS #40, May 1979

The banner on this final cover example is again pure Saladino, and the balloons are a bit larger than usual, allowing his style to be more evident.

From THE INVADERS #41, Sept 1979

It’s kind of surprising that the only page 1 lettering by Gaspar on this book was for the final issue. His title is terrific. So, just one inside page by him.

To sum up, I found Saladino lettering on these covers: 2-5, 7-8, 11, 13-14, 16-17, 19, 37, 40, Annual #1. That’s 15 in all. Other articles in this series and more you might enjoy are on the COMICS CREATION page of my blog.

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GASPAR SALADINO in THE INCREDIBLE HULK Part 2

All images © Marvel. From THE INCREDIBLE HULK #166, Aug 1973

In Part 1 I looked at Gaspar Saladino’s cover lettering for this popular Marvel title, here I’ll examine his story lettering. Much of it was for just the first page of stories otherwise lettered by others, something Marvel often hired him for in the 1970s. I think they felt his skill and talent would help sell comics to browsers. On the first example above, the small words in the title are type, perhaps press-down letters, the open words are by Saladino. Gaspar has put in the name C. Jetter (Charlotte) as the letterer in the credits, she did the rest of the story, and her style is quite different.

From THE INCREDIBLE HULK #178, Aug 1974

Gaspar knew where and what to emphasize, look at the burst balloon at lower left, which extends into the next panel to allow it to be larger.

From THE INCREDIBLE HULK #183, Jan 1975

This story title is enhanced by a lightning bolt style for the final word, and notice how FURY has a heavier outline to add emphasis.

From THE INCREDIBLE HULK #199, May 1976

In addition to the appealing title, look at the double-bordered burst at upper left, and the script signature in the bottom left caption, both typical of Saladino.

From THE INCREDIBLE HULK #200, June 1976

All the lettering here except the open words in the top banner and “Stan Lee Presents” are by Saladino, those are carryovers from Artie Simek and Sam Rosen respectively. This is a crowded page, but the title commands attention, as does the burst balloon to the left of it.

From THE INCREDIBLE HULK #202, Aug 1976

There’s an art to knowing what to emphasize in a title, and Gaspar handles this one well, adding rough outlines to the first word to match the intent and create contrast. I also like the Art Deco credits he sometimes used, as here.

From THE INCREDIBLE HULK #203, Sept 1976

The letter S is perhaps the most variable in design, look at the interesting shape of the one here in PSYKLOP, which fills the void under the P perfectly.

From THE INCREDIBLE HULK #207, Jan 1977

Here the emphasis is achieved through making one word solid black while the others are outlined for contrast.

From THE INCREDIBLE HULK #211, May 1977

Gaspar went all out on this story title, adding lots of style and craft. The last burst balloon is also eye-grabbing.

From THE INCREDIBLE HULK #215, Sept 1977

For some reason, Gaspar was asked to letter the first three pages of this story, perhaps to help out Joe Rosen, who did the rest and got the credit. Saladino’s title is large and impressive.

From THE INCREDIBLE HULK #217, Nov 1977

John Costanza usually lettered his own first story pages, but I’ve compared his style on the rest to this one carefully, and I feel sure it’s by Gaspar. Perhaps he was in the office first the day this was ready.

From THE INCREDIBLE HULK ANNUAL #6, Nov 1977

Finally Saladino gets to give himself a credit on this story because he lettered the entire thing. His credit is just his first name in script, his preferred way to do it.

From THE INCREDIBLE HULK #219, Jan 1978

On this story title, ISLAND looks like it was outlined by Saladino, then filled in black either by a production person or by the colorist and the separator. The clue is how small the openings in the A and D are. It still reads okay.

From THE INCREDIBLE HULK #222, April 1978

Another story lettered entirely by Saladino. The credits are surprisingly small here, and Gaspar did his name to match that of Glynis Wein, the colorist. Nice open script on BILLY.

From THE INCREDIBLE HULK #225, July 1978

In this title, I like the creative style of HULK, and DEATH is done with a brush, as Gaspar often did it.

From THE INCREDIBLE HULK #228, Oct 1978

This story title is surprisingly small, perhaps it was reduced to keep it off the figure. What a great use of perspective on the art!

From THE INCREDIBLE HULK #230, Dec 1978

In this title, notice how Gaspar allows more room for the first large word by tucking THE over it.

From THE INCREDIBLE HULK #237, July 1979

The final page 1 lettering by Gaspar has more impressive brush lettering on DIES, and the rest is given depth by a subtle drop shadow. If you have the opportunity, take a look at the story titles in this series not by Saladino and see if you can understand why his contributions were so valued. Below are the details of his story lettering.

#166 Aug 1973: page 1 only

#178 Aug 1974: page 1 only

#183 Jan 1975: page 1 only

#199 May 1976: page 1 only

#200 June 1976: page 1 only

#202 Aug 1976: page 1 only

#203 Sept 1976: page 1 only

#207 Jan 1977: page 1 only

#211 May 1977: page 1 only

#215 Sept 1977: pp 1-3

#217 Nov 1977: page 1 only

#219 Jan 1978: page 1 only

#222 April 1978: 18pp

#225 July 1978: page 1 only

#228 Oct 1978: page 1 only

#230 Dec 1978: page 1 only

#237 July 1979: page 1 only

Annual #6 Nov 1977: 34pp

That’s a total of 70 pages. More articles in this series and others you might enjoy are on the COMICS CREATION page of my blog.

