Neil deGrasse Tyson Presents Space Odyssey. Client: Len Wein. Medium: digital. Date: 2016. A video game based on the Tyson TV series Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey, which Len Wein was somehow involved in. He commissioned this logo from me, which uses a commercial font, but it was never paid for, and the game is still in limbo as far as I know. I like it, so I’m including it.

Spanner’s Galaxy. Client: DC Comics. Medium: pen and ink. Date: 1984. A science fiction series, I thought the large S at each end was interesting and worth emphasizing. The final logo had a star field inside the letters of Galaxy, probably by artist Tom Mandrake. Appeared on six issues.

Spawn Bible. Client: Todd McFarlane. Medium: digital. Date: 1996. Tom Orzechowski did this fine Spawn logo and most other logo and lettering work for McFarlane, but Todd asked me to do the second line for this one. It uses one of my title fonts with a few tweaks. Appeared on one issue.

Spawn: Blood Feud. Client: Todd McFarlane. Medium: digital. Date: 1995. The other Spawn logo I did used the same title font and a commercial font for the top line. The final logo replaced that with Orzechowski’s logo for the four issue series.

The Spectacular Spider-Man. Client: Marvel. Medium: pen and ink. Date: 1994. One of several Spider-Man logo revamps I did at this time. Marvel wanted to update the original by Brodsky and Simek, but not change it too much. A few months later they decided they wanted another, more extreme, revamp, see below. This one was not used as far as I know.

The Spectacular Spider-Man. Client: Marvel. Medium: pen and ink. Date: 1994. Their new idea was a design similar to the Sabretooth logo I had done for them two years earlier, so I redid them again on that plan. More on all this HERE. This one was used on most of issues 218 to 256.

The Spectre. Client: DC Comics. Medium: pen and ink. Date: 1986. Pencilled by Ed Hannigan and inked by me, which is probably why I don’t have a copy in my files and don’t recall working on it, but the original in the DC files has our names on it. A unique style that’s somewhat art deco. Appeared on 31 issues.

Speed Buggy! Client: DC Comics. Medium: digital. Date: 1999. One of the Hanna-Barbera character logos I was asked to create or recreate, this was for the cover of CARTOON NETWORK PRESENTS #23. Adobe Illustrator allowed me to make more effective speed lines.

Spider-Boy. Client: Amalgam Comics (Marvel and DC). Medium: digital. Date: 1995. Combining my Superboy and Spider-Man logos, so I was the right person for this job. Fun to do, especially the line shading on the S. Appeared on two issues, see below.

Spider-Boy Team-Up Featuring The Legion of Galactic Guardians 2099. Client: Amalgam Comics (Marvel and DC). Medium: digital. Date: 1996. Is this the longest cover logo I ever worked on? Probably, though on the actual cover the right side was moved down to the bottom left as if it was cover lettering. The new parts are all my fonts or my designs except that LEGION logo, which is by Ken Lopez. Appeared on one issue.

Spider-Man. Client: Marvel. Medium: pen and ink. Date: 1994. As seen above, for the Marvel book simply titled Spider-Man, and where all the other versions began. The first was not used, the second appeared on issues 52 to 67 and many other places.

Spider-Man Adventures. Client: Marvel. Medium: pen and ink. Date: 1994. Another of these. For titles where the qualifier was below the main word, I felt it wouldn’t work to curve them against all those points, so I did straight block letters in rounded boxes. Appeared on five issues, then someone else did a curved version not in a box.

Spider-Man: Dead Man’s Hand. Client: Marvel. Medium: digital. Date: 1996. By this time I’d done a straight-line version of my Spider-Man revamp in digital form so I could squash it a bit vertically to make room for this second line, which is one of my fonts. Appeared on one issue.

Spider-Man: Funeral for an Octopus. Client: Marvel. Medium: pen and ink. Date: 1994. This is the design for which I created the straight-line Spider-Man logo, but still by hand. I digitized it later. Not sure that the tombstone is working, but I like the way the subtitle is carved into it. Appeared on three issues.

Spider-Man – Punisher Family Plot. Client: Marvel. Medium: digital. Date: 1995. Combo logos like this rarely work well together, but at least the two character logos (by me) are about the same shape. The bottom line is a commercial font. Appeared on two issues.

Spider-Man: Redemption. Client: Marvel. Medium: digital. Date: 1996. The second line here started with a commercial font with lots of additions and tweaks. I have no idea why the D is so tall. Appeared on four issues. This straight version of my Spider-Man design replaced the curved one on most titles and stayed on them for a while, as well as appearing many other places. More on that HERE.

(Spider-Man) Starring in Marvel Tales. Client: Marvel. Medium: pen and ink. Date: 1994. Another title where the new curved spiky logo was wanted with this below it, in a hexagonal box for a change, but I don’t see any evidence it was used.

Spider-Man The Arachnis Project. Client: Marvel. Medium: pen and ink. Date: 1994. A completely different block-letter version of the character’s name for a change. The block serifs at the top helped fill spaces around the A’s. Appeared on six issues.

Spider-Man Unlimited. Client: Marvel. Medium: pen and ink. Date: 1994. For the top one I went for the matching curve and drop shadow, but that one wasn’t used. The round-ended box appeared on three issues before being replaced by an unboxed curved version by someone else. In retrospect, that’s what I should have done.

Posts in this series are listed on the Logo Links page of my blog.

Silver Deer. Client: DC Comics. Medium: pen and ink or marker. Date: 1986. For Who’s Who #21. The character’s costume included fringe, so I added some.

