THE COMICS JOURNAL #42 (October 1978)
Executive Editor/Art Director: Gary Groth
Editor/Circulation Director: Kim Thompson
Distributors: Bud Plant, Well News Service, Seagate Distributors
"The 32 page comic will be extinct in 5 years, and there will be fewer titles around, in all probability only the titles such as SUPERMAN, BATMAN, WONDER WOMAN, SPIDER-MAN, FANTASTIC FOUR, THE HULK, and maybe CONAN. There will be more dollar books and trade sized paperback books similar to TIN-TIN."
-Future First Comics publisher Mike Gold predicting the future of comics!
1. THE COMICS GUILD: A Professional Guild to Protect the Rights of Visual Creators: A Report by Gary Groth
Part One: THE NEW COPYRIGHT LAW
Part Two: WHAT DO THE PROS THINK?
Part Three: BIRTH OF THE GUILD: MAY 7, 1978
At thirteen pages this is the most ambitious investigative article since the Alan Light expose in the very first issue (TNJ #27). The Comics Guild was an idea by Neal Adams in response to the infamous "work made for hire" language from the January 1, 1978 copyright revision that was exploited by Marvel and DC back then. Gary Groth breaks the story up into three sections. Part One is a historical look at past attempts at organizing comics professionals and the origins of this Comics Guild; Part Two is a survey of 35 comics creators that gives an oral history of the Guild that wasn't; and, Part Three is a transcription of the initial May 7, 1978 meeting of 44 interested parties at Neal Adams' Continuity Studio. Nothing ever came of this attempt, but it's fascinating reading the conflicts and apathy that caused it to be stillborn.
2. Dave Sim's COMICgraphics advertisement
Dave Sim drumming up business a few months before CEREBUS #1 went on sale in December 1978 (date according to GCD).
3. COMICS REVIEWS: CLAIRE BRETECHER: Triumphant Despite Traitorous Translation by Kim Thompson
"Translation is a difficult craft (or art). If the translator is less than fluent in the language of origin but fully conversant with the target language, the result is frequently a grammatically, idiomatically, and dialectically 'correct' translation, but unfaithful to the original and in some cases downright nonsensical. On the other hand, if it is the target language that is the weaker of the two, awkward and ruptured translations abound.[...]"
Kim Thompson compares and contrasts the original French-language version of Claire Bretecher's comics and Valerie Marchant's English-language translations for THE NATIONAL LAMPOON PRESENTS CLAIRE BRETECHER. Given Thompson's future career translating so many classic European comics for Fantagraphics, this review gives invaluable insight into his thoughts on translating foreign work.
4. FANDOM REVIEW: THE COMIC READER: Comic Fandom's Oldest Newszine by Marilyn Bethke
"TCR's shortcoming is not that it fails to accomplish it's goals, but that it's goals are so low that they are accomplished with ease."
Bethke respectfully eviscerates Mike Tiefenbacher's news gathering practices and narrow focus. Very reminiscent of much later JOURNAL criticisms of Don and Maggie Thompson's CBG.
5. SUSPENDED ANIMATION: METAMORPHOSES: The Greeks Must Have Had a Word For It by Jim Korkis
"METAMORPHOSES, which was produced, written, and directed by Takashi for the Sanrio Film Corporation, is a film filled with beautiful images, but it's emotional promise seems to have been buried before those images were even committed to celluloid."
Jim Korkis reviews a very unusual...enterprise. A Japanese company hires a Japanese animator to produce an animated feature in Hollywood employing U.S. animators. Korkis is not sold on the final product and dissects the films problems in depth, see for yourself below...
HONORABLE MENTION: "The Gerber Story" by future Eclipse Enterprises Editor-in-chief cat yronwode. A review of CAPTAIN AMERICA 221-225.
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