So, not to downplay Dave Eggers’ typographic talents or anything, but I find it curious that no one has ever compared the Might/McSweeney’s typesetting and style to the record sleeve on Talking Heads‘ 1985 album, Little Creatures. I swear, it’s like Dave laid out the whole thing himself, from his favorite typeface right down to the little interstitial drawings. The credit on the album says, “Design by M&Co., New York,” which, of course, was Tibor Kalman‘s design company.
Now, Eggers and David Byrne know each other–McSweeney’s published Byrne’s new book, The New Sins in 2001. To quote Byrne in McSweeney’s,

I am a fan of McSweeney’s but didn’t see anyone listed in the legal page as designer, so I emailed them directly and described my project and said I wanted to employ their designer, whoever it might be. Turns out the McSweeney’s Representative (M.R.)[Dave Eggers] does the design, and, in a weird coincidence, he also has a collection of 19th-century Bibles, which he counts as among his primary design inspirations. This was getting to be too good to be true.

Now, I’m as much a Talking Heads fan as I am a Might fan. And I like Dave Eggers, even though I have a pretty good feeling he doesn’t like me. I am somewhat surprised that I’ve never heard anyone else mention this odd coincidence. Little Creatures is a good album, by the way. It’s the one that has “And She Was” on it.