009: Custom Balloon Strokes

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                September 1, 2025

            009: Custom Balloon Strokes

            Todaybor Day is Labor Day! And hey, what a coincidence—todaybor day is also Letterer Appreciation Day! I hope my fellow word wranglers are taking advantage of the federal holiday by not working too hard. Or at all. I’m trying for a day off today, but my hopes aren’t high. Anyway, go give your favorites some love on the socials. Ours is a lonely job where it’s our sworn duty to be mostly ignored.
Speaking of letterer appreciation—I’m up for a Ringo Award for Best Letterer! As usual, the competition is fierce. I don’t like it, but I also like it. I’ve read books by these guys just to see how they lettered them. Voting is still open, so if you, the comics industry professional haven’t cast your ballot yet, then fire away!
DIE is coming back! For you guys, anyway. For me, it’s been back for a while now. I just finished lettering issue #5, and the book has lost none of its bite. Go ahead and preorder DIE: Loaded #1—you WILL like it.
In between lettering books and fighting off one hell of a head cold, I’ve been tending to my vegetable garden. It’s gone pretty well this year—except for the broccoli. Broccoli is one hell of a pest magnet. The basil, raspberry, cherry tomato, and cucumber plants are all performing splendidly. I’ve never grown cucumbers before, and watching them develop has been truly fascinating.
Look at this crazy thing.
On to the content!
Sound Effect of the Month:
A thing goes crash in a future issue of Trinity. The crashing object had a blur effect, so I copy/pasted and rotated a duplicate effect and knocked back the opacity a bit to match. Rendered with CCKillZone, one of my workhorse fonts.
Tip: Custom Balloon Strokes
Custom balloon strokes have been on the rise in recent years, and they’re a good, subtle way to make a book “yours.” I’ve made a few over the years, in order to have my word balloons match various styles of artwork. I thought I’d spotlight them this month, and realized that I’ve never given them names. I’ve been enjoying the new King of the Hill episodes, so…uh, here goes.
As you can see, Hank gets a lot of work. He’s honest, trustworthy, and gets the job done right.

Peggy…not so much. In the end, I’m not crazy about how this stroke looks over round objects, but she works really well for captions when paired with Hank.

Bobby is pretty close to a regular default stroke, but has a little bit of tooth to make the balloons feel a little more organic.

Dale was made specifically for Mister Miracle, one of the most dread-filled and paranoid books I’ve ever lettered. Fits, right? Dale is the oldest balloon stroke that I still use, and sometimes that hard corner gets on my nerves, but he still lends himself well to the grittier titles.

Bill was whipped together just for Absolute Batman. I wanted that book to have its own stroke, mainly because I was bored with the other ones at the time.

Boomhauer was born because I wanted a more chaotic version of Dale. B-Dog is also used with a lot of sound effects.

I made Cotton at the same time as Boomhauer for the same reason, but I haven’t found a chance to use him with word balloons yet. Just sound effects. Just as well—Cotton was not a good dude.

And finally, Luanne. I made Luanne just now because I didn’t want to leave her out. I really like this one! Maybe she’ll find a home in a future title.
If you, the aspiring letterer, want to make some basic custom strokes of your own, here’s a good tutorial.
Community:
A bunch of friends, collaborators, and books I worked on got Ringo noms too, and I wanted to congratulate them here:
Tom King, Scott Snyder, Kelly Thompson, James Tynion IV, and David F. Walker are up for Best Writer!
Chris Samnee and Bilquis Evely are both up for Best Artist!
Jordie Bellaire is up for Best Colorist (surprising no one)!
Bilquis Evely and Greg Smallwood are up for Best Cover Artist!
Helen of Wyndhorn is up for Best Series!
Batman & Robin: Year One #1, FML #1, Helen of Wyndhorn, and Trinity Special: World’s Finest are all up for Best Single Issue or Story!
Recommendations:
Comic: Witch Hat Atelier by Kamome Shirahama. You’re probably reading this book already, but I’m recommending it anyway because I found a Witch Hat Atelier t-shirt at FYE, which was surprising. Yes, I bought it. In a recent SKTCHD Q&A, Harper boldly proclaimed that Shirahama “may actually be the greatest comic artist the world has ever seen.” And here I thought she was merely the best mangaka since Katsuhiro Otomo, and I caught plenty of flack for that. Anyway, in case you aren’t reading this one already, it’s a beautifully-drawn series about a coven of preteen witches that’s also an allegory for the artist’s journey. It also features male authority figures who I’ve been reliably informed are hot. Would recommend to people who enjoy men who are hot.
Non-comic: Neko Case. If you’re looking for a not-quite country singer’s uniquely gripping memoir, look no further. This year’s hottest memoir is The Harder I Fight, The More I Love You by Neko Case. This book has everything—extreme poverty, faked death, awful things that should come with a content warning, and a human lady wrestler. It’s that thing where a human is a wrestler, but also a LADY.
Here’s an image in case you don’t understand the reference I’m making. Hey, I thought it was funny.
Neko Case has been one of my favorite artists since my teen years, and it’s shocking to me that more people haven’t heard of her. She has seven albums, three Grammy nominations, a consistently excellent live show, and now, a book. Reading that thing sure changed how I listen to her music, especially her songs about love and mothers. Would recommend to…people who like good music. She has a greatest hits compilation (of sorts), but my favorite album is Fox Confessor Brings The Flood.
Stuff With My Name In It (September 2025):
9/1:
Astonishing X-Men Infinity #35
9/3:
All-New Venom #10
Batman #1
Batman: Giant-Sized Special Edition #1
Birds of Prey #25
FML #6
Love Everlasting vol. 3
The Power Fantasy vol. 2
Uncanny X-Men #20
9/8:
Astonishing X-Men Infinity #36
9/10:
Absolute Batman #12
Black Canary: Best of the Best HC
Daredevil: Unleash Hell - Red Band TP
Edge of Venomverse #1
Star Trek: Lower Decks #11
Trinity: Daughter of Wonder Woman #4
9/17:
Batman & Robin: Year One #11
Magic: The Gathering: Untold Stories - Elspeth #1
Marvel/DC: Deadpool/Batman #1
Predator vs. The Marvel Universe #2
Star Trek: Lower Decks vol. 1 - Second Contact TP
Star Wars #5
Uncanny X-Men #21
Wonder Woman #25
9/22:
Astonishing X-Men Infinity #37
9/24:
Daredevil #25
Predator: Black, White & Blood #3
Star Trek: The Last Starship #1
Venom: Black, White & Blood #2
X-Men #22
9/29
Astonishing X-Men #38
And, finally, the cat photo:
He’s in there somewhere.
That’s it for September. See you in October!
If you have a question you’d like me to answer in a future edition, ask away in the comments section!
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            Seth Woodies

                Sep. 1, 2025, afternoon

    Happy Letterer Appreciation Day! I've been a fan of reading, drawing, and writing comics for a long time and I have to say, your work as a letterer was the first that truly inspired me and grew my appreciate for the craft. Thanks for showing us some background insights into your processes. Keep up the great work!

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                Musings of a Hired Text Gun

                Sep. 2, 2025, noon

    Thank you, Seth! You're very kind :)

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            Cellarius

                Sep. 2, 2025, morning

    Hi Clayton,
Could you speak to your experience revising the lettering of a series when it is collected for trade paperback or hardcover? How common is it for writers to request amendments to the text? How does the process of revision vary between projects and publishers?

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