Todd Klein's Blog, page 58

GASPAR SALADINO in DAREDEVIL Part 2

All images © Marvel. From DAREDEVIL #100, June 1973

I don’t know for sure why Marvel hired Gaspar Saladino to letter just the first page of many Marvel stories in the 1970s, but my guess is they thought his dynamic style and superior design skills on titles might help sell the comics. When he did these, Gaspar usually lettered in the name of the person lettering the rest of the story, but on this first example, someone else, perhaps Artie Simek himself, has added his name and that of the colorist. I think Saladino was paid extra for these page one jobs, perhaps double his page rate, and he was most often used on stories lettered by those with less experience or less dynamic styles. The former is certainly not true of Simek, so perhaps this was intended for someone else. Gaspar’s strong title and artful credit block are typical of his work on these. Many more would follow.

From DAREDEVIL #106, Dec 1973

It’s at least pretty easy to tell when Saladino’s work is on only the first page of these stories, as the lettering style on the rest is usually quite different. Here Gaspar has used a style for LIFE very much like the magazine logo, perhaps unconsciously, while the rest of the title is more energetic.

From DAREDEVIL #107, Jan 1974

The letter shapes of BLUFF! seem right for Gaspar, but not the way they’re mostly filled in, so that might have been added by someone else, or it’s just an experiment. It’s kind of odd the way the exclamation point goes into a balloon tail, so possibly that word was added by another letterer to replace something different Gaspar did.

From DAREDEVIL #112, Aug 1974

The title styles and rough caption shapes here are creative and add interest.

From DAREDEVIL #115, Nov 1974

Nice use of upper and lower case in the credit box for variety here.

From DAREDEVIL #121, May 1975

Gaspar really went to town on this title, and he wisely skipped the periods after each letter of SHIELD, always annoying and obstructive. They’re also not being used in the balloons, so I guess that was an overall style decision at the time.

From DAREVIL #122, June 1975

This title jumps off the page due to the drop shadow and the appealing bounce.

From DAREDEVIL #123, July 1975

Lots of balloons here and less room for the title, which is a bit weak compared to previous ones.

From DAREDEVIL #126, Oct 1975

Another cover full of lettering. Gaspar even had to put a tail across a character’s neck at lower right to get everything in.

From DAREDEVIL #129, Jan 1976

It was a bit risky to put so much of the AN in MAN behind Daredevil’s head on this title, but really, what else could those letters be? And at least the title could be larger that way.

From DAREDEVIL #132, April 1976

From this point on, Saladino did no more cover lettering, but he continued to do lots of these page one assignments for a few years. I like everything here except the foot over the balloon.

From DAREDEVIL #133, May 1976

Notice how THINK TANK is staggered so the words read separately with no space between them.

From DAREDEVIL #134, June 1976

I like the script in the credit box for variety on this one.

From DAREDEVIL #137, Sept 1976

Here lower case for names in the credit box is used for variety. The zig-zag around the title is unusual for Saladino.

From DAREDEVIL #140, Dec 1976

A strong dry-brush treatment of DEATH makes it pop and adds excitement.

From DAREDEVIL #141, Jan 1977

And a completely different one here. The credit box is by someone else this time, perhaps Irv Watanabe.

From DAREDEVIL #144, April 1977

The lettering at the bottom has no caption border, so the colorist had to surround it with a lighter tone to read well.

From DAREDEVIL #145, May 1977

The block style letters in this title have Saladino’s style point of the notch on the right side being below the center of the middle horizontal stroke.

From DAREDEVIL #147, July 1977

Here Saladino gets to letter a Gil Kane page, which he probably enjoyed, Gil was a friend and Gaspar’s favorite artist. Inker Klaus Janson dominates, so Kane’s work may have just been layouts. Not sure what happened to the subtitle in the credit box, half of it is missing.

From DAREDEVIL #148, Sept 1977

The quality of printing on comics had about reached its low point at this time, and it shows here, with too-dark colors and poor reproduction of the reversed credits.

From DAREDEVIL #149, Nov 1977

Notice the pointing hand in the credit box, a nice nod to what Saladino and penciller Carmine Infantino often did when working together on THE FLASH for DC in the 1960s. Carmine was another old friend of Gaspar’s.

From DAREDEVIL #153, July 1978

Both the title and credits here are replete with Saladino energy and style.

From DAREDEVIL #155, Nov 1978

Gaspar’s version of THE MAN WITHOUT FEAR is miles better than the one in the top title.

From DAREDEVIL #156, Jan 1979

A busy page, but everything fits, and the title commands attention. This is the final page 1 by Gaspar.

To sum up, he lettered just the first page for these issues: 100, 106-107, 112, 115, 121-123, 126, 129, 132-134, 137, 140-141, 144-145, 147-149, 153, 155-156. That’s a total of 24 pages. More articles in this series and others you might like are on the COMICS CREATION page of my blog.

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

GASPAR SALADINO in DAREDEVIL Part 1

All images © Marvel. From DAREDEVIL #96, Feb 1973

This title was a popular one for Marvel Comics, running 381 issues from 1964 to 1998, and more revivals later. As with other Marvel books of the 1970s, Gaspar Saladino lettered a number of covers and many page 1’s where other letterers did the rest. Artie Simek and Sam Rosen had been the mainstays of Marvel lettering since the early 1960s, but Rosen stopped lettering at the end of 1972, leaving room for others to take some of that work. In addition to Saladino, Marvel staffer Danny Crespi lettered many of the covers in this period. His work is generally more rounded than Gaspar’s, but at times it can be a tough call between them. I will look at covers in this article, and inside pages in Part 2. On the cover above, Gaspar’s wide angular balloon lettering and rough balloon shapes are diagnostic of his work, and the bottom blurb also has his sharp corners and rough energy.

