Ben Oda (December 21, 1915 – November 1984) was a Japanese-American letterer for

comic book A comic book, also called comicbook, comic magazine or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) simply comic, is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are of ...

s and

comic strip A comic strip is a sequence of drawings, often cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions. Traditionally, throughout the 20th and into the 21st ...

s. He graduated from

Chouinard Art Institute The Chouinard Art Institute was a professional art school founded in 1921 by Nelbert Murphy Chouinard (1879–1969) in the Westlake neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. In 1961, Walt and Roy Disney guided the merger of the Chouinard Art In ...

and began his career as an apprentice at Walt Disney Studios.''DC Profiles Number 56: Ben Oda'', appearing in ''Jonah Hex #33'', February 1980 During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, Oda was a paratrooper for the 442nd Combat Team. Oda lettered for two major comic strip syndicates: the

Chicago Tribune Syndicate Tribune Content Agency (TCA) is a syndication company owned by Tribune Publishing. TCA had previously been known as the Chicago Tribune Syndicate, the Chicago Tribune New York News Syndicate (CTNYNS), Tribune Company Syndicate, and Tribune Media S ...

and

King Features Syndicate King Features Syndicate, Inc. is a American content distribution and animation studio, consumer product licensing and print syndication company owned by Hearst Communications that distributes about 150 comic strips, newspaper columns, editoria ...

. Comic strips lettered by Oda include ''

Apartment 3-G ''Apartment 3-G'' is an American newspaper soap opera comic strip about a trio of career women who share an apartment in Manhattan. Created by Nicholas P. Dallis with art by Alex Kotzky, the strip began May 8, 1961, initially distributed by t ...

'', '' Big Ben Bolt'', ''

Dondi Donald Joseph White, "DONDI" (April 7, 1961 – October 2, 1998) was an American graffiti artist. Biography Early life Born in the East New York neighborhood of Brooklyn, Dondi was the youngest of five children. He was of African American an ...

'', ''The Dropouts'', ''

Flash Gordon Flash Gordon is the protagonist of a space adventure comic strip created and originally drawn by Alex Raymond. First published January 7, 1934, the strip was inspired by, and created to compete with, the already established ''Buck Rogers'' adve ...

'', '' Johnny Hazard'', ''

Little Orphan Annie ''Little Orphan Annie'' is a daily American comic strip created by Harold Gray and syndicated by the Tribune Media Services. The strip took its name from the 1885 poem "Little Orphant Annie" by James Whitcomb Riley, and it made its debut on Aug ...

'', ''

Miss Peach ''Miss Peach'' was a syndicated comic strip created by American cartoonist Mell Lazarus. It ran for 45 years, from February 4, 1957, to September 8, 2002. Format and style The daily strips often contained only a single panel. The format wa ...

'', ''On Stage'', ''

The Phantom ''The Phantom'' is an American adventure comic strip, first published by Lee Falk in February 1936. The main character, the Phantom, is a fictional costumed crime-fighter who operates from the fictional African country of Bangalla. The charact ...

'', ''

Prince Valiant ''Prince Valiant in the Days of King Arthur'', often simply called ''Prince Valiant'', is an American comic strip created by Hal Foster in 1937. It is an epic adventure that has told a continuous story during its entire history, and the full stretc ...

'', ''

Rip Kirby ''Rip Kirby'' is an American comic strip created by Alex Raymond and Ward Greene featuring the adventures of private detective Rip Kirby. The strip ran from 1946 to 1999 and was in the hands of artist John Prentice for more than 40 years. Pub ...

'', ''

The Spirit The Spirit is a fictional masked crimefighter created by cartoonist Will Eisner. He first appeared June 2, 1940, as the main feature of a 16-page, tabloid (paper size), tabloid-sized, newsprint comic book insert distributed in the Sunday editio ...

'' and ''

Steve Canyon ''Steve Canyon'' is an American adventure comic strip by writer-artist Milton Caniff. Launched shortly after Caniff retired from his previous strip, '' Terry and the Pirates'', ''Steve Canyon'' ran from January 13, 1947, until June 4, 1988. It ...

''. He entered the comics industry after World War II; some of his earliest lettering was for

Hillman Periodicals Hillman Periodicals, Inc., was an American magazine and comic book publishing company founded in 1938 by Alex L. Hillman, a former New York City book publisher. It is best known for its true confession and true crime magazines; for the long-runni ...

' ''

Airboy Airboy is a fictional aviator hero of an American comic book series initially published by Hillman Periodicals during the World War II-era time period fans and historians call the Golden Age of comic books. He was created by writers Charles Biro ...

