Five Highlights From The Comics Journal #46

 

TCJ ARCHIVE

THE COMICS JOURNAL #46 (May 1979)

Executive Editor/Art Director: Gary Groth

Editor/Circulation Director: Kim Thompson

New York Correspondent: Jay Zilber

British Correspondent: John Dakin

Underground Correspondent: Bruce Sweeney

Mascots: Eric Bethke-Koehn, Mark Dievendorf, Cindy Gold, Mary Hallock, Chris Harvey, Gretchen Meyer

Distributors: Bud Plant (CA), Seagate Distributors (NY), Wells News Service (OH), Big Rapids Distributors (MI), Comic Art Shop (NY)

1. DOGPATCH DAYS RECALLED - SORT OF by Bill Sherman. REVIEW: THE BEST OF LI'L ABNER (Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1978)

GCD

 "Al Capp's reputation has floundered over the past decade, but most of us can recall an earlier Capp. I grew up on LI'L ABNER in the '50s, finding it the ideal comic strip for a reader to young to take advantage of EC's ghoulish satire. Capp's comic eye was wild and often comically cruel; if he hadn't already been an institution by that time he would surely have been denounced as 'sick.' As it was I could remember periodic yelps to the effect that Capp's satire was 'crude and obvious.' Of course it was: that's what gave the strip it's energy."

Enjoyed the personal touch in Bill Sherman's critical appraisal of LI'L ABNER through the years.

2. MARILYN BETHKE WATCH I: INSTANT GRATIFICATION FANZINE AD.

TCJ Archive

Note the preview of INSTANT GRATIFICATION #2. I'm not sure if this second issue was ever published. Stay tuned.

MARILYN BETHKE WATCH II: FANDOM REVIEW: THE BUYER'S GUIDE FOR COMICS FANDOM.

THE BUYER'S GUIDE FOR COMICS FANDOM #259

Internet Archive

Lots of praise for TCJ's more mercenary adversary, but Bethke's final paragraph says it all: "In closing, THE BUYER'S GUIDE certainly serves it's purpose, does it quite well, in fact. But because of the unbalanced nature of that purpose and Light's schizophrenic view of fandom and collectors, the publication is, in the final analysis, unsatisfying - at least to this fan, who is just as interested in reading as buying. No, TBG should not try to be OMNIVERSE, but there is more to a true buyer's guide than just advertising."

3. AXA INVADES ENGLAND by John Dakin

Dren Publications (2024)

John Dakin profiles AXA and Spanish artist Enrique Badia Romero. Although AXA has been reprinted in collected editions in the U.S. several times over the years (see above for the latest from 2024), this article is from when AXA was only running in the infamous UK newspaper, THE SUN. Dakin also details Romero's concurrent work on MODESTY BLAISE, as well as a fitness comic strip and work for Warren magazines. Dakin has continued to work in comics since his days as TCJ's British Correspondent, from editorial matter for several Ken Pierce books (pictured below to "M19: Secret Agents" in HEAVY METAL (2014-15).

GCD

 John Dakin's latest book is a collection of unpublished newspaper strip proposals with the late artist John M. Burns. Information at Book Palace.

(John Freeman profiles the newest edition of AXA on downthetubes.net)

4. WILL EISNER INTERVIEW [PART I] conducted by Catherine Yronwode

dvids

I particularly liked the section where Eisner talks about his educational comics work:

 EISNER: "Meanwhile, the ARMY MOTORS idea became popular and the magazine became an enormously successful publication - I did a comic strip in it called JOE DOPE, which I created. So I spent my four years in the War in the Pentagon building working as the editor of a magazine called FIREPOWER, which was an ordinance man's journal, and involved with ARMY MOTORS, developing cartoons, and using comic strips to teach."

EISNER: "Yes - I did all the general illustrations - that is, cartoons - in that book. I continued to work on it after the War. In 1950 P.S. magazine began as a successor to ARMY MOTORS and I did that too."

