KRuNK This!

Pretty Vacant: Final Repose Part I Page 13 Panel 3

Protect your ears, ‘cause this post will get loud!

I have harped to death comparing comic book lettering with playing bass in a cool rock band: it sucks! However, every now and then a bone gets tossed their way. Some days when you can hear an awesome bass line on television or the (gasp!) radio, you might see in a comic book the one cool thing a letterer is able to do: the sound effect.

Yes, sound effects in a comic doesn’t mean that you actually hear noise, but (besides the quick nod to Scott McCloud and Rene Magritte) they’re fun! Fun to read, and fun to draw.

Lettered sound effects heighten the action (cool Jack Kirby Captain America)…

drama (my own Pretty Vacant)…



even comedy (intentional or not)…

… and unlike regular text, cannot be altered. Sound effects are part of the final look of a comic book and like lettering, becomes an underappreciated art form. Looking at the top panel in this post, I deliberately shortened the “u” in KRuNK to give the impression that Gigi’s kick to the Amps’ head is going into an imaginary wall!

There’s a movement among certain comic book creators and editors to do any with sound effects, but thankfully it’s still by choice and not decree. They argue that no sound effects make comics more realistic and less campy. Yet even the most acclaimed graphic novel to date, Frank Miller’s Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, had a hero who wore his underwear outside of his tights. Isn’t that just a bit silly? And for what it’s worth, Dark Knight utilized sound effects!

I’m not suggesting using sound effects all the time, but maybe present and future comic creators could ask themselves if implied silence is the best option when designing pages. Because even silly love songs can reach number one on the charts. Some even have rockin' bass lines!

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