From DAREDEVIL #98, April 1973

The letter shapes used in the second and third lines of the bottom caption here are typical of Gaspar’s work, though the filled in and reversed lettering makes it a bit harder to be sure about the top line. The balloon lettering is all Saladino.

From DAREDEVIL #101, July 1973

The treatment of SCREAMER here is pure Saladino.

From DAREDEVIL #104, Oct 1973

This all looks like Saladino’s work except the heavy outlines on the thought balloons, but those might have been added to by someone else.

From DAREDEVIL #105, Nov 1973

This was a harder call than some, but the treatment of THE SCREAMER and the angular shapes of the open letters point to Gaspar.

From DAREDEVIL #106, Dec 1973

Lots of Saladino style on this cover, though the heavy border on the burst is not typical, and has some odd points. That may have been adjusted by someone else, or it might have been a double border that was filled with black.

From DAREDEVIL #108, March 1974

The bottom banner is full of Saladino style, the sharp points and rough edges around BEETLE for instance. He also did the upper right caption that was reused on later issues, and the curved arrow caption is also typical.

From DAREDEVIL #110, June 1974

Another curved arrow caption. Others used them, but not often. “The Master” is the nickname letterer Jim Novak coined for Gaspar.

From DAREDEVIL #112, Aug 1974

If you compare these covers with ones I haven’t included, you’ll see many lettered by Danny Crespi, and some by others as well. Artie Simek was still doing some Marvel cover lettering, but he passed in 1975. This square caption is somewhat in Sam Rosen’s style.

From DAREDEVIL #113, Sept 1974

The unusual angles in STRIKES BACK are the kind of creative thinking Saladino was known for.

From DAREDEVIL #114, Oct 1974

Gaspar includes a small version of his MAN-THING logo in the caption on the left.

From DAREDEVIL #115, Nov 1974

This is all by Saladino, but NIGHT OF THE is type, perhaps press-down letters, something he used occasionally for variety or to save time.

From DAREDEVIL #116, Dec 1974

The large rectangular balloon here with open display lettering is an odd choice. I think it was meant to be a caption, and someone added the tail.

From DAREDEVIL #117, Jan 1975

Saladino’s lettering is always full of energy, adding to the drama.

From DAREDEVIL #124, Aug 1975

The balloons on this cover are certainly by Saladino, I’m not sure about the caption, but it might be. Type again on the first line there.

From DAREDEVIL #129, Jan 1976

Gaspar sometimes went with almost rectangular word balloons if things fit better that way.

From DAREDEVIL #131, March 1976

On Gaspar’s final cover lettering for the book, the caption at left has too much open space, but the lines might have been restacked to fit it into that small space. My guess is that PLUS: A was on one line and so was FOR MATT.

To sum up, I found Saladino lettering on these covers: 96, 98, 101, 104-106, 108, 110, 112-117, 124, 129, 131. That’s 17 in all. Part 2 will look at his inside page lettering. Other articles in this series and more you might enjoy are on the COMICS CREATION page of my blog.

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

GASPAR SALADINO in CONAN THE BARBARIAN

All images © Marvel. From CONAN #24, March 1973

This title was a mainstay at Marvel from 1970 to 1994 despite being a licensed product. It paved the way for licensed comics at Marvel, I can’t think of any before it, and it happened because of writer/editor Roy Thomas’s love for the Robert E. Howard characters, first seen in pulp magazines decades earlier, and then reprinted in paperback in the 1960s. Gaspar Saladino designed the Conan logo seen here, which first appeared on issue #12 dated Dec 1971, but he didn’t start working on cover lettering until 1973. The cover above is probably lettered by him, though I think THE SONG OF is type. I’m not sure about RED SONJA, but the timing is right for Gaspar and it doesn’t look like the work of other known cover letterers at Marvel at the time. The top line might have been done by Saladino with press-down Letraset letters, I remember that alphabet, but I’m not sure where or when I first saw it. RED SONJA is hand-lettered in a somewhat similar style. Gaspar went on to letter many more CONAN covers (and I’m skipping the subtitle to save keystrokes) until 1980, and also lettered a few page ones. I’ll show those last.

From CONAN #30, Sept 1973

The banner here has the first two lines lettered by Saladino in typical styles, the bottom line is type. Gaspar was also doing this at DC Comics occasionally, perhaps it saved him time, or it was just a way to expand his options.

From CONAN #33, Dec 1973

I’m less sure about this one, but the letter shapes look more like those of Gaspar than the other new cover letterer from this period, Danny Crespi. I’ve written extensively about his cover lettering beginning HERE.

From CONAN #34, Jan 1974

Another hard one to be sure about, but the style of TEMPTRESS is similar to the font used on issue #24, though it’s hand-lettered. I think Saladino is more likely than Crespi.

From CONAN #35, Feb 1974

The open letters in the upper blurb here have some Art Deco shapes that Gaspar used and I think Crespi did not, like the rounded E and narrow S in SHERA.

