In his civilian life as Gordon Thomas, he fought in an unknown war for the US Army in which he lost his brother Joey. Upon his return to America, Gordon's wife left him and took their son with her. Feeling outcast, Gordon became a signsmith. He was happy for a time until a man named George Finch bought the company he was working for, Ace Signs, and Gordon was laid off. Gordon started to hate everything that went wrong in his life and decided to become a super-villain, calling himself Typeface. He used a grease pencil to write letters on his face, including a large, red "R" on his forehead, for "retribution". He began committing vandalism throughout the city, and while attacking local thugs, he caught the attention of Spider-Man. Typeface used his giant letters as weapons and managed to defeat the webslinger. After successfully escaping and returning to his apartment, he replaced the "R" letter on his head with an "A" for "Annihilation". Thomas later sought revenge against George Finch, but was stopped by Spider-Man. Typeface wanted to kill Spider-Man for intervening, but when he saw the webslinger being attacked by the Spider-Hybrid, he recalled the words his brother Joey once gave him: "Just live, man." Typeface decided to help Spider-Man defeat the Spider-Hybrid, and renounced his desire to kill Finch. However, Finch decided to exact revenge on Typeface for humiliating him, and found the bombs Gordon would have used to kill Finch. Finch set them off and demolished an entire building, killing himself, and for a time it was believed that Typeface died in the explosion. When the police arrived, they declared Typeface responsible for the explosion.
Having survived the explosion, Typeface became a vigilante. He waged war against a gang called the "Penny-Ante Brigade." After taking out the gang (and another vigilante, Spellcheck, inspired by Typeface), Typeface mimiced Spider-Man's note to police, left when he apprehended criminals: "Compliments from your friendly neighborhood Typeface."
During the super-human Civil War, Typeface chose to side against the Superhuman Registration Act. He joined a small resistance cell that included Battlestar, Gladiatrix and Solo. During a visit by the reporter Sally Floyd, he talked about how he had held his brother who had died in a foreign country. Typeface felt his brother had died in the cause of freedom and this had motivated him to oppose the act. Iron Man and S.H.I.E.L.D. agents attacked, capturing many members of the group. Floyd and others escaped. The prisoners were taken to a maximum security prison built in the Negative Zone called "Fantasy Island." While transferring, Typeface befriended Robbie Baldwin, otherwise known as Speedball. Both were concerned over the fate of a fellow prisoner that the very nature of the Negative Zone had adversely affected. He was slammed into a bus by Venom during the final battle of the Civil War. A quick examination of Typeface by a fleeing Ben Urich led the Daily Bugle reporter to believe he was dead.
Typeface's face was covered with various painted letters, some with meaning including an "A" on his forehead (which stands for "annihilation") or "R" (for "retribution").
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