'' and '' Real Clue Crime Stories'', which connected him with the

Simon Simon may refer to: People * Simon (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the given name Simon * Simon (surname), including a list of people with the surname Simon * Eugène Simon, French naturalist and the genus ...

Kirby Kirby may refer to: Buildings * Kirby Building, a skyscraper in Dallas, Texas, United States * Kirby Hall, an Elizabethan country house near Corby, Northamptonshire, England * Kirby House (disambiguation), various houses in England and the Unit ...

team. In the 1950s, his lettering appeared in the

EC Comics Entertaining Comics, more commonly known as EC Comics, was an American publisher of comic books, which specialized in horror fiction, crime fiction, satire, military fiction, dark fantasy, and science fiction from the 1940s through the mid-195 ...

edited by

Harvey Kurtzman Harvey Kurtzman (; October 3, 1924 – February 21, 1993) was an American cartoonist and editor. His best-known work includes writing and editing the parodic comic book '' Mad'' from 1952 until 1956, and writing the ''Little Ann ...

.What If
/ref> An account cited that Kurtzman met Oda at the Charles William Harvey Studio during one of Oda's visits, a custom for him when he was working on assignments. When Kurtzman was hired at EC Comics, he insisted on the behind-the-scenes control of the EC art and he favored Oda's style as opposed to

Al Feldstein Albert Bernard Feldstein ( ; October 24, 1925 – April 29, 2014) was an American writer, editor, and artist, best known for his work at EC Comics and, from 1956 to 1985, as the editor of the satire, satirical magazine ''Mad (magazine), Mad''. Aft ...

's. He became a prolific letterer at

DC Comics DC Comics, Inc. (doing business as DC) is an American comic book publisher and the flagship unit of DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC Comics is one of the largest and oldest American comic book companies, with thei ...

for many years, until his death, working on such books as ''

Action Comics ''Action Comics'' is an American comic book/Comic anthology, magazine series that introduced Superman, one of the first major superhero characters. The publisher was originally known as National Allied Publications, and later as National Comics ...

'', ''

Aquaman Aquaman is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Created by Paul Norris and Mort Weisinger, the character debuted in ''More Fun Comics'' #73 (November 1941). The character is a pastiche of Namor. Initially ...

'', ''

Justice League of America The Justice League (also known as The Justice League of America) are a team of superheroes appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The team first appeared in ''The Brave and the Bold'' #28 (March 1960). The team was conceived ...

'', ''

Wonder Woman Wonder Woman is a superhero created by the American psychologist and writer William Moulton Marston (pen name: Charles Moulton), and artist Harry G. Peter. Marston's wife, Elizabeth Holloway Marston, Elizabeth, and their life partner, Olive Byr ...

'', ''

Young Romance ''Young Romance'' is a romantic comic book series created by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby for the Crestwood Publications imprint Prize Comics in 1947. Generally considered the first romance comic,Ro, Ronin. ''Tales to Astonish: Jack Kirby, Stan L ...

'', ''

Teen Titans The Teen Titans are a superhero team appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics, frequently in eponymous monthly series. As the group's name indicates, the members are teenage superheroes, many of whom have acted as sidekicks to DC ...

'', ''

New Teen Titans The Teen Titans are a superhero team appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics, frequently in eponymous monthly series. As the group's name indicates, the members are teenage superheroes, many of whom have acted as sidekicks to DC ...

'' and a plethora of others. His wife, Nishi Oda, also did lettering. Odaballoon, created by Oda's family, is an official freeware typeface in his lettering style. In 2019, Oda was recognized for his contributions to the comic book medium and inducted into the

Harvey Awards The Harvey Awards are given for achievement in comic books. Named for writer-artist Harvey Kurtzman, the Harvey Awards were founded by Gary Groth in 1988, president of the publisher Fantagraphics, to be the successor to the Kirby Awards that were ...

Hall of Fame during

New York Comic Con The New York Comic Con is an annual New York City fan convention dedicated to Western comics, graphic novels, anime, manga, video games, cosplay, toys, movies, and television. It was first held in 2006. History The New York Comic Con is a f ...

. His award was posthumously introduced by former DC Comics President and Publisher

Paul Levitz Paul Levitz (; born October 21, 1956) is an American comic book writer, editor and executive. The president of DC Comics from 2002–2009, he worked for the company for over 35 years in a wide variety of roles. Along with publisher Jenette Kahn ...

References

External links

Letterer Index
1915 births 1984 deaths Comic book letterers American military personnel of World War II American military personnel of Japanese descent EC Comics Paratroopers {{US-comics-creator-stub