Milton Glaser: Superman and DC Comics

Milton Glaser
Poster for the exhibition Superman: Many Lives, Many Worlds,
National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution
(June 24, 1987–September 1, 1988), 1987
Lithograph (with artist’s oil pencil signature), 36 x 24” (91.5 x 61 cm)

In 1988, Superman turned fifty. The National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution, marked the occasion with the exhibition Superman: Many Lives, Many Worlds (June 24, 1987–September 1, 1988). Milton Glaser (American, 1929–2020), who had designed DC’s “Bullet” logo in 1976, was the natural choice to design the poster (above). Appropriating the iconic figure as standardized by José Luis García-López in 1982, Glaser inserted the surprising element of a “real” (i.e. photographic) forearm and fist as a means to succinctly visualize the figure’s evolution from comic book to television to film (the fourth Christopher Reeve film was released in 1987).

Glaser’s process of creating this poster—from a photostat of the original comic, to a darkroom photomontage with added photograph, to a color overlay with Pantone color samples—is documented in the series of “poster mechanicals” shown below. These were returned to Glaser by KathyAnn Edwards Petruccio, a graphic designer at DC Comics, on July 30, 1987 (per her letter below). 

L: Preliminary image for poster. Cut-and-pasted photostat adhered to board,
20 1/4 x 15 1/8” (51.5 x 38.25 cm)
R: Color transparency (of darkroom photomontage).
4 7/8 x 3 7/8” (12.25 x 10 cm)

Mechanical for poster in three layers, 23 1/2 x 20” (59.75 x 51 cm).
L: Color photographic print (of darkroom photomontage)
C: India ink on tracing paper
R: Magic marker on tracing paper, with adhered Pantone color samples

L: Mechanical showing three layers.
R: Detail of Pantone color samples.

Iterations of stationery using Glaser’s DC “Bullet” logo
(designed in 1976, in use until 2005).
Above: Mailing label (DC Comics, 1700 Broadway). Lithograph on paper with adhesive backing, 3 1/4 x 5 1/2” (8 x 14 cm)

Recto and verso: DC Stationery: KathyAnn Petruccio. Lithograph (with ink letter dated July 30, [1987]), 8 1/2 x 5 1/2” (21.75 x 14 cm)

Recto and verso: DC Stationery: DC Comics, A Division of Time Warner Entertainment Company, 1700 Broadway; Paul Levitz, Executive Vice President and Publisher. Lithograph, 8 1/2 x 11” (21.5 x 28 cm)

Recto and verso: DC Stationery: DC Comics Inc., A Warner Communications Company, 666 Fifth Avenue; 1988 Superman’s 50th Birthday.
Lithograph, 8 1/2 x 11” (21.5 x 28 cm)

August 6, 2024