After blogging about Papyrus, fellow designers have said to me that it has its place, just like Comic Sans. So my objective was to find out what this is, as I HATE comic sans, but I then wonder if I have just 'learnt' to hate it? During my early teens, with my parents first PC, I loved it, I may have even used it for an essay in English about 'Robin Hood princes of Thieves,' oh dear.
So... it began in 1994, by a typographer called Vincent Connare, obviously designed to reflect 'comic book' lettering. It soon became so wide spread that http://bancomicsans.com/main/ was established in 1999.
To me it looks many things; unsophisticated, friendly and unauthoritive. During my investigation, I actually began to find it far less offensive as a logo than say a word document such as a work memo. It does have its uses, however it only works when it has been manipulated almost beyond recognition, or for something physical; for example I can actually see it working nicely for some children's style building blocks in letter forms.
Check out this awesome site to see some really creative uses:
and flickr for the worst:
General conclusion, just don't touch it unless you really know what you're doing. Or want to make an ironic statement.