Bookforum talks to Gary Groth

Bookforum.com has a very thorough interview up with Fantagraphics publisher Gary Groth, where he talks about the history of The Comics Journal and its "punkish disrespect for mainstream" comics:

NR: What was the attitude toward the Journal in its early years?

GG: There were a lot of working professionals who were just sort of appalled at our attitude and probably at our punkish disrespect for mainstream, predominantly superhero, comics in general. They didn't think it was legitimate to criticize comics in that sort of high-toned way. Mainstream creators took a certain degree of pride in their work, but it was pride in them from the perspective of hard-core fans, and they weren't really imposing standards on them, other than craft standards, which had devolved from the history of comics—and the history of comics is mostly just a history of crap. So when we came in and applied these "exalted" standards to comics, creators were, frankly, pissed off. At the same time, we championed creator rights. We thought that the industry had historically treated creators poorly, and so the same creators who weren't very happy with what we said about their work were also coming to us to complain about management. We would give them space to do that, which fanzines previously did not do.

NR: How is it viewed now within the field?

GG: Well, the field has broadened so much. That attitude has probably dissipated. Creator rights have changed and aren't as black-and-white as they once were. Back in the '70s and early '80s, creators working for the mainstream companies basically had no rights whatsoever. Now you can negotiate better deals with mainstream companies. You can get your royalties, and there are a lot of other publishers available to sell your work to. Back then, it was practically a duopoly between DC and Marvel. Now you don't have those intense and obvious injustices that you did back then. So I think the attitude toward the magazine is a lot more temperate.