From CONAN #40, July 1974

Marvel’s production artists often liked to fill black around his open letters, as here in the lower blurb (the small words are reversed), making it a bit harder to know how they looked when he did them, but note the tiny notch in the R of FORGOTTEN that’s below the middle stroke, something Gaspar often did.

From CONAN #41, Aug 1974

the treatment of GARDEN in this blurb is again similar to previous ones, and this all looks like Saladino’s work except the heavy caption border, which was probably added by someone else to make it read against the art.

From CONAN #43, Oct 1974

Comparing Crespi to Saladino, Danny’s work was generally more rounded, and Gaspar’s was more angular and had more sharp corners. Their treatment of small open letters was also different, here Gaspar outlined them with a small pen point, still visible on inner shapes, then went around the outside again for a heavier look.

From CONAN #46, Jan 1975

Again, more sharp corners, and thinner outlines on the open letters than Crespi usually used.

From CONAN #48, March 1975

This one is full of creative styles that only Gaspar would think of, in my opinion. The EXTRA banner and lower case THE are also typical of him.

From CONAN #50, May 1975

The open letters in this banner caption again show they were first outlined with a thin pen point, then the larger words were outlined again with a rougher style, typical of Saladino.

From CONAN #52, July 1975

When words were reversed, as in the yellow letters on the red background here, it was a somewhat variable process of making a negative photostat. This time it was overexposed so the letters are too thick and running together in places.

From CONAN #58, Jan 1976

The variety of creative styles in the round caption are pure Saladino. My guess is the heavy black border was two or three thinner ones that have been filled black.

From CONAN #59, Feb 1976

More Saladino styles in this round caption which has two narrow inner borders making a white line, then a thicker one outside them.

From CONAN #60, March 1976

Reversing the lettering can make it a bit harder to identify, but OF THE is definitely Gaspar’s style.

From CONAN #61, April 1976

Other letterers did arrow balloons, but rarely curved them as well, as Saladino did here.

From CONAN #64, July 1976

A tough call, but I’m leaning toward Saladino because of the thin outlines around the two lower lines of open letters.

From CONAN #71, Feb 1977

Lots of Saladino style in these captions, including the upper and lower case GODDESS.

From CONAN #73, April 1977

The word SKELOS is uneven here, perhaps done in a hurry, but definitely by Gaspar.

From CONAN #74, May 1977

This story title is great, and SERPENT still looks back to Gaspar’s treatment of RED SONJA.

From CONAN #75, June 1977

The open letters in the bottom blurb use a mix of round and sharp corners, but THE in the first line is pure Saladino.

From CONAN #76, July 1977

More sharp corners in these open letters, and the burst outline is very Gaspar, double inked with a rough edge.

From CONAN #88, July 1978

These black blurbs, a combination of reversed letters and open letters filled around with ink, can be hard to identify, as the outlined shapes get distorted by this treatment, but I feel sure these are by Saladino.

From CONAN #91, Oct 1978

Classic rough, angular letters in this burst, with texture in SWAMP that might have been suggested by Gaspar’s SWAMP THING logo for DC.

From CONAN #94, Jan 1979

Another fine banner caption with an artful curve that adds depth.

From CONAN #98, May 1979

The quote marks in the banner indicate a story title, but it’s also part of the blurb. MONSTER is typical Gaspar scary lettering.

From CONAN #99, June 1979

You have to watch out for those Man-Crabs! Gaspar always remembers the circumflex diacritical mark over the E in BELIT. (Without it, you might pronounce it as BEE-LIT, if you pronounced it at all.)

From CONAN #100, July 1979

Filling in black around DEATH in this burst might have made it hard to read because of the shading, but it works fine in this case.

From CONAN #104, Nov 1979

Even at small sizes, Gaspar’s letters are usually easy to read. The original lettering was generally done larger, then a reduced photostat was pasted on the cover art.

From CONAN #107, Feb 1980

This is the last cover I believe is lettered by Saladino. There are a few others from this time that might be, but I’m not sure enough to add them here. I don’t know why Gaspar’s work at Marvel declined quickly in the 1980s, perhaps he was just too busy with other things.

From CONAN #66, Sept 1976

Gaspar did many page 1 lettering assignments at Marvel in the 1970s, but only two for this title, the first is above. He’s added the name of the letterer who did the rest of the pages in the credit box, and that person’s style is quite different.

From CONAN #82, Feb 1978

I love the title on this one. Letterer Tom Orzechowski did fine titles of his own, but at this point the editor went with Gaspar.

To sum up, I found Saladino lettering on these covers: 24, 30, 33-35, 40-41, 43, 46, 48, 50, 52, 58-61, 64, 71, 73-76, 88, 91, 94, 98-100, 104, 107. That’s a total of 30. There are just two pages of interior lettering, shown above. Other articles in this series, and more you might enjoy, are on the COMICS CREATION page of my blog.

The post GASPAR SALADINO in CONAN THE BARBARIAN appeared first on Todd's Blog.

GASPAR SALADINO in CHAMBER, CREATURES & CRYPT

All images © Marvel. From CHAMBER OF CHILLS #2, Jan 1973

In the 1970s, Marvel Comics began expanding their line to include many more titles, some new, some full of reprints. Horror anthologies had been a mainstay of the company in the 1950s, and the three titles included here: CHAMBER OF CHILLS, CREATURES ON THE LOOSE and CRYPT OF SHADOWS were just that. Gaspar Saladino lettered a few covers for each, but no stories. CHAMBER OF CHILLS began with mostly new stories, then shifted to mostly reprints after issue #7. Gaspar’s first cover, above, has some of his effective scary lettering in the bottom blurb.

