shelly bond

WHERE THE GIRLS ARE

Thu, 07/01/2010 - 8:00am | DCE Editorial

Madame Xanadu - Extra Sensory

1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5

Matt Wagner told me that he wanted to write a Madame Xanadu storyline that captured the many facets and philosophies of the 1960s by concentrating on the five senses. He envisioned that each issue would focus on a specific sense and would feature artwork drawn by a radically diverse cadre of artists of the female persuasion. He also wanted to imbue a 60s "Twilight Zone-ish" vibe into each of the stories, and, most important, Matt had a very particular rollout in mind. He practically DEMANDED (see planks under fingernails) that the issues would run as follows:

SEE! - HEAR! - SMELL! - TOUCH! - TASTE! (& ESP)

If you have to ask why, you probably never hitchhiked to a 7-11 to score a pouch of pop rocks circa 1982. And you probably don't have a poster of Kristy McNichol circa Little Darlings hanging above your bed.

But the rest of the geriatrics in this blogosphere remember that classic XTC song "Senses Working Overtime" which inspired Matt to bring us what I think is one of the most clever conceits of an ongoing series that I've ever worked on -- EXTRA-SENSORY.

To get the inside story in Matt's words, peruse some of the plot! [in the next post called EXTRA SENSORY--The Plot by Matt Wagner]

First up: Marley Zarcone on SEE

I first met Marley by way of a filing cabinet. A former editor was leaving the company and dumped his unwanted items on a flat file outside of his office. There was an orphan comic that immediately grabbed my attention. Marley's work wasn't on the cover. Rather, the lead story of the indie comic "Forgetless" was featured. To be honest, it was really just the title of the comic that intrigued me. Upon further inspection of said comic, I noticed a short story in the back and I was really impressed by what I saw.

Marley's work captured the spirit of some of my favorite illustrators and yet there was a quality in the cleanness of her line, coupled with the attitude of her figures and an acrid color palette that made it wholly original. There was even a reference to an obscure British TV series by way of a poster in a background so I knew what had to happen next:

I needed to email her immediately, convince her to work for me and then trick Matt Wagner into letting her launch the EXTRA-SENSORY storyline. Because this girl was too good to be buried in the back of another comic book! She deserved to lead the pack!

Photo of Marley Zarcone and Matt Wagner

Madame Xanadu #24 is in stores now and I think you'll SEE what I mean.

Other artists to follow IN THIS ORDER OR I'LL BE FIRED (by Matt!) and their first sketches of the lady at large:

HEAR! - art by Laurenn McCubbin (Rent Girl)

SMELL! - art by Chrissie Zullo (cover artist of Cinderella: From Fabletown with Love)

TOUCH! - art by fashion illustrator Celia Calle (cover artist of American Virgin)

TASTE! - art by Marian Churchland (writer and artist of BEAST)

& finally, to bring it all full circle since, artistically speaking, she started it all:

Madame Xanadu's signature sense, ESP, by Amy Reeder (and Rich Friend)

Hope to see you all in San Diego this year! Marley will be at the Vertigo booth so make sure to stop by and get her to sign your copy of MX #24.

And remember to bring an extra stash of oxygen,
Shelly

Tags:

Amy Reeder, Celia Calle, Chrissie Zullo, Laurenn McCubbin, madame xanadu, Marian Churchland, mark buckingham, Marley Zarcone, matt wagner, Rich Friend, shelly bond

From the Editor’s Desk: HUNGRY LIKE A ZOMBIE? Part II

Wed, 05/05/2010 - 9:00am | DCE Editorial

Writer Chris Roberson and artist Michael Allred of i,ZOMBIE fame (on sale today) expose their black, white and gray matter in a q & a with editor, Shelly Bond.

So grab a shovel, crack a skull and dig in!

SUGGESTED SOUNDTRACK FOR i,Zombie #1?

M: The first ROXY MUSIC album. It's what I drew it to.

C: I actually have different soundtracks in my head for the different characters. At the moment, Spot is in the forefront of my head, and *his* soundtrack is .357 Lover's DIORAMA OF THE GOLDEN LION.

WHAT MAKES i,Zombie UNIQUE IN A GENRE THAT'S LITERALLY BEEN DONE TO DEATH?

