Comic Sans: The Biography of a Typeface (The ABC of Fonts)

A compact and charming history of the font we love to hate by the New York Times best-selling author of Just My Type.

Since its improvised creation at Microsoft in the mid-1990s, Comic Sans has become one of the most used and talked-about typefaces of the digital age. The subject of April Fools pranks and endless internet discourse, it has spawned a movement to ban it, inspired revivals and spinoffs, and continues to be widely promoted by educators. In this delightful history, best-selling author Simon Garfield tells the story of how Comic Sans emerged from speech bubbles on educational software to become one of the most recognized―and reviled―typefaces on earth. He considers how the computer transformed type into something that anyone could use and have an opinion on, explores how new fonts emerge with changing times and technology, and meets die-hard Comic Sans adherents and haters. He concludes the book by asking the unimaginable: Could Comic Sans now be the coolest typeface ever made?

20 illustrations

Simon Garfield is the author of the international bestsellers Just My Type, On the Map, and Mauve, among other books. He lives in London.