From CHAMBER OF CHILLS #4, May 1973

Another fine blurb at lower right on this cover, and the scary balloon above it also well done.

From CHAMBER OF CHILLS #5, July 1973

Saladino’s spooky balloon shape and open lettering on this cover add interest. And that’s all he did for this series.

From CREATURES ON THE LOOSE #21, Jan 1973

This title began as TOWER OF SHADOWS for nine issues, then switched titles for 28 more issues. It was a mix of new and reprinted stories, sometimes straying far from the original horror story intent, as on this cover nicely lettered by Gaspar.

From CREATURES ON THE LOOSE #22, March 1973

After having success with Robert E. Howard pulp warriors Conan and Kull, Marvel tried other similar licensed characters like this one created by Lin Carter, but none were as popular as Conan. In the top blurb, do you think they wanted readers to know it was NEW?

From CREATURES ON THE LOOSE #30, July 1974

Here’s a clever variation on the Wolf-man idea, and note he was spun off from Spider-Man. Gaspar’s lettering is restrained for him, with the only scary style being the balloon shape.

From CREATURES ON THE LOOSE #36, July 1975

The rough style and contrast of MURDER on the top blurb here really grabs attention. And that’s all the Saladino work on this title.

From CRYPT OF SHADOWS #2, March 1973

This book ran 21 issues, and was mostly reprints from the 1950s. Gaspar’s logo works well with his scary burst balloon to add excitement.

From CRYPT OF SHADOWS #6, Oct 1973

These scary and burst balloons work fine, but I’m more impressed with the dry-brush treatment of the word DEEP! at the bottom. It was a tricky word to color, too, but it works well.

From CRYPT OF SHADOWS #7, Nov 1973

More great scary balloons here. The partial fill on BLUEBEARD is unusually deep for Gaspar, that might have been added by someone else.

From CRYPT OF SHADOWS #10, May 1974

Saladino sometimes used almost rectangular balloons like this when it worked best around the lettering.

From CRYPT OF SHADOWS #16, March 1975

The odd color treatment of the logo’s first line catches my eye here, but the balloons and caption work fine, and this is Gaspar’s last work on the title.

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

CHAMBER OF CHILLS: 2, 4-5

CREATURES ON THE LOOSE: 21-22, 30, 36

CRYPT OF SHADOWS: 2, 6-7, 10, 16

That’s 12 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 CHAMBER, CREATURES & CRYPT appeared first on Todd's Blog.

GASPAR SALADINO in THE CHAMPIONS

All images © Marvel. From THE CHAMPIONS #3, Feb 1976

This was a superhero team book featuring Hercules, Ghost Rider, Black Widow, Angel and Iceman which ran 17 issues from 1975 to 1978. Gaspar Saladino lettered none of the covers, but was hired to letter the first story page on about half the issues, the rest of those stories were lettered by others. This was something Marvel did to help sell readers on the issues when they opened the book to take a quick look inside, and Saladino’s excellent work was often so used for letterers whose work was not as dynamic as his. As on the first one, above, Saladino added the credit for the letterer doing the rest of the issue, he went uncredited, but his page 1 style is usually quite different from the rest of the pages. On this page, Gaspar’s title is bold and exciting, and I like the little wings on the L and P of Olympus. He probably also did the team name at the top.

From THE CHAMPIONS #6, June 1976

Here dry brush is used on MAD DOGS, giving it nice contrast to the rest of the title.

From THE CHAMPIONS #7, Aug 1976

I love the treatment of THE BLACK WIDOW in this title, though the dark color works against readability, but that was not Gaspar’s choice. The variety of balloon styles adds interest.

From THE CHAMPIONS #8, Oct 1976

There’s little room on this cover for the title, Gaspar had to cover part of a head to get it in, which doesn’t look good.

From THE CHAMPIONS #9, Dec 1976

This open title works much better, and I like the dynamic sound effect. The sign lettering is also appealing.

From THE CHAMPIONS #11, Feb 1977

This story title uses thinner letters effectively, with lower case between the main words for contrast.

From THE CHAMPIONS #13, May 1977

Rough letters on DOOM and an open drop shadow on FOREVER make this title stand out.

From THE CHAMPIONS #14, July 1977

The final page 1 by Gaspar has effective monster lettering for SWARM.

Here are the details of Saladino’s lettering for the series:

#3 Feb 1976: page 1 only

#6 June 1976: page 1 only

#7 Aug 1976: page 1 only

#8 Oct 1976: page 1 only

#9 Dec 1976: page 1 only

#11 Feb 1977: page 1 only

#13 May 1977: page 1 only

#14 July 1977: page 1 only

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

The post GASPAR SALADINO in THE CHAMPIONS appeared first on Todd's Blog.

Another RAY PERRY Portrait

Barbara Boltson by Raymond Perry, 1954, courtesy of Judy Mintz

Yesterday I received this photo of another fine portrait by artist Raymond Perry of one of his fellow employees at DC Comics. I love the triple head shots, the composition and color are wonderful, and I think this one is now my favorite. Raymond Perry had a long career as a fine artist and illustrator before getting into comics in the late 1930s, and soon joining the staff of DC Comics, where he worked nearly until his death in 1960. I’ve written about his career HERE. Recently I received images of more Perry art from the son of another former DC employee, Larry Nadle, covered in THIS article.