M: The chemistry.

C: The characters.

WHICH CHARACTER FROM i,Zombie IS MOST LIKE YOU AND WHY?

M: Horatio. I dig Zombie chicks, too.

C: I'm in love with Gwen, of course, but I think Spot is a little closer to my heart. And wait until you meet Spot's grandfather!

WHO WINS IN A FIGHT -- FRANKENSTEIN OR SPOT, THE WERETERRIER?

C: In a fist fight? Frankenstein. In a head-to-head Halo 2 match? Spot, most definitely.

M: Unless Spot manages to run away--Frankenstein.

FAVORITE LINE OF SCRIPT OR FAVORITE PANEL OF iZOMBIE TO DATE?

M: The last one.

C: My favorite panel changes every time I see a new page of Mike and Laura's art. They continue to dazzle and amaze me.

WHY AN ECO-FRIENDLY GRAVEYARD?

M: Why not?

C: Because embalming fluids taste icky to Gwen.

DO YOU BELIEVE IN GHOSTS? WHY OR WHY NOT?

M: Yes. I've seen them.

C: I believe in Space Ghost. And Casper the Friendly Ghost. After that, it becomes a little hazier.

WHICH TWO ACTORS WOULD MATE TO PRODUCE THE ULTIMATE ZOMBIE?

C: With the amount of plastic surgery that so many actor and actresses get, could we even *tell* if one of them was a zombie?

M: James Dean and Marilyn Monroe

FOOD CONCOCTION THAT TASTED AS CLOSE TO A BRAIN AS YOU CAN IMAGINE?

C: I have the palette of an eight year-old, so honestly anything that involves more than two or three ingredients is on that list for me.

M: Do real brains count?

WHAT'S YOUR FAVORITE SIDE OF THE BRAIN AND WHY?

C: Um, the inside?

M: The inside out

WHAT WILL BE YOUR EPITAPH?

C: "CONTENTS MAY HAVE SHIFTED"

M: "Temporarily available"

Tags:

chris roberson, izombie, mike allred, shelly bond

From the Editor's Desk: Hungry like a zombie? Part I

Wed, 04/28/2010 - 9:47am | DCE Editorial

Writer Chris Roberson and artist Michael Allred of i,ZOMBIE fame (on sale next Wednesday!) expose their black, white and gray matter in a q & a with editor, Shelly Bond.

So grab a shovel, crack a skull and dig in!

FIRST COMIC:

Read -

M: The MAD MOD issue of Teen Titans.

C: I honestly don't remember the first comic I read. It seems like they were *always* around. But I was hooked by the time I was eight, when I bought a mass-market paperback collection of Superman stories at a school book fair.

Bought -

M: I remember paying actual money for NEW GODS #8.

C: Probably the first comics I bought for myself were the DC Blue Ribbon Digests that were ubiquitous at supermarket checkout lines in the late 70s. I used to carry the Batman one that came out in 1979 with me *everywhere* (and got in trouble more than a few times for sneaking it into church).

Bagged –

C: I went through a bag-and-board phase that didn't wear off until I was in my 20s. I think the first issue that I went out of my way to "preserve" was Uncanny X-Men 151.

M: Never. The few I bagged never got read again so I never locked in to the whole Bag and board thing. They still lay around everywhere
vulnerable to thrashing.

Cherished -

C: If my house were to catch fire, the first things I'd grab would probably be my boxes of Alan Moore's comics. Probably unnecessary, since I've read and reread them so many times that I've committed them to memory, but I'm sentimental like that.

M: The childhood faves are a blur of mad love, I'd have to say Love and Rockets became my first mature romance with a comic

FIRST TIME YOU:

Stole something from a sibling –

M: My big brother’s Legion comics. True.

C: My kid brother's copy of Michael Fleisher's ENCYCLOPEDIA OF SUPERMAN. It was justified, though. He got it as a gift from a family friend, and would never have appreciated it like I did.

FAVORITE:

Album of all time that is the soundtrack for your life -

M: My favorite album of all time changes every day. But today it would be David Bowie's Diamond Dogs

C: I'm lucky if my "favorite" lasts a whole day, but at the moment it's probably David Bowie's HUNKY DORY.

