so i'm a comic book geek. By geek i mean
geek. Let's just say my wife is a patient woman. so you can imagine my surprise when i decided to delve into the history of the villain of the modern graphic design world, Comic Sans and found it's roots in comic book art. The font was developed for Microsoft and based on lettering (the words in the bubbles) from classics like Watchmen and The Dark Knight Returns. Both of these are definitive works that really redefined modern comic book storytelling. So how did a font with such legendary beginnings achieve such a toxic status? The movement began in a response to blatant and eventually widespread misuse of the "humourus" font in serious or coporate situations. For example:
versus something you should take seriously and probably do every day, like this:
this font (FHWA Standard) says you can take your humor and shove it.
The misuse combined with kerning and leading issues when it's used in body type gave graphic designers good reason to boycott it altogther.
the takeaway for me is...
1)"comics get no respect."
2) It's sad what started out as a neat tribute to a great medium, ended up universally despised.
3) bleeding cowboy and papyrus (although not comic book inspired) are next.
more:
http://sixrevisions.com/graphics-design/comic-sans-the-font-everyone-loves-to-hate/
Cameron Chapman
