Who (or What) is DC Lettering?

I was looking up a comic book's credits the other day, and I noted the writer, artist, inker, and letterer. On the letterer, I did a double-take, because it just said, "DC Lettering." Who's DC Lettering, I wondered? Donald Charles Lettering? Is it like the "Star Trek" writer, D.C. Fontana? Of course, the fact that the comic was made by DC Comics couldn't be a coincidence. I clicked on the link, and it turned out "DC Lettering" has been working hard for the company, because the list of credits under the name is huge. He or she must work overtime.


As you've probably figured out by now, there is no one named "DC Lettering," at least not at DC. It turns out that DC Lettering is just what they call their computer lettering system. According to Wikipedia:

Most Marvel and DC books are now lettered using a graphics program such as Adobe Illustrator or Adobe Photoshop, and a font that resembles hand lettering. Computer lettering provides a lot of technical shortcuts, especially by combining the lettering work directly with digital art files, eliminating the tedious physical paste-up stage altogether.

That's kind of sad that comics have switched to digital, but at the time, it is kind of archaic to have people drawing letters. That's progress.

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