Bill Oakley
Born	William Douglas Oakley April 1, 1964(1964-04-01) Oneonta, New York
Died	February 16, 2004 (aged 39) Utica, New York
Nationality	American
Area(s)	Letterer
Notable works	The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Batman: Gotham Knights

William Douglas Oakley (April 1, 1964 - February 16, 2004) was a letterer for numerous comic books from Marvel, DC, and other companies. His most prominent works include the first two volumes of Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neill's The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen and Batman: Gotham Knights #1-11, #15-37.

Contents 1 Biography 1.1 Death 2 Lettering style 3 Bibliography 4 Awards 5 Notes 6 References 7 External links

[edit] Biography

Oakley attended the Joe Kubert School of Cartoon and Graphic Art in Dover, New Jersey. He started on staff at Marvel working under Jim Novak before going freelance.

For Marvel, Oakley lettered Avengers for a long time, Avengers West Coast, the X-Men, the Fantastic Four during Walt Simonson’s run, Rampaging Hulk, and Amazing Spider-Man. For DC, he worked on a number of the Superman titles, Batman, Lobo, DC vs. Marvel Comics, Batman: Gotham Knights, Justice Society, and Hawkman.

[edit] Death

Due to the fact that he did not possess medical insurance ("because he had a previous medical condition and the insurance companies refused to cover him"),^[1] he was forced to letter comics from his hospital bed to pay bills, before he died of cancer in Utica, New York. His hometown was Oneonta, New York. Oakley was survived by his wife Leslie and son Stephen.^[1]

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Black Dossier was dedicated to his memory.

[edit] Lettering style

Oakley had a distinctive but understated lettering style. One of his trademarks as a letterer was to often erase or omit panel borders when they touched the top, side, or bottom of a word balloon or caption, thus opening up the balloon/caption to the gutter. In this regard, Oakley's lettering style was similar to John Workman's. Also like Workman, even in the age of computer lettering, Oakley did all this lettering by hand, using a Hunt 107 pen.^[2]

[edit] Bibliography

Please help improve this article by expanding it. Further information might be found on the talk page. (December 2008)

• The Kents (with John Ostrander, 12-issue limited series, DC Comics, 1997-1998, tpb, 272 pages, 2000, ISBN 1563895137)
• Sleeper #1-3, 7-8 (with Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips, Wildstorm, 2003)

[edit] Awards

• 2000: Nominated for "Favorite Letterer" Wizard Fan Award, for The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Volume I^[3]
• 2002: Nominated for "Favorite Letterer" Wizard Fan Award, for The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Volume II^[4]
• 2004: Nominated for "Best Lettering" Eisner Award, for Hawkman, JSA, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Volume II and Sleeper^[5]

[edit] Notes

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Obituary (cached), The Daily Star, February 19, 2004

v • d • e The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Creators Alan Moore • Kevin O'Neill • Bill Oakley Volumes Volume I • Volume II • Black Dossier • Volume III: Century • Tales Other Stories Allan and the Sundered Veil • The New Traveller's Almanac • Minions of the Moon League Members Miss Mina Murray • Captain Nemo • Allan Quatermain • Hawley Griffin • Mr. Edward Hyde/Dr. Henry Jekyll Other Leagues Prospero's Men: Prospero • Caliban • Ariel • Christian • Captian Robert Owe-much • Amber St. Clair Gulliver's League: Lemuel Gulliver • Dr. Christopher Syn • Sir Percy and Lady Marguerite Blakeney • Nathanael "Natty" Bumppo • Frances "Fanny" Hill The 20th Century League: Miss Wilhelmina Murray • "Allan Quatermain, Jr." • Orlando/Roland • A. J. Raffles • Thomas Carnacki • Prof. George E Challenger Foreign Leagues Les Hommes Mystérieux: Robur • Arsène Lupin • Le Nyctalope • Fantômas • Monsieur Zenith Die Zwielichthelden: Dr. Mabuse • Dr. Caligari • Dr. Rotwang Associated Individuals Campion Bond • Jimmy Bond • John Carter • Randolph Carter • Mycroft Holmes • Ishmael • Lt. Gullivar Jones • Fu Manchu • Professor James Moriarty • The Time Traveller • The Pirate's Conference Adaptation The Film ("LXG") • The Novelization • The Soundtrack • Stephen Norrington • James Dale Robinson • Kevin J. Anderson Dorian Gray • Tom Sawyer • Rodney Skinner Miscellaneous Jess Nevins • The Timeline • The World • Character List • The History of the League