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Comic strips

Some More Newspaper Comics (some not)

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Nope, don’t like it. Don’t like it a bit.

Before last month gets too far away let’s bring up the major change to a comic strip in July.

On July 10 Vic Lee changed the lettering font for his Pardon My Planet panel.

Above left is the July 8, 2023 issue; above right is the July 10, 2023 issue. © Vic Lee

The old style had personality, charm. To me the new font is sterile, mechanical – the opposite of Vic’s art.

The Sunday edition switched to the new font on July 30. (For reasons unexplained yesterday’s panel went old style.)

Staying with the subject.

© Weingartens & Clark

Looks like David Clark spent as much time lettering as drawing today’s Barney & Clyde.

As did David Reddick with the Legend of Bill recap.

© David Reddick

I am reminded of those Al Feldstein scripted EC comics:

© EC Publications

Letters about comic strips rather than in comic strips.

© Liniers

A Macanudo Sunday brought a letter of disgust from a reader of The Valley News:

Since the early 1950s I have enjoyed reading the Sunday “funny papers” (comics). I have often been disappointed — not funny, but otherwise fine. However, the comic strip “Macanudo” in July 23’s Sunday Valley News was for me a new low. Panel 1 shows two witches discussing the night’s activities. Panel two shows them professing love for each other and watching TV. Panel three shows them cuddling and watching TV. And it is what is on the screen that is disgraceful…

Remaining in Mike Peterson’s territory:

© Ripley Entertainment

The New Hampshire letter writer may take a hint from Ripley’s about his neighbor state’s preventitive measures.

Moving on…

© Zits Partnership
© Lincoln Peirce

I’m much closer in age to Big Nate‘s gramps than to Walt’s son in Zits, but I empathize with both.

The rare time I go to a fast food place without a coupon I am outraged at the prices, at times even with the coupon.

Heart of the City brings to mind a vulgar expression for putting it all out there.

© Andrews McMeel

Comic Strip Dads.

© Fran Krause

Deep Dark Fears above and Wallace the Brave below.

© William Wilson
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Comments 9

  1. I really like macanudo and Wallace for lettering- they feel like they match the line of the art in the strip. Zits is beautiful– Jim’s lettering is now a perfect typeface. Richard Thompsons Cul De Sac lettering takes the cake for me.

    Pardon my Planet change is to Comic Sans which.. is surprising.
    The font in Heart looks like CC JimLee font.

  2. Anybody know if Lee’s move to Comic Sans is due to wear and tear on the old carpal tunnel? Or just because lettering is the part of the job with the least fun-vs.-timesuck ratio?

    1. But it looks like Vic’s old style – the Vic Lee font? – is done by computer too.
      The letters are exactly the same but with a style. Gone to Comic Sans for readability?

  3. Part of the problem is that these cartoonists who switch to a computer font–and not good computer fonts, i.e. those which give you two different capital “I”s–make the common mistake (see also LOLA) of using the letter “I” with the upper and lower serifs in words instead of using it only for the personal pronoun, making for awful looking text blocks. Using the lower case “L” instead of the capital “I” is suggested (if a lower case is even provided. (Anybody who once owned a manual typewriter in the days before the number one was added to the top row will recall that the lower case “L” once doubled for number one. This is just like that, only in these fonts, there are no serifs on any of the upper or lower cases except the capital “I.”) Many cartoonists design a custom font of their own design, most templates for which provide the choice of dual capital “I”s. That’s what you’re looking at in LEGEND OF BILL, ZITS and RIPLEY’S in the above examples. Computer lettering, but unique to each strip, some using both upper and lower cases. It’s more common than you think these days.

    1. Nope. Jim Borgman letters each strip by hand with a Micron pen. The art is done with a brush and some nib pens on paper. You ought to see an original in person. His lettering is remarkable. A son of a sign painter is he.

  4. A posting about fonts followed by intelligent conversation about the same. Ahhh, I am among my people. Thank you all.

  5. Read the offended christian’s letter and got a good laugh at hist apparent historical ignorance. Perhaps his sect hasn’t practiced exorcism in his lifetime, but you’d think someone who has been around since the early 1950s would have at least heard of the practice. Or the movie.

  6. When I was working on my own strip I enjoyed hand lettering, it’s an art and I liked to fiddle with size, thickness, etc. I’ve gotten away from drawing it for a couple years, but when I see computer generated lettering I understand the why, but it doesn’t have the personality no matter how good the font is. Just my personal preference…

  7. THIS is what I love about the Daily Cartoonist. Talking shop. And a real shop, not one of those online stores. I’m still working on my lettering, but I’ll never go to a computer font because I like to spend as much time away from a screen as possible (hence still with dip pen and ink).

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