But Gaspar made it cool. there were lots of talented people doing it, and doing it well, and some doing it marvelously well, but until Gaspar, nobody ever made it cool, and zippy, and fun. Yet there was always a foundation to it. his letterforms were playful, but disciplined and rhythmic.

If I may be pretentious here, if you examine the paintings of Rubens, you always find a gridwork of big, stable shapes, and a lot of vertical and horizontal movements. Rubens could make a painting explode off the canvas, but it was that gridwork that kept it from degenerating into anarchy. Similarly, there is an iron discipline to Gaspar’s letters. No matter how wildly he would shape a letter, or a sound effect, it was always anchored and always disciplined. He made a party out of comics, and sometimes a really wild party. but it was an elegant little party as well, with rules and mores and manners.

A lot of us have made a career out of following in his footsteps, but nobody ever walked the tightrope quite like Gaspar could.

The examples of his letter art down the years are simply spiffy – you guys are so talented, Todd!