A Final Word on Lettering...

...that probably should have been the first.
Courtesy of Richard Starkings's Comicraft:

This is all absolute gospel! 

I only add that a too-fat pointer or tail is a lot better than a too-thin one, and could be legitimately be a part of a style. Oh, and that pointers should stay off the characters as a (very) general rule and should point to the source of the dialog, often the mouth. Oh, and that tail-less balloons are weak-ass, a copout, most of the time.

Otherwise, nothing to add!

JH

Lettering

Here, courtesy of DC's excellent series of books, The DC Comics Guide to... is a brief but very helpful rundown on how to letter in Illustrator.

From the excellent The DC Comics Guide to Coloring and Lettering Comics 

by Mark Chiarello and Todd Klein

Please click to enlarge and save them! Very useful. Note that one page above, 131, is in a different aspect ratio and may be very easy to overlook as you click on each. It does come after p. 130.

JH