January 1977: A date that will live in infamy, THE COMICS JOURNAL is born (in name and demeanor)...
ADVERTISEMENT: WOWEE KAZOWIE! #2 Edited by Eclipse publisher (in two years) Dean Mullaney. Contributors include future Fantagraphics publisher Kim Thompson and farther future TCJ writer Bob (Robert) Rodi. (page 9)
DOC'S BOOKSHELF: Dwight Decker (who was later Managing Editor of TCJ) begins his column. Decker was an early advocate of comics from around the world.
"[...]There's more to comics than the monthly Marvel fistfight. As Richard Kyle and Fred Patten once expressed it in their late, lamented fanzine WONDERWORLD, there's a world of comics out there. Italy, France, Belgium, Holland, and many other countries, from Asia to South America, support thriving comics communities. There are even comic books being published in East Germany and points farther east. I wouldn't be surprised if the penguins at the South Pole have comics too. As it happens, not a few of those foreign comics are far better than anything published out of New York. The printing is better. The formats are often those of books, designed to be kept and not thrown away. The art is better: artists sometimes spend up to a week on one page. The color is better: it's often painted on and reproduced directly, as opposed to the clumsy, mechanical, and limited methods employed here. And the stories! They actually tell stories! So what if you can't read them!" (pages 11-12)
BLACK LIGHTNING STRIKES OUT: Gary Groth eviscerated BLACK LIGHTNING #1 in every way possible, starting a long tradition of holding mainstream comics to a higher standard (any standard). Trevor Von Eeden is singled out for praise, for his storytelling acumen. (page 12)
NewCon 76 Program Book on YouTube
BARKS IN BOSTON: Gary Groth reports on the Carl Barks panel at Boston, MA NewCon '76, including quotes from Barks and Bruce Hamilton. (page 25)
THE FANZINE LISTINGS: Jabberwocky #1 by Brad Foster. Perhaps the greatest erotic robot artist ever, not necessarily in that order! Love this art style so much. (page 31)
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