Why does stylized lettering in indie comics pull you out of the story?

[Stephen.W]

I just got the first trade of a new indie series, and the art is stunning but the lettering is honestly hard to read. The word balloons feel cramped and the font is this overly stylized script that makes me pause on every other panel. Has anyone else run into a book where the lettering choices actually pulled you out of the story?

[AdamR]

Yep, that happened to me too. An indie title had gorgeous art but the lettering was a slog; balloons felt cramped and the script was overly curly, so I paused on almost every page.

[Stella31]

Another time the balloons were tight enough you couldn’t tell who was speaking half the time, so I skimmed ahead and came back later.

[Ryan.L]

I did try a different reading setup once—bumped the font size on my tablet and cranked the contrast—but the issue still pulled me out, so I dropped a couple of chapters and kept the rest.

[StellaEJ]

Do you think it's the fonts or the balloon shapes that caused the problem, or is the reading flow just off in that issue?