Bill Oakley

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.

Biography Oakley attended The Kubert School in Dover, New Jersey for a year, intending to be a comics artist. However, his experience at the school convinced him that he couldn't handle the workload of a comic book artist and, still desiring to work in the comics field, decided to do lettering instead. In July 1986 he started on staff at Marvel, 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. Before the age of computer lettering, unlike Jim Novak and others, Oakley was one of the few letterers to continue to create word balloons entirely freehand instead of using templates. 2002: Nominated for "Favorite Letterer" Wizard Fan Award, for The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Volume II 2004: Nominated for "Best Lettering" Eisner Award, for Hawkman, JSA, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Volume II and Sleeper