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I request that you do more letterer profiles! More!

The first time I really noticed a letterer was with Workman-- he lettered an issue of Wonder Woman in the 1970s with the Cheetah where he designed the balloons to have cheetah spots-- which totally established the split personality of the Cheetah and her alter ego. (This was a decade before Sandman and Todd Klein perfecting it) It was a genius touch that was way better than the mediocre Jose Delbo artwork.

Here, here. You don't notice people like this, juyst take them for granted until it goes really wrong.

I can think of a certain inker who murdered some pages by one of my all time fave artists. I never like Janson inking Byrne or JrJr - but he looks good on Miller. Similarly certain names - Bob Wiacek springs to mind - do a bang up job.

Workman - I'd always associated that lettering with Simonson's Thor somehow - the art and the lettering are linked in my mind so closely and are just right for each other.

It seems like you’re starting to scrape for ideas here. A guy’s gotta earn a living however he can, so I guess lettering comic books as an honest living can’t be laughed at, but is it really a reason to love comics?

Since day one of this column, I intended to do a few pieces on lettering. It's an incredibly unappreciated art, and I want to appreciate it.

I also plan to look at colorists and inkers before the year (or perhaps even month) is out.

And it's great to hear from Tommy Lee Edwards! He's far more knowledgeable about this stuff than I am, obviously. I agree with everything you said, Tom.

Workman is one of the great letterers.

However, is he the best ever? I'm not sure. Love him or hate him Dave Sim's lettering is second to none and oozes personality, emotion, and meaning. It isn't just using a nice font and cuting and pasting, it is using the shape, size and placement of the words to help tell the story.

That's the kind of lettering we need more of.

how about Workman-like?

It seems like you're starting to scrape for ideas here. A guy's gotta earn a living however he can, so I guess lettering comic books as an honest living can't be laughed at, but is it really a reason to love comics?

Bill, how about covering Pat Brosseau of Hellboy fame? He (or she, any help?) does a great job complementing the series' creepiness.

I can't say it better than Edwards; Workman's been one of the best there is for three decades now. I always love to see his lettering. It just has a pleasing look, always easy to read, and he doesn't have to rely upon gimmicks like odd-shaped balloons and multiple font styles. Not that there's anything wrong with that, as the saying goes...

He's lettered virtually everything I've drawn in comics for the past 15 years, and it's become impossible to separate the two of us. Some editors aren't too crazy about the "airy" balloons we give to certain stories. They say it "covers too much of the artwork". What artwork? The lettering IS the artwork- Or at least part of it.

John and I insist that the lettering be done by hand on the board, as the pages I draw are obviously laid-out in a fashion that is driven by balloon placement. That's one of the reasons I have to work from a full script.

We are in an era where many comics are written by bare-bone plot, and the lettering is slapped on later (as an almost afterthought) via a computer. I am proud to say that John and I try not to hide the lettering and make it invisible to the art. We instead embrace the comics form and try to enhance it with the use of lettering.

Look at not only John's previous work with guys like Simonson- But also the use of other great lettering in the work of Howard Chaykin, Alex Toth, and Will Eisner.

He does have a lovely style of calligraphy--anyone know if there are actual adjectives to apply to different lettering styles, or if we should make some up?

Perhaps the problem is that his style has been so influential that the incredibly ground-breaking things about his work now look common-place?