Gary Groth
Groth at the 2007 Alternative Press Expo
Born (1954-09-18) September 18, 1954
Buenos Aires, Argentina
NationalityAmerican
Area(s)Editor, Publisher
Notable works
The Comics Journal
Fantagraphics Books
AwardsInkpot Award (1988)[1]

Gary Groth (born September 18, 1954) is an American comic book editor, publisher and critic. He is editor-in-chief of The Comics Journal, a co-founder of Fantagraphics Books, and founder of the Harvey Awards.

Early life

Groth is the son of a U.S. Navy contractor and was raised in Springfield, Virginia,[2] in the Washington, D.C. area.[3] He read his first comic book in a pediatrician's office.[2]

Career

Fanzines and pop culture conventions

Inspired by film critics like Andrew Sarris and Pauline Kael, and gonzo journalists like Hunter S. Thompson,[3] the teenage Groth published Fantastic Fanzine, a comics fanzine (whose name referenced the Marvel Comics title Fantastic Four).

In 1970, 1971,[2] and 1973[4][5] he organized Metro Con, a comics convention held in the Washington, D.C. area.[2]

Later, after turning down an editorial assistant position at Marvel Comics in 1973,[6] Groth worked briefly as a production and layout assistant at the movie and comics magazine Mediascene,[7] which was edited by Jim Steranko.[3]

After dropping out of his fourth college in 1974, Groth and his financial partner Michael Catron put on a rock and roll convention that ended in financial failure. Nonetheless, he and Catron dabbled in music publishing with the short-lived magazine Sounds Fine.[3]

Fantagraphics

In 1976 Groth founded Fantagraphics Books, Inc. with Catron and Kim Thompson, and took over an adzine named The Nostalgia Journal—quickly renaming it The Comics Journal.[8] Groth's Comics Journal applied rigorous critical standards to comic books. It disparaged formulaic superhero books and work for hire publishers and favored artists like R. Crumb and Art Spiegelman and creator ownership of copyrights.[9] It featured lengthy, freewheeling interviews with comics professionals, often conducted by Groth himself.

Controversy

Groth's first editorial in The Nostalgia Journal[10] began a lengthy feud[11] with Alan Light, founder, and at that time, publisher of The Buyer's Guide for Comics Fandom.

Groth and Light were friends before Light published Groth's final issue of Fantastic Fanzine; Light's expedient business methods met with Groth's disapproval.[12] Fandom: Confidential, Ron Frantz's history of the WE Seal of approval program (WSA),[13] outlines Groth's confrontations with Light at conventions and via late night collect calls. Light in turn cashed a check for a Comics Journal advertisement that he refused to print. Groth acquired a copy of the WSA mailing list, and without authorization, used it to solicit subscriptions; Groth later apologized for what he claimed was a misunderstanding,[14] and soon after broke ties with WSA. In 1983 when Light sold TBG, a Groth editorial denounced Light.[15] Light's subsequent libel suit against Groth was eventually dismissed.[16]

Groth's 1991 Comics Journal editorial "Lies We Cherish: The Canonization of Carol Kalish",[17] which criticized what he saw as the unwarranted hagiographies for then-recently deceased former Marvel Comics Vice President of New Product Development, whom Groth characterized as "selling cretinous junk to impressionable children",[18] caused controversy within the industry,[19] including outrage by Kalish's friend and colleague, writer Peter David.[20][21]

Bibliography

  • Groth, Gary, and Robert Fiore, eds. The New Comics: Interviews from the Pages of The Comics Journal. New York : Berkley, 1988. ISBN 0-425-11366-3.

Notes

  1. ↑ Inkpot Award
  2. 1 2 3 4 Jacobson, Aileen (August 16, 1971). "Serious Comics Fans". The Washington Post. p. B2.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Matos, Michelangelo. "Saved by the Beagle," Seattle Arts (September 15, 2004).
  4. ↑ "Metro Con 1973 Program Book". Poopshet Foundation: Mini-Comics History Archive. Retrieved March 1, 2023.
  5. ↑ Pollack, Joel. "Our History". Big Planet Comics. Retrieved March 1, 2023. I helped with the third Metro Con in 1973. The first two, organized by Gary Groth, had been in '70 and '71 respectively. For the one to be held in 1973, my friend, Warren Bernard was working with Groth.... Despite the major talent we had, attendance was low and the Con lost money.
  6. ↑ Meyer, Ken, Jr. "Ink Stains 3: Fantastic Fanzine 10," Comic Attack (October 12, 2009).
  7. ↑ webmistress@sequentialtart.com. "Sequential Tart: Gary Groth - Do Not Underestimate the Power of the Dark Side (vol III/iss 2/February 2000)". www.sequentialtart.com. Retrieved August 18, 2017.
  8. ↑ Maheras, Russ. The Comics Journal Message Board :: View topic – The Comics Journal #32, Jan. 1977 (July 2, 2007): "... transforming it from an adzine into a magazine of news and criticism that just happened to carry advertisements."
  9. ↑ Constant, Paul. "Gary Groth". The Stranger. Retrieved August 18, 2017.
  10. ↑ Groth, Gary. "Editorial,", The Nostalgia Journal #27 (July 1976).
  11. ↑ Maheras, Russ. "The Comics Journal #32, Jan. 1977", The Comics Journal Message Board (February 9, 2007): "The earliest issues focused on a clash between Groth and Alan Light, publisher of competing adzine The Buyer’s Guide for Comic Fandom."
  12. ↑ Light had "[taken] over the publishing chores of Fantastic Fanzine Special II, the last issue of FF I edited" - Groth, ibid
  13. ↑ Frantz, Ron (2000). Fandom: Confidential. Mena, Arkansas: Midguard Publishing. pp. 128–173. ISBN 978-0-9678273-0-8.
  14. ↑ Frantz. p.149
  15. ↑ Groth, Gary. "Editorial," The Comics Journal #181 (May 1983): "[Light is] fandom's first real business predator. His career of hustling is a monument to selfish opportunism and spiritual squalor."
  16. ↑ Frantz, p.169, 171
  17. ↑ Groth, Gary. "Lies We Cherish: The Canonization of Carol Kalish," The Comics Journal #146 (November 1991).
  18. ↑ Deppey, Dirk. "Journalista! Lies We Still Cherish" Comics Journal website (December 14, 2002). Archived July 31, 2010, at the Wayback Machine
  19. ↑ Woods, Anthony. "All the Right-Thinking People," Comics Journal Message Board (June 3, 2008). Accessed October 3, 2009.
  20. ↑ David, Peter. "Snob Appeal"; "But I Digress..." collection; 1994; Krause Publications
  21. ↑ David, Peter "The Last Word", peterdavid.net December 20, 2002

References

Further reading

  • Spurgeon, Tom and Jacob Covey. Comics As Art: We Told You So. Seattle, WA : Fantagraphics, 2016. ISBN 978-1606999332
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