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GASPAR SALADINO in THE INCREDIBLE HULK Part 1

All images © Marvel. From THE INCREDIBLE HULK #160, Feb 1973

After an unsuccessful and short run in his own title in the early 1960s, The Hulk gradually became popular through appearances in other Marvel comics and landed a co-starring role in TALES TO ASTONISH with The Sub-Mariner. Hulk took over that title as a solo feature with issue #102 renamed THE INCREDIBLE HULK, and was a smashing success, running 374 more issues to 1999. Gaspar Saladino lettered covers and a few stories as well as many first pages of stories lettered by others from 1973 to 1980. I’ll look at covers in this part, and inside pages in Part 2. The cover above has typical scary Saladino lettering in NIGHTMARE. It looks like he started with squarish serifs in the N, then kind of did his usual organic shapes on the rest.

From THE INCREDIBLE HULK #164, June 1973

Gaspar’s balloon lettering is wide and angular. Another frequent cover letterer at the time was Marvel staffer Danny Crespi, and his lettering is also wide but a bit more rounded. These balloons are by Gaspar, and the caption is very much in his style too.

From THE INCREDIBLE HULK #165, July 1973

AQUON in this cover lettering is slightly similar to DC’s Aquaman logo. The word FEATURING above it is in Gaspar’s script style.

From THE INCREDIBLE HULK #167, Sept 1973

The electric, energy-filled balloon shapes on this cover are typical of Saladino, as is the bottom blurb.

From THE INCREDIBLE HULK #170, Dec 1973

I like the letter shapes in VOLCANO on this cover.

From THE INCREDIBLE HULK #171, Jan 1974

The tails on these balloons are not well done. I think Marvel often had Saladino leave the tails off so they could be added later when the lettering (or a photostat of it) was pasted on the cover. Whoever did that here missed the idea that the tail should point toward the center of the balloon where it’s attached to it.

From THE INCREDIBLE HULK #173, March 1974

Notice how in the word COBALT the inner shapes have a thinner outline than the rest. Gaspar did all the outlines in that smaller pen point first, then did a second outline around the outside to add weight and emphasis.

From THE INCREDIBLE HULK #174, April 1974

I’m not positive Saladino lettered this one, but I think he did. Crespi rarely did telescoping, as we see here below the logo. In the last caption only ONE is lettered, the rest is type, something Gaspar did occasionally with a headline machine or press-down type.

From THE INCREDIBLE HULK #181, Nov 1974

This cover is famous as the first appearance of Wolverine, later of the X-Men. Gaspar’s lettering style is most obvious in the lower case THE used twice.

From THE INCREDIBLE HULK #182, Dec 1974

The staggered letters in BETWEEN under the logo are not something Saladino did often, and they’re a bit hard to read. The rest of the lettering is better.

From THE INCREDIBLE HULK #184, Feb 1975

The special balloon styles on this cover add excitement, and I’m a bit surprised they weren’t turned black, but they work better this way.

From THE INCREDIBLE HULK #187, May 1975

Another case where the tail added to the burst balloon isn’t right, it should have been curved more, but it works fine.

From THE INCREDIBLE HULK #193, Nov 1975

I like the bottom banner caption here, strong block letters.

From THE INCREDIBLE HULK #194, Dec 1975

LOCUST is very Saladino. There wasn’t much room for the burst balloon, so Gaspar stacked the words. I would have put AGAINST AN on one line and ARMY OF on one line to get rid of that extra space, but it works okay.

From THE INCREDIBLE HULK #200, June 1976

The 200th Anniversary celebrated here is deceptive, as The Hulk was not in many of those early issues, but the lettering in the burst is excellent.

From THE INCREDIBLE HULK #205, Nov 1976

An easy way to suggest a robotic or energy-based character is with lightning bolt tails, as here.

From THE INCREDIBLE HULK #210, April 1977

Some of this open lettering is rounded, more in Danny Crespi’s style, but Gaspar sometimes did that too, and the rest is in his style.

From THE INCREDIBLE HULK #215, Sept 1977

I’m not as sure about this one, but I think it’s by Saladino.

From THE INCREDIBLE HULK #217, Nov 1977

Lots of creative Saladino style on this cover. LOST SOULS is probably reversed.

From THE INCREDIBLE HULK #227, Sept 1978

The top blurb has several Saladino style points: the larger first letter, angular small text, and a rough, notched outline.

From THE INCREDIBLE HULK #232, Feb 1979

The reversed bottom caption makes the style harder to identify, but the lower case THE is very Saladino.

From THE INCREDIBLE HULK #233, March 1979

Another different version of BATTLE on this cover. Gaspar rarely repeated himself. The hand-lettered banner over the logo is much more interesting to me than the type version on previous covers shown above.

From THE INCREDIBLE HULK #248, June 1980

Most of Gaspar’s cover lettering at Marvel stopped by 1979, but this one looks like his work to me.

From THE INCREDIBLE HULK #253, Nov 1980

As does this one. No one else did organic scary lettering like MONSTER in quite the same way.

To sum up, I found Saladino lettering on these covers: 160, 164-165, 167, 170-171, 173-174, 181-182, 184, 187, 193-194, 200, 205, 210, 215, 217, 227, 232-233, 248, 253. That’s 24 in all. Part 2 will cover his story lettering. Other articles in this series and more you might like are on the COMICS CREATION page of my blog.

The post GASPAR SALADINO in THE INCREDIBLE HULK Part 1 appeared first on Todd's Blog.