Comic Sans

Comic Sans MS

Category	Script (typefaces)
Designer(s)	Vincent Connare
Foundry	Microsoft

Comic Sans MS is available in two weights

Comic Sans MS (or Comic Sans) is a casual script typeface modeled on fonts used in American comic books for several decades. Sans is short for sans-serif. The modern Comic Sans was designed by Vincent Connare and released in 1994 by Microsoft Corporation. It is classified as a casual, non-connecting script, and was designed to imitate the historical look of comic book lettering, for use in informal documents.

The typeface has been supplied with Microsoft Windows since the introduction of Windows 95, initially as a supplemental font in the Windows Plus Pack and later in Microsoft Comic Chat. The font's widespread use, often in situations for which it was not intended, has been criticized.^[1]

History

Microsoft designer Vincent Connare says that he began work on Comic Sans in October of 1994. Connare had already created a number of child-oriented fonts for various applications, so when he saw a beta version of Microsoft Bob that used Times New Roman in the word balloons of cartoon characters, he decided to create a new face based on the lettering style of comic books he had in his office, specifically The Dark Knight Returns (lettered by John Costanza) and Watchmen (lettered by Dave Gibbons).^[2]

He completed the face too late for inclusion in MS Bob, but the programmers of Microsoft 3D Movie Maker, which also used cartoon guides and speech bubbles, began to use it. The speech eventually became true voice, but Comic Sans stayed for the program’s pop-up windows and help sections. The typeface later shipped with the Windows 95 Plus! Pack. It then became a standard font for the OEM version of Windows 95. Finally, the font became one of the default fonts for Microsoft Publisher and Microsoft Internet Explorer. The font is also used in Microsoft Comic Chat, which was released in 1996 with Internet Explorer 3.0.

Opposition

The Boston Phoenix reported on disgruntlement over the widespread use of the font, especially its incongruous use for writing on serious subjects, with the complaints focused around a campaign started by two Indianapolis graphic designers, Dave and Holly Combs, via their website "Ban Comic Sans".^[3] The movement was conceived in the autumn of 1999 by the two designers, after an employer insisted that one of them use Comic Sans in a children's museum exhibit,^[2] and in early 2009, the movement was "stronger now than ever".^[2] The web site's main argument is that a typeface should match the tone of its text, and that the irreverence of Comic Sans is often at odds with a serious message, such as a "do not enter" sign.^[4]

In the 2005 session of the youth model parliament in Ontario, the New Democratic Party included the clause "Ban the font known as Comic Sans" in an omnibus ban bill.^[5]

Comic book artist Dave Gibbons, whose work was one of the inspirations for the font, said that it was "a shame they couldn't have used just the original font, because [Comic Sans] is a real mess. I think it's a particularly ugly letter form."^[6]

"I’m Comic Sans, Asshole", Mike Lacher's angry monologue in the voice of Comic Sans reacting to the criticism leveled at it ("You think I’m pedestrian and tacky? Guess the fuck what, Picasso. We don’t all have seventy-three weights of stick-up-my-ass Helvetica sitting on our seventeen-inch MacBook Pros. Sorry the entire world can’t all be done in stark Eurotrash Swiss type")^[7] was adapted as an animated short film in 2011 by Joe Hollier.^[8]

Notable usages

In the life simulation video game, The Sims, and its expansions, Comic Sans is used for nearly all of the text in the game. It was dropped from usage in subsequent sequels.

In 2010, Cleveland Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert was criticized for using Comic Sans in a public letter regarding LeBron James's decision to leave the team.^[9] The usage caused a resurgence of interest in, as well as criticism of, Comic Sans.^[10][11]

On April Fools' Day 2011, typing the name of the fonts "Comic Sans" and "Helvetica" into the search engine Google produced a page of results entirely in the Comic Sans font.^[12]

Later in 2011, the parody website The Onion featured the font in a faux-news story in which "experts" discussed why people find the font to be so humorous. ^[13]

See also

• Chalkboard (typeface)
• Kristen (typeface)
• Papyrus (typeface)
• Core fonts for the Web