Book -

M: Catcher in The Rye

C: At this very moment? Not a single book, but a *series* of books, Kage Baker's "Company" novels.

Movie –

C: Infinitely variable, but I'll go with Brad Bird's INCREDIBLES.

M: A HARD DAY'S NIGHT

TV show –

M: BATMAN, THE MONKEES, or LOST

C: LOST, without a doubt. Best. Show. Ever.

Comic book -

M: I, ZOMBIE

C: I'm with Mike on this one. (Though Paul Grist's WEIRD WORLD OF JACK STAFF is a close second.)

Tags:

chris roberson, i, mike allred, shelly bond, zombie

From the Editor’s Desk: Shelly Bond talks OTHER LIVES

Wed, 04/14/2010 - 8:00am | DCE Editorial

HARD & LABORED

Pamela asked me to write a brief blog about Peter Bagge's original graphic novel OTHER LIVES which hits the shelves next Wednesday. She gave me some great angles and said "Write something light and a bit funny! This one will be no problem."

"Light?" "A bit FUNNY?" "NO PROBLEM?"

Easy for her to say.

I've been tooling around with approaches all week and I've come up empty.

I suppose it's because there are always mitigating circumstances when it comes to stories about dual and/or secret identities -- fictional or otherwise. There are mitigating circumstances about conspiracy theories, too, not to mention gaming addicts, men who live with their mothers or in cars, people who hide behind online avatars and live a life of no accountability...yeah, even writing blogs that contain an inkling of a clever cadence are known to sport a mitigating circumstance...or ten.

In 250 words? Forget it.

So I'll just put it on the proverbial table: OTHER LIVES is Peter Bagge's first original graphic novel. And, frankly, it's his best -- not just because it's his first. All the exaggerated situations, characters and comedy that you've come to expect from the guy who brought Buddy Bradley to life via HATE are in here -- in spades. And there are some new surprises inside this heartless and hilarious hardcover -- like a big gun. So just hand over the money, breath in, let it wash over you, wince and repeat.

(Would I completely ruin my image if I told you I typed this while wearing navy nail polish and a wax moustache?)

Shelly Bond, futurist mod & co-editor of OTHER LIVES

For your viewing pleasure, check out the attached images of the ensemble cast of OTHER LIVES that our fabulous cover editor Louis Prandi put together to form the cover. Talk about nailing a book design and spot varnish!!

[gallery link="file"]

Tags:

other lives, peter bagge, shelly bond

From The Editor’s Desk: Shelly Bond talks HELLBLAZER with Peter Milligan

Wed, 01/20/2010 - 8:00am | DCE Editorial

LOOKS 10, DANCE 3

For those of you who think I require little more than a 263,000 watt
spotlight and a brief excursion to the Courreges Universe, you're clearly mistaken. I've decided to
share the stage with my old accomplice Peter Milligan, one of the original
Vertigo provocateurs of pop fiction. He’s currently the writer of the
monthly GREEK STREET (think fresh blood/ancient myths), the upcoming crime
graphic novel THE BRONX KILL and the regular scribe on our longest running
title, JOHN CONSTANTINE, HELLBLAZER. The latter of which hits the stands
today and marks issue #263.

Bond: Like John Constantine, you've spent most of your life in London. Is
this the only thing you have in common with our proverbial low-rent, occult
street mage?

Milligan: Well, I don’t smoke like Constantine, but I used to. And now
that I think about it I did dabble in the supernatural when I was a kid.
Maybe it was being cooped up in a pokey council flat with three bedrooms,
four siblings, my parents and a ghost that made me fantasize about being
able to escape my mortal body. In any event I researched, practiced and got
heavily into astral projection (really). I almost died one scary night while
“projecting.” If I’d been a bit braver or more successful maybe I would
have continued exploring even darker arts. But I still wouldn’t smoke as
much as Constantine. Come on, I have to look after my singing voice.

Bond: So if you're that inspired by Old Blighty, why send Constantine to
India? Does he have a death-wish that involves being a part of Bollywood a
line dance?