Barbara’s daughter Judy first wrote in a comment on my blog:

My mom, then Barbara Boltson, worked at DC Comics in the 50s. We have two portraits of her painted by a Raymond Perry, of E41st Street. The back of one has 1 of 3 written on it. How can I confirm these were done by the Raymond Perry you are writing about? It certainly seems very likely, but would you recognize his work and/or signature? 

I told her I was sure they were by the same Perry, and she was happy to hear that. I also told her I’d love to see images of what she has. Judy then emailed me the picture above, saying:

Here’s one of the ones he did of my mom, then Barbara Boltson, in 1954. I know the year because he signed and dated another one that is still at my mom’s house. She passed away in May and we’re cleaning out the house. I liked this one better than the other one, but now that we know it’s provenance, maybe we’ll keep that, too. I’ll try to remember to take a picture of it for you when next I’m there.

Interesting story about that era at DC Comics. My mom wrote filler articles, those 2 pages of text that made shipping less expensive, but they didn’t want it known that women wrote them, so the one I have that’s actually attributed was written by Ben Boltson, her nom d’plume. I have a few other comics from that era, but none of those articles have bylines.

I think it was always the case, at least through the 1980s, that DC Comics staffers usually did some kind of freelance work for the company to supplement their income, and for low-level workers the salaries were low, as I know personally. Barbara may have written many of those two-page text fillers that DC used in most of their comics to allow them to classify them as 2nd-class items for cheaper shipping of subscription copies. Later they were gradually replaced by letters to the editor columns which fulfilled the same requirement.

I checked the Grand Comics Database and found they already have Barbara (Boltson) Mintz listed for that one text page credited to Ben Boltson and published in Superman #95, Feb 1955:

Images © DC Comics

As was usually the case, the two-page text filler began with an illustration and hand-lettered title by Raymond Perry, and here he used Barbara as the model for the woman in it.

There are probably many more Perry portraits of former DC Comics employees, I’ve heard about but not seen several others. It seems like something he enjoyed doing, and Raymond was certainly a skilled painter who perhaps didn’t have much chance to use those skills at his DC production department staff job. Thanks to Judy Mintz for sharing this one.

The post Another RAY PERRY Portrait appeared first on Todd's Blog.

GASPAR SALADINO in CAPTAIN MARVEL

[image error]All images © Marvel. From CAPTAIN MARVEL #24, Jan 1973

The name Captain Marvel was first used on a character from Fawcett Publications in the 1940s, then fell out of copyright when that company stopped using it. In 1968, Marvel publisher Martin Goodman secured rights to the name and started a new space-born character who gradually gained his own title, which ran 62 issues to 1979. Gaspar Saladino lettered some of the covers and did page 1 lettering on a number of issues, but no full stories. I’ll begin with covers. The one above is his first. The upper caption is in his styles, at the bottom ANDROID MAN is artfully designed by Saladino, the words before it are type.

From CAPTAIN MARVEL #25, March 1973

The burst at upper left on this cover is definitely in Gaspar’s style, the balloons probably are, I’m not sure about the bottom banner, but I think it’s Saladino trying to imitate the style of Sam Rosen, who had recently stopped lettering for Marvel Comics, and whose workload on covers was partially taken on by Gaspar.

From CAPTAIN MARVEL #28, Sept 1973

All this lettering is pure Saladino, not trying to imitate anyone.

From CAPTAIN MARVEL #30, Jan 1974

This is all Gaspar’s work, except for parts of the ACTION caption, which are type. Not sure why that was done, it doesn’t look good. Possibly wording was revised after Gaspar lettered, or it’s him mixing things up with some press-down type.

From CAPTAIN MARVEL #33, July 1974

The other main cover letterer at this time was Danny Crespi, whose work is generally more rounded than Saladino’s, this has the crisp corners of Gaspar’s style.

From CAPTAIN MARVEL #41, Nov 1975

Gaspar’s last cover lettering for the book was on this issue, where his rough style and inner texture can be seen on HAVOC (slightly), and the R in HOMEWORLD has his distinctive shape.

From CAPTAIN MARVEL #39, July 1975

As on many 1970s Marvel books, Saladino was sometimes assigned just the first page of the story, with the rest lettered by the person whose name he added in the credits. Marvel thought his work was a strong enough selling point to pay him extra for this, and it most often happened when the main letterer was less experienced or whose work was less dynamic. Few could match Gaspar on that last point, look at this strong, compelling title!

From CAPTAIN MARVEL #47, Nov 1976

Marvel’s other main letterer for many years was Artie Simek, who died in 1975, sadly resulting in more cover work for Saladino and others. Gaspar seems to be imitating Simek a bit in this story title.

From CAPTAIN MARVEL #48, Jan 1977

Some of these images are not as clear as I’d like. I looked at this one a long time before deciding it’s by Gaspar, as Denise Wohl’s lettering is pretty similar on the rest of the story. Again the R shape in CRUCIBLE is the best clue.

From CAPTAIN MARVEL #49, March 1977

A title that’s more definitely in Saladino’s style.

