A SKTCHD Guide to Pronouncing Creator Names, Vol. 1
Growing up, I always loved the Pronunciation Guides that appeared in the Bullpen Bulletins within the occasional Marvel comic. I was, and am, a fastidious person, which means that pronouncing names and words correctly was important to me. While I wasn’t always right, 1 it ensured that knowing that John Byrne was “John Burn” and the writer of my beloved Transformers, Bob Budiansky, was “Bob boo-dee-ANN-skee” was key knowledge for my child brain. 2 I loved those guides for that reason, and that desire to pronounce names correctly has carried with me ever since.
But with the disappearance of bonus material like that and the rise of audio and video shows about comics, we’ve been given some, uh, innovative pronunciations of creator names. Which, I totally get! Names can be tricky. Sometimes you do your best but swing and miss anyways. Because of that, though, I’ve long had “create a pronunciation guide to creator names” on my to do list. It just felt like a good project to take on. And I have good news: It’s finally happening this week. But it won’t just be one massive article of names. Like with those Marvel guides, it will be broken down into different volumes, with the plan being that there will be 30 names in each edition and a new one every month or two. Frankly, there are just too many names for one article, and overwhelming folks with information is no way to retain knowledge.
I should say that 30 names was my plan for this first edition. Apparently the world sensed my fastidious energy, because a little while back on Bluesky, someone shared one of those old Marvel pronunciation guides and that prompted Chris Samnee — someone who was already at the top of my list for good reason — to put out a call to arms for creators with oft mispronounced names. The goal was to share the correct pronunciation, if only to send people in the right direction. Because of this rare instance where a whole bunch of creators 3 volunteered this information publicly, I’ve added an array of names to this edition, simply because that information became so readily available.
So, let’s get to this first wave of this guide — which only includes the parts of the names that are not obvious, just to make it a bit easier to focus — and as a bonus, you can find a link to a resource where you can either hear the person pronounce their own name or see their explanation of the pronunciation, just in case you need a little more proof that I’m not leading you astray. 4 Those audio guides rock, though. Some folks aren’t phonetic learners, so I totally get the desire to hear it walked through properly.
This first edition is open to non-subscribers. If you’d like to read future versions of this guide and any of my other work on SKTCHD, though, or you’d just like to support the effort that goes into the site, consider subscribing today. Oh, and if you are a creator that has a name that is often mispronounced and want to add the correct way to say it to future guides, feel free to email me at david@SKTCHD.com. I would be happy to add you!
- André Lima Araújo – Ahn-dreh Lee-muh A-ra-oo-jo
- Bill Sienkiewicz – Bill Sin-KEV-itch
- Bilquis Evely – bill-kiss ev-lee 5
- Charles Soule – Charles Soul
- Chris Eliopoulos – Chris El-e-OP-uh-lus
- Chris Samnee – Chris SOM-nee (rhymes with Omni) 6
- Clayton Cowles – Clayton Coals (or, as Clayton puts it on his Instagram, it rhymes with “Knowles”)
- Dav Pilkey – Dave Pill-key
- Dave Wielgosz – Dave Wil-Gus
- David Pepose – David Pep-O’s
- Eric Zawadzki – Eric zuh-WAHDZ-key
- Frank Quitely – Frank Quite-Lee 7
- Gavin Guidry – Gavin GID-dree
- Gerry Duggan – Jerry dug-in
- Greg Pak – Greg Pock (or PAHK) 8
- Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou – HASS-an AHts-man el-how
- James Tynion IV – James Tie-Nin the Fourth
- Jeff Lemire – Jeff Leh-MEER
- John Romita, Jr. – John roh-MEE-tah Junior 9
- Juni Ba – JOO-nee BAH
- Lucy Knisley – Lucy Nigh-slee
- Marcos Martin – MAR-kohs Mar-TEEN
- Mark Millar – Mark Miller
- Marie Javins – Marie JAY-vinz 10
- Mariko Tamaki – muh-REE-ko tuh-mah-kee 11
- Murewa Ayodele – Moo-Ray-Wah Ah-Your-Day-Lay 12
- Natasha Alterici – Natasha Alter-EE-See
- Ngozi Ukazu – in-go-zee you-KAH-zoo or In-go-zee you-KAZZ-zoo 13
- Nick Robles – Nick Roh-bless
- Nicole Goux – Nicole goo
- Pia Guerra – Pee-ah GAIR-ah
- Ram V – ROM V
- Rob Guillory – Rob Gill-uh-ree
- Tonči Zonjić – tawn-chih zawn-yitch
- Tony Fleecs – Tony Fleece
- Zoe Tunnell – Zoe Tuhn-el
You should have heard how I used to say the word “colonel.”↩
It still took me years to figure out “Romita,” though.↩
Many of whom I already had on my list, and, I have to add, they were on there with correct pronunciations already!↩
Some folks I confirmed directly with or found another resource, so if you’re wondering why there’s no link, that’s why!↩
Per my fellow podcaster, The Oblivion Bar’s Chris Hacker, who was walked through how to pronounce Evely’s name by Bilquis herself.↩
I already knew how to pronounce Chris’ name before he posted it, though!↩
Not Quietly, as people say surprisingly often!↩
Or, “rhymes with rock,” as he put it on Bluesky.↩
I clearly figured it out eventually.↩
This is a funny one. I never realized I pronounced her name wrong until I was at the Eisner Awards in 2024, when Javins went up to accept an award and very deliberately corrected the person who introduced her, who said “Ja-vins.” That really stuck with me and, yes, people get it wrong a lot!↩
This pronunciation was also verified here, and that website is a very useful tool!↩
Murewa actually provided a “Yoruba Chief Level Pronunciation” of his name, and if you click the link, you’ll find that. Thanks Murewa!↩
Ukazu said either works about as well as you can, at least as far as Americanized pronunciations go.↩