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The Comics Journal #305
This issue of the award-winning magazine shines a light on how comics creators are affected by chronic disease, disability, and our nation's health care system. This issue also features a document that is significant not only in terms of comics history ― but American history, as well. Created by the civil rights organization SNCC (Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee) and the Black Panther Party in 1967, this hand-printed zine is a report about a black community in Alabama that attempted to take back their voting rights in their local elections. There is also a profile on cartoonist Kevin Huizenga ( Ganges ), and much more. Full-color illustrations throughout.
160 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2020
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
January 19, 2021
This was an eye-opening issue of the Comics Journal. The dialogues between HTML Flowers and Rebecca Kirby (which focused on the chronic horror of navigating health care--regardless of which country you live in--as a person with serious medical issues) and Georgia Webber and Maria Sweeney (which focused on the "everyday" trials of living with disabilities) are heartbreaking and infuriating, and they renewed my belief that the health care system, as well as a "healthy" person's role in the wellness of others, need to be dramatically reenvisioned.
Perhaps most affecting, though, was Patrick Dean's sketchbook, in which he illustrates his experiences with ALS.
The weakest article in this issue is Sloane Leong's so-called reconsideration of Craig Thompson's Blankets and its canonical status. I don't take issue with her judgments per se, and since I haven't read Blankets in the nearly 20 years since it was published I certainly can't disagree with them in a meaningful way. However, I did not find her arguments to be persuasive. I appreciate her objections to Thompson's use of cliché and his somewhat immature, largely surface approach to his subject matter. But these are not effective condemnations of an immensely personal, autobiographical work created by an artist in his 20s, despite whatever critical and commercial acclaim it garnered after he created it. Had her arguments been better developed along these lines, I could certainly be persuaded--and when I revisit Blankets at some point in the future I will certainly keep Leong's complaints in mind--but ultimately the article was far too brief to be compelling.
Likewise, the "Comics/Collage/Appropriation" article, by Kim Jooha, was too brief to mean anything--to this reader, anyway. I'm sure there's a fascinating article hiding inside Jooha's premise, but this is not that article. (I had similar problems with articles in other recent issues of TCJ, so perhaps it is a problem with the magazine's editing rather than with the articles themselves?)
The facsimile of a 'zine published by the SNCC and the Black Panther Party in 1968 is exactly the kind of thing I love to read in TCJ. A fascinating, and timely, bit of history.
The Kevin Huizenga interview is another bright spot in this issue. Huizenga remains one of my favorite contemporary cartoonists, and his thoughts on the creation and publication of his comics are illuminating.
The gallery of Clare Briggs gags (colorized by Noah van Sciver) is enjoyable, but then I'm a sucker for olde timey cartoons. Keep 'em coming, TCJ!
Kayla E.'s examination of Little Lulu, both as a comment on gender roles in mid-century America and as inspiration for her own, deeply affecting comic book work, is stellar.
Perhaps most affecting, though, was Patrick Dean's sketchbook, in which he illustrates his experiences with ALS.
The weakest article in this issue is Sloane Leong's so-called reconsideration of Craig Thompson's Blankets and its canonical status. I don't take issue with her judgments per se, and since I haven't read Blankets in the nearly 20 years since it was published I certainly can't disagree with them in a meaningful way. However, I did not find her arguments to be persuasive. I appreciate her objections to Thompson's use of cliché and his somewhat immature, largely surface approach to his subject matter. But these are not effective condemnations of an immensely personal, autobiographical work created by an artist in his 20s, despite whatever critical and commercial acclaim it garnered after he created it. Had her arguments been better developed along these lines, I could certainly be persuaded--and when I revisit Blankets at some point in the future I will certainly keep Leong's complaints in mind--but ultimately the article was far too brief to be compelling.
Likewise, the "Comics/Collage/Appropriation" article, by Kim Jooha, was too brief to mean anything--to this reader, anyway. I'm sure there's a fascinating article hiding inside Jooha's premise, but this is not that article. (I had similar problems with articles in other recent issues of TCJ, so perhaps it is a problem with the magazine's editing rather than with the articles themselves?)
The facsimile of a 'zine published by the SNCC and the Black Panther Party in 1968 is exactly the kind of thing I love to read in TCJ. A fascinating, and timely, bit of history.
The Kevin Huizenga interview is another bright spot in this issue. Huizenga remains one of my favorite contemporary cartoonists, and his thoughts on the creation and publication of his comics are illuminating.
The gallery of Clare Briggs gags (colorized by Noah van Sciver) is enjoyable, but then I'm a sucker for olde timey cartoons. Keep 'em coming, TCJ!
Kayla E.'s examination of Little Lulu, both as a comment on gender roles in mid-century America and as inspiration for her own, deeply affecting comic book work, is stellar.
April 18, 2020
About 2/3rds of the issue is taken up with the special topic: health care, disability, illness and comics--graphic medicine, basically. This is not a topic about which I know much or which I have pursued, and the bulk of the section consists of interviews with cartoonists whose work I do not know, so, though reading both about their experiences and their cartooning was of some interest, it did not inspire me to feel compelled to seek out their work. Patrick Dean's comics essay on being diagnosed with and suffering from ALS was, to me, the strongest piece in the section. Other than these pieces, there is an eclectic mix of other stuff. There is a piece on reconsidering the canon that gives Craig Thompson's Blankets a takedown it deserves but praises instead a book I don't know, and I was not convinced by what I saw here that I need to. There's a not particularly compelling piece on appropriating fine art into comics. There's a fascinating look at the early history of the Black Panther Party and its use of comics-esque materials, a sample of which is reprinted; this is a very useful reclamation of historical material all too easy to lose. There's a short interview with Kevin Huizenga that is worth the read. There's a selection of Clare Briggs comics that is nice to look at but rather random. Finally, there is a piece by another cartoonist I have never heard of (Kayla E.) talking about the influence of Little Lulu on her work; this would probably have been of more interest to me if I knew who Kayla E. is. Overall, what this issue and the other recent ones show is that I am very much out of touch with contemporary comics.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews