Comicraft is a

company A company, abbreviated as co., is a Legal personality, legal entity representing an association of legal people, whether Natural person, natural, Juridical person, juridical or a mixture of both, with a specific objective. Company members ...

which provides graphic design and

lettering Lettering or Lettering design is an act or result of artfully drawing letters, instead of writing them simply. Lettering is considered an art form, where each letter in a phrase or quote acts as an illustration. Each letter is created with attent ...

services to various (primarily

comic book A comic book, comic-magazine, or simply comic is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panel (comics), panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are often accompanied by descriptive prose and wri ...

) companies.

History

The company was founded by

Richard Starkings Richard Starkings (born 27 January 1962) is a British font designer and comic book letterer, editor and writer. He was one of the early pioneers of computer-based comic-book lettering, and is one of the most prolific creators in that industry. ...

in 1992. Starkings had been working for

Marvel UK Marvel UK was an imprint (trade name), imprint of Marvel Comics formed in 1972 to reprint United States of America, US-produced stories for the United Kingdom, British weekly comic market. Marvel UK later produced original material by British cr ...

for five years, but left London for New York, circa 1990.Starkings, Richard
"The Secret Origin of ''Comicraft''" Part 1
Accessed February 10, 2008 Lettering large numbers of pages overnight for Marvel editor Gregory Wright, Starkings decided to move away from the New York Marvel offices to California, partly hoping that the increased distance would mean increased deadlines. A year later, Starkings (now based in Los Angeles) was asked to letter issues of Marvel's premier title ''

Uncanny X-Men ''Uncanny X-Men'', originally published as ''The X-Men'', is an American comic book series published by Marvel Comics since 1963, and is the longest-running series in the List of X-Men comics, X-Men comics franchise. It features a team of super ...

''. Unable to meet the deadlines of then-editor

Bob Harras Robert Harras (born January 11, 1959''Comics Buyer's Guide'' #1650; February 2009; page 107) is an American comics writer and editor, who was editor-in-chief of Marvel Comics from 1995 to 2000 and editor-in-chief of DC Comics from 2010 to 2020. ...

, he considered faster methods of lettering, and turned to computers.Starkings, Richard
"The Secret Origin of ''Comicraft''" Part 2
Accessed February 10, 2008 Digitizing his lettering in readiness, and joining with designer John Roshell, Starkings unwittingly found that the formation of

Image Comics Image Comics is an independent American American comic book, comic book publisher and is the third largest direct market comic book and graphic novel publisher in the industry by market share. Its best-known publications include ''Spawn (comics) ...

created a perfect opportunity for his innovative lettering practices. The 'superstar artist' status of the Image founders, and the money they were able spend on production allowed Image to attract letterers from DC and Marvel, creating a vacuum made all the more stark by the concurrent comics boom inspiring companies to increase output. Although meeting resistance in some quarters (most famously from Harras at Marvel), the higher-paychecks offered by Image allowed some letterers to produce less work, further snow-balling the demand for Starkings' services. For a name Starkings recalled a friend's carpentry business being called "Proudcraft", and the two settled on ''Comicraft''. Overcoming the reluctance of the comics industry with such titles as ''

Ghost Rider 2099 ''Ghost Rider 2099'' is a comic book series that was published by Marvel Comics, under the Marvel 2099 imprint, from 1994 to 1996. The series is set in the year 2099, in a dystopian possible future of the Marvel Universe, and features Kenshiro "Ze ...

'', ''

Astro City ''Astro City'', also known as ''Kurt Busiek's Astro City'', is an American superhero anthology comic book series centered on a fictional American city of that name. Created and written by Kurt Busiek, the series is mostly illustrated by Brent And ...

'' and ''

Generation X Generation X (often shortened to Gen X) is the Demography, demographic Cohort (statistics), cohort following the Baby Boomers and preceding Millennials. Researchers and popular media often use the mid-1960s as its starting birth years and the ...

'', although unable to challenge the legendary

Todd Klein Todd Klein (born January 28, 1951) is an American comic book letterer, logo designer, and occasional writer, primarily for DC Comics. Biography Early career Todd Klein broke into comics in the summer of 1977, hired by DC Comics as a staff prod ...

for the "Lettering" title, Starkings and Comicraft nevertheless managed to win an

Eisner Award The Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards, commonly shortened to the Eisner Awards, are awards for creative achievement in American comic books. They are regarded as the most prestigious and significant awards in the comic industry and often referred ...

in 1994, for "Best Publication Design" for Busiek and Ross' '' Marvels''. The ''

Comics Buyer's Guide ''Comics Buyer's Guide'' (''CBG''; ), established in 1971, was the longest-running English-language periodical reporting on the American comic book industry. It awarded its annual Comics Buyer's Guide Fan Awards from 1983 to circa 2010. The publ ...

