For the simplest explaination computers are the reason you don't see word ballons and text on more original art pages today.
Ah, that does explain it. So, for a page from circa 1980, did the artist just give the letterer the completed page and then the letterer just hand-drew (or maybe stenciled?) the bubble and hand-lettered the letters on to the original page?
Yeah and they would also sometimes paste the completed word ballons on the page.
I prefer the look of older pages I hate how original covers and title pages don't look complete today.