Where the "comic book font" came from

So...why does all the writing in comic books look like that? Vox's Phil Edwards looked into it and found an aesthetic shaped by comics culture, technology, and really cheap paper.
Follow Phil Edwards and Vox Almanac on Facebook for more: / philedwardsinc1
Want to learn more about comics lettering? You can't beat the writing of legendary letterer Todd Klein:
kleinletters.com/
Special thanks to Collector's World in Annandale, Va, as well as Comicraft and Boom! Studios.
Check them out here:
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[@ava4358]

i really want to know where that 20th century male news announcer voice came from- you know the one. old-styled, fast, kinda high pitched. in almost all news broadcasts documented from the 1920s-50s, it all has the same voice. who is it?

[@erikthegodeatingpenguin2335]

I wanna know too, so I'm commenting so that I get a notification when someone who knows what they're talking about comes along.

[@thetroll5246]

+pizza box audio recording wasn't as good as it is now, so it made many people sound similar.

[@thetroll5246]

+pizza box no problem :) I'm pretty sure that's why. If not, then someone will just correct me lol

[@aceofspades627]

The speaking pattern you're referring to is called a trans-atlantic accent. It was popular in America during that time period and is described as being somewhere between an American accent a British accent, hence the name.

[@akinmytua4680]

that accent also helped people with different accents all understand the radio. Because we had even more dialects back then.

[@Beanskiiii]

I like this channel because they answer questions about topics that you think about once or twice then forget. Like why Americans are stuck with all these drug commercials? I've thought about it a few times but it was never that serious. Then with this too. I like it.

[@ImperiaGin]

USA is like a giant company

[@bdr689]

Almost every developed nation is mostly capitalist. Socialism is a theory and nothing more. Socialist programs are great but pure socialism is not viable.

[@TheJonsalazar]

+bdr_ There must be a balance, like with everything. Pure laissez-faire economics is prone to low wages and corruption so some government regulation would be better. Also, socialized public school is the reason so many Americans were able to go to school. Think for yourself, everyone

[@Beanskiiii]

Reggie Watchowtnow What? Actually, I'm a skeptic. If you look on my channel, bar all the soccer stuff, you'd see that. I'm more worried about major issues that effect society, like how corrupt politicians are and how the knowledge of logical fallacies can further critical thinking, which in turn can change the masses from sheeple to informed skeptics.

[@MrWatchowtnow]

Skeptic? that explains a lot actually , they almost never have all the information.

[@SpudMackenzie]

This is going to sound really hipster, but part of why the usage of the word font grew in popularity is it has kinda subsumed the word typeface in definition. Helvetica and Arial are typefaces, but 9pt Arial Bold is a font.

[@kkfoto]

True. When you click the "Font" menu in a word processing application, you get a list of *typefaces* to choose from. However, since each letter from a typeface is completely scalable, there isn’t any distinction between a font and a typeface any more.

[@s_ame1135]

As a casual, It's nice to hear that there are jargon and a technical term for the word "font". Thanks for broadening my knowledge.

[@0h0h0h0]

I never understood the difference! Thanks!

[@rajavlitra]

Technical necessity. The word "typeface" was too long to be fully shown on computers at the time.

[@naytrevejo3996]

it's crazy than even now some translated mangas have this font. I never questioned it. really interesting topic

[@Chloe-ru2eb]

Nay Trevejo I think people who translate them use those because they're so common in western comics so they want to emulate that

[@naytrevejo3996]

that makes sense

[@theMoporter]

Ever heard of "Anime Ace?"

[@maddieschaefer]

My German comics have this font too, and I always thought that was interesting, because since it is so strictly in lines. German has a lot of accents on letters, like umlauts, and somehow it still just feels good and familiar

[@bumi5504]

Translated Manhwa have this font too; it’s very interesting

[@banana551000]

The one thing that I have always hated with a burning passion about comic books is that they always *embolden* words where it doesn't make sense to emphasize them. And they *always* do *it* too *much!* It really *messes* with the flow of the *sentences* and makes everything *sound* choppy. They really need to *embolden* words a lot *less.*

[@sirsupesafro7637]

@Mathis Bouffard nah b. Still *happens* .

[@MicahMicahel]

That is a technique like any other. It can be done well or badly. In alternative comics they do it better because the lettering is done by the cartoonist that wrote it. Super hero comics are like assembly lines where the actual creator has less control.

