Strongly worded letter to follow

January 5, 2010 8:28 AM

Letterheady, adjective. 1. Overcome by a strong emotion due to a letterhead design. 2. A new blog from Shaun Usher, creator of Letters of Note. (previously)
posted by Horace Rumpole (10 comments total)

I really like Benjamin Péret's letterform, but there are more good letterhead from the source blog that were overlooked. Or is the intention of linking to sources to call out other places to find fantastic letterheads?

As for the DC back page: I know Wonder Woman, Teen Titans Robin, Plastic man, Batman, Flash and Superman, but who's between Plastic Man and Batman? I made a wild guess and thought it might be some Black Flash, but I was wrong (Black Flash is death incarnate for "speedster characters." Seriously.) Is it some 1980s form of Black Lightning?
posted by filthy light thief at 10:07 AM on January 5, 2010

That's the TV-show version of Static, titular character of a very entertaining comic from the '90s. He's actually a Milestone rather than a DC character, licensed to DC.

The Milestone books were some of the best superhero comics of the '90s, with sharp dialogue, involving plotlines and memorable characterization. Their art was out of step with the times, tho, and their new coloring tech, while ahead of most contemporaries, was no match for Olyoptics's dazzling new style.
posted by Slap*Happy at 10:21 AM on January 5, 2010

The only mystery is what these "letterheads" were used for. There is no hint at all about what use these strange sheets of decorated wood-pulp were put to.

Puzzling.
posted by clvrmnky at 11:19 AM on January 5, 2010

There's something about letterhead and paper letters that really appeals to me. I've toyed, from time to time, with the idea of ordering some, but I'm afraid that actually using personal stationery today would come off as unbearably pretentious.
posted by Kadin2048 at 11:53 AM on January 5, 2010

This is worth it just for the Robot Salesman letterhead.
posted by grubi at 12:20 PM on January 5, 2010

Ditto on the Robot Salesmen; I'd buy a dozen of whatever they talked about on that sheet.

The Design Conspiracy folk must not have a lot to say (too busy being conspiratorial I guess) - you could put two paragraphs on that sheet, tops. That's not even usable design.
posted by Hardcore Poser at 4:05 PM on January 5, 2010

Yeah, the design conspiracy one is just self indulgent.
posted by delmoi at 4:19 PM on January 5, 2010

The Design Conspiracy folk must not have a lot to say [...] you could put two paragraphs on that sheet, tops.

But you'd sure pay attention to those two paragraphs, no? The power of arrows compel you!

The Robot Salesmen letterhead is so ludicrously awesome I can hardly believe it isn't steampunk fakery.
posted by Horace Rumpole at 4:34 PM on January 5, 2010

Thing is, how many business letters does one type that actually are more than two paragraphs? Nobody's going to read much more than that anyway. And if you really do need to make a novella, use the letterhead as a cover letter and continue on more utilitarian paper behind it.
posted by scrowdid at 10:15 PM on January 5, 2010

I've seen letterhead from some big law firms that has every partner's name listed, in some cases taking up more than 1/3rd or even half the page. It's a little comical. (I've always wondered how much they end up throwing away, if they have to order up new stuff every time a partner leaves, retires, or gets added.) I can't find any good examples online though.

This is some cool letterhead, in what I'd describe as "19th century everything but the kitchen sink" style — I would have tossed a little portrait of the founder on there just for completeness, but they do an admirable job. (Note that they even tell you what telegraph codes you can use when wiring them — ABC, Western Union, and Lieber — which is cool.)
posted by Kadin2048 at 9:24 AM on January 6, 2010