GASPAR SALADINO in THE ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN (1987)

All images © DC Comics. From THE ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN #424, Jan 1987

When John Byrne’s revamp of Superman began with a new series and a new first issue, DC did a smart thing. They created this second series at the same time that continued the numbering of the original SUPERMAN series begun in 1939, preserving that history, with new stories by veterans like Marv Wolfman and Jerry Ordway. Later, when Byrne’s series ran out of steam in 2006, this title reverted to just SUPERMAN, so that the continuity of the numbering remained from 1939 on. Gaspar Saladino did cover lettering for some issues, and lettered two inside stories. On the first cover, above, his round burst is well filled with open letters. The dark color makes them hard to read, but that wasn’t his choice.

From THE ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN #425, Feb 1987

Alex Jay designed the new three-dimensional logo, and on this second cover, Gaspar added the creator credits in a matching curve below.

From THE ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN #442, July 1988

Here the credits have been modified by Gaspar, and the lettering in his word balloons is all in special styles that take longer to do than standard lettering, but look great.

From THE ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN #446, Nov 1988

A two-word blurb with appealing variety.

From THE ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN #450, Jan 1989

Saladino’s unique approach to the word BANISHED makes it much more interesting than standard block letters would have been.

[image error]From THE ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN #462, Jan 1990

This blurb has just a touch of holiday spirit in the last word, and effective texture in the first for contrast.

From THE ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN ANNUAL #2, Aug 1990

Most DC Annuals of this period have no hand lettering, this one goes in the other direction with lots of it, all well designed by Gaspar, though the L.E.G.I.O.N. logo is mine. So much more interesting than type.

From THE ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN #483, Oct 1991

The only non-standard thing in this blurb by Saladino is the O in BLINDSPOT’S, but it draws the eye and makes it work better.

From THE ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN #563, Dec 1998

Finally, a page from one of the two stories lettered by Gaspar with a fine story title.

To sum up, I found Saladino lettering on these covers: 424-425, 442, 444, 446-447, 450, 452-453, 462, 483, Annual 1-2. That’s 13 in all. Below are the details on his story lettering.

#563 Dec 1998: 22pp

#570 Sept 1999: 22pp

That’s 44 pages total. More articles in this series and others you might like are on the COMICS CREATION page of my blog.

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