Tom Spurgeon (1968–2019)

I normally avoid The Comics Journal like the plague; their articles and interviews are generally in-depth, but the attitude of arrogance and elitism drips off every page, and this ever-present sense of disdain is commented on by a few of the interviewees herein. But when I saw the list of writers whose interviews were reprinted in this volume - Chris Claremont, Gerry Conway, Steve Englehart, Steve Gerber, Archie Goodwin, Alan Moore, Denny O'Neil, Len Wein, Marv Wolfman, and Harlan Ellison show more (including the infamous interview I'd first heard about ten years ago, and which has just this past September led to a second lawsuit - oy!) - I figured that the combined awesomeness of all these writers would probably overcome TCJ's general grossness. This turned out to mostly be the case, although I laughed to see how the interview with Marv Wolfman starts off:

I have seen from you spectacularly good material and absolutely terrible material, and the divergence annoys me, because it indicates that you are capable [of] attaining a much higher level than you are currently reaching.

Granted, I'll give you that there's a really interesting question in there about excellence and its presence or absence in works by the same artist. But I imagine Marv sitting down to this interview, and the first thing out of the interviewer's mouth is essentially, "Boy, you've written some complete shit." Ah well - no one ever accused TCJ of tact, I suppose. show less

Great in-depth interviews with both John Romita & Jr and retrospectives of both their long careers in comics. This is a master class in comics art and commentary on the business at the same time

I love a good oral history, and Comics history is a passion of mine. From fanzines to the founding of alternative comics, Fantagraphics has always been tastemakers. Well worth the time this monster of a tome took me to read. 4.75