Tenth Letter of the Alphabet

Monday, June 1, 2026

Comics: Al Allard, Art Director

Albert Pierre “Al” Allard was born on May 24, 1904, in Minneapolis, Minnesota according to the Minnesota Births Index, at Ancestry.com, and his World War II draft card. His parents were Edward George Allard and Isabella Mary La Fore.

The 1905 Minnesota state census recorded Allard (line 37) and and his parents in Minneapolis. His father was a railroad conductor.

In the 1910 Unites States Census, Allard (line 63) and his parents resided at 3311 Fifth Avenue in Minneapolis.

Ten years later, the census said Allard (line 48), his parents and brother, Edward, made their home at 4427 Pillsbury Avenue in Minneapolis.

In 1923, Allard graduated from Central High School. He was the art editor of the 1923 yearbook, Centralian, and contributed several illustrations and decorative designs.

On May 1, 1926, Allard married Garnett A. Johnson. In the 1930 census, the couple (lines 12 and 13) were Minneapolis residents at 308 Fremont Avenue South. (The 1930 Minneapolis city directory listed apartment 304.) Allard was an artist working for a publisher.

Allard’s employer was Fawcett Publications which moved its offices to New York City and Greenwich, Connecticut in the mid-1930s.

The Star-Tribune (Minneapolis, Minnesota), August 9, 1994, said

Allard … graduated from the old Central High School. In the late 1920s he worked in the theater district around Hennepin Av. in downtown Minneapolis. It consisted of 16 live-entertainment theaters. … While attending Central, Allard was a paint boy at a Minneapolis scenery studio. He worked in advertising and promotion at the Orpheum and State theaters for several years before he became art director for Fawcett Publications, started by William Fawcett in Robbinsdale.

Allard and Vogel Albinson established Fawcett’s art department, which published the magazine “Captain Billy’s Whiz Bang.” It was small enough to fit into a shirt pocket. In 1934 Allard moved with Fawcett to New York …

In a May 2026 email to me, P.C. Hamerlinck (Fawcett Collectors of America) wrote

In the past I had asked a few Fawcett comics creators who was responsible for designing the outstanding title logos for Fawcett’s comics and magazines, and everyone said it was Allard who created them.

According to the 1940 census, Allard (line 28), his wife and son were Greenwich residents at 17 Richmond Drive. In 1935 they lived in Pelham Manor, Westchester County, New York. Allard was an art director.

On February 16, 1942, Allard signed his World War II draft card. His address was 16 Richmond Drive, Greenwich, Connecticut. Fawcett Publications was his employer. Allard was described as five feet nine inches, 180 pounds, with black hair and brown eyes.

In Alter Ego #2, Autumn 1999, and The Alter Ego Collection Volume 1 (2006), Richard Deane Taylor explained how he met Allard.

… During my junior year in high school, a Dr. [Alexander] Aposdorf [sic], having seen some of my illustrated and lettered notebooks, suggested I get in touch with Frank Taggart at Fawcett Publications and show him my work. Taggart was a former student of Dr. Aposdorf and a graduate of Brooklyn Technical High School where I attended. I called him a few days later and he invited me to come up and see him at Fawcett’s offices with samples of my work. He looked at my portfolio with great interest, but what caught his eye was my lettering. At Tech we were required to letter all our notebooks and, needless to say, after three years of lettering, I could letter faster than I could write.

Taggart was so enthused with the quality of my work that he suggested we both go in and meet with Fawcett’s art director, Al Allard. Upon reviewing my lettering samples, he asked if I would be interested in doing some speedball lettering for Fawcett. …

Allard was pictured in the Fawcett Publishing advertisement which ran in Advertising Age, September 14, 1942.

The 1950 census said art director Allard (line 25) and his family lived on Hendric Lane in Greenwich.

Allard was mentioned in Art Director & Studio News, November 1953.

Minneapolis starts with exhibit
The AD Club opened the season with an exhibit of layouts and finished art for True Magazine. Al Allard, AD of True furnished the art work shown.

Besides plans for future meetings, a committee was formed to entertain and paint murals in children’s hospitals.

Art Direction, March 1957, profiled Allard.

Allard’s art direction covered Fawcett’s numerous magazines including Modern Mechanix (retitled Mechanix Illustrated, June 1938), Battle Stories, Cavalier, Daring Detective, Dynamic Detective, Hollywood, Motion Picture, Movie Story, Rudder, Screen Secrets, Secrets, Triple-X Western, True, and Woman’s Day, and the mass market paperback line Gold Medal Books.

After 36 years at Fawcett, Allard returned to Minnesota where he retired in 1970.

Allard passed away on August 4, 1994, in St. Louis Park, Minnesota. He was laid to rest at Lakewood Cemetery.