 YRONWODE: "Of course, you continued to work on P.S. after the war and, once THE SPIRIT ended in 1952, the general public didn't get to see much of your work for the next 15 or 20 years..."

 EISNER: "I was mostly running a business, an educational company. My time was spent in the development of ideas for the commercial application of comics. I've always been interested in the furtherance of the uses of comics. There are two areas - two broad areas - for comics. One is entertainment and the other is instructional. I've always seen it like that. So, for awhile after I left the entertainment field - the comic done purely as entertainment or literature - and involved myself in the use of the comic as a teaching tool, an informational tool."

P.S. MAGAZINE lasted for over 800 issues until finally retiring as a print magazine in November 2019. The government has an archive of all issues online, check out Will Eisner's first year on P.S. here.

5. NEWSWATCH: UNDERGROUNDS

Comic Book Realm

One book, in particular, caught my eye. A very early release from Raw Books (RAW #1 wasn't published until the following year): "Mark Beyer's MANHATTAN is a small 90¢ book, featuring seven drawings, available from Art Spiegelman's Raw Books (27 Greene St, New York NY, 10013)".

Five Highlights From The Comics Journal #45

                           Joe Staton

The Comics Journal #45 (February 1979)

Distributors: Bud Plant, Sea Gate, Well News Service

1. MARILYN BETHKE WATCH I. REVIEW: X-MEN #119.

Marilyn Bethke is our favorite early TCJ contributor, making this a special issue as she's first eviscerated in two letters in Blood & Thunder (Peter B. Gillis and Daniel Meyerowitz). Then we have the first of THREE reviews under her byline.

She succinctly punctures the Claremont/Byrne years: "I am constantly surprised by the otherwise critical and discerning fans who fall for this book. My usual reaction is to suggest they watch a television soap opera or two. The X-MEN is little more than ALL MY CHILDREN or THE DOCTORS with fancy superhero costumes and super-villains."

2. MARILYN BETHKE WATCH II. REVIEW: THE AVENGERS #181.

A rare positive review of a superhero comic. Bethke praises David Michelinie for "subtle characterizations" and "confront[ing] social and cultural issues in a light, matter-of-fact manner".

3. MARILYN BETHKE WATCH III. REVIEW: ADVENTURE COMICS #462.

And, we're back to our regular skewer...er, programming. "The story is anticlimactic and virtually pointless. There seems to be no real reason for the Batman's death, yet the story does not use that to make a statement about death or the irony of a superhero's lot."

4. MARILYN BETHKE WATCH IV. From E-Man to Batman: Joe Staton Interview.

This has always been a favorite early Journal interview, but I did not remember Marilyn Bethke (with partner Alexandre Koehn) conducting this offbeat interview with Joe Staton. Staton has some well thought out opinions on the comics industry and the mechanics of comics storytelling. Can you say, sequential pattern recognition?

5. ILLUSTRATION: FRED HEMBECK

I love this unusual drawing by Fred Hembeck, the only time I've seen him drawing in a more realistic style.

BONUS BLOOD AND THUNDER: Lot of respect for Guy Colwell's INNER CITY ROMANCE from fellow underground comix creator Leonard Rifas..

BONUS MYSTERY ILLUSTRATION: Scott McLeod = Scott (UNDERSTANDING COMICS) McCloud? Maybe everybody already knows this bit of history, in any case...

Scott McLeod (credited above along with "Contributing Artists") is responsible for the illustration below on page 24.

Scott McLeod also illustrated a 6-page comics story written by Kurt Busiek for ROCKET'S BLAST COMICOLLECTOR #148 (April 1979). On GCD, McLeod is credited as "McCloud".

The leap from McLeod the fan artist to McCloud the comics professional took five years with the publication of ZOT! #1 by Eclipse in 1984.

SOURCES: Poopsheet Foundation Grand Comics Database Wikipedia