[@alleyway8627]

Agreed

[@joshirabin]

Cough diary of a wimpy kid cough

[@h-Films]

Yes *I* agree

[@DPSTOH]

The best thing about Vox is their ability to go off on really interesting tangents about the weirdest stuff bahahaha

[@albertrix1]

I love fonts! They define the style and overall feeling of a work

[@Googleusergoogleuser-b4p]

Really? Name all fonts

[@CB0408]

I remember reading Ghost Rider 2099 when I was 9. That font they used really amazed me. It was the first time I ever noticed the fundamental role fonts play in creating atmosphere in CBs. It's like you could listen to the Ghost Rider's mechanical voice. I even tried to copycat that font into my school notebooks.

[@Jack-rp6zy]

These are the videos I think most people want to see on Vox. Something interesting and informative.

[@stephenwings4947]

YES! A comic video. And the perfect one. Just yesterday I was creating a comic book and had a debate on choosing the right font for a comic. It was hard for me to come up with examples of the many diverse fonts that are used in many different ways in comic books. Thanks for this

[@SquareSquidStudios]

Good to know. I will make sure to keep this in mind with my font use.

[@tracydo]

Idk if I'm wrong but I just saw your comment on a Dave Hax video 😂

[@heylaura730]

I see you commenting everywhere lol

[@danbrown1344]

Now do a video on the difference between typefaces and fonts.

[@ikederpike]

Dan from Glasgow, is that you?

[@danbrown1344]

+Ike Nelson Unfortunately not. My name is all too common.

[@gunjeetsingh90]

I knew there would be a comment on this..

[@dealloc]

A typeface is a collection of fonts of different styles (regular, italic, bold, etc.) and sizes (8, 12, 16pt). A font is a single subset of those. E.g. a font would be Helvetica Regular at 16 pt. Whereas the family of Helvetica is the typeface. In the digital world 'font' was used in document writing software, since that's what you choose. It was mostly in the days of mechanical lettering, whereas the differences were more prominent.

[@tidarsentausa]

ui_wizard you gave a solid explanation than my typography teacher in college in a semester

[@EamonBurke]

Wasn't Comic Sans a bad imitation of this font? Like, Comic Book Font, Sans Serif?

[@JuanPablodelaTorre]

Yes, sort of. It was intended for some Microsoft children's software.

[@dealloc]

It was designed for Microsoft Bob, a desktop software designed for children. The font was originally designed for aliased (no smoothing) rendering, but after Microsoft introduced ClearType-their anti-alias font smoothing algorithm-a lot of people used it in unusual places. It was never meant to be used in print or logos.

[@milanstevic8424]

@@dealloc ClearType is a very specific anti-alias algorithm intended for use with the first LCD screens, and thus much younger, as a technology, than Microsoft Bob, or even anti aliasing (AA) itself. Microsoft was notoriously lazy when it comes to AA, so I get where this perception comes from, but it's a misconception. Comic Sans was made as a True Type font, which is a vector typeface, subsequently rasterized for screen display (and hand-optimized for various sizes) -- the so called bitmap or display version. It was this rasterized version that was aliased, simply because, unlike Apple, Microsoft didn't care about having AA in its system type rendering until Windows XP -- however, the font was always fully printable in high resolution. The reason why it was used is because it was available in the menus right off the bat. In Windows, out of all system-provided fonts, many of which are either too formal (serif, i.e. Times New Roman), or too informal and plain (sans serif, i.e. Arial), Comic Sans was likely the most casual/friendly option. And many people have bad taste when it comes to aesthetics. TL;DR Comic Sans has nothing to do with ClearType, or with people and anti-alias, in any combination whatsoever. It just happened to become one of the system fonts in Windows, that people for some reason like (or hate). Yes, it originated during the MS Bob project which was something for Melinda to do (yes the same Melinda that he married soon enough). That project is usually quoted as the biggest flop in computer history, and many of the production remnants spilled over to other Microsoft software. So that's how we ended up with Clippy in MS Word, that stupid selection of animated Search Assistant mascots in Windows XP, and, of course, Comic Sans. Yay. Thank god this stopped after they married!

[@wreams2964]

Yeah Melinda Gates asked an artist to make a font specifically for the program. They didn’t use it

[@JimKinkade]

Regarding the chart: The reason you don't see the word "font" often before the computer revolution is because we used the word "type" or "typeface."

