Once again, this article is a catch-all for titles beginning with F that didn’t have enough Saladino lettering to warrant a separate article in my opinion. For the title above, I’m counting it as FIRST, though the actual title is 1ST. It was a tryout title that ran 13 issues in 1975-76, and surprisingly Gaspar lettered only two covers. The caption is full of well-made open lettering, and I think he also designed both the series logo and DR. FATE.
Saladino did the logo and its topline as well as the word balloon here. Other covers were lettered by DC staffers like John Workman and Joe Letterese, or used type.
This “mystery” anthology ran for 11 issues, and only this cover had lettering by Saladino. The way the two captions intersect is a bit unusual, and THE in the second one is very much like Ira Schnapp’s work.
FORGOTTEN REALMS was one of several collaborations with the game company TSR. The DC comic ran 25 issues from 1989 to 1991. Gaspar lettered six of the covers. This one had an elaborate treatment of JASMINE, though the J almost reads as a T, and the M is not so readable either. I like it anyway.
In addition to the triangle, Saladino also did the large display lettering on the arrest warrant here, using a calligraphic style that works well.
The Saladino caption here is somewhere between horror and humor, as the text parodies the song “Buffalo Gals.”
There’s a lot to like about the caption on this cover, from the cool clawed title to the textured scroll behind it. This is pretty late for Saladino cover lettering, but it looks terrific.
This war reprint series ran just five issues in 1973. The clever Saladino logo uses stars instead of the word STARS. The caption works fine, it’s almost like the first caption of a story page.
The burst caption on this cover adds excitement, though the word OF is hard to see. I often stole this border style for my own bursts, a heavy inner border and a thin outer one to allow for another color.
This was a superhero reprint title that ran six issues from 1976 to 1977. Gaspar’s lettering on the first one is small titles over each image. I would have suggested putting each on two lines to allow them to be larger.
Having only two features on the cover of this issue allows the lettering to be larger and more effective.
This patriotic series ran 15 issues from 1976 to 1978. Gaspar’s balloons on this cover are typical, but the large emphasized words in red add interest, as do the heavy balloon borders.
There’s a similar word balloon on this caption for Uncle Sam, and a larger burst balloon below with more color enhancements. The tail is electric, but why? You’ll have to read the issue to find out.
The penultimate issue has a fine burst caption and more open lettering to the right. This was one of the series cancelled by the “DC Implosion” of 1978.
FUNNY STUFF was a long-running funny animal series from DC in the 1940s and 1950s. This one-shot was an attempt to revive it, but it only had one issue. Gaspar’s fun scroll caption at the bottom and rounded top line capture the flavor and the holiday spirit.
All the other entries in this article are for Saladino cover lettering, this one is for story lettering. FINAL NIGHT was a four issue series all published the same month, so essentially an 89 page story divided into four comics. Gaspar lettered the whole thing. I like the creative alien language in panel 2 of this page.
This splash page from the second issue has a fine variety of lettering styles from Saladino that add a lot to the story.
To sum up, I found Gaspar lettering on these covers:
1ST ISSUE SPECIAL 9-10
FORBIDDEN TALES OF DARK MANSION 6
FORGOTTEN REALMS 11-13, 21-23
FOUR STAR BATTLE TALES 2-3, 5
FOUR-STAR SPECTACULAR 1, 5-6
FREEDOM FIGHTERS 5-6, 12, 14-15
FUNNY STUFF STOCKING STUFFER 1
A total of 21 in all.
Here are the listings for story pages in FINAL NIGHT:
#1 Nov 1996: 23pp
#2 Nov 1996: 22pp
#3 Nov 1996: 22pp
#4 Nov 1996: 22pp
That’s 89 pages in all. More articles in this series and others you might like are on the COMICS CREATION page of my blog.