THE COMICS JOURNAL

'''The Comics Journal''', often abbreviated '''TCJ''', is a US magazine of news and criticism pertaining to comic books and strips. It is known for lengthy interviews with comic creators and for sometimes scathing editorials and reviews, particularly with regard to the "mainstream" comics industry and its superhero-heavy products. The magazine promotes the view that comics are a fine art deserving of broader cultural respect, and thus should be evaluated with higher critical standards.

Contents

History

Recent editors

Top 100 Comics list

See also

Notes

References

External link

History

In 1976 Gary Groth and Mike Catron acquired ''The Nostalgia Journal,'' a small competitor of the newspaper adzine "The Buyer's Guide for Comics Fandom" (TBG)—now known as the "Comics Buyer's Guide" (CBG)—reportedly with no money changing hands. At that time, Groth and Catron formalized Groth's umbrella publishing company as Fantagraphics Books, Inc.
Relaunched as ''The New Nostalgia Journal'' with issue 27 (July 1976), the zine demonstrated a pugnacious oversight of comic books as art and industry from the start. With issue 32 (January 1977), the zine became "The Comics Journal" ("...a quality publication for the serious comics fan"). Issue 37 (Dec 77) adopted the magazine format it retains today.
The ''Journal'' has always published criticism, and received it in turn. The early ''Journal'' included critical reviews of 1970s superhero titles, a rarity at the time. The magazine further irritated some fans and pros by dismissing some familiar journeyman artists and writers as "hacks." Some interpreted the abundance of criticism as an editorial bias against comics in general. After Fantagraphics started publishing comics, the ''Journal'''s bias was sometimes accused of an intrinsic bias against everything they didn't publish. These allegations of favoritism have mellowed into relatively modest accusations of snobbery.
The ''Journal's practice of investigating industry news objectively, although the norm for traditional journalistic enterprises, was in sharp contrast to the affectionate and promotional methods of publications like ''Comics Buyer's Guide'' and ''Wizard''.
The ''Journal's news staff have been accused of failing to appreciate or disclose editorial and personal conflicts of interest that inevitably occur when covering Fantagraphics. For some errors, the ''Journal'' has issued corrections and apologies. In general, the magazine sought to balance its unabashed criticism of commercial comics with incisive investigative reporting on industry practices. This crucial news function was largely abandoned in 2006, in favor of a daily blog which covers the same issues with greater topicality.
The ''Journal's long-running letters page and open forum ''Blood and Thunder'' features caustic editorial humor and has been an arena for lengthy and heated controversies.
The ''Journal's book-length interviews, conducted by Gary Groth and others, are among the most informative and confessional in any field. Memorable interviews include Gil Kane in #38, Robert Crumb in #113, Charles Schultz in #200, Denny O'Neil in #64, Harlan Ellison in #53, and Steve Gerber in #41.
Over the years The Journal has prevailed in a handful of lawsuits. Artist Rich Buckler attempted legal action for a review that called him a plagiarist while printing his panels next to earlier and quite similar Jack Kirby art. A Groth interview with science fiction writer Harlan Ellison sparked a lawsuit by writer Michael Fleisher, over an informal discussion of Fleisher's work and temperament. Co-defendants Groth and Ellison won the case, but emerged from the suit estranged.
'The Comics Journal Library: The Writers' (2006) reprinted the Ellison interview with the cover blurb "Harlan Ellison: Famous Comics Dilettante", for which in part, Ellison shortly thereafter filed suit against the Journal, Groth and Thompson.^[1] That suit was resolved in 2007 through mediation, with no money or apologies changing hands.
The ''Journal'' has on occasion published, as cover features, lengthy court transcripts of comics-related civil suits. Notable instances include the Fleischer suit, and Marv Wolfman's failed suit against Marvel Comics.
The ''Journal's advertising policy is unusual for its editorial freedom. It accepts and solicits paid advertisements, and apparently does not often edit or censor ads that blatantly contradict the magazine's sensibilities. The editors also don't censor or apologize for critics who vilify advertised products, even if as a result the ''Journal'' loses an upset advertiser's business.
The ''Journal'' has won many awards; its successes helped inspire publications such as ''Comic Art Magazine'' and ''The Comics Interpreter'', as well as web sites like Newsarama, Comic Book Resources, Sequart.com, ICv2.com, Egon, Comic Book Galaxy, The Beat, and The Comics Reporter, run by former TCJ managing editor Tom Spurgeon. The immediacy of online topical industry coverage led the print version of the ''Journal'' to truncate its news section in late 2006 in favor of a daily news weblog edited by Dirk Deppey, ''Journalista!''.
The ''Journal's staff members and regular contributors have included Gary Groth, Kim Thompson, Greg Stump, Eric Reynolds, R. Fiore, R.C. Harvey, Kenneth Smith, Don Phelps, Robert Boyd, Tom Heintjes, Michael Dean, Tom Spurgeon, Robert Rodi, Gene Phillips, Marilyn Bethke, Cat Yronwode, Heidi MacDonald, Lee Wochner, Arn Saba, Ted White, Bob Levin, Carter Scholz, and Noah Berlatsky. Guest contributors have included Dave Sim and Trina Robbins.