Silver Ghost. Client: DC Comics. Medium: pen and ink or marker. Date: 1986. For Who’s Who #21. Shine on small letters is hard to pull off, but I think it worked here with help from the color.

Silver Scarab. Client: DC Comics. Medium: pen and ink or marker. Date: 1986. For Who’s Who #21. Also appeared in INFINITY INC. #9. The double S joined by the scarab symbol is a nice touch, I think.

Silver Surfer. Client: Marvel. Medium: digital. Date: 1996. It was not until I began working in Adobe Illustrator that I could create more subtle and effective metallic effects. I’m not sure if these letters began as a commercial font, or if I just drew and developed them in Illustrator. The long tails on the S’s were meant to bleed off the covers. Appeared on issues 123 to 146 of the monthly title and I think a few other places.

Siren. Client: Malibu Comics. Medium: digital. Date: 1995. I think this began as a sketch and was developed in Illustrator. Pointy and dangerous. Appeared on four issues and a Special.

Sivana. Client: DC Comics. Medium: pen and ink or marker. Date: 1986. For Who’s Who #21. If this 1940s Captain Marvel villain ever had a logo in those stories, we didn’t have access to it at DC. Here I tried to do something villainous but still a bit bouncy and fun.

Sivana. Client: DC Comics. Medium: pen and ink or marker. Date: 1987. For Who’s Who Update #5. And a year later they wanted another one, probably for an updated version of the character being used more recently. I went modern.

Six Guns & Roses. Client: Entertainment Weekly. Medium: digital. Date: 2016. One of several now puzzling things commissioned for their 2016 Comic-Con Preview issue. I think this had something to do with Stephen King’s Gunslinger character from his Dark Tower series. The letters were sketched, then traced in Illustrator.

Skaar, Son of Hulk. Client: Marvel. Medium: marker. Date: 2007. I did lots of marker sketches for this character, first without his name, then with. More on that HERE. I billed for it and got paid, but I kept waiting for them to tell me which sketch was the final choice, and then I would work up a digital version in Illustrator. To my surprise, they simply used one of the marker sketch scans as the final logo. Looks okay on the covers to me, and it saved me some time. Appeared on twelve issues.

Skyshapers. Client: Skyshapers Foundation. Medium: pen and ink. Date: 1990. I don’t have a copy of what I did, looking online this seems likely to be it. I’m not clear on what it is or was exactly, looks like animation-style images aimed at kids. There’s also THIS article describing a non-profit that seems to be the same thing, and part of their circular logo is at the top of the image above. I don’t think I did that. Possibly this client was given my contact info by someone at DC Comics.

(The Awesome) Slapstick! Client: Marvel. Medium: pen and ink. Date: 1991. Always fun to do something bouncy and humorous for a change, a four-issue series about a character turned into some kind of space clown I think. The word slapstick comes from Vaudeville, it was a pair of sticks that made a loud crack sound when you struck it, used to emphasize a punchline or a gag. The word became synonymous with physical comedy as seen in old films by Laurel and Hardy, the Three Stooges, and others.

Sleepwalker. Client: Marvel. Medium: pen and ink. Date: 1991. The conversation with Marvel went something like this: “We want a weird, twisty logo something like the Time Warp one that DC did a while back.” “I did that.” “Great! Do it again.” So, I imitated myself, and they were happy with it. Appeared on 33 issues, a lot more than Time Warp.

Slither. Client: DC Comics. Medium: digital. Date: 1997. Created for SUPERBOY PLUS #2, I used one of the snaky character’s eyes above the I. Probably began as a sketch that I worked up in Illustrator.

Smax. Client: America’s Best Comics. Medium: digital. Date: 2003. The somewhat surprising (to me) but fun spinoff from Alan Moore’s Top 10. The super-strong character needed a bulky and rugged logo. I added the white hand symbol from his chest to the X. Appeared on five issues.

Smoke And Mirrors. Client: HarperCollins. Medium: digital. Date: 2020. One of eight Gaiman paperbacks with new painted cover art by the legendary Robert McGinnis. I used commercial fonts, the AND was an extra element in one. More HERE.

Solo. Client: Marvel. Medium: pen and ink. Date: 1994. Art deco style sometimes made the top horizontal elements wider, here I did the opposite, thickening the bottom horizontals. Gives it a different look, which is good, since there isn’t much you can do with this name visually. Appeared on four issues.

Sovereign Seven. Client: DC Comics. Medium: pen and ink. Date: 1994. DC had high hopes for this series written by Chris Claremont, which was reasonably successful but not the next X-Men they were hoping for I think. I did lots of marker sketches and received lots of comments on them. This is the version of the name they used with the round O option. My S7 symbol was based on one by artist Dwayne Turner. I like it, but it’s hard to read. The final logo uses a different symbol that’s similar but easier to read. More on this HERE. Appeared on 36 issues, two annuals, and at least one other comic.

Soviet Super Soldiers. Client: Marvel. Medium: pen and ink. Date: 1992. For a one-shot. The chance to use one large S for all three words was irresistible, and I went for it.

Space Clusters. Client: DC Comics. Medium: pen and ink. Date: 1986. Most of DC’s graphic novels from this time used type for the logos, this is a rare exception. I enjoyed designing this kind of psychedelic SPACE for the Alex Niño cover art. A silly name, but nothing I could do about that.

Space Museum. Client: DC Comics. Medium: pen and ink or marker. Date: 1986. A favorite series of mine from STRANGE ADVENTURES in the 1960s, I tried to make the logo interesting, and it is to me. The original stories only had a tiny banner, not a real logo.

Posts in this series are listed on the Logo Links page of my blog.