| Bill Oakley | |
|---|---|
| Born | William Douglas Oakley (1964-04-01)April 1, 1964 Oneonta, New York |
| Died | February 16, 2004(2004-02-16) (aged 39) Utica, New York |
| Nationality | American |
| Area(s) | Letterer |
Notable works | The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Batman: Gotham Knights |
William Douglas Oakley (April 1, 1964 – February 16, 2004) was aletterer for numerouscomic books fromMarvel,DC, and other companies. His most prominent works include the first two volumes ofAlan Moore andKevin O'Neill'sThe League of Extraordinary Gentlemen andBatman: Gotham Knights #1-11, #15-37.
Oakley attendedThe Kubert School inDover, New Jersey 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.[1] In July 1986 he started on staff at Marvel,[1] working underJim Novak.[citation needed] For Marvel, Oakley letteredAvengers for a long time,Avengers West Coast, theX-Men, theFantastic Four duringWalt Simonson’s run,Rampaging Hulk, andAmazing 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 Idefinitely would look forward to."[1] 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, andHawkman.
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"),[2] he was forced to letter comics from his hospital bed to pay bills before he died of cancer inUtica, New York. His hometown wasOneonta, New York. Oakley was survived by his wife Leslie and son Stephen.[2]
He was halfway through designingThe 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.
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 aword balloon or caption, thus opening up the balloon/caption to the gutter. In this regard, Oakley's lettering style was similar toJohn Workman's. Also like Workman, even in the age of computer lettering, Oakley did all this lettering by hand, using a Hunt 107 pen.[3] 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 usingtemplates.[1]
Assorted titles:
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link),The Daily Star, February 19, 2004| International | |
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