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.