Love and Rockets propelled both the creators, Los Bros Hernandez, and the publisher, Fantagraphics.
Editor’s Note: This is a two-part look back at 50 years of the comics publisher, Fantagraphics. Part Two is by Henry Chamberlain.
Essay by Henry Chamberlain
No one cartoonist can fully represent the phenomenon that is the comics publisher Fantagraphics but each can speak to distinguishing traits, especially by drawing their own comics tribute or appearing on a panel at a comics convention. Even writers (myself included) for the comics publisher’s own separate magazine of comics criticism, The Comics Journal, will need to exercise special care in how they depict their boss. However, in the case of this publisher, being outspoken is part of the brand so there’s considerable leeway. Anyone at all familiar with this niche publisher will have their own ideas too. At the end of the day, there is much to be thankful and be grateful for regarding Fantagraphics as it marks its 50th anniversay. Huge inroads have been made in a greater appreciation of the comics medium and Fantagraphics remains a significant part of that process in the titles it publishes and in its own dissection and analysis of the art form.
16-year-old Gary Groth, circa 1970. Already contemplating a comics empire.
The story of the house that Gary Groth built is the stuff of legend. As a teenager, Groth was already leading the way at putting together comics conventions with the same zest and gusto as fellow kid entrepreneur Richard Alf on his path to leading the way to creating Comic-Con in San Diego. Gary Groth could have continued on a similar path but he was always more interested in publishing. Now, before we dig deeper, I must say that what Fantagraphics has gone on to accomplish, and continues to do so, is both breathtaking and staggering. It wasn’t just a one-off dumb luck success of snagging a comics talent at the right time. It was one success after another, year after year, bringing to the world precisely what Fantagraphics boasts as its tagline: “publisher of the world’s greatest cartoonists.”
I lived a great part of my life in Seattle, the headquarters for Fantagraphics, and I still live there in spirit. Anyway, I got to see firsthand what it was like for local cartoonists living in such close proximity to a legendary powerhouse in the world of independent comics publishing. I suppose that experience is what drives this essay. I think the feeling among cartoonists always runs the gamut from being some vague goal to get to network within the publisher inner circles to all-out battle plans to claw one’s way in and get work published. At Bumbershoot, for instance, the annual music (and arts) festival held at Seattle Center, cartoonists usually have more than one way to be part of some event that might allow them to draw attention to themselves and their work. Maybe, if they’re lucky, they will at least draw attention to themselves for some fleeting moments, such as dancing on stage as part of some comedy skit. So, that kind of frenetic energy is always brewing somewhere in the background, at all sorts of events in Seattle throughout the year, including Short Run, an annual comics festival, with related activities, which is one of the best comic arts festivals.
And the beat goes on with HATE by Peter Bagge.
Who might be fortunate enough to be chosen to join the ranks of the greatest cartoonists in the world? Well, the answer is complicated and no one can be sure how things will pan out, including Gary Groth. But, allowing for the process to work itself out, the right cartoonist at the right time may emerge. Dash Shaw walked right up to Gary Groth at a comics convention with a work-in-progress, Bottomless Belly Button. It worked for him. But it might not for you.
What has been impressed upon me over and over again is that sometimes a cartoonist may seem to be the last person you’d want to explain what comics are all about. Just like anyone else, they can overthink it and not even be sure how to be describe what a graphic novel is supposed to be. They’ll even think they haven’t read enough comics. But, once I’ve engaged with someone in an interview I’m hosting and we’ve managed to get past any misgivings, the guest does just fine. I’ve interviewed countless comic talent and that’s what I’ve discovered: some cartoonists are born conversationalists; while others prefer to let their comics speak for themselves. Is it any wonder then that when Fantagraphics set out to create a book to honor its 40th Anniversary, We Told You So: Comics As Art, it not only sought out comments from its roster of cartoonists but it also sought out comics from them. There was no need for cartoonists to worry if they’d read enough comics. They could just let their comics do a lot of the talking for them. Believe me, if you’ve ever created comics, which I have and still do, more than half the battle is won. Yes, you can consider yourself something of an expert on comics!
Noah Van Sciver pays tribute to Fantagraphics.
In fact, any comics reviewer who has never created comics will always be at a disadvantage. They will always come at the work as a consumer, not a participant. It makes it doubly hard to appreciate certain things, everything from why a comics creator might struggle with how to depict a scene to the motivations that compel the cartoonist to persevere. Not really knowing what it’s like to be a cartoonist does make one thing a lot easier: to dish out an over-the-top harsh review. It’s the ye ole savage critic school of comics criticism and that kind of criticism has been a hallmark at The Comics Journal. I think it’s great that we can all give ourselves some distance from that particular style of writing. I think the usual review from the new crop of writers at The Comics Journal is invested more in insight than controversy only for the sake of controversy. That’s not to say a reviewer needs to hold back but there’s something to be said for retracting one’s claws. All that said, if you’re writing about comics, you’re ahead of the game of those who only talk about comics. We’ve reached a glut in comics talking heads now that everyone has a podcast. Some are better than others, and the vast majority fade away. As for thinking and writing about comics, if you wisely use your skills, favor language and logic, anything is possible.