From CAPTAIN MARVEL #51, July 1977

Lots of fine Saladino lettering on this page, and Joe Rosen’s lettering on the rest is quite different.

From CAPTAIN MARVEL #52, Sept 1977

John Costanza usually did his own page 1’s, but this one is by Saladino. I don’t know if that was the editor’s choice or just something that was available when Gaspar was there picking up work, so they gave it to him then.

From CAPTAIN MARVEL #54, Jan 1978

Here’s Gaspar lettering a George Tuska page, they would soon be, or maybe already were, working together on “The World’s Greatest Superheroes” newspaper strip for DC Comics.

From CAPTAIN MARVEL #55, March 1978

I’m not sure this is lettered by Gaspar, as Bruce Patterson’s lettering on the rest is quite similar, but I think it is.

From CAPTAIN MARVEL #56, May 1978

Definite about this one, the title is very Saladino, and Rick Parker’s lettering on the rest is different.

From CAPTAIN MARVEL #60, Jan 1979

This is the last Page 1 by Gaspar on the series, all very much in Saladino’s creative wheelhouse.

To sum up, I found Saladino lettering on these covers: 24-25, 28, 30, 33, and 41, six in all. Below are the details of his story lettering.

#39 July 1975: page 1 only

#47 Nov 1976: page 1 only

#48 Jan 1977: page 1 only

#49 March 1977: page 1 only

#51 July 1977: page 1 only

#52 Sept 1977: page 1 only

#54 Jan 1978: page 1 only

#55 March 1978: page 1 only

#56 May 1978: page 1 only

#60 Jan 1979: page 1 only

That’s 10 pages 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 CAPTAIN AMERICA Part 2

All images © Marvel. From CAPTAIN AMERICA #163, July 1973

In Part 1 I showed and discussed Gaspar Saladino’s cover lettering for this title, here I’ll do the same for his story lettering. He did letter some entire stories, but in many cases he was just asked to letter the first page of stories lettered by others. Marvel seems to have felt his fine work was a good selling point, especially when used on stories lettered by those with less experience or less dynamic styles. When he did these page one jobs, Gaspar always credited the letterer of the rest of the book, here Charlotte Jetter, who had a long career in comics before beginning work at Marvel in the early 1970s. Saladino’s dynamic story title and sound effect stand out on this page, and his lettering is wide, angular and appealing.

From CAPTAIN AMERICA #163, July 1973

The second page of the story is lettered by Jetter, and while it’s perfectly good work, it doesn’t have the same zing as Saladino’s lettering, at least to my eye. The letters are narrower, the sound effects are not as good, and the overall look is not as strong. Gaspar was probably paid more for these page one assignments, perhaps double his page rate, and he did a lot of them at Marvel in the 1970s.

From CAPTAIN AMERICA #165, Sept 1973

This story title uses Saladino’s dry brush style for STRIKES, adding energy.

From CAPTAIN AMERICA #167, Nov 1973

The story title here uses one of Saladino’s scary styles, kind of drippy, with texture suggested by the words themselves.

From CAPTAIN AMERICA #174, June 1974

Another use of a scary style in this title, and I like GULP! in the bottom caption.

From CAPTAIN AMERICA #187, July 1975

Here MADNESS is very large and enhanced with texture and a drop shadow, while THE is a style Gaspar learned from Ira Schnapp at DC Comics.

From CAPTAIN AMERICA #191, Nov 1975

The treatment of FALCON in the title is odd, but certainly has energy. The R in TRIAL is typical of Saladino with the indent on the right side below the center of the middle stroke.

From CAPTAIN AMERICA #192, Dec 1975

This is an odd one, Gaspar did only the last panel of this story, a sort of combined house ad and coming attractions for the next issue’s return of Jack Kirby. I’m not sure how to count this, but I will consider it one page of lettering even though it’s less.

From CAPTAIN AMERICA #194, Feb 1976

Saladino lettered several full issues in the Jack Kirby run, I think his first time lettering Kirby story pages. When Kirby was at DC in the 1950s, his stories were lettered by others. When he came back to DC in 1970, his stories were initially lettered by John Costanza, then by Kirby’s own inkers like Mike Royer. I wonder if Kirby asked for Gaspar? I love this Greek letter-inspired title, and Saladino finally gets his name in the comic.

From CAPTAIN AMERICA #195, March 1976

D. Bruce Berry was another Kirby inker/letterer, but Marvel had Gaspar do this page 1. The character names and title are great.

From CAPTAIN AMERICA #198, June 1976

If Gaspar’s name is in the credits, he lettered the entire story. And at the time he wasn’t yet getting printed credit on his DC Comics work, that would begin about a year later. The treatment of LOVE STORY here is right out of Saladino’s romance comic work, and notice that he’s done his own new version of CAPTAIN AMERICA rather than having Marvel paste in the logo.

From CAPTAIN AMERICA #199, July 1976

Another fine title. I’m not sure if there was some tug of war going on between Marvel and Kirby over who was inking and lettering these stories, as it seems to go back and forth between Kirby’s guys and Marvel regulars, but Gaspar seems to have enjoyed working on them judging by the fine work he did.

From CAPTAIN AMERICA #203, Nov 1976

Who can fail to be drawn in by GET THIS!! And again, more new character names by Gaspar.

From CAPTAIN AMERICA #204, Dec 1976

Lots of lettering here, but Kirby left room for it.

