Gordon Thomas was a soldier coming back from a war, where he lost his brother Joey, and left him deeply scarred emotionally. Upon his return, his wife and son left him. He started a job making signs for Ace Signs, but was laid off after the company got a new owner. All of these events made him crack, and decided to take revenge on the new owner. Soon Gordon, now known as Typeface, began vandalizing the city, beating up thugs, and even managed to defeat Spider-Man.

When Typeface finally caught up to the man who fired him, Spider-Man intervened again, only to be attacked by the Spider-Hybrid. The attack reminded Typeface his brother's last words to him ("Just live, man"), and aided Spidey against the foe, and lost the desire for revenge. However, the owner was humiliated by Typeface and found the detonator Type face would've used to blow up the building they were in. When he blew up the building, he killed himself, and it was believed that Typeface had died in the explosion, too.

After surviving the explosion, Typeface became a vigilante, and waged a war with the Penny-Ante Gang. And after apprehending them, left a note saying "Compliments from your friendly neighborhood Typeface".

Recently Typeface emerged as the leader of an Anti-Registration group along with Battlestar, Solo, and other heroes. Most recently, Typeface was involved in a battle against the new, government-sponsored team of Thunderbolts - including Songbird, the Radioactive Man and Venom - who were trying to capture him and Daredevil for remaining unregistered. He was accidentally killed while trying to evade capture.

Note: 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").