'' and ''Wizard: The Comics Magazine'' also went against the Eisners, and named Comicraft the best letterer for 3 and 7 years in a row respectively.

Active Images

A sub-company, "Active Images" was initiated in 1995ComicBookFonts: More Information
Accessed February 10, 2008 as an online arm initially to "make Comicraft's library of comic book fonts commercially available", but in 2002 its role was expanded into the world of publishing.

Active Images Richard Starkings (born 27 January 1962) is a British font designer and comic book letterer, editor and writer. He was one of the early pioneers of computer-based comic-book lettering, and is one of the most prolific creators in that industry. ...

publishes, among other titles,

' own comics ''

Hip Flask A hip flask is a thin flask for holding liquor. Description Hip flasks were traditionally made of pewter, silver, or even glass, though most modern flasks are made from stainless steel. Some modern flasks are made of plastic so as to avoid det ...

'' and ''

Elephantmen ''Elephantmen'' is an American ongoing monthly comic book published by Image Comics and written by Richard Starkings with art by Moritat and a number of other artists. Issue #1 was released in July 2006. Overview Some 200 years from now, the ...

''.

Clients

Comicraft's work and fonts have appeared in hundreds of products produced and distributed by all four of the major American comics companies:

DC Comics DC Comics (originally DC Comics, Inc., and also known simply as DC) is an American comic book publisher owned by DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC is an initialism for "Detective Comics", an American comic book seri ...

Marvel Comics Marvel Comics is a New York City–based comic book publishing, publisher, a property of the Walt Disney Company since December 31, 2009, and a subsidiary of Disney Publishing Worldwide since March 2023. Marvel was founded in 1939 by Martin G ...

Dark Horse Comics Dark Horse Comics is an American comic book, graphic novel, manga and Artist's book, art book publisher founded in Milwaukie, Oregon, by Mike Richardson in 1986. The company was created using funds earned from Richardson's chain of Portland, O ...

and

; as well as for magazines and books produced by

Mad Magazine ''Mad'' (stylized in all caps) is an American humor magazine which was launched in 1952 and currently published by DC Comics, a unit of the DC Entertainment subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. ''Mad'' was founded by editor Harvey Kurtzman an ...

Nickelodeon Magazine ''Nick Magazine'' is a defunct American children's magazine inspired by the children's television network Nickelodeon. Its first incarnation appeared in 1990 and was distributed at participating Pizza Hut restaurants; the version of the magazine ...

, Scholastic and

Titan Books Titan Publishing Group is the publishing division of the British entertainment company Titan Entertainment, which was established as Titan Books in 1981. The books division has two main areas of publishing: film and television tie-ins and cine ...

. Many of the company's fonts, created by Starkings and designer Roshell are commercially available to individuals and institutions as

software Software consists of computer programs that instruct the Execution (computing), execution of a computer. Software also includes design documents and specifications. The history of software is closely tied to the development of digital comput ...

applications through the

publishing company via their website
ComicBookFonts.com

Bibliography (selected)

Comicraft has produced a 64-page book detailing the basics of lettering comics: *''Comic Book Lettering: The Comicraft Way'' Comics and books either lettered by, or featuring fonts created by, Starkings/Comicraft include: *'' Batman: The Killing Joke'' ( DC) (By

Alan Moore Alan Moore (born 18 November 1953) is an English author known primarily for his work in comic books including ''Watchmen'', ''V for Vendetta'', ''The Ballad of Halo Jones'', Swamp Thing (comic book), ''Swamp Thing'', ''Batman: The Killing Joke' ...

and

Brian Bolland Brian Bolland (; born 26 March 1951)Salisbury, Mark, ''Artists on Comic Art'' (Titan Books, 2000) , p. 11 is a British comics artist. Best known in the United Kingdom as one of the Judge Dredd artists for British comics anthology ''2000 AD (comi ...

) — hand-lettered by Starkings pre-Comicraft, when he was still in England. *''Spider-Man Blue'' (

Marvel Marvel may refer to: Business * Marvel Entertainment, an American entertainment company ** Marvel Comics, the primary imprint of Marvel Entertainment ** Marvel Universe, a fictional shared universe ** Marvel Music, an imprint of Marvel Comics ...

