Videos by ComicBook.com
This year, there were a great number of talented letterers across many comics, both mainstream and creator owned. It’s a good problem to have when it comes to awards, having the incredible talents of letters such as Aditya Bidikar, Becca Carey, Clayton Cowles, Ariana Maher, and Hassan Otsmanne-Elhaou to both enjoy and choose from, but even in a sea of talent there can be only one winner of our Golden Issue Award for Best Letterer.
And the winner of the 2023 ComicBook.com Golden Issue Award for Best Letterer is…
Clayton Cowles!
This year’s win marks the fifth year in a row that Cowles has taken home the Golden Issue for Best Letterer and just a glance at his work will tell you why. Not only is Cowles a prolific letterer whose work has appeared in probably more comics than you can name — it’s honestly probably easier to name a comic he hasn’t done letters for — but his work remains consistently excellent and distinctive, while also never losing the individual and dynamic spark of the specific title he’s on at any given time. It’s an incredible testament to the quality of his lettering that, no matter what title he’s working on, Cowles manages to make each project its own. In particular, Cowles’s work this year on Birds of Prey has been outstanding, offering a bit of additional depth to the already fantastic story simply in how he brings the words to the page. Cowles’s work gives movement and tone and nuance and even emotion to what might otherwise just be print and the comics are all the better for it.
The nominees for Best Letterer are:
· Aditya Bidikar (20th Century Men)
· Becca Carey (New Champion of Shazam!)
· Clayton Cowles (Birds of Prey) — WINNER
· Ariana Maher (Jean Grey)
· Hassan Otsmanne-Elhaou (All Against All)
