B.ü.L.b comix

In 1996, two colleagues in Geneva published a fanzine entitled Sûre, one as the author, the other as the publisher. The simply produced comic, a silkscreened cover with xeroxed inside pages, was a success. It sold out prior to the launch party. The team shook hands and parted ways.

A year later, the “dummy” publisher took the opportunity of his visual communication diploma to turn the one-off experience into a fully functional publishing house under the imprint B.ü.L.b comix. Following a thorough economical study of the illustration & comic branch, a pragmatic approach to resources, thus financial means, developed under the influence of hardcore music and DIY (do-it-yourself) spirit. The DIN ISO 216 norm (series A paper formats) and constraints had to be embraced and collections defined systematically, from very small to big: 2[w], 25[w], 40[w], and X[w]. Using a photocopier, five 2[w] mini-comics could be printed on an A3 sheet of paper, 8 pages of a 25[w] book on A4 or 4 pages of a 40[w]. To welcome special editorial projects, such as a skateboard deck, the format of the X[w] was free, or not defined. For bigger-yet-reasonable print runs – allowing covers to stick to silkscreen – offset printing was used.

A light bulb being part of the logotype, watts [w] that usually define the power of light, symbolise sizes in this editorial context. On a historical note, Post tenebras lux is the motto of the city of Geneva in Switzerland.

Typographically speaking, the logotype is also a system. Made of boxes, the two parts can be stacked or horizontally tucked when space is limited, typically on the spine of books. The main typeface used logically from cover to colophon is DIN 1451 Engschrift. Just one weight, no italic. Often the elongated letters were hand-redrawn to give it a craft and lively feeling in tune with the surrounding drawings.

Strangely enough and Gutenberg knows why, Erbar Condensed appears here and there as ISBN and books’ reference numbers. Other fonts were featured such as Bryant, FIG Script, Lingua by Eric Olson and released by Process Type Foundry, as well as Nanoscopics Alphabet (turned 3D) by designer Matius Gerardo Grieck, published by T-26. These typefaces are not shown in this post.

Inside the books, illustrators and comic artists, when using words simply drew the letters, ultimately fitting well as a cohesive whole. Worth noting, in 1999 Henning Wagenbreth from Berlin (home of FontFont and -Shop) used one of his digital typefaces, FF Prater Sans, for his 2[w] mini-comic leporello among the 2wBOX Set D.

Over the years B.ü.L.b comix has published 157 books with contributions from 122 authors from 22 countries, often printed in-town, if not, always locally to support the trade.