huh

[davemerrill]

So Fantagraphics has laid Dirk Deppey off and tomorrow will be the last Journalista.

I've followed Journalista since pretty much day one, and with Dirk going, who knows what's going to happen to it? Dirk had the perfect mix of perspective, attitude, outrage and befuddlement at the frequently circlin'-the-drain world of comics. Also he namechecked Mister Kitty a lot, especially the "Betty mentioning Dan DeCarlo" thing. Unbelievable as it may look, I don't spend a lot of time sittin' in front of the computer, and without Dirk's ability to deliver links of note, I'm going to miss out on a lot of interesting stuff. I mean, Comics Reporter is well worth reading, but it's a completely different kind of blog; and most other comics blogs are uselessly obsessed with dumb-ass superhero comics. Well, one more tombstone in the internets graveyard, I suppose.

To be honest, my relationship with the entire field has diminished to the point where I get way more entertainment from the various blogs that detail the various stupidities the "industry" subjects itself to in attempts to wring the last dollar out of a shrinking, decadent market, than I do from anything that actually gets published. Maybe it's just as well I spend less time on such schadenfreudish endeavours.

Comments

[mr-sadhead.livejournal.com]

Shit hoss. They must be losing money at a rate worse than I thought.

[davemerrill.livejournal.com]

yeah, they really haven't found their way here in the New Age, yet. The online articles they publish are tedious, the message board is overrun with cranks, and the magazine itself, does it even exist any more? Journalista was really the only thing that kept me visiting TCJ.

It's interesting, there's more exciting comics being published today than ever before, seems like, but they don't seem to reflect that spirit. Compare to the period 1985-1990, when the magazine was a vital part of the most interesting work; promoting it, sometimes publishing it, always engaging with the work and the creators and the industry. I don't get that from today's TCJ.

[hipsterdad.livejournal.com]

I'll certainly miss reading Journalista. His annual war with Brian Hibbs about bookstore sales was always great reading.

[tochiro998.livejournal.com]

Every once in a while I get to feeling that I miss being in the whole 'weekly comic run' thing, usually because something will pop up at IcV2 like announcing a new Nexus series (poor Steve Rude, he's way too talented to have all the crap go on to him) or some publisher is releasing a super expensive ultra limited hardcover collection of a comic I loved (and it's instantly sold out and going for 3x list), and then I hear of the current nonsense going on at DC or Marvel and I just...well, I'm glad I don't have money because it makes it so easy to not buy the shit.

And what happened to the art? I dig that we don't have Kirby or Simonson or Grell or Adams or etc anymore but cripes!

[davemerrill.livejournal.com]

Used to be I'd hit the store every week and drop $20 or $30 on Hate, Love & Rockets, Eightball, Weasel, Hyena, whatever Mark Martin was doing, Jim, Cud, etc. They're all gone. All the good comics, all the wacky minis like 'Barefoot & Pregnant' and 'Hypertruck' and 'Thrift Score', all gone. I feel like a hippy in 1978 looking for the latest issue of "Zap". (and even the hippy had Weirdo to look forward to!)

There are exciting new funny comics out there, but they're all on the web, and dammit, that's not experiential enough for me.

[tochiro998.livejournal.com]

Well, you know me, I'm not big on the Alt Comic world (much of it seems to be wanna-be Crumb and Peckar, ugly art about whining), but the 'mainstream' comic world is obsessed with 'deconstruction',and heros aren't heros anymore.

That's why I liked Nexus so much, it was like 1972 every issue.

Cripes, even Flaming Carrot is gone. THAT ugly thing was fun but the guy was really starting to get a 'phone it in' mentality.

What we need is a new comic by Howard Chaykin, something about blowjobs and gunfights and explosions. Maybe American Flagg v.2.0

[davemerrill.livejournal.com]

Most of the Crumb wannabees burned out in 1977. There are still a lot of navel-gazing autobiographical cartoonists out there, though - that's what you mostly see at the zine festivals, which is why I quit going to the zine festivals. That and deliberately twee artsy Fort Thunder cute-brut affectedly fey pussy comics for people who think Gary Panter is too linear. Geezus I hate that stuff.

But all the goofy, wiseass, R2D2 Is An Indie Rocker type comics, they're all online now.

[davemerrill.livejournal.com]

To clarify, if you think Harvey Pekar's work was "ugly art about whining", you need to actually read some. Guy was grumpy as hell, but had a thirst for knowledge that went above and beyond his personality and his station in life. Art varies - too much Gary Dumm for my taste - but Val Mayerik did some of the best work of his career illustrating Harvey's stories.

[(Anonymous)]

I'm happy to say that Howard Chaykin will be drawing a story for the premiere issue of the new Dark Horse Presents next April. Did you read his American Century (his take on Steve Canyon), done for Vertigo? His Solo book for DC was also pretty good.

--Carl

[(Anonymous)]

To be more on topic, I should say that I've also enjoyed Dirk Deppey's writing, and I regret that he won't be at Jounalista! any more.

--Carl

[tochiro998.livejournal.com]

I haven't been able to afford to go into a comic shop since 1996, except for a couple of times when I had some spare cash and tried to catch up on Flaming Carrot and Nexus, so I had no idea that Chaykin has gotten back into the game. Next you'll tell me Mike Grell is working on a revival of Warlord or something. :)

I did get to pick up Total War: M.A.R.S. Patrol for $2. WTH was the deal with the out of sequence pages and super muddy repro? I assume there's no volume 2 planned.