Comic letterer-logo designer Gaspar Saladino died last week on Wednesday, August 3, 2016. He was 88 years old.

Saladino worked actively in comics for 62 years. He lettered some of the most significant comic titles like Arkham Asylum and designed or redesigned Avengers, Green Lantern, Swamp Thing, Metal Man, House of Mystery, and others.

Saladino was born in Brooklyn, New York on September 1, 1927. While studying at the School of Industrial Art in Manhattan he inked for Lloyd Jacquet’s Funnies, Inc. comic book packager. After high school he joined the army and was stationed in Japan working in public relations.

Once he returned to the US in 1947, he sought employment with DC Comics and was hired as a letterer. Despite being considered freelance, he worked in the office with letterer Ira Schnapp and production artist Mort Drucker. During the early days of his career he lettered Henry Boltinoff’s humor strips in Action Comics.

In the 1950s to 1960s he worked on DC editor Julius Schwartz’s titles like Strange Adventures, Mystery in Space, Justice League of America, The Flash, and Showcase. He lettered the first few issues of Warren Publishing’s Eerie in 1966. At that time he was also taken off of the interior lettering to do almost all lettering on DC covers.

In the late ’60s he started freelancing for Marvel under the pseudonym L.P. Gregory, working on Iron Man, The Avengers, and Tales to Astonish. He also lettered the DC-Marvel crossover Superman vs. The Amazing Spider-Man in 1976 and lettered the special oversize Superman vs. Muhammad Ali. At this time he also lettered most of DC’s war comics, superhero titles and mystery stories, and he lettered the Los Angeles Times Syndicate comic strip The Virtue of Vera Valiant.

When it comes to logos, Saladino designed the logos for DC’s Swamp Thing, Phantom Stranger, Metal Men, Adam Strange, House of Mystery, House of Secrets, and Unknown Soldier. He redesigned character logos, such as Green Lantern, to give them more contemporary styles. For Marvel he created and updated logos for The Avengers, Sgt. Fury and His Howling Commandos, Captain America and the Falcon, and Marvel Triple Action. He designed logos for all of Atlas Comics titles in 1974 and in the 1980s he designed logos for Neal Adams’ Continuity Comics and some for Eclipse Comics.

“My words never looked better than when rendered in the careful calligraphy of Gaspar Saladino, and if I must say farewell to him, I won't do it referring to him by his most frequent but inadequate title of 'letterer.' Gaspar was an artist with design, creating logotypes that have endured and influence, ads that sent us running to the newsstand, and what he did with ‘simple’ sound effects or words in balloons. His work on Len Wein and Bernie Wrightson's Swamp Thing run established a new level for what lettering could do to add to storytelling in periodical American comics, bringing more drama with his innovative style,” said Paul Levitz, former President and Publisher of DC Comics.new level for what lettering could do to add to storytelling in periodical American comics, bringing more drama with his innovative style.

“I grew up enjoying Gaspar's uncredited work, mostly on Julie Schwartz's titles, and then was delighted to meet the man and have the opportunity to have him render my awkward sketches into a beautiful logo for Adventure Comics and to have him collaborate by bringing his talent to my comics and newspaper strip run. He was a smiling craftsman, enjoying each challenge or even routine task. I'm sad to hear that he's passed, but I have beautiful examples of his talent hanging on my walls to cherish with my memories,” he said.

“Gaspar Saladino—He was a genius when it came to comic book lettering and calligraphy. He took the artist’s and writer’s words and illustrations to a new level with his artistic abilities to make us ‘see’ the motion in the still pictures, ‘feel’ the action going on, and ‘hear’ the sounds and words of the story. His ‘word’ visions became iconic,” said veteran collector Steven Fears.

“With so many of his contributions to the field uncredited, it was still possible over time to learn the distinctive traits we later came to know as Gaspar Saladino’s work. With that alone he left a lasting legacy in comics, but more importantly were the many lives he touched. Just a brief survey of the comments from his colleagues will tell you all you need to know,” said Melissa Bowesox, President of Geppi’s Entertainment Museum.

The 13th Dimension website showcased some of Saladino’s many distinctive logos.