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Hats off to the letterers
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Started by DavidTheDavid,

21 posts in this topic

DavidTheDavid

DavidTheDavid

Posted
Posted

Reading Michael Allred books tuned me into the work of Nate Piekos of Blambot.

If you're the sort of comic hobbyist who enjoys learning how different comic creators ply their trade, check out his site, https://blambot.com/. Some of the resource articles there really gave me a better understanding and appreciation of lettering.

He has a guidebook coming out in October from Image Comics: https://imagecomics.com/press-releases/budding-comic-book-creatives-will-learn-tips-tricks-this-october-in-the-essential-guide-to-comic-book-lettering.

So those of you who are already lettering fan aficionados, who are the important letterers in the past?

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Ken Aldred

Ken Aldred

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15 hours ago, silverseeker said:

I've been a fan of Tom Orzechowski's lettering style ever since I read the Claremont/Byrne/Austin X-Men run back in the day...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Orzechowski

Yup.  Forgot about him.  Strange though, being a lifelong fan of X-Men, and Starlin’s Captain Marvel and Warlock.

I’ve always liked small, neat lettering like his and Joe Rosen’s.  Very prolific on the Bronze Age comics I grew up with.

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Bird

Bird

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18 hours ago, steveinthecity said:

On the subject of letters/letterers I’ve found Todd Klein’s(DC letterer) blogs & articles interesting.

https://kleinletters.com

I was lucky enough to get 4 of the signed prints Todd did highlighting his lettering...an easy way to also get sigs by Buckingham, JHW3, Neil himself, and the guy in his basement worshipping the Serpent God.

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Ken Aldred

Ken Aldred

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37 minutes ago, 1 2 3 4 Thumb War! said:

Jim Aparo! Pencils, inks, and letters.

Learned something.

Never noticed that Aparo lettered.

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Ken Aldred

Ken Aldred

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Posted (edited)

Particularly from the mid 90s onwards, Richard Starkings has been a prolific font designer and a key figure in digital lettering for comic books.

Edited by Ken Aldred
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Ken Aldred

Ken Aldred

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39 minutes ago, kav said:

Lettering is harder than drawing.  I have tried.

I’d imagine it requires extreme precision.

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kav

kav

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6 minutes ago, Ken Aldred said:

I’d imagine it requires extreme precision.

Itś frustratingly difficult.  I drew about 200 pages of comics trying very very carefully to letter them. It looked like ****.

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JazzMan

JazzMan

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Glad this thread was created.  It's a subtle but noticeable thing that when a letterer does his job well it generally goes unnoticed.  There were comics that I just could not stomach because the letters were typeset - it may have been some Charlton or something.  A complete turn off, regardless of the art and story. 

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Ken Aldred

Ken Aldred

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3 hours ago, JazzMan said:

Glad this thread was created.  It's a subtle but noticeable thing that when a letterer does his job well it generally goes unnoticed.  There were comics that I just could not stomach because the letters were typeset - it may have been some Charlton or something.  A complete turn off, regardless of the art and story. 

I agree, and I’ve always considered letterers to have a significant effect on the overall presentation of a comic. I’ve always preferred small, neat, precise styles such as Orzechowski’s or Rosen’s and that, for me, they work superbly with the images.  

EC lettering was done with Leroy calligraphy templates.  The only mechanical-looking style I recall in comics. 

 

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AndyFish

AndyFish

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Jack Morelli is one of the best-- he worked through the 80s at Marvel and if you ever get a chance to talk to him (which is hard because he doesn't do shows) ask him about the making of the Marvel Team-Up 128 Cover.    The photo cover features Spider-Man and Captain America on a New York City roof.   Well, that's Joe Jusko in the Cap suit and Jack himself in the Spider-Man costume (he was the only guy in the office at the time who fit) and the shoot was done on the roof of Marvel Comics.

There's much more to the story including a hilarious prank directed at EIC Tom DeFalco-- but I leave it to Jack to tell sometime.   He's an endless trove of amazing anecdotes and I hope someday a smart promoter puts him on a panel at a show.   Jack has been my letterer on my two SABRINA series at Archie and he's a consummate professional.

Long live the letterers!

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