William Douglas Oakley (April 1, 1964 – February 16, 2004) was a

letterer A letterer is a member of a team of comic book creators responsible for drawing the comic book's text. The letterer's use of typefaces, calligraphy, letter size, and layout all contribute to the impact of the comic. The letterer crafts the comi ...

for numerous

comic books 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 ...

from

Marvel Marvel may refer to: Business * Marvel Entertainment, an American entertainment company ** Marvel Comics, the primary imprint of Marvel Entertainment ** Marvel Universe, a fictional shared universe ** Marvel Music, an imprint of Marvel Comics ...

, DC, and other companies. His most prominent works include the first two volumes of

Alan Moore Alan Moore (born 18 November 1953) is an English author known primarily for his work in comic books including ''Watchmen'', ''V for Vendetta'', ''The Ballad of Halo Jones'', ''Swamp Thing'', ''Batman:'' ''The Killing Joke'', and ''From Hell' ...

and Kevin O'Neill's ''

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen ''The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen'' (''LoEG'') is a comic book series (inspired by the 1960 British film ''The League of Gentlemen'') co-created by writer Alan Moore and artist Kevin O'Neill which began in 1999. The series spans four volum ...

'' and '' Batman: Gotham Knights'' #1-11, #15-37.

Biography

Oakley attended

The Kubert School The Kubert School, formerly the Joe Kubert School of Cartoon and Graphic Art and Joe Kubert School, is a private, for-profit technical school focused on cartooning and located in Dover, New Jersey. It teaches the principles of sequential art and ...

Dover, New Jersey Dover is a town in Morris County, New Jersey, United States. Located on the Rockaway River, Dover is about west of New York City and about west of Newark, New Jersey. As of the 2010 United States Census, the town's population was 18,157,

for a year, intending to be a comics artist. However, his experience at the school convinced him that he couldn't handle the workload of a comic book artist and, still desiring to work in the comics field, decided to do lettering instead. In July 1986 he started on staff at Marvel, working under

Jim Novak James R. Novak (September 14, 1955 - April 2018) was a comic book creator, primarily working as a letterer for Marvel Comics, where he worked on almost every one of their ongoing series, and contributed to the development of the iconic Star Wars l ...

. For Marvel, Oakley lettered ''Avengers'' for a long time, ''Avengers West Coast'', the ''X-Men'', the ''Fantastic Four'' during

Walt Simonson Walter Simonson (born September 2, 1946) is an American comic book writer and artist, best known for a run on Marvel Comics' ''Thor'' from 1983 to 1987, during which he created the character Beta Ray Bill. He is also known for the creator-owned w ...

’s run, ''Rampaging Hulk,'' and ''Amazing Spider-Man''. Oakley concluded a late 1987 interview by remarking "I would hope, by this time next year, that I would have enough work that I could go freelance. I wouldn't mind the idea of working at home. That kind of appeals to me, not having to get up at 6:00 every morning to commute here. That I ''definitely'' would look forward to." Oakley indeed went freelance by the end of 1988. For DC, he worked on a number of the Superman titles, ''Batman'', ''Lobo'', '' DC vs. Marvel Comics'', ''Batman: Gotham Knights'', ''Justice Society'', and ''Hawkman''.

Death

Due to the fact that he did not possess medical insurance ("because he had a previous medical condition and the insurance companies refused to cover him"), he was forced to letter comics from his hospital bed to pay bills before he died of cancer in

Utica, New York Utica () is a Administrative divisions of New York, city in the Mohawk Valley and the county seat of Oneida County, New York, United States. The List of cities in New York, tenth-most-populous city in New York State, its population was 65,283 ...

. His hometown was

Oneonta, New York Oneonta ( ) is a city in southern Otsego County, New York, United States. It is one of the northernmost cities of the Appalachian Region. According to the 2020 U.S. Census, Oneonta had a population of 13,079. Its nickname is "City of the Hil ...

. Oakley was survived by his wife Leslie and son Stephen. He was halfway through designing '' The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Black Dossier'' at the time of his death. The final volume (finished by Todd Klein) was dedicated to his memory, with Moore noting in the introduction to the book that he felt the cancer made Oakley's lettering style much better than a non-cancer-addled letterer.

