Ninjak #3 Spotlight: Lettering

 

Ninjak #3 Cover B by Alitha Martinez

In Ninjak #3, artist Javier Pulido employs several different styles of lettering. All are effective, and worthy of comment. First, notice the starburst effect he gives the dialogue balloons whenever Ninjak and Myna are communicating remotely.

When Ninjak momentarily breaks off his dialogue with Myna, he engages with the soldiers attacking Neville's castle. While he knows she's listening in, he's talking to them using normal dialogue balloons.

I like the more spiky dialogue balloon for the soldier he kicks in the stomach, consequently knocking the rifle out of his hand. The broken-looking dialogue balloon for the soldier who tumbles head-over-heels makes me wonder how much Ninjak has injured him (or her). The large colored block letter sound effects are fun and easy to understand.

Here's something neat.

When Ninjak is knocking, Javier Pulido uses simple block lettering for the reverberating sound. This gets bigger in the second panel to show he's knocking harder. But take a second look at the smaller block letters. They're not exactly level compared to the big ones, are they?

I'm guessing this means Ninjak's pounding at a normal knocking level, but doing so quickly, so the reverberations from each knock don't end before his next knock. But the bigger level ones suggest that he's pounding harder, but more slowly. 

I hesitate to share this last panel with you, as I don't want to spoil the issue for you in case you haven't got around to reading it yet.* Still, it's so clever, I just have to share it.

Here we see Myna's ordinary dialogue balloon morph into a spiky one, indicating surprise. But what really knocked me out was the block letter sound effect. It's so different, with the way it inserts a number among the letters, that it threw me for a bit. Then I realized what Pulido was doing, and how clever it was.

In Ninjak #3, Javier Pulido employs deceptively simple dialogue and sound effect techniques. Through clever and consistent usage, he keeps us engaged in the action, and thinking as we experience Ninjak and Myna's adventure. Well done, Javier!

Dragon Dave

* What? You haven't read Ninjak #3 yet? Why would you deprive yourself so terribly?