From CAPTAIN AMERICA #222, June 1978

When Kirby moved on, Gaspar went back to lettering some of the Page 1’s. The title and sound effects here add drama and excitement.

From CAPTAIN AMERICA #226, Oct 1978

No credits on this one, but Gaspar’s title and lettering style is clear.

From CAPTAIN AMERICA #228, Dec 1978

I like the way Saladino made the first word small on this title so the others could be larger.

From CAPTAIN AMERICA #232, April 1979

The style of the title here is pure Saladino, including his excellent flaming letters.

From CAPTAIN AMERICA #233, May 1979

The title here is great dry brush work in perspective, reversed by the Marvel production department to make it white on black.

From CAPTAIN AMERICA #237, Sept 1979

On this final Page 1, dry brush is again used on ASHES effectively.

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

#163 July 1973: page 1 only

#165 Sept 1973: page 1 only

#167 Nov 1973: page 1 only

#169 Jan 1974: page 1 only

#174 June 1974: page 1 only

#187 July 1975: page 1 only

#191 Nov 1975: page 1 only

#192 Dec 1975: page 18 only

#194 Feb 1976: 18pp

#195 March 1976: page 1 only

#198 June 1976: 17pp

#199 July 1976: 17pp

#203 Nov 1976: 17pp

#204 Dec 1976: 17pp

#222 June 1978: page 1 only

#226 Oct 1978: page 1 only

#228 Dec 1978: page 1 only

#232 April 1979: page 1 only

#233 May 1979: page 1 only

#237 Sept 1979: page 1 only

That’s a total of 101 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 CAPTAIN AMERICA Part 2 appeared first on Todd's Blog.

GASPAR SALADINO in CAPTAIN AMERICA Part 1

All images © Marvel. From CAPTAIN AMERICA #157, Jan 1973

Captain America, the creation of Joe Simon and Jack Kirby, first appeared in CAPTAIN AMERICA COMICS in 1941. Simon and Kirby left after the first ten issues in a dispute with the publisher, but the book had a good run of 73 issues, becoming one of the most popular Marvel series. In the early 1960s, Kirby was back at Marvel, and Captain America was gradually reintroduced to new readers in several places, then given a co-starring spot alongside Iron Man in TALES OF SUSPENSE with issue #59. When that book reached issue #100, it was renamed CAPTAIN AMERICA, and Cap took it over as a solo title. The book had a long and popular run to issue #454 in 1996. Gaspar Saladino did cover and story lettering from 1973 to 1981, though much of his story lettering was only the first page of the issue. I’ll detail that in Part 2, here in Part 1 I’ll focus on his cover lettering. Above is the first one. The main cover letterers at Marvel from the early 1960s on were Artie Simek and Sam Rosen, but Sam stopped lettering at the end of 1972, opening the door for others like Gaspar to step in. The other main new letterer was Danny Crespi, and his lettering sometimes looks like Saladino’s but is generally more rounded. On this cover, the wide angular balloon lettering and the style of VIPER are the work of Gaspar.

From CAPTAIN AMERICA #159, March 1973

Saladino’s lettering is strong and full of energy. One style clue is the serif I at the beginning of the bottom caption, something he did occasionally and I think Crespi did not.

From CAPTAIN AMERICA #160, April 1973

No one did better flaming letters than Gaspar, this is a good example, and notice how angular the letter shapes are, with pointed corners.

From CAPTAIN AMERICA #164, Aug 1973

The rounded E’s in this bottom blurb are something Saladino used from time to time at DC Comics and Marvel.

From CAPTAIN AMERICA #168, Dec 1973

Gaspar’s burst balloon shapes are distinctive, as are his small open letters.

From CAPTAIN AMERICA #170, Feb 1974

The rough edge to the first balloon, and especially the clever question mark balloon point to Saladino lettering on this cover.

From CAPTAIN AMERICA #171 March 1974

The letter shapes of BUST-OUT signal Saladino here, though I think THE BLACK PANThER is type.

From CAPTAIN AMERICA #172, April 1974

The angular styles of the bottom balloon shape and the lettering of BANSHEE both indicate Gaspar here.

From CAPTAIN AMERICA #175, July 1974

The somewhat rectangular balloon on this cover is something Artie Simek often did, but Saladino occasionally did that also, and the rest of the lettering is in Gaspar’s style.

From CAPTAIN AMERICA #176, Aug 1974

Another semi-rectangular balloon, and notice the serif I in IDENTITY.

From CAPTAIN AMERICA #177, Sept 1974

Some elements of this lettering are similar to what Danny Crespi was doing, but I think the rough balloon shapes are distinctively Saladino.

From CAPTAIN AMERICA #180, Dec 1974

On covers like this I look at the individual letter shapes in the smaller balloon lettering. Gaspar’s style is clear here, generally more angular than Crespi, especially in the S, which often has a wide central stroke that’s almost horizontal.

From CAPTAIN AMERICA #183, March 1975

On the word HERO here, notice the notch in the right side of the R is below the center of the middle bar, something Gaspar often did.

From CAPTAIN AMERICA #187, July 1975

The rough styles in the bottom caption here are very typical of Saladino.

From CAPTAIN AMERICA #193, Jan 1976

This well-known cover features the return of Jack Kirby, and it’s full of Saladino lettering styles, including the rough outlines and texture in MADBOMB.