Lettering style

Oakley had a distinctive but understated lettering style. One of his trademarks as a letterer was to often erase or omit panel borders when they touched the top, side, or bottom of a

word balloon Speech balloons (also speech bubbles, dialogue balloons, or word balloons) are a graphic convention used most commonly in comic books, comics, and cartoons to allow words (and much less often, pictures) to be understood as representing a char ...

or caption, thus opening up the balloon/caption to the gutter. In this regard, Oakley's lettering style was similar to

John Workman John Workman (born June 20, 1950) is an American editor, writer, artist, designer, colorist and letterer in the comic book industry. He is known for his frequent partnerships with writer/artist Walter Simonson and also for lettering the entire ru ...

's. Also like Workman, even in the age of computer lettering, Oakley did all this lettering by hand, using a Hunt 107 pen. Before the age of computer lettering, unlike Jim Novak and others, Oakley was one of the few letterers to continue to create word balloons entirely freehand instead of using

templates Template may refer to: Tools * Die (manufacturing), used to cut or shape material * Mold, in a molding process * Stencil, a pattern or overlay used in graphic arts (drawing, painting, etc.) and sewing to replicate letters, shapes or designs Co ...

Awards

*2000: Nominated for "Favorite Letterer"

Wizard Fan Award ''Wizard'' or ''Wizard: The Magazine of Comics, Entertainment and Pop Culture'' (previously titled ''Wizard: The Guide to Comics'' and ''Wizard: The Comics Magazine'') was a magazine about comic books, published monthly in the United States by Wiz ...

, for ''

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Volume I ''The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Volume One'' is a comic book Limited series (comics), limited series written by Alan Moore and illustrated by Kevin O'Neill (comics), Kevin O'Neill, published under the America's Best Comics imprint of DC Co ...

'' *2002: Nominated for "Favorite Letterer"

, for ''

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Volume II ''The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Volume II'' is a comic book limited series written by Alan Moore and illustrated by Kevin O'Neill, published under the America's Best Comics imprint of DC Comics in the United States and under Vertigo in th ...

'' *2004: Nominated for "Best Lettering"

Eisner Award The Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards, commonly shortened to the Eisner Awards, are prizes given for creative achievement in American comic books, sometimes referred to as the comics industry's equivalent of the Academy Awards. They are named in ...

, for ''

Hawkman Hawkman is the name of several superheroes appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Created by writer Gardner Fox and artist Dennis Neville, the original Hawkman first appeared in ''Flash Comics'' #1, published by All-American ...

'', '' JSA'', ''The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Volume II'' and ''

Sleeper A sleeper is a person who is sleeping. Sleeper may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Characters * Sleeper (Marvel Comics), a Nazi German robot utilized by the Red Skull in Marvel Comics * The Sleeper (Wild Cards), a character in the Wild Ca ...

''2004 Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards
/ref>

Bibliography

Assorted titles: *'' Batman: Gotham Knights'' #1-11, #15, #17-37 (with

Devin Grayson Devin Kalile Grayson is an American writer of comic books and novels. Titles that she has written include ''Catwoman'', '' Gotham Knights'', '' The Titans'', the Vertigo series ''USER'', and ''Nightwing''. Early life Grayson was born in New Hav ...

, Roger Robinson and others, DC Comics 2000-2002) *''

Daredevil Daredevil may refer to: * A stunt performer Arts and media Comics * Daredevil (Lev Gleason Publications), a fictional 1940s superhero popularized by writer-artist Charles Biro * Daredevil (Marvel Comics character), a Marvel comic book superher ...

'' #302-306, #308-322, #324-327, #329-332, #334, #336-343 with various Marvel Comics. *'' DC Versus Marvel'' (with

Ron Marz Ron Marz (born November 17, 1965) is an American comic book writer, known for his work on titles such as ''Batman/Aliens'', ''DC vs. Marvel'', ''Green Lantern'', ''Silver Surfer'', and ''Witchblade''. Career Marz is known for his work on ''Silv ...

and

Dan Jurgens Dan Jurgens (; born June 27, 1959) is an American comic book writer and artist. He is known for his work on the DC comic book storyline "The Death of Superman" and for creating characters such as Doomsday, Hank Henshaw and Booster Gold. Jurgens ...