) (By

Jeph Loeb Joseph "Jeph" Loeb III () is an American film and television writer, producer and comic book writer. Loeb was a producer/writer on the TV series ''Smallville (TV series), Smallville'' and ''Lost (2004 TV series), Lost'', writer for the films ''C ...

and Tim Sale) *'' Marvels'' (

) (By

Kurt Busiek Kurt Busiek ( ; born September 16, 1960) is an American comic book writer. His work includes the '' Marvels'' limited series, his own series titled '' Astro City'', a four-year run on '' The Avengers, Thunderbolts,'' and ''Superman.'' Early lif ...

and

Alex Ross Nelson Alexander Ross (born January 22, 1970) is an American comic book creator, comic book writer and artist known primarily for his painted interiors, covers, and design work. He first became known with the 1994 miniseries ''Marvels'', on which ...

) *''

'' (

WildStorm Wildstorm Productions (stylized as WildStorm) is an American comic book imprint. Originally founded as an independent company established by Jim Lee and Brandon Choi to publish through Image Comics, Wildstorm became a publishing imprint of DC C ...

) (By

, Brent Anderson and

) *''

Battle Chasers ''Battle Chasers'' is an American fantasy comic book series written and illustrated by Joe Madureira. First published by Image Comics as part of WildStorm's Cliffhanger (comics), Cliffhanger imprint (founded by Madureira with J. Scott Campbell and ...

'' (

Image An image or picture is a visual representation. An image can be Two-dimensional space, two-dimensional, such as a drawing, painting, or photograph, or Three-dimensional space, three-dimensional, such as a carving or sculpture. Images may be di ...

) (By

Joe Madureira Joe Madureira (; born December 1974), often called Joe Mad,Smith, Andrew (May 3, 2002). "Canceled Comics Cavalcade Catch-up". ''Comics Buyer's Guide'' #1485. p. 38 is an American comic book artist and game developer, best known for his work on ''D ...

) *''

Danger Girl ''Danger Girl'' is an American comic book series created by J. Scott Campbell and Andy Hartnell that started in March 1998 and is still published as a new series. The comic stars an eponymous group of female secret agents—Abbey Chase, Sydney S ...

'' (

) (By J. Scott Campbell) *'' Batman: Hush'' ( DC) (By

and

Jim Lee Jim Lee (; born August 11, 1964) is a Korean-born American comic book artist, writer, editor, and publisher. As of 2023, he is the President, Publisher, and Chief creative officer, Chief Creative Officer of DC Comics. In recognition of his work ...

) *''

Superman For All Seasons ''Superman for All Seasons'' is a 4-issue comic book limited series written by Jeph Loeb with art by Tim Sale. It was originally published by DC Comics in 1998, after their previous success, '' Batman: The Long Halloween''. After that story's t ...

'' ( DC) (By

and Tim Sale)Active Images.com
Accessed February 10, 2008 Almost every book published by MonkeyBrain features cover fonts licensed from Comicraft. These include: *

Jess Nevins Jess Nevins (born 1966) is an American author and research librarian best known for annotated guides and encyclopedias covering Victoriana, comic books, genre fiction and pulp fiction.Alan Moore Alan Moore (born 18 November 1953) is an English author known primarily for his work in comic books including ''Watchmen'', ''V for Vendetta'', ''The Ballad of Halo Jones'', Swamp Thing (comic book), ''Swamp Thing'', ''Batman: The Killing Joke' ...

and Kevin O'Neill's ''

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen ''The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen'' (''LoEG'') is a multi-genre, cross-over comic book series co-created by writer Alan Moore and artist Kevin O'Neill which began in 1999. The comic book spans four volumes, an original graphic novel, and ...

''; "Heroes & Monsters" and "A Blazing World"

Notes

References

* Ihnatko, Andy. "Web Can be Font of All Fonts" ''Chicago Sun-Times'' (May 24, 2007). * Benjamin Ong Pang Kean
"The Starkings Way: Talking Letters & Fonts with Richard Starkings"
(April 15, 2005). * Thomas, Michael
"The Invisible Art in Plain Sight: A Look at the Art of Lettering"
(June 9, 2000).

External links

*

{{Authority control Comic book letterers Graphic design studios Comics studios Typesetting Companies based in Los Angeles Design companies established in 1992 1992 establishments in California