Change in text quality?

[BobSongs]

Maybe I'm blind? Maybe the image on the webpage is smaller than my feeble eyes can see.

However, I didn't see the "Ow." over Suzy's head.



After spotting it, and the joke, I began imagining Nukees with talk bubbles done in Inkscape ... comic book fonts...



I did tinker with the image a bit. I confess that. But talk bubbles are usually added on top of the art. I wanted the "Ow" where I couldn't miss it.

[Gav]

Hmm... Not sure how I feel about that. I'm not the world's best hand-letterer, but I feel like the only one left and someone has to uphold the old traditions.

I'll freely admit that one of my weaknesses is leaving enough whitespace around foreground objects (including non-ballooned text) to delineate them from backgrounds. Maybe I'll go back with my whiteout pen and clear it up a little.

I think I even looked at that strip and wondered if people would miss the "Ow." Then I think I reasoned that the visual made the joke too. I also toyed with putting those little cartoon "pain stars and squiggles" coming out of her wrist, but somehow it seemed like slightly more cheese than ideal. I toy with a lot of little things.

It's best no one sees me wrack my brain for half an hour deciding if two dashes or an ellipses makes an unfinished statement funnier.

What do others think? Would you rather Nukees have the unique charm of hand-lettering or actually be readable?

[towr]

I like the unique charm of hand-lettering. It fits the rest of the style well, much better than the example computerized lettering, in any case.
I do read a few other webcomics that have hand-lettering, btw, and yours isn't near as illegible as some of those are some of the time.

[BobSongs]

I realize there's a lot of thought that goes into a strip: pacing, punchline, presentation: a myriad of decisions to make. I didn't want to present a criticism without some kind of alternative.

NOTE: I chose the computer lettering specifically for its cold, impersonal aspect. In my mind it emphasized how we do work for such heartless forms to the point of pain. It does break with the form of the hand lettering, but again: I did that as a "bonus". The real point of the relettering was the final panel: bringing out the "OW"

[MaxJenius]

I do like the idea of what was on the computer screen, displayed as typed as opposed to handwritten... The rest could go either way.