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Prologue: Page 12
As we saw a bit of last week, Futura is REALLY bad with kids. And her jokes still fall flat across all of the age spectrum.

Her two font attendants finally get names, and a bit of dialogue! The tall one with the mustache is Goudy Old Style, and the short ginger one is Copperplate Gothic. When I was originally designing the first Fonternity Ward scene, I was just gonna include two nameless fonts, but I thought that wouldn’t be as fun. The reason I picked Goudy and Copperplate is because they were created by the same typographer, Frederic W. Goudy, prior to 1931 (so it wouldn’t be a historical anomaly to have them present in the first scene).

Goudy Old Style’s letters are less squat and, to my eyes, more elegant than Copperplate Gothic’s letterforms, hence the height difference of their personifications. And Copperplate’s copper-toned color scheme is, well, a bit self-explanatory.

Besides that, there’s some pretty important information on this page. You guys probably thought the fountain pen in this website’s header was just to reflect the idea of fonts - and it is, somewhat - but it’s also an actual object in the comic.
18 Comments, click to add yours
I'm waiting for Garamond to make an appearance. Wonderful comic, though. I'm definitely a fan of your work. Very well put together and extremely clever. I'm the purveyor of Astronaut Ninja, if you want to check it out:

Keep up the good work!
Jschiek 3/8/16 reply
Oh, I'm sorry, but links don't work in the comments (we had to put that in the code to prevent spamming!) but I'll be sure to Google it so I can take a look! I'm so glad you like the comic so far -- and yes, Garamond does make an appearance, although not for a little while.

I'm so happy you think the comic is clever! I hope you'll check in tomorrow for this week's new page.
 Emma  3/8/16 reply
emma if you were a font who would you be
sid 3/7/16 reply
I can't answer this...
 Emma  3/7/16 reply
Hurray! What a neat web comic. A comics fan pointed me here, since I'm slogging through designing fonts.

It's curious how Times went on to become the most common font, along with (rolls eyes) Helvetica, and several other 20th century fonts became so common.

I know I've seen that font-kid's font before, but can't place it. -- I like the "gender-neutral" bit, but English makes that difficult: they? one? ... just not, hey you, and surely never, it. -- But I'd argue that a font is for saying anything, even if they're cussing. :) (Despite how I try to avoid that.)

I was surprised how much sympathy I was getting for shy Louis Pepping.

LOL, Comic Sans -- Yeah, it gets a bad rep, but most "regular people" (non-designers) jump to use it. They might use something else if they had a choice, but they do use it.

I'm looking forward to what's next. :) Great comic!
BlueCatShip 3/7/16 reply
Oh my gosh, thank you so much! I'm happy you like it so far, and I'm really excited someone recommended it to you.

The kid font is my (poor imitation of) Passero One, so you're probably right that you've seen it!

I'm glad you like Louis so far, I was hoping people would be sympathetic to him...and it's true, Comic Sans is still used by a lot of people!

I hope you check back in on Wednesday for the next page, since there's a new one every week! :)
 Emma  3/7/16 reply
this is so cool! i love the juxtaposition between goudy, copperplate, and futura - it's such an interesting take on such a seemingly mundane thing. awesome again!
Harry Potter PWNS ALL 3/4/16 reply
Oh my gosh, thank you so much! I'm happy you like the juxtaposition :)
 Emma  3/5/16 reply
I love how much thought and planning goes into this comic! Everything in this page, from the newly introduced League members to the font initiation process, is so clever and fascinating to watch play out :)
Lily 3/3/16 reply
Oh my gosh, thank you so much! I pride myself into putting thought into League, so I'm super happy it's paying off and that you notice it! More fun details of the League's inner workings next week :)
 Emma  3/4/16 reply
Very cool, as usual. Looking forward to more!
Andy 3/3/16 reply
I'm so happy you like it!
 Emma  3/3/16 reply
eeeeehhhhh, not a exactly a fan of copperplate either, but I guess I don't necessarily have anything in particular against it, and once again, I think you've managed to do a pretty good job of characterizing the font. I keep looking forward to seeing what other fonts show up and what they look like.
blaidd drwg 3/2/16 reply
Ah, thank you so much! I'm glad you like my characterization, it's something I strive for: to make the characterizations resonate with people. We'll be meeting two new important fonts in the next two weeks, so you'll get to see some new faces!
 Emma  3/2/16 reply
They're a cute kid!!!
Also - I'm loving "Fonternity Ward"... I hope I don't go into nursing and accidentally say that.
Charlie 3/2/16 reply
It's weird because I don't think I've had any characters explicitly SAY that it's called the "Fonternity Ward" yet, but that's always been its name! I just like weird little jokes like that, I guess.
 Emma  3/2/16 reply
Your hand-lettering is absolutely to die for.
K 3/2/16 reply
Thank you so much! I always have a lot of fun with it, and it always surprises me (in a good way!) that people seem to really enjoy it.
 Emma  3/2/16 reply
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