Tenth Letter of the Alphabet

Monday, September 21, 2020

Monday, September 7, 2020

Under Cover: Dragonworld

Bantam Books, 1979
Trade paperback
Title font set in ITC Tiffany Black; gold foil stamped
Map by Alex Jay

Calligraphy by Tom Orzechowski

Doubleday Book Club Edition, 1979

Hardcover dust jacket, detail

Bantam Books, 1983

Mass market paperback

I used ITC Novarese Bold for the

title which was printed in silver

German Edition

Marion von Schröder Verlag, 1985
Hardcover dust jacket, detail
Most map calligraphy replaced with type

ibooks, 2000

Trade paperback
Byron Preiss wanted the font used on the 1983 mass

market paperback edition so I told the in-house designer

the font name. The letterspacing is tighter on the mass
market paperback edition.

(Next post on Monday: ACBA Newsletter #21)

Monday, August 31, 2020

Comics: Stan Starkman, Letterer

Stanley Keith Starkman was born on May 16, 1927, in the Bronx, New York City, according to the New York, New York, Birth Index at Ancestry.com. The 1930 U.S. Federal Census said he was the youngest of two children born to Irwin and Evelyn. They lived in the Bronx at 2505 Olinville Avenue. His father, a Yiddish-speaking Polish emigrant, was a milliner for a hat company. His mother was born in New York and her parents were Russian. The Starkman family address in the 1940 census was 1475 Townsend Avenue.

During World War II, Starkman served in the Navy. Muster rolls at Ancestry.com recorded his service on three vessels from 1944 to 1946: USS Baham (AG 71) from August 1944 to October 1945; USS Block Island (CVE 106) and Puget Sound (CVE-113) in November 1945; Baham in January 1946; Puget Sound in January and February 1946; Baham in April and May 1946. Starkman’s draft card said he was honorably discharged on August 21, 1946 and unemployed. He lived with his parents at the same Bronx address.

Information about Starkman’s art training is not yet known. Eventually he found lettering work at Timely Comics in the late 1940s into the 1950s. At some point in the 1950s Starkman worked at DC Comics. Many of his credits are at the Grand Comics Database.

The New York, New York, Marriage License Index said Starkman and Suzanne L. Blau obtained a marriage license on June, 19, 1951 in Manhattan.

On Digital Webbing, January 24, 2012, Starkman’s son, Mark, posted the following:

I saw this thread and wanted to post. I'm Stan's son, Mark. This Sunday was the one year anniversary of his death. He died just short of his 84th birthday and his 60th wedding anniversary.

He was never a pharmacist. Interesting coincidence though. He was known as Stan Quill but that was at the beginning of his career.

Growing up I can clearly remember all the books he lettered. After his lettering career ended, he worked in advertising typography for a time but his real passion was photography. His photos won numerous awards. He even started a company, PicTours where he took a group of amateur photographers on a photo trip and gave a photo workshop (in a specially equipped van) on the way to the site.

He was a Navy veteran (of WWII) and was buried in the South Florida National Cemetery with full military honors a year ago today.

Mark’s second post on February 9, 2016 said

… I'm his oldest son. You might want to know that he is buried in the South Florida National Cemetery in Lake Worth, Florida, along with my mom who died July 1, 2015. He lived most of his childhood on Townsend Avenue in the Bronx before moving to Bellerose, Queens (NY) with his parents. When he got married he moved around the corner from his parents into the house where I grew up. I know my grandfather spoke some Yiddish but his English was flawless and I wouldn't have know it was anything but his first language. I don't have any record of him being on the USS Baham and I retrieved his military records from the National Archives, which doesn't mention that ship. My earliest memories are watching him letter in our basement and being very interested in all the superheroes in the books. He and my mom lived in Coconut Creek for about 10 years until his death. (He was in hospice in Pompano Beach for the last few days of his life, hence the reference to that city.)

In Alter Ego #49, June 2005, Jim Amash interviewed Carl Burgos’ daughter, Susan, who said

… family and friends were invited over to the house. I remember Stan Starkman, George Kapitan, and Herbie Cooper from Timely Comics coming to visit. …

George Kapitan was a real sweetheart, as was his wife, Rose. Stan and Suzie Starkman, and Herbie and Marilyn Cooper would come over, too. I know George and Herbie aren’t with us any longer. I liked those guys, and they were a charming group, but my dad didn’t mix his kids with his friends. We’d come out and say, “Hi,” and then go back into our rooms. [laughs] …

In Alter Ego #134, July 2015, Richard J. Arndt interviewed Stan Goldberg who said

… Socially we’d go out and do stuff together [in earlier years]. Stan and his wife, Carl Burgos and his wife, Stan Starkman—he was a letterer who went to DC, and Herbie Cooper, another letterer who formed his own printing company. These were all guys from the old bullpens. We’d go out every month, go to dinner or the theater. We’d meet in the city for a Sunday brunch. It was a whole group of people that we stayed close with. …

Starkman passed away on January 22, 2011, in Pompano Beach, Florida. The South Florida Sun Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, Florida), January 23, 2011, published a death notice: “Starkman, Stan, 83, of Coconut Creek, FL, passed away on January 22, 2011. Sinai Memorial Chapels, Inc.” He was laid to rest at South Florida National Cemetery.

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