The Comics Journal

From Free net encyclopedia

The Comics Journal, often abreviated 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 products. The magazine promotes the view that comics are a fine art deserving of broader cultural respect and higher critical standards.

1 History
2 Top 100 list
3 See also
4 References
5 External links

[edit]

History

The Comics Journal started life as The Nostalgia Journal, a small adzine competing for space in the market against Comics Buyer's Guide. In 1976, Gary Groth and Mike Catron acquired the magazine, reportedly with no money changing hands. Their first issue was number 27, published in July 1976 under the title The New Nostalgia Journal. Fantagraphics Books was founded in 1976 by Gary Groth and Mike Catron expressly to publish the Journal; only later did Fantagraphics become a comics publisher in its own right. In January of 1977, the name was changed again to The Comics Journal, with Groth declaring it in his editorial "...a quality publication for the serious comics fan". To that end the Journal took to reviewing the prevailing superhero titles of the day drawing the ire of nearly all of the mainstream industry as a result of the Journal's frequent dismissal of artists as "hacks".

The Journal, often abbreviated TCJ, has been seen as operating outside industry norms due to its elitist, art-oriented editorial slant and its insistence upon investigating industry news in the manner of a traditional journalistic enterprise – a practice that runs in sharp contrast to the fannish and overtly promotional approach of such publications as Comics Buyer's Guide and Wizard. The Journal has also been criticized for conflicts of interest in its investigations in that it hasn't always disclosed when Fantagraphics' own interests may have been involved in a story.

The Journal has taken home multiple awards in an industry where serious criticism and journalism is rare. It may be attributable to the magazine's influence that in recent years several serious avenues of news and criticism both in print and online have arisen to join the Journal. On the print front Comic Art magazine, and the sporadic Comics Interpreter have made an impression. On the internet, 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) have added considerably to the dialogue.

Over the years TCJ has prevailed in a handful of lawsuits, one of which involved author and critic Harlan Ellison. Though co-defendants at the time in a suit brought by comic book scripter Michael Fleisher, Groth and Ellison emerged from the suit bitterly estranged.

Noteworthy contributors and staff of The Comics Journal have included Gary Groth, Kim Thompson, Greg Stump, Eric Reynolds, R. Fiore, R.C. Harvey, Kenneth Smith, Robert Boyd, Tom Heintjes, Michael Dean, and Tom Spurgeon.

[edit]

Top 100 list

In 2000, for its 210th issue, eight of the Journal's contributors chose a list of what they considered to be the Top 100 Comics of the 20th Century. The list was much-criticized on a number of fronts, from the small number of jurors, to its decision to exclude non-English-speaking work, to a certain self-promoting bias (its own Los Bros Hernandez filled 5 of the top 31 slots), to what others cited as egregious omissions (notably Cerebus). Despite its real or perceived flaws, however, the list stands as a statement of the Journal's critical attitudes and preferences.