Zubby Newsletter #129: Proper Reading Order
Team Conan Chattanooga – with Tyler Smith and Richard Starkings.I had a lot of fun in Tennesee, meeting new readers and old collectors, and hanging out with industry friends and current collaborators. Over the summer I attended so many four day shows that doing an event that was only Saturday and Sunday felt luxurious and gone in a flash. Good times!
On Sunday, I had breakfast with Richard Starkings and Tyler Smith at Comicraft, who letter all the Conan comics. Richard is the guy who pioneered digital lettering techniques back in the 90’s and I’m thrilled to have him on our series, bringing such depth of knowledge and care to each issue. With so many projects on the go, Tyler is at the forefront working with me on the initial lettering pass and edits, with Richared involved in complex scenes, problem solving, and special font design.
Comic lettering isn’t understood by many comic fans. When lettering works properly it effortlessly guides the reader through each panel and page and we are usually too caught up in reading to appreciate the care that goes into where that lettering is placed, fonts and color choices, or how balloons or caption boxes stack to create clarity, but when lettering is done poorly it is the only thing we notice because the reading process gets derailed.
Conan the Barbarian is unusual in that there are practically no sound effects at all. Writer-Editor Roy Thomas realized right from the first issue in 1970 that endless panels of slashing and screaming onomatopoeia would not effectively translate the power or poetry of Robert E. Howard’s prose to the comic page, so more atmospheric narration was used instead. That lyrical approach, which I continue to use to this day, gives scenes a tension and gravity all their own and makes Conan stand out amongst its peers. It’s a challenge to come up with new and interesting ways to describe sensory information beyond what we see in the artwork, but it’s also worth the extra effort.
Here’s a lettering example from our most recent issue on the flagship series, Conan the Barbarian #24:
Artwork by Fernando Dagnino and Diego Rodriguez.8 text callouts on an action-oriented page is a good balance of reading and visuals. If there’s a lot of action on the page I will throttle text back even more and let the art do the ‘talking’. That said, dialogue scenes can certainly get more dense in terms of lettering. Here’s a page from Conan: Scourge of the Serpent #1 with 18!
Artwork by Ivan Gil and João Canola.Having each number correspond to the lettering script makes it easy for everyone to reference the document and compare. It also makes it much easier to ask for changes (“Can we add a new line between #4 and 5?” or “Let’s cut balloon 8 entirely because it’s no longer needed”).
Chatting With SalI couldn’t believe it had been more than two years since I chatted on camera with Sal Crivelli from Comic Pop, so when the opportunity came up I jumped at the chance.
It really felt like no time has passed at all and the conversation that rolled out was as fun and energetic as always. Anecdotes and info galore. Make sure you check it out.
Comic Tropes After DarkAnother person I absolutely love talking with is Chris Piers at Comic Tropes. His deep love of comics and optimistic energy is always inspiring. In 30 minutes we cover quite a bit about the last two years of Conan at Titan and our current event mini-series.
Comic Book Club
Rounding out this hat trick of interviews, I checked in with Alex and Justin at the Comic Book Club and we talked about building long term stories and collaborating with amazing artists.
Current + Upcoming Releases
• Last week I made this General Tso’s Chicken recipe from Brian Lagerstrom and it really was better than takeout.
• Dom of X has the first look at the Deluxe oversized hardcover edition of Conan vol. 1: Bound in Black Stone – Check that beauty out!
• Over the years there have been rumors and tall tales spun about how He-Man and Conan are connected, but Shawn Curley is on the case, unravelling the truth from the lies with info right from the source.
• I didn’t know artist Skottie Young had his own YouTube channel, but now that I do know I’m subscribed and digging into all the older videos.
Jim
