Three Count spotlights, as the title suggests, three things from comics today. And today is Letterer Appreciation Day, so make a big sound effect for your favorite letterer.
So what is a “letterer,” exactly? The person who fills the word balloons on a comic page? The designer of those great sound effects you see in an image? The saint making all those foreign language comics available to us in English? “One of the two most unheralded jobs in comics“? “The inkers for the writers“?
Maybe it’s all of the above. I also like this description from a Marvel.com article by Meagan Damore: “…letterers are the graphic artists who take the writer’s words and add them to the artwork, but their job extends beyond the simple transfer from script to the published page. Letterers also control pacing, convey emphasis, create sound effects, distinguish spoken words from thoughts and so much more.” Most modern comics are created collaboratively, and letterers are an important piece of the puzzle, bringing together the words and the art in a way that doesn’t hamper or overpower either. Quite frankly, you couldn’t have comics without them (except G.I. Joe #21, and even then, who added the title and credits to that first page, hmmm?).
So in appreciation of letterers, here are three things to know, follow and watch on Letterer Appreciation Day:
1. To know: Letterer Appreciation Day falls on Gaspar Saladino’s birthday
According to lettering living legend Todd Klein, Gaspar Saladino is “one of the greatest comics letterers of all time.” Saladino worked in the comics industry for about 60 years, lettering comics like Romance Trail, Strange Adventures, Mystery in Space, Justice League of America, The Flash, Showcase, Iron Man, The Avengers, Tales to Astonish, Superman vs. the Amazing Spider-Man and many more.
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