Philip J. Bond is a Britishcomic book artist, who first came to prominence in the late 1980s on Deadline magazine, and later through a number of collaborations with British writers for the DC Comics imprint Vertigo.
Biography
Early life, career and ''Deadline''
Bond was born in Lancashire, England in 1966, and is the son of a preacher. His earliest comics work came out of his being "active in the British alternative comics scene from 1987," and he writes on his website that, in 1988: Atomtan, Bond's first work, was a self-publishedfanzine created with Tank Girl creators Alan Martin and Jamie Hewlett, along with Luke Whitney and Jane Oliver. Bond's talent for comical, exaggerated anatomy and poses quickly led to professional work, mostly for now-defunct title Deadline, on strips such as Wired World. This in turn led to Bond's inclusion in Atomeka Press star-studded anthology A1, with Bond contributing to issues No. 2 and No. 3.
In 1990, he illustrated the Garth Ennis-scripted comedy series Time Flies for the leading British science-fiction comic, 2000 AD. In 1995, Bond was involved in the hype surrounding the release of the Tank Girl movie, illustrating a number of new Tank Girl strips for various publications. With Tank Girl and American reprints of Deadline raising his US popularity, and the DC Comics imprint Vertigo actively recruiting UK talent, Bond's skills were soon at work on American comics. Bond inked a Pre-Vertigo issue of Doom Patrol before co-penciling two issues of Shade, the Changing Man and then penciling and inking an issue himself. In 1995, Vertigo released a number of one shot issues under the collective title "Vertigo Voices," written by Vertigo's "most outspoken writers." Bond illustrated Grant Morrison's offering: Kill Your Boyfriend. Between November 1995 and January 1996, Bond inked Alan Grant's take on Tank Girl in Vertigo's Tank Girl: Apocalypse and worked on several issues of Morrison's The Invisibles in 1999/2000. In 2000 he illustrated Jamie Delano's Hellblazer miniseries , and provided covers to the Ed Brubaker and Warren Pleece series Deadenders. He produced a handful of other miniseries and issues of various titles during the early 00s, including one of Morrison's most recent miniseries Vimanarama. Bond says he was originally going to work on We3, but Morrison – with whom Bond has "an understanding because we both like what one another does" – "had this other idea that he thought I would be great for," leading to Bond illustrating Vimanarama, and Frank Quitely drawing We3.
Other work
Over his career Bond has also illustrated comic strips for bands including the Smashing Pumpkins and Sum 41, as well as T-shirts for bands such as Cud. Most recently, Bond has focused his output on providing covers, rather than internal artwork. He has produced all covers for Simon Oliver and Tony Moore's The Exterminators, as well as a cover for Harvey Pekar's most recent American Splendor miniseries. Bond has also worked at another DC Comics imprint, Wildstorm on Red Herring with David Tischman.
Personal life
Around 1999/2000, Bond "got attached and then married to Shelly Roeberg, who is now Shelly Bond." Roeberg, a key editor of DC Comics' Vertigo imprint titles, "had been coming over to the UK because she was the British liaison for Vertigo" after Karen Berger. Attending UK conventions, "when she came over in 1999 really hit it off." Bond soon moved from the UK to New York City, and in 2004 the two had a son, Spencer. He lives with his wife and son in New Jersey.
