Balloon Tales | Articles | The Case for Upper Case | Part 1 of 2

Balloon Tales | Articles | The Case for Upper Case | Part 1 of 2

OK, most of my readers (Hi, Mom!) won't care too much for t his, but even those not in my interest area (comic books) might find this discussion about something you've likely never though about interesting. The fact that I worked in the publishing field and do design with fonts helps too.

So... should comic books and stips be lettered in all caps, or should they use small letters? It's a deeper topic than you'd realize, and it's one only possible becuase of computers. In the good old days, all comics were hand lettered, and lettering a comic book by hand with small letters would drive one nuts, even if time allowed.

But now it's done by computer. The art, after inking, is scanned into the computer, then a layer on top of the art is used to place word ballons.

Anyway, a good and interesting discussion. Anybody that works with type could learn something here, and it may give you something to think about next time you read the comics in the paper.