That actually makes me happy.

I'm stuck between Nick and Corey.

I hate the font.

But, read the first few lines of the story and it makes sense. It's a story about an comic artist. So...it, sort of, works. Of course, I think that alone should mean that I need to head to bunker and wait out the apocalypse...Yeah...

It's just wrong. Very wrong.

It's not funny.
This is about journalistic standards.
Comic Sans is a Vince Connare font (as is obvious from the identical "t"s), not the cartoonist in question's lettering.
So it is, if not a lie, sloppy journalism.
By making an exception to the style guide, and using the much-maligned CS, the article demeans the subject's status, skewing the objectivity that newspapers are supposed to provide. Again, bad journalism.

So really, it's like using the wrong person's photo for a story.

As sii says, the idea of 'let's buy a font for a single headline !' isn't financially viable, so you got to use what you got.. or get an intern to write the text and get you a cup of coffee as it goes.

They should have poked him for a header, that would be better, but well, you know the newspaper world, take the easy way out ! hats off to them. Don't get me started at finding this horrible, I'd rather see this than a full justification ridden with holes.

Well, Wall Street Journal is now owned by Rupert Murdoch. It says what he says, in a way he wants. In Comic Sans if necessery. You can see that in Simpsons. Or in Jerry Springer. Fox News is a bit over the top for everyone with a brain.

There are better fonts for comic-style lettering than Comic Sans. I think the font change would have been more effective if something more original had been used.

copying someones comic book lettering is illegal and lazy and you are all way behind now and just all jealous. So **** off.

:o)

… "and lazy…"

unlike the person who laboriously and expertly scrolls down the list and clicks on CS. :o)

… "So **** off."

OK
:o)

I agree that it's a bit lame from an art direction perspective, but I like the humor and the thinking.

As usual, I'm sure it did exactly what it was meant to for the audience. I'm sure that as a non-subscriber my opinions sound like so much whistling wind to the WSJ.

@ Chris:

Art direcion has nothing to do with it: A designer has done his/her work, and journalists now fill the blanck spots. Now the journalist fills that space with what he/she feels appropriate. Photo-journalist may be consulted. Art Director thinks of a nice opening for weekend issues.

I do not think that there is many Art Directors making newspapers today.

Thomas, I have filed a bug report.

I will have to drag out my copy of WATCHMEN. Comic Sans, even in all caps, doesn't look like typical comic book lettering. It reminds me, instead, in upper and lower case, of lettering or other fonts used in some magazines for young children back in the 1960s.

The family of the late Ben Oda has placed a free font on the web based on his lettering style; he worked chiefly for DC, and is claimed by many to be the founder of modern comic book lettering.

@quadibloc: Comic Sans (like most fonts) is generally used in larger sizes than actual comic book lettering. I think that accounts for a lot of the difference. Try it in eight point or something. :)

@Kent: Will do. Thanks!

T

Meanwhile, the WSJ used Comic Sans as a headline font AGAIN today (June 12) in a truly atrocious layout that also relied on ... wait for it ... Arial

To those who say it would be wasteful and unreasonable for the WSJ to buy a special font for one story or hire a lettering artist, bear in mind that the WSJ routinely hires photographers, illustrators and information designers for specific feature stories. For example, for this very story, they obviously paid for a custom comic-style illustration. But they wiped out on the lettering.

Scary stuff. Even an ape on LSD could have done better...this is hideous. If I do something comparable for the small publishing house I work for, my a** will be kicked. Apparently, WSJ editorial standards are getting quite low. Or the a** of the ape doing this is sturdier than mine.

Incidentally, I learned of the Ben Oda font during a mad fit of searching for information about comic book typefaces.

One supplier is Blambot! - they provided the typefaces used in the Hello Cthulhu web comic, including the strange characters used for direct quotes from the Necronomicon.

However, apparently the major supplier of serious comic fonts used even, at times, by Marvel and DC, is the one that supplies the typefaces used in Phil and Kaja Foglio's Girl Genius webcomic (trying to identify these sparked my search)... is Comicraft.

McSweeney's had enough.

http://www.mcsweeneys.net/links/monologues/15comicsans.html

Sorry CS, I don't think Papyrus is interested in getting hammered.
You might have to settle for an organic smoothie.
I hear Impact is in town though, but watch out, he'll kick your skinny shapeless butt all the way to Seattle.

Here's an example of Comic Sans done right: PZ Myers in his blog Pharyngula formats quotations from kooks, nutjobs, etc. in Comic Sans with a little Gumby graphic. Here's the latest example.

And if you ask me, all of the WSJ should be printed in CS.

Looks like they even put two word spaces between the words in the second line.

Yup, it's Chalkboard.
The plot thickens.

Chalkboard, oh that Chalkboard is trying to ruin my reputation, that impostor.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2010/jun/20/in-defence-comic-sans...

I was trying to pick up some comic books as a gift this week, and noticed a Translation of V for Vendetta in Comic sans. That aside, the translation also morphed the speech balloons and cluttered the artwork.

But still, it beats the Twilight comic (don't, please don't ask) typeset in Times...

Good to see some Chalkboard love though !