One thing you need to keep in mind is that there’s always been something gritty about Fantagraphics–or, more to the point, something grunge. We’re talking about Seattle, after all. When you get right down to it, the energy emitting from Fantagraphics was as much tied to the utter intensity that was grunge as anything else. Back in the early ’90s, it was a perfect storm of disaffected youth on a steady migration to the promised land of Seattle for those willing to take a leap of faith. Some had a plan (musicians, writers, painters and cartoonists) and others did not, being young was enough. All the creative people were interested in finding their tribe. It was at this critical time that The Center on Contemporary Art in collaboration with Fantagraphics, put on a show, “Misfit Lit,” a look at contemporary comic art (March 15 to May 4, 1991). The poster for the show echoed a self-conscious and overly self-deprecating vibe, a stance that dared the viewer to come closer and attracted more people than repelled. Not a perfect campaign to engage the general public but it got its fair share of notice. The rather staid Seattle Post-Intelligencer, in a Sunday supplement (June 1, 1992), summed up the mood with the headline: “In your face, Seattle; you’re becoming a capital of alternative comics.” And, even more than comics, it was the zeitgeist that supercharged everything.
Dan Clowes leading that pop culture wave.
When Geffen released Nirvana’s album Nevermind on September 24, 1991, it was a game changer. It would be on heavy rotation on the radio, in homes, cars, and Walkmans for months, even years, on KNDD, 107.7 FM, “The End.” On another musical note: The romantic comedy film Singles, featuring young people in love in Seattle, came out in theaters on September 18, 1992. The youthquake was happening in Seattle and everyone who loved Nirvana, and music from Sub Pop (which featured Dan Clowes art on album covers and in its ads), was into the new cool and edgy comics coming out of Fantagraphics (Hate, Eightball, Love and Rockets, Acme Novelty Library, Naughty Bits, Palestine, The Biological Show). Many people have fond memories of buying their music and comics from Tower Records in Seattle.
When it doubt, just return to what matters. For Fantagraphics, it’s been this stubborn persistence of vision. They simply did not want to succumb to the harsh realities that have wiped out other publishers in similar circumstances. These days are far more solid. Fantagraphics has fended off the threat of bankruptcy many times. And when its own distributor went belly up, they found a much better arrangement.
Cartoon in The Stranger on Fantagraphics financial woes, 2003, by Pat Moriarity.
Fantagraphics is now distributed to the book trade by W.W. Norton and to comics retailers by Lunar. It has been a uphill battle but the dark times have ushered in exciting new phases like the pioneering deluxe archival editions of George Herriman’s Krazy Kat, E.C. Segar’s Popeye, Charles Schulz’s Peanuts, and neglected classics from the Marvel Comics archives. Fantagraphics is running more smoothly than ever and, with any luck, will be ready for the next challenge when it inevitably comes.
Part of the new wave of Fantagraphics titles: Cutting Season by Bhanu Pratap.
The biggest contribution that Fantagraphics has made, and continues to make, is leading the way in the distinction between mainstream superhero comics publishers and those publishers, creators and fans who prefer “alternative comics.” This is a term that I always stand by. I recall one academically-inclined friend not sure if the term had any gas in the tank. This was many years ago and I assured him it was the proper term and it was here to stay–and so it has. Some folks, looking here again at our more academically-inclined types, proclaim that comics are comics and that’s that. I don’t know what the motivation is in saying that unless one feels a great need not to offend this or that big publisher. But this is well beyond that. Alt-comics means something, if nothing more than an alternative to the Big Two superhero publishing empires we’ve all grown up with, Marvel and D.C. Comics. The superhero model is branded early on with some fans becoming instantly enthralled. The idea of having an alternative is more in step with seeing comics as an art form. Of course, anything is possible and the Big Two, from time to time, create masterful work that rises to the level of art. Overall, the superhero model is what it is, mostly a genre, which you can make of what you will. Alt-comics, as a rule, are striving to be offbeat, unconventional, experimental and appealing to more discerning adults. Fantagraphics has set out to publish the best alt-comics, year after year. For it to maintain that sense of purpose is its greatest accomplishment.
Eightball #23: The Death Ray by Daniel Clowes
So, I keep thinking about those aspiring cartoonists dancing on a stage hoping to get noticed one way or another. Well, to each and every one of these dreamers, I say enjoy the comics art form and let Fantagraphics lead the way. It is Fantagraphics that introduced Los Bro Hernandez to a wider audience. Along with so many other amazing talents like Dan Clowes, Chris Ware and Charles Burns. It is Fantagraphics that has set loose upon a reading public all manner of comics mayhem and majesty. It is all rooted in a genuine love for the comics medium. While it may seem to some readers that comics has had a rough time of it in gaining any sort of legitimacy, I think it comes down to individual points of view.
Jim Woodring, one of the greatest cartoonists in world, demonstrates his giant pen.
For those in the know, the comics medium continues to evolve and prove itself time and time again, even if most people do not take great notice. The vast majority of readers are not going to appreciate comics in the same way as someone who regularly reads comics, let alone anyone who actually studies comics. And that brings us back to what is so special and remarkable about an independent publisher of the statue of Fantagraphics. Gary Groth and Michael Carton, a couple of comics experts to be sure, founded Fantagraphics in 1976. At that point, the term “graphic novel” did not even exist. Other comics connoisseurs would soon join the team: Eric Reynolds and Kim Thompson. And it was this expertise that would guide this upstart endeavor of a publishing house focused on comics with an independent voice. It was fine to review and comment about mainstream superhero comics but to go toe to toe with the Big Two comics giants by creating its own similar superheroes was never part of the vision. The vision was a work-in-progress and it had everything to do, and still does, with comics that are more offbeat, experimental and artful. So keep dancing, my wonderful dreamers, as there is plenty to dance about!