[@Roll587]

I love how the simplest things can have the more fascinating histories.

[@busterfixxitt]

Ben Edlund's 'The Tick' comics were great for lettering. Whenever the the Tick said his name, it was formatted like the title on the cover; superscript 'the' at a 45 degree angle hugging the top-left corner of the 'Tick'. It was great because you understood that it was how the Tick actually thought of himself.

[@MrPenguinFingers]

The snoot... DROOPED!

[@moeskido]

That Ames lettering guide was used by draftsmen before it was used by comic-book letterers. Comics lettering is a less-formal descendant of the lettering used for drafting engineering and architectural diagrams.

[@thaddeuskobylarz8519]

JUST AS I FEARED! MY HAM HAS STRUCK A HIDDEN ELECTRICAL EYE BEAM, ACTIVATING IT

[@ms.rstake_1211]

lol

[@Donteatacowman]

I remember reading re-releases of individual stories in Archie double digests. You can always tell when they had to update something that was written decades ago (usually prices or years) because of a weird font change, or extra space in the speech bubble.

[@Liuhuayue]

I had no idea there was such a history. Kudos to everyone who had contributed to the style. Thanks for making this video.

[@HapEOfficial]

I naturally wrote in all caps from a young age when I noticed it gave the illusion of better handwriting. And when I started reading comics I adopted the slanted y. I will never go back.

[@ImpendingChocolate]

I wish you had mentioned Comic Sans, it would have been interesting to hear about it's origins and it's relation to comic book "fonts" think it would have made for an interesting introduction to the layman, however I guess that would be the easy route and I'm sure you considered it. Still it somehow felt missing from the piece.

[@PavarottiAardvark]

Anyone who loves lettering, got read "Wicked + the Divine" from Image comics. Loads of characters have their own fonts which help express their personality.

[@grayfitz]

Love the callback to the Concorde video

[@gazcan1]

6:10

[@JYYew]

Would like to see a similar video about architecture handwriting too.

[@Ash2theB]

As someone who loves and is studying Design, I admire Vox for doing these amazing informative videos.

[@JonGorga]

This mini-documentary is fantastic.

[@rq2757]

To be fair, Civil War II is garbage. But yes, there's a huge disconnect between comic movie numbers and comic book numbers. Also, noticing that letterers have quirks and signature letters was fascinating!

[@MrRichulan]

Very interesting . . . the art of handwriting!

[@Bealzabub]

This reminds me a lot of how I was taught to write USITT standard for theatrical blueprints for set design

[@ethanmurray5882]

I love these types of videos. The topics seem so random or arbitrary but end up being really interesting!

[@kyneshi100]

These are the kind of questions you ask yourself when you're high.... Great channel

[@samchen7062]

Phil and Joss are always making good stuff

[@angelamarie88]

I remember before the word "font" came into use, the word for different lettering styles was "typeset." Of course that could only be applied to machine-made lettering, not handwriting. So "font" is a useful word.

[@dennisanderson3895]

Terrific respect for the early pioneers! (I expect many would be amazed to think that, at one time, some person had to personally ink each individual letter!) Very nice presentation!

[@shinesnz]

this is such an interesting video, awesome content coming out of Vox lately!

[@Cyxodus]

Very informative and entertaining video. My only complaint, as a letterer, is the use of the word "bubble". The correct terminology is either Word Balloon or Thought Balloon. Other than that, well done.

[@le.ave_me]

I love this channel because they explain and talk about things in so much detail about something you would really think about.

[@sadmancho]

What font does KZbin use?

[@gilmerfilms2990]

I think it's arial but I'm not quite sure, u can look it up online tho

[@dgm66]

Roboto, the same font Google use for Android.

[@str8kronic]

F*ck you, assh*le !

[@buddyclem7328]

@@str8kronic "Hey! You can't do that in here!"

[@krisdegs3985]

I think they use Oswald -10 in Kerning and you got KZbin

[@jackiechoo]

Fantastic video. Loved the overall story on how fonts evolved in a specific medium.

[@xStrongHD]

Love the snoot droop reference from the Concord video!

[@nin10dogmod90]

I love Comic Sans, because the *Time* is a tool you can put on the wall or wear it on your wrist. The past is far behind us, the future doesn't exist.

[@GATMachine]

Ya just keep on getting better!

