Microsoft open-sources Comic Chat, the software that introduced Comic Sans to the world

Microsoft just released open-sourced Comic Chat. This was a tool that turned regular texts into comics, and brought Comic Sans to the masses.

Ever heard of Comic Sans? Chances are you have, and chances are you have opinions about it. But do you know how one of the most recognizable, and most mocked, fonts in computing history actually came to be? It got its start inside a chat client most people have never heard of, and Microsoft just open-sourced it.

Comic Chat was a mid-1990s IRC client that turned ordinary text conversations into comic strip panels. As such, it needed an appropriate comic-looking font, and that role was perfect for the newly designed Comic Sans.

The software was the work of computer scientist David Kurlander, who started developing it in 1995 as part of Microsoft Research's Virtual Worlds Group. Instead of showing messages as plain scrolling text, the way basically most chat clients work even today, Comic Chat turned each conversation into an actual comic strip.

The client read what people typed and picked appropriate poses, facial expressions, and panel layouts on the fly. So, if you wrote something angry, your character might cross its arms and frown. The illustrated characters were created by Jim Woodring, an independent comic artist.

Looking back at Comic Chat from today’s perspective, you may even say that it looks a lot like some AI-powered comic generator would look today. Of course, there was no AI involved, as the tool was entirely rule-based. You could say that Comic Chat was way ahead of its time.

Back to Comic Sans, the font was initially designed for Microsoft Bob by Microsoft typographer Vincent Connare in 1994. But Connare completed it too late for Bob, and it found its first real home in Comic Chat. It was meant to replicate the hand-lettered feel of speech bubbles in a comic. And while it fit Comic Chat perfectly, it didn’t fit nearly everything else people eventually used it for. At one point, Comic Sans was considered the world’s most hated font.

Fun fact: If you just type “Comic Sans” into Google Search, the entire search interface will switch to this font.

Now, three decades later, Microsoft is making the entire codebase of Comic Chat open source. Though it’s more a piece of history than a functional app. So, if you want to take another look at Comic Chat, and maybe even experiment with it a little, you can check it out on GitHub.

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Posted Friday 17 July 2026 at 1:30 pm AEST (my time).

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