I received a copy of “The Proofreader’s Guide to Comic Book Style: An Editorial Handbook for Print and Digital Comics” by Madeleine Vasaly. I haven’t had the opportunity to read it this past month due to the work on my plate, but now that it is the holidays, I could sit and finally digest this book thoroughly.
Since this is an industry where some go through formal training while others (like myself) devour whatever reading material and video tutorials that are available to learn as we go, it’s sometimes hard to communicate ideas when we lack a collective understanding of the unique language, style and format used for sequential art. There have been fantastic reference books in recent years that help cement our collective understanding, making it much easier to collaborate with comic book creators no matter how many, or how few, years of experience they have under their belt. “Filth & Grammar” by Shelly Bond is an excellent handbook for comic book editors which covers the scope of what the job of an Editor entails. As a professional letterer, “The Essential Guide to Comic Book Lettering” by Nate Piekos is the most important book on my shelf and I only wish it existed when I was starting out. However, both books touch on but do not fully dive into the role of the Proofreader and Copyeditor. I feel that “The Proofreader’s Guide to Comic Book Style” fills that gap.
Proofreading is such an important step on the path to publication. It is a job that requires someone to learn the language, designs, and styles that are used specifically for comics. A comic book proofreader cannot simply dive in with a copy of “The Chicago Manual of Style” and hope for the best. Each publisher has a style guide and those (or independent creators) who do not can utilize this book to formulate their own style guide. Proofreaders rely on those editorial style guides for the text as well as an understanding of the visual language of sequential art. This means studying how writers communicate through their scripts and how letterers translate that onto the page. This handbook covers all those areas, pointing out common errors that may be missed – many of which I have made as a letterer but were thankfully caught by excellent proofreaders.
I highly recommend this handbook, but not just to aspiring proofreaders. I hope this book will sit on the reference shelf of every professional in the comic book industry. It would certainly make my job easier.
See also Vasaly’s incredible Resources for Comics Editors and Proofreaders.