#gary groth

[brevoorthistoryofcomics]

FSC: THE X-MEN COMPANION IIFSC: THE X-MEN COMPANION II In my memory, the second volume of the two-book X-MEN COMPANION series that was released by Fantagraphics, the publishers of the Comics Journal, took forever to arrive.... http://tombrevoort.com/2026/06/21/fsc-the-x-men-companion-ii/

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[rippingoffkingarthur]

Pict of two old guys looking at some cantaloupes with the image of Gary Groth from ROKA #91 Panel Two...

[brevoorthistoryofcomics]

FSC: THE X-MEN COMPANION I

I owned at least two copies of this first volume of THE X-MEN COMPANION, possibly three. And I got them for the stupidest of reasons. At the time, having relocated to a new development in Delaware, I was forced to get my comic books monthly via mail order from Geppi’s Comic World. This meant filling out and submitting an order form each months and then being ready with the cash when the package…

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[evilhorse]

First Notes column (circa December 1985)

[dynamobooks]

Gary Groth, Kristy Valenti & Austin English (ed.): The Comics Journal #310 (2024)

[zegas]

Come for the Kevin Nowlan cover, stay for the great & awkward panel by Gary Groth, Gil Kane, Howard Chaykin, and Walter Simonson:

GROTH: Mainstream comics are juvenile trash, recycled pap. Artists should do better

KANE: The art’s where the value lies but the stories are still subliterate. It’s the publishers’ fault. They should do better

CHAYKIN: I fall in between you two

SIMONSON: I’m sitting right here, guys

For the record, I’m into what everyone’s saying. Groth as a critic (and competitor) posits diversity in style & ideas; that has played out over time. Kane as a self-critical artist demands the same values of his peers. Chaykin’s American Flagg! leads the charge of making quality product. Simonson had every right to sound as defensive as he did. He was just a dude making a living by writing & drawing THOR. The subject of values seemed too broad to tackle in an hour, especially with one panelist maybe feeling attacked.

All in all, file under: Essential Reading

[zegas]

"Purism has such hopeless connotations (from high modernism) that's everything against what makes comics exciting." --Ben Katchor

As somebody who believes in Pure Comics, this is a super compelling angle to me, almost repellant at the same time! Definitely worth unpacking.

Anyway, I'm just now catching up with this talk. Beyond fandom, beyond comics... I completely missed it somehow. Don't make the same mistake. Watch it now: NY Comics Symposium with Gary Groth & Ben Katchor in conversation.

[smashedpages]

Happy birthday to Fantagraphics' Gary Groth!