In this special episode and season finale, I interviewed Madeleine Vasaly, the author of the newly released book, “The Proofreader’s Guide to Comic Book Style.” This book offers an in-depth catalog of style traditions in comics and explains how they’re different from the standards in other types of media. In this interview, we discuss grammar, style, and the heroic art of editing dialogue balloons.

Madeleine Vasaly is a developmental editor, copyeditor, proofreader, and consultant with over a decade of experience in publishing. Her comics background includes a temporary stint at DC Comics as a full-time proofreader in addition to freelance work for DC, IDW/Top Shelf, Yen Press, Tapas, and other publishers. She has proofread and copyedited series, one-shots, anthologies, graphic novels, and collected editions across all age ratings, and created company-wide style guides for publishers.

Outside her work in comics, Madeleine has edited and proofread hundreds of prose books and countless articles for online newsrooms. She has served on the board of the Professional Editors Network since 2018.

• Book website: https://comicbookstyle.com

• Madeleine’s website: https://madeleinevasaly.com

• "Resources for Comics Editors and Proofreaders" blog post: https://www.madeleinevasaly.com/blog/2024/9/25/resources-for-comics-editors-and-proofreaders

And social media:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/madeleinevasaly

• Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/madeleinevasaly.com