"The pens I use are either B-6 or A-5 speedballs, bit are modified by guiding down and shaping on carborundum stone. Guide-lines are about 3/16 of an inch apart, separated about 1/16 from from another. For heavy lettering, I use A-6 of B-5, once again ground down until it feels right to me. As for the ink, I generally use Higgins black."
Rosen began working for Eisner in 1940 and also lettered for other clients, such as Fox and Archie's THE MIGHTY CRUSADERS.
In 1947, Eisner hired Abe Kanegson who worked for him until 1950. Eisner said Kanegson was his favorite.
“He was the best letterer I ever had. He worked with me from 1947 to about 1950. I don’t know what happened to him after that, but I miss him sorely. He brought far more to The Spirit than many of the background people ever did — he was very responsive to ideas and he added a creative dimension to comics, which I always thought was important. He’s the only one who ever really understood. I had other letterers before he came in, but he helped me reach out. Sure, I had certain standards I wanted him to follow—for instance, I did Old English before he came in, but he would take that Old English and really do it — his skill was enormous — even more, he understood the function of lettering in comics. He regarded it as something important. Everybody before him regarded it as a chore.”
[SOURCE: THE COMICS JOURNAL]
I'm just entering the Eisner later-era sweet spot in my year-long read through of the series. They are good and look fantastic in black and white.
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