From CAPTAIN AMERICA #194, Feb 1976

This is an odd combination of type and Saladino open lettering, possibly the wording was changed after Gaspar worked on it.

From CAPTAIN AMERICA #196, April 1976

The odd shapes and thin outlines on KILL-DERBY suggest Saladino, and the rest of this caption looks like his work too.

From CAPTAIN AMERICA #233, May 1979

The letter shapes on the bottom blurb are unusual for Saladino, but he was always creative, and the balloons are in his style.

From CAPTAIN AMERICA #237, Sept 1979

This would be a hard choice between Saladino and Crespi except for the lower case words used on the bottom blurb, which is pure Saladino.

From CAPTAIN AMERICA #238, Oct 1979

Typical Gaspar layout on the blurb here, and note his distinctive R shapes.

From CAPTAIN AMERICA #240, Dec 1979

More Saladino style in this caption.

From CAPTAIN AMERICA #245, May 1980

Another style difference between Crespi and Saladino is balloon and caption border thickness. Danny tended to make his thick, Gaspar usually went thin.

From CAPTAIN AMERICA #247, July 1980

I suspect the thicker border on the top caption here was added by someone else. The thin double border on the circle is more Gaspar’s style.

From CAPTAIN AMERICA #249, Sept 1980

This circular blurb has a thick border, but it might have been a thin double one that was filled in. Interesting spelling on THRU, DC would never have allowed that.

From CAPTAIN AMERICA #251, Nov 1980

The eccentric shapes and texture on this blurb are pure Saladino.

From CAPTAIN AMERICA #253, Jan 1981

BLOOD is in one of Gaspar’s scary styles on this cover.

From CAPTAIN AMERICA #254, Feb 1981

It could have been used again here, but Saladino just did a different version.

From CAPTAIN AMERICA #258, June 1981

These are Saladino letter shapes, including his K with an angled upper right leg and his R.

From CAPTAIN AMERICA #261, Sept 1981

The lines above and below the logo as well as the balloon are in Saladino styles here.

From CAPTAIN AMERICA #262, Oct 1981

Saladino’s display lettering often had pointed corners, as here, something that was done with a smaller pen point after the letters were drawn with a larger one. It took extra time, but looked great.

From CAPTAIN AMERICA #263, Nov 1981

More of it is seen here in a burst balloon with rounded scoops between the points and a thin border. And with that, Saladino’s work on this title ended as far as I can tell. I don’t know why, perhaps it was decided to have cover lettering done by staffers from this point on, or other freelancers got the assignments.

To sum up, I found Saladino lettering on these covers: 157, 159-160, 164, 168, 170-172, 175-177, 180, 183, 187, 193-194, 196, 233, 237-238, 240, 245, 247, 249, 251, 253-254, 258, 261-263. That’s 31 in all. Part 2 will cover Gaspar’s story lettering on this book. Other articles in this series and more you might like are on the COMICS CREATION page of my blog.

The post GASPAR SALADINO in CAPTAIN AMERICA Part 1 appeared first on Todd's Blog.

GASPAR SALADINO in BLOOD: A TALE

All images © J.M. DeMatteis and Kent Williams, From BLOOD: A TALE #1, 1987, Marvel

This prestige painted four-issue series was published by Marvel’s Epic imprint in 1987. The covers have no lettering, but Gaspar Saladino lettered all four issues, and it’s a tour-de-force of creative lettering styles and unsettling, atmospheric visuals. I’m not sure how Gaspar came to letter it, it’s a substantial commitment, but of course he’d worked for Marvel many times in the previous twenty years, and was well known in the comics industry for his fine lettering. Writer J.M. DeMatteis may have worked with Gaspar at DC, and at least would have known what he could add to this project, which headed into new territory for Marvel, I would say. The series was reprinted by DC’s Vertigo imprint in 1996-97, where it fit right in, and many DC readers assumed it was new then.

From BLOOD: A TALE #1, 1987

There are few standard balloons or captions in the book, almost all of them are stylized in some way, like these two types of wavy balloon edges. Saladino would have lettered on vellum, a translucent art paper, over either the paintings, or more likely photocopies of them.

From BLOOD: A TALE #1, 1987

Many of the sound effects were added by the artists, but the ones on this page are all by Gaspar.

From BLOOD: A TALE #2, 1987

Several styles are on display here, and Gaspar does something letterers are told never to do: he puts a tail behind a caption. Works fine.

From BLOOD: A TALE #2, 1987

Reversing fairly thin lettering out of dark painted art is something comics wasn’t good at for decades, but by this time, better printing and paper allowed it to work well. Painted art in general was never handled well by the old letterpress printing process, offset printing is what did work, as here.

From BLOOD: A TALE #3, 1987

These sound effects are part of the art, but Gaspar’s burst balloon adds a ton of drama.

From BLOOD: A TALE #4, 1987

The storytelling is cinematic and imaginative. Saladino’s captions here are almost like silent movie title cards.

From BLOOD: A TALE #4, 1987

This kind of creative work by Gaspar has often been imitated, and probably influenced many later painted projects. Gaspar’s lettering on the ARKHAM ASYLUM graphic novel of 1989 was not as successful as what he did here, in my opinion, but more because of the art than the lettering.

To sum up, Saladino lettered all four issues, 45 pages each, for a total of 180 pages. More articles in this series, and others you might like, are on the COMICS CREATION page of my blog.

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