Why do American comics have this thing where they seem to emphasize way too many random words that don’t make any sense and I spend the whole time reading up and down in a lilting mental voice
IN THE DAYS OF HAND-LETTERING AND POOR PRINTING, IT WAS IMPORTANT TO MAKE THE LETTERING EASY TO READ, SO IT WAS DONE IN UPPERCASE LETTERS. THIS TENDED TO MAKE THE TEXT HARD TO READ. SMALL PUNCTUATION MARKS WERE HARD TO SEE, IF THEY PRINTED AT ALL.
LETTERERS – THOSE UNSUNG HEROES – LEARNED THAT BY VARYING THE WEIGHT OF THE TEXT AND USING EXCLAMATION POINTS AND DOUBLE-DASHES, THEY COULD MAKE THE COMICS EASIER TO READ, WHILE EXPRESSING EMPHASIS TO ENHANCE THE ACTION-PACKED DIALOGUE!
IN THE HANDS OF A GOOD WRITER AND LETTERER TEAM, THE EMPHASIZED WORDS ARE NOT RANDOM, BUT INSTEAD WORDS THAT WOULD BE STRESSED IN NATURAL SPEECH. THIS IS IMPORTANT BECAUSE STRESS CAN CHANGE THE MEANING OF THE SENTENCE!
YOU CAN LEARN MORE ABOUT COMIC BOOK LETTERING GRAMMAR HERE!!
huh cool
assembling evidence that Paris Hilton is into vintage radios & is also a radically different person than you may have assumed
Hi yes, let me tell you about my encounters with Paris Hilton.
First time I was at a Harry Potter Los Angeles meet-up at the Grove. I am waiting in line to order food from Phil’s Deli when the person in front of me backs up suddenly. I do the same and backpedal right onto someone’s foot. I immediately turn around, apologizing, when I am face-to-face with Paris Hilton.
My first thought is that I probably just ruined $2000 shoes.
She goes, “Oh goodness, it’s fine!” and laughs. She glances down at our feet. “You’ve got big feet, too!”
I laugh a little, nervous. “Yeah. Size eleven.”
“Me, too!” She laughs and offers up a hand for a high-five. I react automatically and high five her. “It’s so hard to find shoes in our size, right?”
I nod.
“You should go check out [some store on Rodeo]. They actually carry size eleven women’s shoes for me!”
I grin, although my first thought is I cannot afford shoes from Rodeo Drive.
The second time I encountered Paris Hilton was through my work at GLAAD. My work there involved VIP phone calls for membership-related stuff. I was assigned to her during Pride that year, since we had a good working phone relationship. When she saw me, she was excited “to finally meet me.” Those words died on her lips when we shook hands and she narrowed her eyes.
“We’ve met before.”
I smiled. “Yes.”
“At the Grove! You’re my foot twin!”
We both ended up laughing and chatting for a good half-hour (although she did say I should have mentioned we’d already met! I told her there hadn’t been a good opportunity but that it would likely sort itself out at Pride pretty fast). I only wish I’d known she was interested in amateur radio! (Everyone in my family, including me, has their license.)
Since then, I have vigorously defended Paris Hilton to people. She absolutely gave me the impression that she was a kind, good, loving, and generous person. She also gave the impression of being very intelligent, with impressive business acumen.
“But the most potent FX are Downey’s eyes – those big, expressive brown orbs that seem to be highlighted with natural mascara to make them pop. Downey uses his body like a dancer or an acrobat, but has there been any other actor since, maybe, Bette Davis whose eyelashes are so vital to his performance? Favreau seems to understand this: When Tony puts on his Iron Man mask, we spend as much time inside it, just looking into Downey’s eyes as they fill the screen, as we do watching him zoom through the atmosphere or stomp around on the earth’s surface. It’s the best special effect in the movie … Downey has entered a hard-earned period of grace in his career, where it seems he can do no wrong. He’s always been exceptional, but right now we’re just so glad to see him. It helps immeasurably, of course, that he consistently brings more to his material than the part demands. Whether the movie itself doesn’t measure up to him, or is very good indeed, he contributes something that makes it – or, at least, him – something to see.”
