Gaspar Saladino

Gaspar Saladino (September 1, 1927 – August 4, 2016) was an American letterer and logo designer who worked for more than sixty years in the comic book industry, mostly for DC Comics. Eventually Saladino went by one name, "Gaspar," which he wrote in his trademark calligraphy. From 1966 to the 1990s, he lettered many of the logos, titles, captions and balloons on DC Comics covers. For a period in the 1970s, he was also "page-one letterer" for many Marvel Comics books. Early life and education Saladino was born in Brooklyn, New York City, and attended Manhattan's School of Industrial Art. While in school Saladino did some comic-book inking for Lloyd Jacquet's "Funnies, Inc.", one of several "packagers" of the time that produced outsourced comics for publishers entering the new medium. After graduating from high school, Saladino enlisted in the U.S. Army, which stationed him in Japan in a public relations capacity. He returned home in 1947. In 1949, he approached DC Comics, where production chief Sol Harrison showed Saladino's art samples to editors. One, Julius Schwartz, while unimpressed with the art, offered Saladino regular work as a letterer. Though working in the office, ensconced between letterer Ira Schnapp and production artist Mort Drucker, Saladino was employed as a freelancer, earning $2 a page and generally earning $90 a week. He recalled in a 2007 interview, "DC wanted a full-time letterer and by being present I got first choice of assignments. I also thought it was beneficial to be able to work hand in hand with the artists." Saladino recalled in 2007 that his first job for DC was a "cowboy romance" comic.[5] The title was Romance Trail #5 (March–April 1950) in which he lettered two stories, "Romance By Mail" with art by Carmine Infantino and Joe Giella, and a one-page poem "Western Serenade" with art by Alex Toth. These were Saladino's first printed works for DC. They were followed by more work in Romance Trail and the western series Jimmy Wakely, starting with issue #5 (June 1950). He did much of the lettering for the humor strips of Henry Boltinoff in Action Comics. In the late 1950s and 1960s, Saladino was a mainstay on DC editor Julius Schwartz's books, like Strange Adventures, Mystery in Space, Justice League of America, The Flash, Showcase, and many more. When Carmine Infantino came on as DC's art director and then editorial director in 1966/1967, he gradually shifted all of DC's premiere lettering tasks: logos, cover lettering and house ads, from veteran letterer Ira Schnapp to Saladino. This changed the whole line's look, adding Saladino's bold, dynamic style, Saladino continued to letter many interior pages as well. In the late 1960s, while freelancing for DC, Saladino began freelancing for Marvel as well, using the pseudonym L.P. Gregory and lettering titles including Iron Man, The Avengers and Tales to Astonish. In the mid-to-late 1970s Saladino became the uncredited "page-one letterer" for many Marvel Comics titles. He eventually credited himself as simply either Gaspar or Gaspar S. In 1976, Saladino lettered the historic DC-Marvel crossover comic Superman vs. the Amazing Spider-Man. He also lettered the oversize special issue Superman vs. Muhammad Ali. By 1977, Saladino was lettering most of DC's war comics, in addition to many superhero and mystery stories. From 1976 to 1977, he lettered the Los Angeles Times Syndicate comic strip The Virtue of Vera Valiant, by writer Stan Lee and artist Frank Springer. Saladino's output after 2002 was minimal.