Milligan: Bollywood and all things movie-land are a long way from
Constantine’s mind. I don’t think he really gives a toss about popular
culture. If anything, he prefers unpopular culture. Preferably without the
culture.

He’s going to India to save the life of a woman who’s already dead. Like a
lot of people before him, Constantine is going to the east to find purity.
He might not find purity--but he will find plenty to keep his
uncultured mind busy.

Bond: But what they really want to know: Who would win in a pub fight
--John Constantine or cover artist Simon Bisley?

Milligan: If Simon was drawing the comic of this bust-up, I’m sure he’d
flatten Constantine on page one. Thankfully in spite of any image he might
have of being tougher than Lobo and just as sensible, Simon is in fact a
sensitive flower, and probably a bit of a cry-baby.

None of this unashamedly girly side is in evidence when he gets stuck into
drawing NO FUTURE, the two part post-punk viciously political punch-up
that’s appearing in HELLBLAZER directly after INDIA.

Bond: For the Record: HELLBLAZER #263, India, part 3 is on sale today.
Check out the attached artwork from the secret files of the cracking art
team of Giuseppe Camuncoli and Stefano Landini and see how the layouts and
finishes come to life -- or in this case, death!

And note the cover to issue #264 by the handsome, irascible Simon (you'll never catch me
commenting on his girlie side) "The Biz" Bisley...apparently SOMEONE thought
that seeing John Constantine in a kick line would be one for the books!

Tags:

guissepe camuncoli, hellblazer, john constantine, peter milligan, shelly bond, simon bisley, stefano landini

From the Editor's Desk: Shelly Bond

Wed, 06/24/2009 - 12:00pm | DCE Editorial

It’s 9:36 am in New York City. Do you know where your freelancers are?

First up: coffee, check my email, see if anyone delivered the work they owe me. My day is divided up by time zones: Morning means Europe as they’re anywhere from 5-6 hours ahead, early afternoon means East Coast, late in the day, Left Coast. So as I prepare to call FABLES penciller extraordinaire Mark Buckingham, who lives in Spain, I realize that he’s probably finished with the pages he has on hand and he’s desperate (i.e. taking a siesta) for the balance of script for FABLES #87. And that can only mean one thing: Willingham’s name, once again, is mud.

I’ve been editing Bill Willingham's life intermittently since 1988. At that time, I was working for Comico, The Comic Company, a now defunct independent publisher that was located in Pennsylvania. Bill was writing THE ELEMENTALS -- apparently -- if I could find him. When I took over the editorial reigns on the comic book, he was somewhere in the mid-West in a mobile van avoiding me at all costs. When I finally tracked him down (sometimes through my keen deductive reasoning skills, often through the use of a private detective) he would deliver the most amazing scripts and it would all be worth it. The blood. The sweat. The many trips to Goomba¹s pizza (double dough, double cheese). The tears (of weight gain, of joy).

Speaking of Bill and his projects, for those of you who have been hiding under a rock for the past few months, PETER & MAX: A FABLES NOVEL is Bill’s first FABLES prose novel and it’s coming out this October. It’s a dark fantasy epic about sibling rivalry that infuses magic, music, revenge and murder. Spanning medieval times to the present day, the story of Peter Piper and Max "The Pied Piper" of Hamelin will leave you haunted as you watch two brothers come undone in the deepest dark that is the Black Forest. And prepare to be blown away by the many lush spot illustrations by FABLES inker Steve Leialoha who will not disappoint if you’re expecting an abundance of rats the size of cats.

And next time we meet, remind me to tell you about the time Willingham took the life-sized mannequin of Clark Kent from DC¹s 7th floor glass conference room and placed it behind my desk while I was next door in a meeting with my boss... And stay tuned for more strange and sordid stories about your favorite comic book writers and artists as I spill their deep, dark secrets with each and every blog entry.

Unless Bill strangles me first,
Shelly

Music to watch Deadlines go by:

1). All my Friends - LCD Sound System
2). The Big Boss Groove - The Style Council
3). Friday Night - Lily Allen

Now, check out some edited and final pages from FABLES #85 and PETER & MAX.
[gallery link="file" columns="2"]

Tags:

bill willingham, fables, mark buckingham, peter & max, shelly bond, steve leialoha