Still More Gifts!

The H.I.T. (Hayfamzone Investigative Team) is out on assignment now so it's been a little quiet here in the newsroom lately. Never fear, they will return! The Team promises a provocative and informative report for next month.

In the meantime it is my pleasure to be able to share with you a few more excellently wonderful comics-related links that you may not yet have come across on your own.

I. First up, how about a website that interviews a different comics creator every day of the year? I am not kidding! Take a look here.

II. I've written numerous times about my appreciation for good comic book lettering and how the great Ben Oda is my favorite letterer of all time. I think I neglected to mention previously that I have many second-favorite letterers. Among them would definitely be Gaspar Saladino (mainstay letterer for 1960s and 1970s DC) and Ira Schnapp (designer of the impeccable logos for Action Comics and The Flash), both of whom are written up nicely over on Dial B for Blog. (Maybe you'd even like to see for yourself that I, your humble host, used to dabble in lettering? Take a gander at this little chestnut.)

III. Have you ever read a study of a comics logo? There are a couple dozen of them as written by latter-day comics letterer Todd Klein over on his blog. Not only does Mr. Klein discuss the history and aesthetics and evolution of such iconic logos as those for Batman and The Spirit, he also unveils a few unused preliminary designs for some logos he has personally toiled on (such as the one for last year's Death of the New Gods). I am particularly fond of his never-used and intricate Hangman, but my all-time favorite Todd Klein logo is his Time Warp.

This might be an appropriate moment for me to tell you that I too have designed a few logos along the way. You can click here to see one of them, but your have to promise to come back next month to read the rest of the story. It's sure to be a H.I.T.!