Welcome to another Interview Edition of the Pop Culture Squadcast. In this episode, we spoke with comics editor extraordinaire Shelly Bond.
Anyone who has been paying attention to comics over the past thirty years knows that Shelly has shepherded some of the most fantastic comic stories to ever come along. Her decades long tenure at Vertigo brought us books like Fables, Lucifer, American Virgin, Clean Room, Euthanauts, and so many more.
Over the past few years Shelly has been curating and publishing comics through Kickstarter. Her anthologies include Femme Magnifique, Insider Art, Heavy Rotation, and Hey Amateur!
Her latest offering which is still available to back is called Filth and Grammar, The Comic Book Editor’s Secret Handbook. It is written by Shelly as part memoire and part instruction manual.
We had the fantastic opportunity to sit down (virtually) with Shelly and talk about what has gone into the creation of this book and her stellar career in general.
This has been one of the most entertaining and productive interviews that I have ever conducted.
We hope that you enjoy the conversation.
Pop Culture Squad: Let’s talk about the newest project. Filth and Grammar. This is a departure from what we are used to getting from Shelly Bond. It seems very personal. What made you decide on this project?
Shelly Bond: Thirty-three years of blood sweat and red ink on my fingers. This is my magnum opus. You do this once in a lifetime and I have been chipping away at it for many many years. I started writing it officially in 2016, and I just wasn’t sure which way I was going to go with it but I was always sure that the title was going to be Filth and Grammar.
I didn’t know if was going to err on the side of more grammar and some filth or ninety percent filth and ten percent grammar. But I think I finally struck a good balance when I found my superstar artist trio. When you find the right team, most things fall into place.
I cannot wait to continue working on this book and bringing it to life. Really, for anyone who wants to make comics, anyone who wants to make comics better than they’ve ever made them before, and actually for people who want to become more discerning readers, it’s the kind of book for everybody.
What is in the SquadCast?
There is plenty more in podcast, but some of the topics that we covered include:
What she enjoys about and some of the challenges of running a self publishing business through Kickstarter.
Her history as young comic editor at Comico to being Senior Editor at Vertigo, to running her own imprint at IDW, to the present. It is enlightening, and she has so much to offer in terms of her experience.
We spent some time talking about the process of making comics, and lettering nerds will find some fun points in the podcast.
Her work on Fables is a great topic of the conversation.
If you are into comics and want to know more about how they get made, this is a great conversation for you.
Also the Kickstarter campaign for Filth and Grammar, The Comic Book Editor’s Secret Handbook ends this week. You still have a few days to back it.
As a reminder, this was one of the campaigns that we highlighted earlier this month as a Kickstarter You Should Be Backing.
Where Do You Find Shelly Bond?
You can follow Shelly and get all the latest on her projects on Twitter and Instagram.
You can also find her projects at offregister.press.
