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Underground > Comic Books >

Who's the best letterer?

14:05 / 25.03.06

Who do you think can write the words the best? Who is the most versatile? The most creative? The most underrated?

I've always thought that lettering was a very unappreciated art. So here's our chance to say - hey! - lettering is a very hard and laborious and beautiful art. Who's with me?

Here is a CBR article on the art of lettering

My fav letterer is going to probably be Tom Orzechowski, whose work on the X-Men and Spawn was amazing.

Second up would be Todd Klein, who worked on Sandman so beautifully. I also enjoy [blank] Rosen. It's either Sam or Joe, but I can't remember. Both Rosens worked on Spider-Man, though.

Here is Comicraft's official resource page

Here is a tutorial from deviantART on (digital) lettering

14:24 / 25.03.06

My first thought was Tom Orzechowski, very nice and steady hand there.

John Costanza did great work too, on Moore's Swamp Thing, for example.

I also loved the work that John Workman did on Walt Simonson's Thor in the eighties.

The opposite of Orzechowski, if you can say such a thing, would be Bob Lappan, who worked on the Giffen/ De Matteis Justice League. His lettering looked like he had the shakes, but it worked.

But favourite? Dave Sim, perhaps.

15:11 / 25.03.06

Yeah, Orzechowski is often thought of as the god of lettering. But I thought these days it was all computerized? Like they could even do Orzechowski font or something.

17:36 / 25.03.06

John Workman was the first one to come to mind.

18:23 / 25.03.06

Marvel came up with a font last year that simulates Orz' lettering (although in my opinion it only vaguely recollects/echoes Orz' style), and they said in public statements that Orz approved it personally. This style now shows up in Daredevil (started with the Bendis issue that had all the guest art, pages by P. Craig Russell and others) and also is featured in ASTONISHING X-MEN, IIRC.

But the original Orz is the best, of course. It's funny to see his lettering from early 70s books and see that trademark style in a more primtiive form, as it evolved and developed.

I love John Workman - and I always wondered, back in his eraly days working with Walt Simonson (on Thor and the classic Dr. Fate short story they did together), he used to list his name as "John Workman, Jr." Then when he started lettering Hulk and other Marvel books in the past 10 years, it was just listed as "John Workman". (He also lettered a lot of Grant Morrison's Doom Patrol run, as I recall) Is this a father & son lineage a la Kuberts and Romitas, or the same guy who used to list the "Jr." and then decided not to? I never found the person that could answer this mystery; if anyone here can produce an answer I'd greatly appreciate it. This is the Holy Grail of lettering questions for me.

18:56 / 25.03.06

Despite the fact he's a bit of a loon, Dave Sim is undountedly the best letterer in the world.

19:25 / 25.03.06

Yep, Sim. The lettering on the Mrs Thatcher stuff in Jaka's Story, for example, was just sublime.
I hate the way comics are turning to digital lettering - it really doesn't have the same effect. I recently picked up Gun Fu: Showgirls Are Forever, which Sim cowrote, and Sim's dialogue loses half its punch when it's done in a generic font...

21:12 / 25.03.06

The art of lettering is less to do with the font, I think, than with balloon placement. What made Orzechowski such a genius during his Marvel years—especially when working from Claremont scripts—is that he could take an insanely overwritten story and make it flow. Narrative caps and multiple dialogue balloons, often overlapping, but always comprehensible.

Orz was also, AFAIK, a pioneer of some special lettering effects that have become clichés—swarms of tailless balloons, different font sizes, the "still-small voice" effect of tiny letters in a big open balloon.

Another aspect of his work that I found interesting was his display faces—that is, the special fonts he used for story titles—which were often aesthetically keyed to the overall art. On Byrne's X-MEN run, he used an elegant pseudo-Irish-illuminated-manuscript look that complemented Byrne's realistic-yet-stylized style. When Paul Smith took over, with a cleaner, more cartoony style, Orzechowski followed suit with bolder, blockier titles. That, to me, is really going the extra mile.

23:42 / 25.03.06

And damn, that by-now-cliche Comicraft stock font that Marvel and DC used for most of their books in the 80s/early 90s is annoying. Part of me was a bit annoyed at first that they used a similar font for Infinite Crisis. My left leg to be exact.

13:00 / 29.03.06

Todd Klein has gotta be up there for sheer inventiveness of font design...esp. all the things he did with Promethea.

I never liked Phil Felix's lettering very much.

Who remembers Joe Rosen? (classic 70s/80s Marvel letterer, lettered Secret Wars (most of it) and most of Frank Miller's DD run (both the originals and then whole Born Again run with Mazz.) He was great.

13:08 / 29.03.06

>> John Costanza did great work too, on Moore's Swamp Thing, for example.

Yeah, you gotta give a lot of credit to John Costanza....DC's go-to letterer throughout the 70s and 80s, this guy lettered like half of DC's monthly books, it seemed -- and also lettered the classic Dark Knight Returns, and did so beautifully.

20:07 / 04.04.06

Todd Klein, no doubt in my mind. Just look at all the Alan Moore infodumps he condensed into Promethea. Check out how much text he neatly and cleanly lays into pages in all the ABC books. Check out the different yet appropriate styles of lettering he imbued each story within Sandman: Endless Nights. He's amazing.

Lettering in comics should ideally be well-placed, unobstructive to the art, yet informative from the get-go. As a bonus, it should also help lead readers more easily through the panel layouts of the comic. Todd Klein does all of these elegantly, so he's my vote for best letterer.

21:10 / 04.04.06

Tom Frame, for me, is the man. I've had the pleasure of meeting him and his hand is steadier than mine despite the 50 years he has on me.