Saturday Deep Dive: Writing numbers in word balloons

Today's dive into the deeper archive of Webcomics.com dates back to Sept. 2, 2009, when I shared my (surprisingly controversial) opinions on presenting numbers in word balloons.

Whenever possible, avoid using numerals in your word balloons; write out the word instead.

For example, don't use "25;" write "twenty five" instead.

There are a couple reasons, the most important of which is that in hand-lettering (and fonts that mimic hand-lettering) certain numbers can look an awful lot like letters. A 5 can look like an S, for example.  A 1 looks like an I or a lowercase l. And then there's 0s and Os, 2s and Zs. Heck, sometimes a 3 can even read like an E.

So, you're much better off writing the word out unless it's a very complicated number.

Ten thousand is easy to write out. So is thirty-three. Heck two-hundred-seven is pretty doable.

5,358 would probably be better off left as numerals. And, yes, I'd use the comma -- if for no other reason than it helps distinguish it as a number.

With complicated numbers, there are no hard-and-fast rules. Oddly enough, I'd leave 256.7 as a number, but I'd write out two-and-a-half (complete with hyphens, please).

Why? It's about enabling your reader to zip through your word balloons without being tripped up. This is especially crucial for humor comics -- where so much effort is put into timing. Anything that causes your reader to pause brings him or her out of the moment. And that's bad for your comic.

Here's an example from someone whose work I really admire.

Read the entire post and comment there.