Anatomy of a Logo: Moebius' Airtight Garage, Part 1

On August 4, 1992, Epics Comics editor Marie Javins called to see if I was available to work on a Moebius logo. I said, "Yes." She said Jean-Marc Lofficier asked for me. Minutes later, my fax machine churned out Moebius artwork selected for the covers of the four-issue mini-series. The next day I started work on the logo.

Thinking of automobile chrome logos.

Pseudo-psychedelic lettering.

A few letters with hints of the Art Deco style.

On August 7, these six designs were faxed to Marie.

(Tomorrow: Part 2)

Under Cover: The Sentinel

The late Byron Preiss produced the series, Masterworks of Science Fiction and Fantasy, for Berkley Books in the early 1980s. The Sentinel (1983) was a collection of nine vintage short stories by Arthur C. Clarke, who wrote introductions for the book and each story. Included in the volume was “The Sentinel”, which was one of a several stories used in the Stanley Kubrick film, 2001: A Space Odyssey. I was responsible for the cover and interior design. The late Lebbeus Woods illustrated the stories.

To celebrate the book’s release, Byron and the publisher held a party at the club Danceteria, located at 30 West 21st Street. Here’s what Charles Platt said about the event in the newsletter Ansible 36, December 1983:

At the beginning of November, Putnam/Berkley collaborated with book publisher [sic; producer] Byron Preiss in an extravaganza at Danceteria (fashionable NY midtown disco to mark publication of a collection of old Arthur C. Clarke stories being hyped as a ‘major publishing event’. Banks of colour TVs showed 2001 while a competing sound-system played ‘background music’ and guests shouted in each other's ears. Highlight of the evening: ‘a special message from Clarke, a 1-minute taped phone call that sounded like Hurro ar uh in nuh orrrrk thisss Arrrthr C. Clarke via brrrrkkkk communications satellite rrhhhggttss awrr sss... while at the same time the TVs blared 'Open the pod bay door, Hal!’ etc…

There was a bit more to Clarke’s message. Byron, Lebbeus and I were standing in the center of the crowd when the message was played. I was pleasantly surprised to hear Clarke speak my name as one of the book’s contributors.

Lebbeus’s cover sketch was approved with changes.

A cover proof was made with Lebbeus’s artwork,

with the number of rays of light reduced.

Berkley promoted the the series and the book with a poster (four illustrations from

the book), which was sent to booksellers. Shown above are panels one through four.

Later, Berkley had second thoughts about the art and asked for a different approach.

The revised trade paperback cover proof. Front cover and spine fonts are from the

Futura family. Berkley wanted the font that was used on the 1968 movie poster.

The title was embossed. Back cover fonts are from the ITC Novarese family.

The book measures 6 by 9 inches (15.24 by 22.86 centimeters).

My original title page design was a spread but it was rejected.

The revised title page was set in Letraset Corinthian Light and Bold.

Opening spread for the story “The Sentinel”. Excerpts from Clarke's introduction:

Next to “The Star” and “The Nine Billion Names of God,” I suppose “The Sentinel” is my best-known short story—though not for itself, but as the seed from which 2001: A Space Odyssey sprang, twenty years after is was written in 1948….

I am continually annoyed by careless references to “The Sentinel” as “the story on which 2001 is based”; it bears about as much relation to the movie as an acorn to the resultant full-grown oak. (Considerably less, in fact, because ideas from several other stories were also incorporated.) Even the elements that Stanley Kubrick and I did actually use were considerably modified. Thus the “glittering, roughly pyramidal structure…set in the rock like a gigantic, many-faceted jewel” became—after several modifications—the famous black monolith. And the locale was moved from the Mare Crisium to the most spectacular of all lunar craters, Tycho—easily visible to the naked eye from Earth at Full Moon….

2001: A Space Odyssey opened in the United States in early April 1968.

Spine and cover of the hardcover, signed and numbered edition.

Type and art foil-stamped in gold.

Detail of Science Fiction Book Club edition jacket.

UK edition; cover art by Chris Foss; cover designer not credited.

The Barnes and Noble 1996 edition used the first version of

Lebbeus’s cover art; jacket design by Lynn J. Binder. A trade

paperback edition, with a new cover, was published by iBooks

in 2000, followed by a mass market paperback edition in 2004.

Rescue Party

Guardian Angel

Guardian Angel

Breaking Strain

Jupiter V

Jupiter V

Refugee

The Wind from the Sun

A Meeting with Medusa

A Meeting with Medusa

The Songs of Distant Earth

LEBBEUS WOODS

1940–2012

Architectural Record Link 1 Link 2
A Dark Traveling

The European Graduate School

The Guardian

Los Angeles Times
Millennium

The New York Times

Popular Science

San Francisco Museum of Modern Art

(Updated October 24, 2013; next post on Monday: Moebius’ Airtight Garage)

Wood Type: Ampersand

My collection of wood type ampersands.

(Next post on Monday: Arthur C. Clarke’s The Sentinel)

Creator: Frank Frazetta and Baseball

April 4 is opening day for the 2012 season of Major League Baseball. In the 1940s, Frank Frazetta played sandlot baseball for the Islanders in the Marine Park Division of the Parade Grounds Baseball League. Here are a few articles from the Brooklyn Daily Eagle.

Brooklyn Daily Eagle, April 7, 1946

Last paragraph

Brooklyn Daily Eagle, September 1, 1948

First paragraph

Brooklyn Daily Eagle, December 9, 1949

Last paragraph

Brooklyn Daily Eagle, September 6, 1950

22nd on the list

Ariel, Volume Two, 1977, published the second part of Armand Eisen's interview with Frank Frazetta; excerpts from the interview:

What age were you when you got the pro baseball offer from the Giants?

I think I was about twenty.

Johnny Comet came along. Why did you decide not to go with baseball? That was an important decision—you could have been a professional athlete.

Stupidity. Just dumb, negative attitude. Also at the time, I was involved with a girl. And the fact that I would have to go off with the farm team somewhere down in Texas and sweat it out for a year didn't seem very appealing. It was very different than it is now. If they approached me today and I was in my twenties…

Would you do it?

Yes, I would, assuming that I had the same ability. The first thing they would do would be to offer me a tremendous amount of dough. There were no huge bonuses in those days—most kids were delighted to go down and struggle in the minors. I realize now that I would have had a good chance of graduating to the major leagues in a hurry.

Today, do you regret that you didn't…

Sure!

Do you really? Is that the truth, Frank?

I loved baseball. I played it and I still play it and I still draw and paint. So what the hell is the difference? They are two things I love to do. With baseball, I loved the competing; I loved the physical part of it. I could really let out—run like a wild man and swing that bat. Totally exhilarating! It almost beats sex—almost.

Well, when you hit a home run, I can see where it would.

Yeah. Absolutely the same thing. Total climax—my god, beautiful. It always bugs me when I hear some professional athlete stand around and say that he only does it for the money.

As for why I didn't sign up, I remember that going to another state seemed like going to the end of the world. They bus you back and forth and it was just one big disgusting hassle. So I said maybe next year…time went by and before you know it I'm too old. It was just my way of letting time go by.

Let's say, if you had a choice and if you could only do one, which would you choose?

Well, I've never had it put to me that way before. I must admit that the physical side is stronger.

I think you get the same satisfaction from that as you would from art.

I certainly do. And I get less tired. I am nowhere near as exhausted playing ball as I am when I paint.

(New post on Monday)