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Cover lettering is a specialized subset of comic book lettering, usually assigned to a either a staff letterer or one of a few top freelancers. It may involve standard word balloons, as below:
© DC Comics but usually requires something extra — display lettering. This is lettering that gives an extra visual punch in some way to draw attention. Use of open lettering filled with a color is common. Display lettering is similar to the headlines in a newspaper or the subtitles on a magazine cover. It's intended to sell the content of the comic to a potential buyer, both visually and in what it says. On occasion, it can be so provocative it becomes the main selling point, as in this famous Flash cover:
Flash #163, © DC Comics The words, or cover copy, are usually written by the editor, sometimes with suggestions from the artist, and the cover image is based on what the editor considers the most exciting scene inside, though DC editor Julie Schwartz had a interesting alternative, especially for his science fiction anthology books, STRANGE ADVENTURES and MYSTERY IN SPACE. He'd have a brainstorming session with one of his artists, like Murphy Anderson, and they'd come up with a half dozen intriguing cover images, then Julie would pass them on to his writers, telling them to write a story around the picture. Presently many covers have no cover copy, just a hopefully enticing picture, putting the task of selling the book squarely on the artist's shoulders. IRA SCHNAPP Beginning in the 1940s, but becoming all-pervasive in the 1950s through 1967, the cover lettering of Ira Schnapp (along with his logo designs) helped define the distinctive look of DC Comics covers. Schnapp had a long history as a freelance letterer, and brought that sensibility to his work for comics. (You can read much more about Ira Schnapp on the COMICS CREATION page of my blog, see link in the right column.) Below are some examples of Ira's work that will be instantly recognizable to longtime comics readers.
© DC Comics Continue with MORE ABOUT COVER LETTERING. All text and images © Todd Klein, except as noted. All rights reserved. |
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COVER LETTERING 
