Superman Through the Ages! Forum

Robby Reed at www.dialbforblog.com uncovers the full story - on todays installment of Ira Schnapp-- Visionary.

Who knew Ira started as marble cutter letter for NY Public library and inscribed Post office slogan at main post office?

Fascinating well researched article.

It's a neato idea and fun to read. Although, I wish Robby & crew would credit the used source material.

Good article, there are a couple of other subtle changes you can see in the logos he illustrates that he doesn't mention...

Not Robby's strong suit.  He's "borrowed" from my site more than once without giving credit.

Still a fun blog, though.

Not to mention he now has his own version of me...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firefox#Features

kind of scary ;)

This may not be relevant, but did you know that the Mr. Pibb font ("Blippo Black") was created by the Nazis? It was discovered in a German printing house after the allies bombed the place. There's something appropriate about that, since both Mr. Pibb and National Socialism are both nasty, and really hard to swallow:

http://www.mtblanco.com/NewsMrPibb.htm

(I know what you're thinking: "Julian, only YOU would link to a Texas Creationist Fossil Museum about Mr. Pibb/Nazis.")

It's really, really interesting to note the contributions made by letterers to books. There is something very, very classy about the Superman logo. Here in Miami, there's a chain of Argentinian grill restaurants called "Zuperpollo!" whose symbol is a fat chicken in a Zorro outfit. The point is, the Superman letterheadmast is recognizable no matter what you do to it.

The only other letterhead that has that kind of recognizability is the blue "shield" for JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA, and it's strange that no other itineration of the JLA from SUPERFRIENDS to JUSTICE LEAGUE UNLIMITED has ever used it. Even though it said something else, when Fry and the rest of the guys jumped through it in that one FUTURAMA episode, you could tell what it was based on!

The BEST title masthead, however, has to be the one Jim Steranko designed in UNCANNY X-MEN #50, the famous X-MEN masthead that was used later on in the cartoon and in every single action figure. To be honest, I don't even remember what the original X-Masthead looked like; I shut my eyes...it doesn't appear.

By far the WORST letterhead has to be the FANTASTIC FOUR title. It's so sloppy and weird, but it has history and seniority so I guess there's no getting rid of it. Though I did love the "Top Gun" style FF masthead from the seventies with the members' heads in circles around it.

As far as letterers go, their contributions to comics should not be ignored. Take away the fascinating personality of Ben Oda, and something about DC's polished look in the seventies just seems "off." To be honest, at some psychological level, part of the reason the occasionally awkward Dick Dillin art on JLA felt "right" was because of how sharp and computer-precise the lettering was that it makes you "correct" things mentally.

And ABC would not be ABC without Todd Klein, the Man of a Million Fonts. I especially love the vaguely 1930s, World's Fair-esque typeface their logo is placed in. Appropriate he and Moore should work together; but I would have to say that comparing Klein to Moore is underestimating him.  :D

Incidentally, is that pic of Uncle Morty the most current one they have? Wowza.

Thank you for the link. A fascinating history, as far as it goes.

I have always been impressed by the Action Comics logo but I never really expected to find out who created it, and I'm surprised I've never read anything about Ira before.

But of course the biggie is the original Superman logo, first appearing on the cover of Superman No. 6 (according to the article). I imagine I'm like a lot of Superman readers who loved the comics as a child: this is the most exciting and powerful logo in the comics and never fails to impress, yet I suppose I always took it for granted. I never really wondered who actually created it, although I was always vaguely aware it was refined from Joe Shuster's early logos. It's a tremendous achievement and quite simply perfect, and, like the author of the blog, I cannot fathom why DC Comics messed with it and stuffed it up. Why try to fix what isn't broken and serve up an inferior product? It's ridiculous. The change weakened the logo, but I guess nobody at the comics factory noticed. As originally conceived by Ira, it's perfect, and I loved it as a kid.

Then to go on and learn about Ira Schnapp's inspired work in creating the old beloved DC ads.... Well, what can I say except I'm glad you posted the link because I had no idea who the major talent was behind all of this work. Yes, his formal stone engraving, etc. was probably a lot more amazing if you want to look at it objectively, but it's the comic book stuff (particularly the logos) I admire him for.

The Superman logo (sorry to belabour a point) is incredible because I didn't know it was created as far back as 1940! yet it looks so modern and sophisticated attached to my favourite Superman stories from the 1970s!

Those who create cover logos are ignored but they're able to do great things.
And SUPERMAN's logo is one of the best ever (especially the modern one -1983 on-).

The current All-Star Superman logo was created by a famous graphic Designer which is the only time in history that I know of that DC comics has use the name of the person who created a logo to hyped a comic book.

http://www.goodisdead.com/

The All Star Superman logo is a good logo.  And I'm glad that DC is open to using big name creators on the books.

:s: