All throughout July we’re crowdsourcing an Extra Eisners Reading List from comics journalists and critics. Most weekdays throughout the entire month, we’ll post a new pick we would have liked to have seen nominated for an Eisner. There are so many great comics right now, we’d love to see the Eisners expanded to honor that and diversify the pool of work honored by the industry. Also, as critics and journalists, we are not entirely sure we get a vote (the rules are unclear) — so this is the next best thing.

Today’s pick comes from Ritesh Babu, whose writing has appeared in PanelxPanel, AiPT, and more…enjoy!

I must confess, I've never been terribly huge on this category.

'Best Lettering' has always sounded off to me, much like its sister category 'Best Coloring' has always rung wrong. Notice that the category for Writers and Artists isn't 'Best Writing' or 'Best Arting', hell, even saying it out-loud sounds quite ridiculous, doesn't it? Given the elevated status of the two roles, the vital, most visible roles in comics, the writer and artist, this makes sense. But it's also endlessly depressing, as it displays just how much further it is we have to go, especially to give appropriate credit, appreciation, respect and treatment to those who do work that is just as vital, even if it isn't noted or perceived as such by a large portion of the audience. We still live in a time wherein seeing a Letterer's name on a comic's cover is highly abnormal, as that is just plainly not the standard. Clearly there are strides to be made, and 'Best Lettering' is a category that feels emblematic of that, given it isn't 'Best Letterer', as it should be. It de-emphasizes the individual in a way no other key category, apart from Coloring which faces a similar issue, does. 

Now, with all that said, let's talk about someone that did some truly incredible work over the last year, who deserves to be recognized and was tragically left off the nominations.

Aditya Bidikar has been doing terrific work for a good while now, lettering everything from Grant Morrison comics about Indian mythology to wonderfully idiosyncratic books like Grafity's Wall. But his work really seemed to have hit a fever pitch in 2019, as he was at an all-time high, performing better, and bigger, than I'd ever seen him. 

His collaborations with Ram V continued on, as they put out their latest masterwork in the form of These Savage Shores, another tragically overlooked comic that virtually everyone who's read it agrees was one of the best of the year, if not the best. He took that very controlled, formal 9-panel grid heavy text, with this very specific rhythm and spirit, and brought a silent spirit to it, weaponizing the very power of sound as illustration, making it this elemental force that rings out as warning or terror, this horrific noise of nature that feels chilling and foreboding. 

He impressed once again with his work on Little Bird, a brilliant book that did get nominated, and deservedly so, wherein he effectively synced up with the vision of Bertram's very specific style, straight out of the Moebius/Quitely school of comicking. There's a slickness and a sleekness to his lettering style, always adapting a specificity to match his artistic collaborators, and that comes through quite clearly here. Little Bird is a loud book, and it's where Bidikar's work pops more than ever, which is also why it's surprising that he was overlooked, while the work he contributed did get noticed.

Then there's his surreal, scratchy vision of reality in Coffin Bound, which, again, shows off a wholly different side. There's a versatility to his work, even as it remains recognizable throughout everything, and that is evident here more than ever. His work felt appropriate for the strange, odd and poetic reality of that book, where groundhouse horror met potentially non-existent bird emissaries of death. 

And there's his often-overlooked work on Maxwell's Demons, which again displays such a wide spectrum of what he's able to pull off, and how his presence enhances the story being told, adds texture and greater meaning to a scene or character. From wondrous storybook captions to irritating news broadcasts, the tone and spirit of a moment is communicated effectively, but also the diversity of the world, its characters, the emotions meant to be evoked, they're all covered. From lettering experimental spreads of hexagonal panels depicting Borges-ian visions of reality to evoking the lettering style from The Saga Of Swamp Thing to make a point, nothing's off the table, the ambition is massive, and Bidikar makes it all work. He sells it all effectively.

Then there's the fact that he's still killing it on the current lauded Hellblazer run, which just started last year. And that's just the start, the tip of the iceberg, really. One could go on and on, but the fact remains: We need to talk more about letterers, lettering, not generalize the craft, as if to make it seem like any faceless individual could be doing it. We need to attach the faces, we need to remember the names, we need to emphasize the individual, as we do with any of their peers in other categories, and we need to credit them and discuss their contributions to the work in a meaningful capacity. 

It's also why we need to talk more about the work of Aditya Bidikar. - Ritesh Babu

Ritesh Babu Is a comic book critic whose work has appeared on AiPT, PanelxPanel, Comic Book Herald, and more. Ritesh can be found on Twitter at @GhosttGray.

Visit the full Extra Eisners Reading List!

Check out the official Eisner Nominations for 2020.