The Secret Language of Comics
COMMUNICATING WITH SERIFS AND BALLOONS
Are there secret messages hidden in the pages of comic books? Do the fonts and balloons tell us more than just the words? While this might not be something you spend much time thinking about, there is a method to drawing the various “speech balloons,” “thought balloons,” “dream balloons,” and “everything else balloons” that you come across while reading a comic book. This “secret” art form involves communicating with shapes and using visual indicators that elicit a quick and direct response from the reader. If you read comics, chances are that you subconsciously pick up on it already—you might even find that a comic that doesn’t stick with the traditional “rules” feels just a little bit off as you read it.
Most of these norms make sense, and clearly someone has put some thought into them. One that might pique your interest is the rule for crossbars (or serifs) on the letter “I.” Nate Piekos, a professional letterer, explains: “An ‘I’ with the crossbars on top and bottom is virtually only used for the personal pronoun, ‘I.’ The only other allowable use of the ‘crossbar I’ is in abbreviations. Any other instance of the letter should just be the vertical stroke version.”
Piekos’s entire essay, “Comics Grammar & Tradition,” is quite revealing and decodes a number of comic conventions. —GRG
An example of two different “Burst Balloons” used to indicate screaming. Courtesy of Nate Piekos (http://blambot.com).