[@GabdeVue]

Loved this. I am occasionally lettering comics (using beautiful fonts by blambot) and... never researched this. Shame! Thanks for the education and really enjoyed the presentation : )

[@YuTubrz]

This is a fantastic look at the rise of lettering as an art in the comic book medium!

[@AE1OU]

I would like to know more about speech bubbles please.

[@525Lines]

Many of the earliest fonts originate from monasteries that were established as libraries and scriptorium by ancient Rome.

[@gracieayers8706]

As a lover of typography, I am so here for this!

[@okrajoe]

Never thought about needing it to be readable on cheap paper.

[@adzyfee2453]

Comics are way too expensive here in Ireland, here a 20 page comic costs €5.50

[@TheTrippleTKA]

Love every time you guys talk about fonts!

[@danielrupert2317]

Shout out to Bob Lappan for all his awesome work on Justice League International.

[@codycoyote6912]

Love arcane bits of knowledge like this. Thanks

[@Quonzer]

6:48 "This is totally a sick movie about comic book fonts, but in a tragic twist of fate, this document is not in a comic book font. Life is a cruel mistress." Nice one Vox.

[@ImOutOfUsernameIdeas]

U guys are really spittin out quality videos

[@guacamoleashton2109]

i never thought i'd be so entertained by fonts

[@matthewsawczyn6592]

It is pretty cool to see the minor differences between letters when hand lettering, even within the same comic book

[@alanr4447a]

Then there's the lettering style developed by Charles Schulz, in which he followed the rule that "I" isn't crossed unless it's by itself. Also had a distinctive "jagged hook" on "S".

[@waff6ix]

last time i was this early my parents were still married

[@redding_oliver]

8:10 I like that John Workman's balloon silhouettes tend to be more circular than eliptical, wide as they are tall and sometimes asymmetrical almost like squashed fruit - along with the untapered tails and generous amounts of negative space it's a style that's subtle yet distinctive and very easy on the eye. Thanks for the video.

[@mookie714]

In hand drafting, there is a machine for lettering called a Leroy Machine.

[@Arikskoug]

They exist! I have a few Leroy kits, they closely resemble a pantograph, and so many comic letterers used it. They are for sale fairly cheap on eBay!

[@buddyclem7328]

We used to hand letter using guide lines with a pencil, then ink everything in, and then erase the pencil lines with a bag eraser.

[@darwinlp9860]

Ooh, I like that text box fusing with the edge like that.

[@AdiosSalvi]

This is so cool not really into comics but I enjoyed this video keep it coming vox!!

[@mavnlp]

1st

[@philghouri]

Really clever opening!

[@ThePowerchimp]

After so many issues of 2000AD I can spot Tom Frames lettering instantly.

[@psyberdelicxp6042]

absolutely fantastic!

[@mrRapture9]

Appreciate videos like this

[@Jaies_]

Love you vids, vox. Keep it up!

[@declined7]

You guys answer all the questions i thought were never gonna be answered.

[@daniel10alien]

vox reminds me a little bit of 99% invisible

[@DrGlickenstine]

They even did a crossover episode.

[@williamdaly422]

They've done a few!

[@anarkyah4440]

snoot droop, i see you. also, why didn't you explain Comic Sans MS font? it apparently is the easiest font to read and therefore recommended for little children and handicapped people, since the letter are written so clearly

[@kentatakao6863]

+PichanPerkele I heard what the original commenter had heard.

[@codediporpal]

That was some good Vox! I f'ing hate superheroes, in film or print, but I use Comic Sans all the time and had no idea how it evolved.

[@standepain]

EFHILT I was taught to letter by Hy Eisman, Tex Blaisdell and Joe Kubert. There is nothing worse than seeing original comic pages of today with no lettering on them. A sad lost art, but I guess when you can letter a book a day digitally it pays the bills better who can complain.

[@devinalderman1604]

It is dying same with inking. the true art form of comics is dead, it is sad that poeple that like todays comic art

[@bernice_anders]

I give this video a 7.5/10 for clarity

[@ShrutiPravah]

Glad to know the origin of the font

[@mediumstudio]

my father worked as a plumbing & heating draftsman for years - and all those people the same hand-type writing. It's an actual defined style to make things uniform across different sets of blue prints, etc. Basically like the Tekton typeface. I actually thought that's where the comic style came from - because lots of those illustrators, inkers, etc. were essentially draftsmen.

