Komika Axis Font
Komika Axis is a comic font designed by Apostrophic Laboratories. The style is playful and fun, and it will bring a lot of joy to children. Perfectly suitable for children’s products, online cartoons, comic books/letters, school supplies, etc. The Komika Axis Font is free for personal and commercial use.
Komika Axis Font Story
As of January 2000, surprisingly, there weren’t enough free, high-quality comic fonts to support audiences who couldn’t (or didn’t want to) buy Ethan Dunham’s Comicraft’s and/or commercial stuff. In fact, throughout the short history of free fonts, there have only been a handful of designers who have been offering comic fonts. But as of January 2000, there weren’t many of them abroad.
The only three freeware designers who have been dedicating serious time to comic fonts are Nate Piekos, at Blambot, who still makes very nice comic letters (albeit with strictly Anglo character sets), and Dan Zadorozny at Iconian, who still makes some comic letters Interesting (also mostly unfinished character sets), and Derek Vogelpohl, who has created massive packages such as Action Man, Cartoonist Hand, Toon Time, Toon Time Extras, and Wonder Comic.
It seems like all the other boys and girls got burned in the comics for some reason. Ray Larabie has been making one or two comic strips for a while, but since the fall of 1999, he seems to have chosen different ways to make the stripes. WolfBainX had a huge archive going on at his Vigilante type site, but for the most part, he lost the comedic kick he had lost between his experiences with grunge and swash, and the character sets weren’t complete at all, making it. A new name has been thrown around for free font circles: Dave Hyatt. Dave did a few great things, but it wasn’t anywhere near as good as we’ve seen with Derek’s stuff.
To make a long story short, most of the comics out there were very English-oriented, leaving Italians, French, Spanish, Swedes, Icelanders, etc. You’ll probably agree that you can end up weakening things after a while. I think Derek took some of that pain away from these people.
At some point during January 2000, WolfBainX and I were weighing it down and asking a question that I suppose ended up costing me too many hours of sleep to count now. The question was, “How about an entire comic writing system for the folks out there, Wolfie?” I meant this question to be a spur in WBX, perhaps a guilt trip to get him to think about comic strips again. But after talking to him for a while, we decided he had enough rough diamonds on his site to really start a massive base for the massive project I was proposing. From then on it was me and the amusement.
Shortly after that conversation, WBX and I finished expanding the lab for their Tribal line, but then it disappeared and I haven’t been able to get it since. The original Vigilante site was discontinued after about a month, and because I was too busy with the lab, CybaPee, bless her heart, hosted the old Vigilante archives rather than having to go through the trouble of doing so.
Note to WolfBainX: I hope you have a good time. I think you stumbled without telling me, you Ollie Doug. Send me a line when you read this. Here we look at you, the fonts comic, and the whatsername butt with yer tattoos on it. Cheers, man. Thanks for everything.
For the first time on a massive lab project since Republica, I somehow managed to stick to the original plan, although I often built and knocked down several lines before always going back to the original blueprints. The original plan was to get 5 packs of 10 fonts that would make up a complete writing system for the comedian, be it a professional, freelancer, hobbyist, beginner, or anyone who just wants to use things.
The biggest concern for any comedian in these digital days, when it comes to lettering, is what goes inside the rhetoric, narration, and thought balloons. I took care of this using Komika Text, which is based on WBX’s Sunday Komix messages. Then there are the titles and the cover type of course. Accommodated with Komika Display and Komika Title, based on WBX’s Komixation and Supermarket Sale letters. To add variety and flexibility to the overall set, another 10 fonts have been added in the set of hands, which in theory could all be suitable replacements for text, display, and title sets, depending on the application. These supposedly “alternative” lines turned out to be very cute, and in some ways even better than the main groups.
40 lines later, I got to the most fun part. If you’ve picked up an old comic book and observed it closely, you might have noticed the only font that really stands out and is only used once during the entirety of the work. Every comic book has one of these. It is where the artist’s imagination comes to life most. Some of the old flash comics had this beautiful logo which elevated the whole book to a different level of komix art. It’s the same as dealing with the old things Spiderman and Superman.
Since computers took over the lettering, this kind of thing is very rare now, and most types of unique superheroes end up looking like a sports team logo. This is of course bad news for komix fans, but that’s how it goes. In fact, it might be good to think that these are the kinds of touches that make artists distinct from digital assemblers. Anyone can grab a set of lines and slap them on someone’s drawings and then call it a comic book, but not everyone can draw enough perspective from the drawings to actually base the letters on them.
Anyway, this was the problem I was having: as much as I wanted to include something in Komika Axis Font to help the artist/collector with that kind of unique type that could stand out in just one time use, I realized I probably wouldn’t be of much use. A comprehensive set of anything will not help people who cannot feel the graphics themselves. But to say I tried, and for the sake of inclusivity, I’ve included this 9-line Komika Poster set that may or may not stimulate the imagination. The variety out there includes cracked, striped, striped, scary, unlocked characters and that kind of thing. Use them on covers and labels, but be sure to use them in sizes over 40, or else you could get a lot of giggling and eyeball rolling.
And his ending, of course, was a line with some comedic balloons, narration, and all the jazz. I don’t actually recommend using these balloons (if you’re a comedian, you already know that trying to use pre-made balloons can be a much bigger problem than making your own), but I’ve included them to give anyone starting out in the field an idea of how they can These things look. Very thoughtful, isn’t it?
Another good thing about the Komika Axis Font suite that you have now is that it can accommodate many markets when it comes to language support. Even 2 Swedish characters, 4 Icelandic characters, and 4 Spanish/Portuguese characters are all listed there. This is something you’ll hardly find even in commercial comic fonts.
Three cheers for WolfBainX for supplying the solid base of this set.
For the record: When I was a kid I hated Lulu, Archie, and Asterix. My favorite comic books were Hergé’s Tintin series, Lucky Luke, Chevalier Ardent, and Michel Vaillant. I have to give it to the French when it comes to the cool comics of the time. About a month ago I went to the French Center here in Toronto and reviewed some of the latest French picture books. I was disappointed. Everything is very computerized now. The clarity and distribution of the old komix don’t exist anymore.
I tell you Rand will have a fit. Nowadays, adrenaline, testosterone, estrogen, and strength covering average pop art aim to sell the moment. I think the world knows that too well. There is a Tintin store right off Market Street in San Francisco, where all the old French paraffinic paraphernalia are priced like jewelry. Across the street from this store is a “collector” comic book store that deals with post-1985 comics. The difference between both stores is clear in terms of quality and price. Oh alright. Here’s the mediocrity and now paying for nothing. Milles tonnerres to Brest, says the captain.
So there you have it. 50 fonts and a huge load off my shoulders now. I hope you use it in good health. Please let me know at apostrophe@apostrophiclab.com if you use it, where and how to use it. If you use Komika Axis Font for commercial projects where you make some profit, please take the time to give a small portion of that to your favorite charity.