Recent editors

Tom Spurgeon 1994 - 1999

Eric Evans 1999 - 2001

Darren Hick 1999 - 2001

Anne Elizabeth Moore 2001 - 2002

Milo George 2002 - 2004

Dirk Deppey 2004 - 2006

Michael Dean 2006 - present

Top 100 Comics list

The ''Journal'' published a 20th century comics canon in its 210th issue (February 1999). To compile the list, eight contributors and editors each selected his top 100 works. The eight lists were then informally combined, and tweaked into an ordered list. Widely circulated, the list became the Journal's best known and most controversial cover feature.
The Top 100 list was criticized for the small number of jurors, as well as the exclusion of comics in languages other than English. Large bodies of inconsistent work were counted as single entries for some artists and one publisher (i.e. Foster, Gould, Gray, Hirschfeld, 1950s EC), while selected individual works of other artists were considered as separate, multiple entries (i.e. Crumb, Kurtzman). Some perceived a self-promoting bias; installments of Los Bros Hernandez' "Love and Rockets" comic, published by Fantagraphics, were counted as separate works and claimed 5 of the top 31 slots.
Fantagraphics' response was that, as a publisher dedicated to identifying and promoting the best comics of the past and present, it was no great surprise that many of their choices were also works that they had published or reprinted; they have since published further entries from the list.
The ''Village Voice'' cited the survey's unmanageable criteria:
:Putting Bernard Krigstein and Al Feldstein's eight-page story "Master Race," Hal Foster's 34 years of work on ''Prince Valiant'', Al Hirschfeld's theatrical caricatures, all the horror comics EC published in the first half of the '50s and Robert Crumb's sketchbooks in the same category suggests that they've cast their net a bit wide.
Several inclusions and omissions were controversial. Some readers argued for the convoluted contraptions of Rube Goldberg, Frank Miller's stylish ''The Dark Knight Returns,'' Superman's first appearance in Action Comics #1, and the influential post-1956 ''Mad Magazine'' (following original editor Harvey Kurtzman's ouster), among others.
Superhero comics, which have dominated the American marketplace for half a century, were represented by six entries, with the foremost selection being ranked either 30th (or 15th, if one counts Will Eisner's ''The Spirit'').
Dave Sim's long-running ''Cerebus'' was the list's most frequently cited absentee. Sim and the ''Journal'' have periodically been at odds. Fantagraphics co-publisher Kim Thompson has admitted at least one story arc from the comic should have been included, if only to have avoided the brouhaha over its absence.
Whatever its flaws, the list remains an enthusiastic statement of the ''Journal'''s critical attitudes and preferences.
# ''Krazy Kat'' by George Herriman
# ''Peanuts'' by Charles Schulz
# ''Pogo'' by Walt Kelly
# ''Maus'' by Art Spiegelman
# ''Little Nemo in Slumberland'' by Winsor McCay
# ''Feiffer'' by Jules Feiffer
# ''Donald Duck'' by Carl Barks
# ''Mad Comics'' by Harvey Kurtzman & various
# ''Binky Brown Meets the Holy Virgin Mary'' by Justin Green
# The ''Weirdo'' stories of Robert Crumb
# ''Thimble Theatre'' by E.C. Segar
# EC's "New Trend" war comics by Harvey Kurtzman & various
# ''Wigwam Bam'' (L&R) by Jaime Hernandez
# ''Blood of Palomar'' (L&R) by Gilbert Hernandez
# ''The Spirit'' by Will Eisner
# ''RAW Magazine'', edited by Art Spiegelman & Francoise Mouly
# The ''Acme Novelty Library'' by Chris Ware
# ''Polly & Her Pals'' by Cliff Sterret
# The ''Sketchbooks'' of Robert Crumb
# ''Uncle Scrooge'' by Carl Barks
# The ''New Yorker'' cartoons of Peter Arno
# ''The Death of Speedy Ortíz'' (L&R) by Jaime Hernandez
# ''Terry