Saturday, May 2, 2009

Playful Signatures

Before we dive into a look at Jim Aparo's evolving signatures, let's take a quick look at a couple of examples where he got a little playful with the way he signed his covers.
First, here's The Brave and the Bold #152, starring Batman and The Atom:
Now look a little closer at the signature, down there to the right of the UPC box:
Cute, hunh?
And next, let's turn to Weird War Tales #53:
War comics were not a genre Jim delved into very often; aside from some war-themed team-ups in B&B, this is about it! Jim was supposed to do a backup for Blackhawk when Mark Evanier was writing it, but it didn't happen. I'd have enjoyed seeing him play in the battlefield more often: he certainly had the devotion to research that would have yielded convincing results.
Come back soon to see "A Survey of Signatures", where we examine Jim's more familiar marks!

1 comment:

  1. Ha! Thanks for introducing me to that Weird War Tales cover Michael. Maybe not the first look I've had of it in the course of casual browsing of the title, but not owning that particular issue, it certainly is the first time I'd seen that cheeky gesture on the fallen soldier's name badge. Aparo must have had a great sense of fun while working out his comic panels. Of course there was also that famous Brave and the Bold Sgt. Rock issue where not just his name but his "threatened" self appears on the cover. It reminds me of the sort of fun that I think was more common over at Marvel in the 60's. Kirby, Lee and Ditko (perhaps against his will) often seemed to get a kick out of becoming characters in their own work. Thanks! I look forward to the rest of your feature.

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