So here we go, back to the ol’ Question Time post to answer more of your queries!
Thom H. scrawls into the margins
“You know who we don’t talk about enough? Colorists and letterers. Do you have favorites? If so, who and why?”
You’re right, we don’t, and there have been, and still are, great people at work in these positions in the comic book field. I’m going to start today just by showing some examples of some of my favorite letterers, mostly decided by those I appreciated the most when I was young. First one should be no surprise…
…Gaspar Saladino, who lettered a whole lotta those early 1970s Swamp Thing comics. That just slightly angular, slightly-off style added to the creepy flavor of the book. Look at the “S,” or look at how the bottom lines on the “L” and “E” is angled. Big, bold lettering for a big, bold horror comic.
Next up is the all-time heavyweight champion of comics lettering, far as I’m concerned:
…John Costanza, who seemed to be everywhere for a while. Just clean, simple lettering, that relates the information without drawing attention to itself. (And it should be noted that Mr. Costanza was a cartoonist of some note as well, having drawn for Disney and the Simpsons.
Another favorite…
…is Todd Klein, shown in this example lettering one of the rare Alan Moore Swamp Things not lettered by Costanza. Another multi-talented gent in the field, he wrote a number of comics as well (including an old fave of mine, Omega Men), and designed several logos. You can visit his info-packed site right here.
And I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention…
…Dave Sim, who’s known for, among other things, writing and drawing Cerebus the Aardvark, but was a master letterer as well, who exuded emotion and action with his stylings.
Here’s another example of his work, one that gets brought up quite often when discussing his lettering skills, and who am I not to bring it up too? (Click the pic to make it slightly more legible.)
Boy, that’s the stuff.
There is of course no end to letterers out there whose work I love…John Workman, who was as much a part of Walt Simonson’s Thor as Simonson himself. Or Bob Lappan’s wild work on Atari Force, presenting alien languages in unique and appealing ways. Or Stan Sakai, whose lettering for Usagi Yojimbo is just one more bit of excellence in his overall artistic presentation (and don’t forget, he also letters Groo the Wanderer!).
I could probably go on all day just listing great letterers, and I’m sure some of you folks will drop some worthy names in the comments. Lettering really is a fascinating and expressive art form unto itself, and one we should all appreciate more.
Speaking of which…I’m probably going to have to address favorite colorists next week, as I need a little more to think about it. With rare exceptions, I can’t look at coloring work and immediately identify who colored what. I just don’t have that skill. But there are plenty of comics where I’ve very much appreciated the color work, so maybe I’ll just have to go through a couple of those. Come back next week and see how I pulled myself out of this one.
Ken Bruzenak’s work on American Flagg! stands out as absoutely essential to Howard Chaykin’s art, story-telling, and story told. Like Simonson and Workman, it’s integral and fully integrated into the work, impossible to replace with someone else’s font.
Tom Orzechowski’s work on Claremont’s 80s X-books was a great visual unifier for them, so much so that issues without his lettering don’t feel like they belong to that canon.
A big second for Orz, he might be the first letterer I ever noticed, on the X-Books. What a unique and effective style.
I’m probably jumping the gun, but for colorists I hope Tatjana Wood gets a mention. I don’t know that Gotham City nights are purple or fuschia (I hope they are!) but her style of lighting a scene really set a mood and made the characters pop. Plus, she’s about to turn 100!
Another vote for Tom Orzechowski, the GOAT of letterers.
Likewise Tatjana Wood. And whoever is coloring Absolute Wonder Woman and Martian Manhunter.
Thanks Thom H. for the question and for rightly pointing out that these creators are so often overlooked. It’s so easy to obsess over the pencils and inks at the expense of the more “invisible” crafts of lettering, coloring AND production.*
Petra Goldberg/Scotese was a colorist in the 70’s and 80’s. I picked up Black Panther #2 in the 90’s and her work stood out so much I had to go back and check the credits to see who colored it. I’m always happily surprised whenever I see her name in the credits.
She has a sense of color harmony that really resonates with me.
*I worked a few production artists jobs and can sympathize with the nameless people who worked the Stat cameras, did the paste-up work, made the mechanicals (cutting all that damn rubylith) for the color separations, or worked the presses – thankless work that we only notice when it’s “wrong.”
John Workman is my favorite, for sure. So idiosyncratic, but works wonderfully in concert with the art. And he’s a darn nice guy, too.
Also want to shout out Janice Chiang, who had a personal unique style, and whose work always transports me back to a certain era and mindset.
Orz for me, too. He had so many stylistic flourishes (writing “Mr.” or “Dr.” instead of all-capitals like the rest of the text, or the coloured wrap around word balloons when people were angry) that I associate with X-Men, regardless of who actually drew the issues. I remember thinking as a kid that he was so important to the overall presentation of the mutant books that Marvel put someone who imitated his style on The New Mutants to keep than consistency (I only learned in the last 10 years or so that the mimic was in fact his wife).