Notes

1. ^ "What's so wrong with Comic Sans?". BBC News. BBC. 2010-10-20. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-11582548. Retrieved 2010-10-21. 
2. ^ ^{a b c} Steel, Emily (2009-04-17). "Typeface Inspired by Comic Books Has Become a Font of Ill Will". Wall Street Journal. Dow Jones & Company, Inc.. Archived from the original on 2009-04-19. http://www.webcitation.org/query?url=http%3A%2F%2Fonline.wsj.com%2Farticle%2FSB123992364819927171.html%3Fmod%3Dgooglenews_wsj&date=2009-04-19. Retrieved 2009-04-19. 
3. ^ "Not Funny: Fighting the Good Fight Against a Very Bad Font". The Boston Phoenix. June 3, 2005. http://bostonphoenix.com/boston/news_features/this_just_in/documents/04731913.asp. 
4. ^ Ban Comic Sans official page
5. ^ Kinch, Tyler (2007-11-11). "NDP calls for ban on Comic Sans typeface". Kinch Blog. Tyler Kinch. Archived from the original on 2008-05-16. http://www.webcitation.org/query?url=http%3A%2F%2Ftylerkinch.com%2F11%2F2007%2Fndp-calls-for-ban-on-comic-sans-typeface%2F&date=2008-05-16. Retrieved 2008-05-16. 
6. ^ Schofield, Jack (2009-08-12). "Computers draw a new chapter in comics". The Guardian. http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/aug/12/dave-gibbons-watchmen-interview. Retrieved 2009-08-30. 
7. ^ "I'm Comic Sans, Asshole". McSweeney's. http://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/im-comic-sans-asshole. Retrieved 19 July 2011. 
8. ^ "'I'm Comic Sans, Asshole,' The Animated Version". Huffington Post. 19 July 2011. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/07/19/comic-sans-asshole_n_903392.html. Retrieved 19 July 2011. 
9. ^ Nate Jones (July 9, 2010). "Scathing: Cavs Owner Dan Gilbert Blasts LeBron - in Comic Sans". Time NewsFeed. Time Inc.. http://newsfeed.time.com/2010/07/09/scathing-cavs-owner-dan-gilbert-blasts-lebron-in-comic-sans/. Retrieved July 11, 2010. 
10. ^ MG Siegler (July 8, 2010). "Cavs Owner Goes Online To Rip LeBron A New One… In Comic Sans". TechCrunch. TechCrunch. http://techcrunch.com/2010/07/08/cleveland-cavs-owner-letter-lebron/. Retrieved July 11, 2010. 
11. ^ John D. Sutter (July 9, 2010). "Cavs owner's letter mocked for Comic Sans font". CNN.com. CNN. http://www.cnn.com/2010/TECH/web/07/09/comic.sans.cavs.james/index.html?hpt=T2. Retrieved July 11, 2010. 
12. ^ "Google Plays With Helvetica, Comic Sans For April Fools' 2011 Gag ", Huffington Post, April 1, 2011
13. ^ "New Study Explains Why Comic Sans Font So Hilarious (Season 1: Ep 8 on IFC)". Time NewsFeed. The Onion. August 11, 2011. http://www.theonion.com/video/new-study-explains-why-comic-sans-font-so-hilariou,21202/. Retrieved August 31, 2011. 

References

• Connare, Vincent. “Comic Sans Background Information.” Comic Sans Café.
• Connare, Vincent. “Why Comic Sans?”
• Macmillan, Neil,. An A–Z of Type Designers. Yale University Press: 2006. ISBN 0-300-11151-7.
• Ascender 2010 Font Pack Overview with Comic Sans 2010

External links

• Comic Sans MS font information (Microsoft typography)
• Typowiki: Comic Sans
• Comic Sans Café (Microsoft typography)
• Snog Blog: The Vincent Connare Interview
• Comic Sans | Font for the masses or weed of the graphic world?
• Short video of Vincent Connare at 2009 ROFLThing NYC telling the story of Comic Sans
• Ban Comic Sans an opinion piece about the movement by Dr Chris Scanlon from La Trobe University