Anatomy of a Logo: The Masterworks Series of Great Comic Book Artists

The project was for Phil Seuling of Sea Gate, Inc. He had an arrangement with Paul Levitz to produce a comic book series, named by Seuling, The Masterworks Series of Great Comic Book Artists. Seuling also wanted a Sea Gate emblem opposite the DC bullet. 

The Photo-Lettering font, Longacre Round Open Condensed N, second from the top, was used for the series title. 

Photo-Lettering’s One Line Manual of Styles (1971)

A dummy cover featuring Neal Adams’ Deadman. The character could not be used in the series. 

The artists’ names were lettered by Todd Klein. Advertisements appeared in many publications including The Comics Journal. 

The Comics Journal #79, December 1982

Number 1

Number 2

The Comics Journal #82, July 1983

Number 3

Photostat of unpublished cover

The series ended after three issues. 

(Next post on Monday: On This Day Phil Seuling Passed Away)

Lettering: Barry Windsor-Smith, Artist

The Byrds
Preflyte
Columbia Records, 1973

Barry Smith’s Tupenny Conan
Middle Earth, 1974

 





























Shelf Stuff
Gorblimey Press, 1975
Title lettering designed by Smith
Finished art by Linda Lessman
Back cover Barry Smith logo by Michael Doret (door et)

The Gorblimey Press Catalogue 1975-76: A Retrospective
Contents page title lettering.
On page 23, Smith talked about the making of Shelf Stuff (above) and said “… If 
you’re interested, although I designed the title lettering, it was Linda’s deft and
graceful hand that finished and fully realized the cover lettering. …”

The Studio
Jeffrey Jones, Michael Kaluta, Barry Windsor-Smith and Bernie Wrightson
Dragon’s Dream, 1979

 































Further Reading and Viewing
Barry Windsor-Smith Storyteller


(Next post on Monday: Bill Finger’s World War II Draft Card)