Shadowman #2 Spotlight: Lettering

 

Shadowman #2 Cover B by Caspar Wijngaard

Before we dive into this spotlight on Clayton Cowles' lettering in Shadowman #2, take a look at the new logo. Notice how the letters seem hacked out of stone. The substitution of the man figure for the second A emphasizes that, while Shadowman may have special powers, Jack Boniface is still a man.

Shadowman #2 begins in Arizona, far from Jack Boniface's normal haunt of New Orleans. Notice the black narrative box with the white lettering that introduces us to this twisted tale? It ties in with the narrative boxes in which Shadowman reveals his inner thoughts to us.

Clayton Cowles uses ordinary dialogue balloons for ordinary conversation. That is, assuming any conversation in a horror story is ordinary. But when things turn freaky enough to frighten this hardened hitchhiker, his dialogue balloons loose their pleasing, rounded shapes.

Do we really need to see this sound effect in red, Clayton? Did you really need to transform the hitchhiker's screams into blood?

As Jack is bonded to a Shadow Loa, his dialogue balloons and the narrative boxes revealing his thoughts are colored black with white lettering. But why are those of Baron Samedi, the Loa of the Dead, and the King of the Deadside, colored white with shaky black letters? Even if they are a stylized font, shouldn't they be black too?

Baron Samedi seems intent on helping Jack protect the living against the ravages of the Deadside in these early issues. Is Clayton Cowles suggesting that Baron Samedi is somehow even more bonded to life than Jack? 

When a spirit appears, its ghostly utterance cannot quite manifest in our world. All it can form is the mere outline of a word.

And when this ghostly woman reappears*, her dialogue and words are shown in a pale blue. Instead of coming to a gently rounded point, the last balloon wanders or slithers toward her. How is she different from Shadowman, Baron Samedi, and the other ghost whose see-through words ride the wind?

Clayton Cowles keeps us grounded as we venture into an Arizona Blight. We may not understand all that occurs in this spectral place. But in this rent in the fabric of reality, where the Living and the Dead intermingle, he gives us clues to follow. 

Somehow, that's enough.

Dragon Dave

 
*See Shadowman #1.