Editor’s Dispatch: The Comics Blogosphere or Keeping Up With Things

At this point there must be thousands of blogs about comics. There are blogs written by critics, fans, pop culture enthusiasts and cartoonists themselves. There are review blogs and news blogs, there are blogs about process, and there are blogs that are simply a smattering of comics-related goings on. Hell, there are some that pride themselves on covering everything I just listed and more.

Frankly, there are too many for me to keep up with, but I do have a list of blogs and comics news sites that I visit regularly, and I want to share some of them in this post. I’m not going to list off every blog or site that I find myself looking at every week – for example, I check in on numerous cartoonists’ blogs and I’m often linked to dozens of blogs repeatedly from common sources. For this post, I’d like to specifically share three of my daily destinations with you.

First, the Comics Reporter by Tom Spurgeon. This is my very favorite website about comics – Tom’s reportings are religion to me. I don’t know of anyone covering as broad a selection of comics related matters as Tom single-handedly covers. He leans toward the independent/alternative and graphic novel auteur division of the comics spectrum, but he diligently covers syndicated comics, the history of comics and mainstream comic books, too. The balance of Tom’s reporting works well for me because he and I have similar interests, and those interests are all over the place. Although my role at King Features naturally has me concerned with what goes on in the syndicated comics world, I am intensely interested in graphic novels and independent/alternative cartoonists. In addition to his smart listing of goings on in comics culture, Tom invariably offers perspective and illumination that I find extremely valuable.

Second is the Daily Cartoonist by Alan Gardner. Alan’s site is indispensable – he expertly covers all that goes on with syndicated comics better than anyone else. If something is doing with comic strips/panels or editorial cartoons, chances are you will find mention of it on the Daily Cartoonist. Interestingly – whether it is by design or not – Alan has done an amazing job of bridging the gap between syndicated comics and web comics. With the lively discussion threads the Daily Cartoonist offers cartoonists from different corners of the comic strip world to interact, agree and disagree. I’m not sure that sort of interaction would exist quite as regularly without Alan’s site.

Third is the Comics Journal, edited by Dan Nadel and Tim Hodler. I loved it when Dan and Tim were running the now-defunct Comics Comics blog, and I was thrilled when it was revealed that they would head up the Comics Journal digital reboot. Most people look at the Comics Journal (its print predecessor, and its new digital incarnation) as the intellectuals’ source for comics news, criticism and analysis. I like to look at comics through and analytical, thoughtful lens, and I think the team of writers at the Comics Journal do a great job of satisfying this interest. Dan and Tim’s daily blog is a good traffic cop for all of the articles and reviews published right there on the site, and they smartly point to various items of interest outside the walls of the Journal, too. The features that run at the Comics Journal site itself are always deeply mined, thoughtful, and very well written, and they cover multiple corners of the comics idiom.

Well, there you have it – rarely does a morning pass when I don’t make my routine visit to those sites. And, as I mentioned, I’m constantly checking out various cartoonists’ sites and other informative or entertaining comics-based websites and blogs. I’d love to hear some of your faves, so comment!