Joe Rosen is another letterer I always liked. Super-clean writing, and I’ve always felt he was a really important piece of both of Frank Miller’s runs on Daredevil. His writing Ben Ulrich’s thoughts out like they were coming from a typewriter show a sense of artistry I don’t think I would think about if done today with modern computer lettering where the same thing could be accomplished just by switching typefaces.
I love all the letterers mentioned, but I genuinely think that if Sim had been a letterer for DC/Marvel for 30-40 years instead of just for his own comic he might be considered the best.
Just look at this: https://dorkforty.wordpress.com/2019/10/08/wild-formalism-dave-sim-and-the-art-of-letters/
Lappan also added an off-kilter flair to the Giffen-DeMatteis Justice League; when a very different lettered started lettering Justice League Europe, it never felt quite right to me.
Just two add my two cents (or more) worth…
Mike, I think you missed a golden opportunity to list Gaspar Saladino (letterer) and Tatjana Wood (colorist) at the same time with that Swamp Thing panel.
And Wally Wood should get an honorable mention, at the very least, for his “Karumpf!” sound effect lettering, along with his drawing and inking.
Will Eisner also did great lettering–along with everything else.
And Jim Aparo was a triple threat with his great drawing, inking, and lettering.
Moving on to colorists:
There’s Steranko–who did it all: writing, drawing, inking,coloring– excellently!
Both Frank Brunner and Tom Palmer did great drawing/inking/coloring as well.
Marie Severin–also a triple threat with her outstanding drawing, inking, and coloring; likewise Klaus Janson.
Then amongst the pantheon of great colorists there’s Steve Oliff, George Russos; Richmond Lewis; Janice Cohen (who is the daughter of Sol Brodsky); Barry Grossman aka “Ben Sean;” Lynn Varley; and Adrienne Roy.
And whoever were the main colorists on a lot of Golden Age covers for Fiction House Comics in particular did some great work on Planet Comics, Jungle Comics, Jumbo Comics, Fight Comics, etc.
* to
* Wally Wood’s “KRUMF!” sound effect lettering…
“I can’t look at coloring work and immediately identify who colored what”
The problem with coloring is it’s often really noticed only when it’s a bad, muddled mess.
I remembered Saladino because he just used his first name. Gasper, stood out for me. Granted tiny spaces for credits.
Sorry, but the little army kid running into Sally Forth’s boobs and Wally’s BOONNNGG!!!
Fun! Thanks for answering my question.
I’d say Tom Orzechowski and John Workman are my favorite letterers, mostly because they lettered a lot of my favorite books back in the day. It’s interesting how our favorites, especially when we’re young, shape how we view what “good work” is in the field.
@WizarDru: It’s Jordie Bellaire for Absolute Wonder Woman and Javier Rodriguez for Absolute Martian Manhunter.
I get excited when I learn that an artist is penciling, inking, *and* coloring a book. It doesn’t always improve the quality of the art, but I think it definitely does on AMM.
Todd Klein’s blog is a treasure trove of history and knowledge!
I really enjoy the lettering of Pat Brosseau and later Clem Robins on ‘Hellboy’. Someone quipped that lettering is the only field where ‘Workmanlike’ is high praise and I think it applies to their work on ‘Hellboy’ especially.
Basically every aspect of ‘Watchmen’ has been praised to the high heavens but Gibbons’s lettering is really superb and his work there is perhaps underappreciated, if such a thing is possible. The way the styling of the balloons shifts across time periods is really subtle and effective.
This year I’ve started reading ‘Love & Rockets’ and the Hernandez brothers each have distinctive lettering. Jaime’s lettering has such pleasing curves and Beto is so playful and expressive.
A shout-out from across the Atlantic for Tom Frame, the letterer and anchor of near-everything from 2000AD’s golden age. And co-sign for the incredible lettering of Dave Sim, which erased the line between lettering and art until they were one and the same.
Frank Thorne colored his own Red Sonja work, as did Klaus Janson his Daredevil inks, which contributed significantly to their distinctive looks.
I’m a big fan of the lettering of Todd Klein and John Costanza.
I don’t mean to sound like an old fogey but…. ah screw it! I am an old fogey! Here’s my rant!
Modern comics makes my eyes hurt. Nothing worse than say yellow lettering in italics against a red caption box!
Give me clear black letters in a clean white speech balloon or thought bubble any day!
And that’s my old fogey rant!
Returning to this thread to shout out Willie Schubert. I think Priest must have it contractually required that Schubert letters all his comics, and I always like seeing him turn up.
That Wuffa Wuffa issue was my very first hot off the stand issue of Cerebus.