★★★★★ 4
A great overall book, with one critical omission.
Format: Paperback
This is a great book to illuminate the mysterious art of comicbook lettering. It goes deep into the practical details and theory required to make a graphic novel, manga, or superhero comic with the look and feel of a professional product. But comicbook lettering is actually more than a purely aesthetic art form, it plays a critical role in conveying meaning, emotional mood, and tone of voice. Along with the artwork and panel composition, the layout of the lettering and dialogue balloons is also critical to help guide the reader's eyes naturally from panel to panel.
If you're curious about how graphic design for visual narrative works, this is an interesting and inspiring book.
My only criticism is the conspicuous omission of perhaps the one topic this author is uniquely qualified to illuminate, and that is: the actual creation of the fonts themselves. I've admired Nate's Blambot comic fonts for a long time (and have purchased licenses for some of them), so I was looking forward to at least getting an overview of how he approaches this seemingly critical aspect of comicbook lettering. But no. He doesn't go into it even slightly, which is a shame, because this would have been the perfect book on the topic if he had. I understand that font design is a huge topic unto itself, but was disappointed that in a book of this size, there weren't even a few pages dedicated to discussing the process of making fonts for comicbooks. Literally anyone reading this book would want to know that information.
Having said that, it's a great book, and I still enjoyed it very much. You'll probably be surprised by how much more there is to learn about this topic than you may have thought. Reading it will deepen your appreciation for an art form that, like a great movie score, is basically invisible when done very well, yet amplifies the emotional impact of each contributing discipline, and profoundly contributes to the enjoyment of the final experience.
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Reviewed in the United States on September 22, 2022
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