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 logo. He did occasional work as a writer, penciler, and colorist, and also worked at publishers including Dark Horse, Boom! Studios, Image, Dynamite, and IDW.

Biography

Jim Novak was born in Chicago, on September 14, 1955.

He broke into the comics industry in 1975 with ''Marvel Spotlight'' #25, as a member of the "third wave" of creators at the company, which included artists John Byrne and Frank Miller, and writers Roger Stern, Jo Duffy, Mark Gruenwald, and Ralph Macchio. He became a staff letterer (and occasional logo designer) at Marvel, ascending to production manager in the mid-1980s. During this time, in advance of the film's release, he redesigned the logo for the company's '' Star Wars'' comic, making changes that were incorporated into the version used in the film's marketing.

In the 1980s Novak was the regular letterer for such titles as '' Avengers'' (1981–1987) '' Doctor Strange'' (1980–1984), '' Fantastic Four'' (1980–1984), ''The Incredible Hulk'' (1981–1984), and ''Marvel Fanfare'' (1982–1991), when he lettered as many as five or six books per month. Fellow letterer Bill Oakley opined that Novak created the best shapes for speech balloons of any letterer he knew. In the 1980s and early 1990s (and even in 2000–2001), Novak was often paired with writer/artist Byrne, on such titles as ''The Avengers'', ''Fantastic Four'', ''Wolverine'', ''Sensational She-Hulk'', and '' Marvel: The Lost Generation''. Over the years, Novak also lettered a number of titles written by Stern, including '' Captain America'', ''The Avengers'', ''Doctor Strange'', ''Marvel Universe'', ''The Spectacular Spider-Man'', and ''Marvel: The Lost Generation''.

In the 1990s, Novak worked on many limited series and one-shots, as well as full-time lettering on ''Darkhawk'', ''Green Goblin'', ''Fantastic Four'' again, and ''Star Trek: Star Fleet Academy''.

Bibliography

* ''Captain America'' (1979–1982)
* '' Master of Kung-Fu'' (1980–1982)
*'' Doctor Strange'' (1980–1984)
* ''Fantastic Four'' (1980–1984, 1995–1996)
* ''The Avengers'' (1981–1987)
* ''Incredible Hulk'' (1981–1984)
* ''Marvel Fanfare'' (1982–1991)
* ''Sensational She-Hulk'' (1989–1992)
* ''Darkhawk'' (1994–1995)
* ''Green Goblin'' (1995–1996)
* ''Star Trek: Star Fleet Academy'' (1996–1998)

Notes

References

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Novak, Jim
1955 births
2018 deaths
Comic book letterers
Marvel Comics people
Artists from Chicago