and the Pirates'' by Milton Caniff
# ''Flies on the Ceiling'' (L&R) by Jaime Hernandez
# ''Wash Tubbs'' by Roy Crane
# ''The Jungle Book'' by Harvey Kurtzman
# ''Palestine'' by Joe Sacco
# The ''Mishkin'' saga by Kim Deitch
# ''Gasoline Alley'' by Frank King
# The ''Fantastic Four'' by Jack Kirby & Stan Lee
# ''Poison River'' (L&R) by Gilbert Hernandez
# ''Plastic Man'' by Jack Cole
# ''Dick Tracy'' by Chester Gould
# The theatrical caricatures of Al Hirschfeld
# ''The Amazing Spider-Man'' by Steve Ditko & Stan Lee
# ''Calvin and Hobbes'' by Bill Watterson
# ''Doonesbury'' by Garry Trudeau
# The autobiographical comics from ''Yummy Fur'' by Chester Brown
# The editorial cartoons of Pat Oliphant
# ''The Kin-der-Kids'' by Lyonel Feininger
# ''From Hell'' by Alan Moore & Eddie Campbell
# ''Ghost World'' by Daniel Clowes
# ''Amphigorey'' by Edward Gorey
# The ''Idiots Abroad'' (Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers) by Gilbert Shelton & Paul Mavrides
# ''Paul Auster's City of Glass'' by Paul Karasik & David Mazzucchelli
# ''Cages'' by Dave McKean
# The ''Buddy Bradley'' saga by Peter Bagge
# The cartoons of James Thurber
# ''Understanding Comics'' by Scott McCloud
# ''Tantrum'' by Jules Feiffer
# The ''Alec'' stories of Eddie Campbell
# ''It's a Good Life, If You Don't Weaken'' by Seth
# The editorial cartoons of Herblock
# EC's "New Trend" horror comics by Al Feldstein & various
# The ''Frank'' stories by Jim Woodring
# ''Julius Knipl, Real Estate Photographer'' by Ben Katchor
# ''A Contract with God'' by Will Eisner
# The ''New Yorker'' cartoons of Charles Addams
# ''Little Lulu'' by John Stanley
# ''Alley Oop by V. T. Hamlin
# ''American Splendor'' #1-10 by Harvey Pekar & various
# ''Little Orphan Annie'' by Harold Gray
# ''Hey Look!'' by Harvey Kurtzman
# ''Goodman Beaver'' by Harvey Kurtzman & Bill Elder
# ''Bringing Up Father'' by George McManus
# ''Zippy the Pinhead'' by Bill Griffith
# ''The Passport'' by Saul Steinberg
# ''Barnaby'' by Crockett Johnson
# ''God's Man'' by Lynd Ward
# ''Jimbo'' by Gary Panter
# ''The Book of Jim'' by Jim Woodring
# The short stories in ''Rubber Blanket'' by David Mazzucchelli
# ''The Cartoon History of the Universe'' by Larry Gonick
# ''Ernie Pook's Comeek'' by Lynda Barry
# ''Black Hole'' by Charles Burns
# The "Master Race" story by Bernard Krigstein & Al Feldstein
# ''Li'l Abner'' by Al Capp
# ''Sugar and Spike'' by Sheldon Mayer
# ''Captain Marvel by C. C. Beck
# ''Zap Comix'' by Robert Crumb & various
# The ''Lily'' stories (''Daddy's Girl'') by Debbie Drechsler
# ''Caricature'' by Daniel Clowes
# ''V for Vendetta'' by Alan Moore & David Lloyd
# ''Why I Hate Saturn'' by Kyle Baker
# The ''Willie and Joe'' cartoons of Bill Mauldin
# ''Stuck Rubber Baby'' by Howard Cruse
# The ''New Yorker'' cartoons of George Price
# ''Jack Kirby's Fourth World'' by Jack Kirby
# The autobiographical comics of Spain Rodriguez
# ''Mr. Punch'' by Neil Gaiman & Dave McKean
# ''Watchmen'' by Alan Moore & Dave Gibbons
# The "Pictopia" story by Alan Moore & Don Simpson
# ''Dennis the Menace'' by Hank Ketcham
# The humor comics of Basil Wolverton
# ''Los Tejanos'' by Jack Jackson (alias Jaxon)
# The ''Dirty Plotte'' series by Julie Doucet
# "The Hannah Story" by Carol Tyler
# ''Barney Google'' by Billy De Beck
# The ''Bungle Family'' by Harry Tuthill
# ''Prince Valiant'' by Hal Foster

See also

★ List of ''Comics Journal'' interview subjects - provides the number of the issue(s) they appear in.

Notes

1. [1] Deppey, Dirk (2006). "EXTRA: Harlan Ellison sues Fantagraphics." Journalista! blog post. Accessed 2006-11-12.

References

★ Dean, Mike; Moore, Elizabeth Anne. "Timeline". ''The Comics Journal'' 235, page 82.

External link

★ TCJ.com - Official ''The Comics Journal'' website