the buzz log

On the Web, a laissez-faire, even libertarian attitude usually prevails...but apparently, not all the geek world has been amused with Comic Sans.

For those who read but don't notice the shape of letters, Comic Sans is a typeface made to look like what it sounds: the kind of casual script that cartoonists would hand-letter in those comic-strip bubbles. But apparently, a ban has been in the works since 1999 to "eradicate" that happy-go-lucky script once and for all.

Yet, the Wall Street Journal's recent page one focus on the typographical passions involved has stoked searches anew for "ban comic sans," bubbling up the idea into the top 100,000 terms on Yahoo!. The bulk of these potential newcomers to the movement, though, weren't even alive when the font was first created. Then again, you're never too young to protest font abuse...or to learn the nuances of good design, delivering a message, and the artistry of written language in an age of shorthand texts.

As for the hand that designed the blasphemed script, Vincent Connare isn't offended by the global uprising to kill his creation. In fact, he "sympathizes" with the sentiment, since his creation has mutated from innocent "grade-school fliers and holiday newsletters" to "porn sites, gravestones and hospital posters about bowel cancer."

But, Connare may be pleased by a backlash against the backlash: Defenders have gone online declaring "i love comic sans," "what's wrong with comic sans," and "save comic sans." There's also an appreciation for "magpie font," his latest creation.

Incidentally, the two graphic novels that inspired the insipid/beloved font? "The Dark Knight Returns" and "Watchmen." Love it or hate it, Comic Sans hails from superheroic origins.