In 2017, September 1 was designated as "Letterer Appreciation Day." I actually don't know who designated it as such but reportedly, they picked the first of this month because that was the birthday of the late Gaspar Saladino, who is/was (I guess) the favorite letterer of whoever made the decision. Actually, there have been many great letterers in comics and that list would include Ben Oda, Artie Simek, Rome Siemen, Howard Ferguson, Sam Rosen, Abe Kanegson, John Costanza and so many more.
I am pleased that we appreciate letterers on September 1 because they sure don't get sufficient recognition the rest of the year. It has always been one of the two most unheralded jobs in comics, the other being the coloring. Letterers, especially in the era when it was all done by hand instead of computers, often had to do emergency, stay-up-all-night services or a comic would be late for the printers and/or some artist might have nothing to do (and therefore no way of earning a living) for a few days.
And their work is a vital part of the artistry of any page on which it appears. I remember once when Jack Kirby was looking at a page of original art that he had penciled and Joe Sinnott had inked. It was the first page of a story and there was a big, bold story title on it lettered by Artie Simek. Jack pointed at Simek's handiwork and said, "That is the most skilled part of this page!"
Any list of great present-day letterers would certainly include Stan Sakai…and it's easy to overlook him because most of the time, he does comics where he writes, draws and letters. Thus, we tend to think of him as a full service creative talent, not a letterer. But he of course letters and often wins awards for so doing, and also for the comic he does on his own, Usagi Yojimbo.
Since Sergio Aragonés and I began producing Groo the Wanderer back in the late seventeenth century, Stan has done all the lettering save for a small number of pages (like eight or so out of thousands) and always (ALWAYS!) on time, usually overnight. That he does it so efficiently is amazing. That his work is always so perfect is a great bonus. Here's a video of Stan at work in honor of Letterer Appreciation Day…