[@andre9095]

MORE FONT STUFF!!!!! Love this

[@morezco]

Nice! More interesting than anticipated

[@50l50l50Productions]

maybe this is kinda random. But maybe this is why MF DOOM chose a comic book style music video for his song named 'All Caps' like a comic book font.

[@ShotOfSelf]

After touch-typing I'm relearning script and and decided to also learn a better style of block lettering as well. While comic hand lettering is similar there are a lot of cool little differences when you look closely and compare. Sam Kieth's lettering is one of my favorites. 'Standard comic book font' search got me here. Thank you so much for this.

[@Julia-hu8ff]

More people should read comics because they are so easy and fun to read! With my adhd, a comic is the only "book" I can pick up and not put down until I'm finished.

[@Moodboard39]

Not everyone is reader in comics

[@jeffreyslott3883]

Writing words all in caps takes up more space, not less. WRITING WORDS ALL IN CAPS TAKES UP MORE SPACE, NOT LESS. (They also make sentences harder to read. Why then such a style was chosen for comic books, I have no idea but it certainly wasn't for readability reasons.)

[@TesserId]

When I was taught mechanical drawing, there were strict rules to how lettering was to be done. An 'O' was required to be a proper circle and not an ellipse or oval, while a zero was required to be an ellipse. Slashed zeros weren't necessary (until computer programmers started having trouble dealing with fixed-width fonts). When I then started taking classes in architectural drawing, it was declared that lettering there could be more stylized. After all, customers for buildings could warm up to a sense of artistry, while mechanical drawings needed something as fixed and rigid as cold, hard steel. I see some definite parallels (heh, a drawing term) with the comic industry. I still have my Ames lettering guide.

[@Khamomil]

So when they were hand-lettering and wrote a word in *bold* did they use a fatter nib just for that occasional word?

[@stevethepocket]

I can only speak from personal experience, but sort of drawing the letter twice, with one outer outline and one inner one but close enough that they bleed into each other, tends to look better. Just using a fatter pen makes them look too round on the ends.

[@krisdegs3985]

@@stevethepocket agree

[@NotApplicable1123]

The snoot DROOPED. The easter egg WORKED

[@seniorbrinco]

too bad Sandman didn't got mentioned on the video, you have an amazing lettering job there.

[@benjamindixon7465]

learn something new every day, ha! Interesting little bit of history, I enjoyed it.

[@alejandroheinrich]

Who needs schools when we have Vox?

[@crimsoncorsair9250]

people that work at schools.

[@sukainarizvi3110]

+Crimson Corsair I'm dead. Hilarious.

[@VibeMD]

People who want to bang their teachers/ schoolmates meanwhile not being homeschooled.

[@MicahMicahel]

You do know they are as leftist biased as Breitbart is biased on the right? We hope our schools are not biased but it seems they are as well aren’t they?

[@Housewarmin]

Ive been loving the videos lately!

[@LanceEads]

There are actually a lot of comic book artists outside of the worlds of Marvel and DC who still hand letter and ink their comics. I'm one of them.

[@becketclark9942]

Came for the tentacles in the thumbnail - stayed for the snoot booping 6:17

[@datamoshii]

Top notch journalism

[@jackofallspades98]

Yeeeaaaaah I love these videos about fonts!

[@mannysikario]

Cool Vox, maybe a little history on other subjects like... video games? It never gets old

[@euls868]

If you want some high quality video games history - search ahoy on youtube. He is a master of his craft, with the voice that could narrate the life of anybody and make it sound badass. have fun

[@BaccarWozat]

My favorite letterers: Tom Orzechowski, John Workman, Gaspar Saladino, then Charles Schulz. These four people are the four corners of the foundation of great lettering. In the 1990s, John Byrne started using a computer font that looked like his lettering. Unfortunately that lettering never commanded my respect, but it was the start of the wave of the future.

[@gregmiller9710]

..anyone here remember Grit papers? i used to sell them to buy comic books in the 60's

[@dndeneedle]

I don't think any company can ever accurately report comic sales. A huge part of comic book culture is resale, online reading, and sharing with friends.

[@pseudonymef1718]

Well it's also the case with movies, so the comparison still works.

[@JimaniGraphics]

I love learning about the comic book industry more more I myself can’t really handle right my comics because of my stupid dyslexia.... no matter how many times I get it checked I always mess up thank God for technology of today

[@sizableyeet]

Richard Starking (secretly just Ringo)