Vincent Connare, who first invented the font describing the text above influenced by scores of comic books in 1994, has been the subject of spitting and reed-striking by graphic designers and typographers alike in recent weeks. At the time of conception, he eyed a test version of Microsoft Bob, a computer program for children and novice PC users. The speech bubbles which came out of the anthropomorphic dog Rover have Times New Roman, which did not impress him. So he turned to the comic books The Dark Knight Returns and Watchmen and went to work via a computer drawing program. Within a week, he gave birth to Comic Sans, which lacked the detailing of many serif fonts.

The new font impressed the project manager so much that he installed the font as one of the standard fonts of Microsoft Windows. The widespread use of home-based PCs spurred a movement to implement the new font just about anywhere. Five years after Connare ushered Comic Sans to the world, the husband-and-wife team of graphic designer Dave Combs and typographer Holly Sliger developed a website called bancomicsans.com, after seeing it flower in not just the appropriate places where the font is welcome, but on legal documents, gravestones, and even obituaries. One corporate stalwart, the Walt Disney Company, sent an autographed picture of Mickey Mouse as a token of gratitude for usage in its advertising schemes. Using the font at the wrong place and time, as the couple stated, is “analogous to showing up for a black-tie event in a clown costume.” To me, the feel of using that font is like playing a fast, bright, festive frevo (a Carnival dance in Brazil besides the samba) instead of meaningful and/or mournful music in a state funeral of a dignitary.

I’m proud to attend a good college where only Times New Roman, apparently my favorite font, is permissible, but Comic Sans is so widespread. I attend a parish where the only organ is digital and the liturgical music is fraught with Marty Haugen and David Haas. If your parish has either one or both of the traits, chances are you’ll see the font in print media from the church. Last week was Divine Mercy Sunday, and shortly after the pre-Mass rosary vigil I glanced at an insert over-viewing today’s happenings. About four-fifths of the page were riddled with Comic Sans, with the first two lines of text sandwiching the picture of the Divine Mercy, where two rays of light in red and white emit from the heart of Jesus. I struggled to keep my sangfroid the whole liturgy and I returned to church after exercising for an hour for the Chaplet and Devotion, when I didn’t see any Comic Sans in sight! Now I really trust in Jesus, I thought during the prayer service. I dream of attending another parish where the cross of the clownish font is lifted, but that won’t happen when I move to another part of the Tampa Bay area, or even out-of-state.

Let us remember that there is a time and place for Comic Sans, and in my opinion, that would be off the map in the world. Let us use fonts that are germane to certain settings, like Times New Roman on an essay and Impact on a “Do not enter” sign. Implementing the font anywhere is akin to taking a 6-year-old girl to Victoria and Albert’s at the Grand Floridian Resort and Spa at Walt Disney World, where the “fancy” food is unfamiliar to her and only those who are ten and older are permitted to dine there.

Typeface Inspired by Comic Books Has Become a Font of Ill Will