, DC Comics, 1995) *''

Grifter A grifter may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Grifters (band), a 1990s American indie rock band * ''The Grifters'' (novel), a 1963 American novel by Jim Thompson * ''The Grifters'' (film), a 1990 American adaptation of the novel * Grifter (ch ...

v1'' #1-2, 5-10 (with Steven T Seagle, Ryan Benjamin, Image Comics, 1995) * ''

v4'' #1-6, #8-10, #19-25 (with

Geoff Johns Geoffrey Johns (born January 25, 1973) is an American comic book writer, screenwriter, and film and television producer. Johns's work on the DC Comics characters Green Lantern, Aquaman, Flash and Superman, has drawn critical acclaim. He serve ...

and

Rags Morales Ralph "Rags" Morales () is an American comic book artist known for his work on various books for DC Comics, including ''Identity Crisis'', ''Countdown to Infinite Crisis'', ''Batman Confidential'', and The New 52 reboot of then Superman-centric '' ...

, DC Comics, 2002) *''

Spectre Spectre, specter or the spectre may refer to: Religion and spirituality * Vision (spirituality) * Apparitional experience * Ghost Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''Spectre'' (1977 film), a made-for-television film produced and writ ...

v3'' #1-11, #13-17, #19, #21 (with J. M. DeMatteis and

Ryan Sook Ryan Sook is an American comic book artist, known for his work on books such as ''Seven Soldiers: Zatanna'', ''X-Factor'' and '' The Spectre''. His style has been compared to that of Mike Mignola, Adam Hughes, and Kevin Nowlan. Career Sook's fir ...

, DC Comics, 2001-2002) * ''

'' #1-3, 7-8 (with

Ed Brubaker Ed Brubaker (; born November 17, 1966) is an American comic book writer, cartoonist and screenwriter who works primarily in the crime fiction genre. He began his career with the semi-autobiographical series '' Lowlife'' and a number of serials i ...

and

Sean Phillips Sean Phillips (born 27 January 1965) is a British comic book artist, best known for his collaborations with Ed Brubaker on comics including '' Sleeper'', ''Incognito'', the '' Criminal'' series of comics, '' Fatale'', '' The Fade Out'', and ' ...

, Wildstorm, 2003) * '' Starman v2'' #12-63, #55-80, ANNUAL #1&2, STARMAN: THE MIST, STARMAN #1,000,000 (with James Robinson, Tony Harris and

Peter Snejbjerg Peter Snejbjerg is a Danish comic book artist. He was educated at the Kolding Kunsthåndværkerskole from 1983 to 1987. Some of his major works include the DC Comics title Starman, and various Vertigo titles. He has also drawn several issues of ...

, DC Comics, 1995-2001) * ''

Team 7 ''Team 7'' is a comic book superhero team that appeared in titles published by Wildstorm Productions. The team has appeared in 3 self-titled miniseries: ''Team 7'', ''Team 7: Objective Hell'' and ''Team 7: Dead Reckoning''. The first 5-issue Gen ...

'' #1-4 (with

Chuck Dixon Charles Dixon (born April 14, 1954) is an American comic book writer, best known for his work on the Marvel Comics character the Punisher and on the DC Comics characters Batman, Nightwing, and Robin in the 1990s and early 2000s. Early life D ...

and Aron Wiesenfeld, Image Comics, 1994-1995) *'' Team 7: Objective Hell'' #1-3 (with

and

Chris Warner Christopher Alexander Warner is a fictional character on the New Zealand soap opera ''Shortland Street'' who has been portrayed by Michael Galvin since the show's first episode, making him the longest running original character. Galvin quit the ...

, Image Comics, 1999) *''Team 7: DEAD RECKONING'' #1-4 (with

and Jason Johnson, Image Comics, 1995) *''

X-men The X-Men are a superhero team appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics, first appearing in Uncanny X-Men, ''The X-Men'' #1 by artist/co-plotter Jack Kirby and writer/editor Stan Lee in 1963. Although initially cancelled in ...

v2'' #19-41 (with

Fabian Nicieza Fabian Nicieza (born December 31, 1961) is an Argentine-American comic book writer and editor who is best known for his work on Marvel titles such as ''X-Men'', ''X-Force'', ''New Warriors'', ''Nomad'', ''Cable'', ''Deadpool'' and '' Thunderbolts ...

and

Andy Kubert Andrew Kubert (; born February 27, 1962) is an American comics artist, letterer and writer. He is the son of Joe Kubert and brother of Adam Kubert, both of whom are also artists, and the uncle of comics editor Katie Kubert. He is a graduate of an ...

, Marvel Comics, 1993-1994)

Notes

References

* *

External links

*, '' The Daily Star'', February 19, 2004 {{DEFAULTSORT:Oakley, Bill The Kubert School alumni People from Oneonta, New York Deaths from cancer in New York (state) 1964 births 2004 deaths