Prologue: Page 18
Technically, this room is mislabeled: it's not a morgue, but a columbarium. A columbarium is a room with niches for funerary urns, which is what I’ve drawn here. But “The Columbarium of Typography” just doesn’t sound very good, and I thought it had more impact if I chose a more immediately recognizable word. So, it’s the Morgue, even if…it technically isn’t.

Of course, in the League’s particular version, all of the funerary niches are empty. Once the fonts wither, they’ve just simply vanished. This room is much more a symbolic representation of all the fonts that have been lost, rather than a set of physical specimens. They’re not really born, they don’t grow, and they don’t really die either. At least not in the way human beings think about it, anyway.

I learned about these definitions (morgue vs. columbarium) in “Smoke Gets in Your Eyes” by Caitlin Doughty, a very informative and hilarious memoir I read in 2017. I highly recommend it – she’s now published a follow-up book, which I’ve yet to read, but plan to when I have time.
11 Comments, click to add yours
I wonder how long it will take for all the OCR fonts (like on the bottom of checks and on every bad sci-fi movie's computer screen) to be admitted to the morgue?

Yes, this computer is taking over the world, but displaying text for the humans in a font that's easy for computers to OCR?
Computer Overlord 3/8/19 reply
You make a really good point about OCR fonts. I personally really like them and think they're easy to read, but I don't really let my personal bias come through too much in this comic (for example I'm a big stickler for using Times New Roman in a lot of things, but I wouldn't particularly want to be friends with his character in real life!)

What's your take - how long do you think it would be until all the OCR fonts were in the morgue? I'm curious!
 Emma  3/10/19 reply
We'll all be in the morgue before it happens
3/11/19 reply
That's...so ominous, but you're probably right.
 Emma  3/15/19 reply
I do inventory at work sometimes. Poor choice of font for a serial number by a manufacturer can make it hard to distinguish between B/8, b/6, 0/O/Q, I/1/l, etc., especially with a less-than-sharp photo. And it's worse when the original inventory records are typo-ridden. 😾
KilleenWizard 9/17/19 reply
 
Aw, Comic Sans gets a bad rep sometimes. But in the Netherlands, they celebrate a Comic Sans day every July!
Klausfan 3/7/19 reply
Wow, I had no idea! I actually don't mind Comic Sans, and there's actually a reason for so many jokes at the font's expense in the plot...but you'll have to keep reading to find out why!
 Emma  3/10/19 reply
 
I learned a new word today, columbarium.
I've heard one of my favorite comedians speak of "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes" on his Boogie Monster podcast. Learning that you've read it and recommend it means that when I can bring myself to read for fun again (four years of double major college in which I actually read the 1000+ pages a week assigned has killed my desire to read for fun)I think I owe it to myself to read it, and almost certainly the follow-up.
Thank you!
Miles 3/6/19 reply
Oh, what comedian? I'll have to check it out, even if I have a really horrid time remembering to stay abreast with podcasts (there are so many good ones!) I really loved the book, it's pretty fast-paced and never feels like a chore to read. I'm currently double-majoring as well and I'm sad I don't get as much time to read for pleasure as I used to, but it's a worthy tradeoff.
 Emma  3/7/19 reply
Kyle Kinane is the comedian (with Dave Stone). I'm not sure he would be as relatable to you as he is to me, but I like him.
My majors were Psychology and Business with A LOT of side courses thrown in (Chemical Dependency, Criminal Justice, a ton of Accounting courses until I realized that I simply couldn't see me doing accounting as a career without hating my life). Because they were very disparate without overlap, it was a lot of work (but also two degrees at the same time). I feel like I once knew, and that I should know, but what are your two majors?
Miles 3/7/19 reply
I'll have to check it out! I don't feel like generational differences matter in making things more/less relatable, but I understand what you mean. Those two degrees sound like a lot of work! I go to two schools simultaneously (it's a dual-degree program), so I'm getting a degree from each, including an illustration degree.
 Emma  3/10/19 reply
 
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