A thing of beauty. A joy forever.
On one of my many gleeful skips through the online treasure trove that is The Grand Comic Book Database, I found a few more examples of this font at work, but as opposed to my earlier examples, on non-Fantastic Four comics that celebrate the fury and the fun that is the FF not only in the logo but in parodying or pastiching famous FF covers.
The cover of the first issue Fantastic Four has been parodied or homaged dozens of times (a whole lotta them by John Byrne), but here's a cover that salutes not only the design but the logo of FF #1: last year's ultra-fun Fin Fang Four:
And when you're talking about fun comic books, you've got to include Alan Moore's genre-spanning Tom Strong series from ABC, which was to my little eyes one of the most gleeful celebrations of the joy and wonder of comics. Tom Strong referenced the FF logo not once but twice, adapting classic Kirby covers for Mister Strong and company, first in Tom Strong #15, substituting fire for water in a salute to the famous FF #4:
...and again in Tom Strong #21, homaging FF #26:
I know Mister Kirby was of two minds about referencing and homaging his work, but I hope he would have realized it's done out of respect and admiration in cases like these. Me, I just love any time anyone can adapt that 1960s Marvel design and those glorious bombastic caption boxes and jaggy-edged lettering to the modern day. Gotta love that "America's Best Comics" line at the top of the page!
Tom Strong referenced many, many different historical comics logos and covers in its run. Possibly I'll run 'em down some day in this blog, but for the moment my eyes are full of wonder and sparkle over these adaptations of my favorite comic book title logo. Excelsior to you, Fantastic Four logo...'nuff said, true believers!
Hellasweet.
ReplyDeleteIn the interim, here's probably the least-expected use of that awesome font that I've seen.
ReplyDeleteWell, more reminiscent than exact, to be sure. Still, nice typeface.
ReplyDeleteTom Strong referenced many, many different historical comics logos and covers in its run. Possibly I'll run 'em down some day in this blog
ReplyDeleteI would pay cash money for this*.
*This is not to be construed with a legal offer of cash money.
It's a deal, Dr. Ob.
ReplyDeleteNot immediately, because a) I want to make certain no one else on the blogosphere or internet has done such a thing and b) while I recognize some covers i don't always know the exact source, and aren't certain of some at all.
But it's definitely a project and post that's in this LSB's "to do" pile. Thanks for the encouragement!
T.S.TERRIFIC TALES 12 =AVENGERS 4
ReplyDeleteT.S.22 = CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS 7
T.S.11 = STRANGE TALES 114
AND
T.S.12 = J.L.A. (SILVER AGE)22
(AND THAT J.L.A. COVER WAS BASED ON
MYSTERY IN SPACE 18)
i thought that the inspiration for tom strong's terrific tales #1 could have been any one of dozens of covers -all winners, blackhawk etc.
ReplyDeleteaction comics #52 for instance is quite close...
...but then i looked in the STERANKO HISTORY OF COMICS VOL 2 and there's a dps illo on pages 38 and 39 that matches the cover almost exactly.i suspect that this is an original illo of capn marvel and co.