Comments on: Mome: Vol. 16 Edited by Eric Reynolds and Gary Groth http://thedailycrosshatch.com/2009/10/14/mome-vol-16-edited-by-eric-reynolds-and-gary-groth/ between the panels Sat, 20 Mar 2010 06:57:03 -0400 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.5 hourly 1 By: The Daily Cross Hatch » The Best Damned Comics of 2009 Chosen by the Artists http://thedailycrosshatch.com/2009/10/14/mome-vol-16-edited-by-eric-reynolds-and-gary-groth/comment-page-1/#comment-24273 The Daily Cross Hatch » The Best Damned Comics of 2009 Chosen by the Artists Tue, 15 Dec 2009 16:23:37 +0000 http://thedailycrosshatch.com/?p=4846#comment-24273 [...] MOME [...] [...] MOME [...]

]]> By: Everyone’s A Critic: A round-up of comic book reviews and thinkpieces | Robot 6 @ Comic Book Resources – Covering Comic Book News and Entertainment http://thedailycrosshatch.com/2009/10/14/mome-vol-16-edited-by-eric-reynolds-and-gary-groth/comment-page-1/#comment-20851 Everyone’s A Critic: A round-up of comic book reviews and thinkpieces | Robot 6 @ Comic Book Resources – Covering Comic Book News and Entertainment Thu, 15 Oct 2009 16:03:31 +0000 http://thedailycrosshatch.com/?p=4846#comment-20851 [...] Brian Heater calls the latest issue of the Mome anthology "the best addition to the quarterly series in recent [...] [...] Brian Heater calls the latest issue of the Mome anthology “the best addition to the quarterly series in recent [...]

]]> By: Robert Boyd http://thedailycrosshatch.com/2009/10/14/mome-vol-16-edited-by-eric-reynolds-and-gary-groth/comment-page-1/#comment-20790 Robert Boyd Wed, 14 Oct 2009 16:14:37 +0000 http://thedailycrosshatch.com/?p=4846#comment-20790 Doing an anthology well is really hard, and keeping momentum going is harder. Mome is probably Fantagraphics' best try. They have tried many times before. Graphic Story Monthly his its moments, but it was kind of a mishmash. Pictopia (which I edited) had good aspects (it was where Fantagraphics first published Chris Ware and Dave Cooper, for example--not to mention Takashi Nemoto). In both of these, you can see the "Kim Thomson" and "Gary Groth" aesthetics duking it out. Kim always wanted to push Euro-comics, particularly what I'd call the "Futuropolis/A Suivre" generation. But they mixed poorly with what Gary liked. Kim finally threw up his hands at trying to get Americans to love Tardi or Munoz and Sampayo (etc.), and was the prime mover of Zero Zero, which had an aesthetic that came more from the "Raw/Bad News/Weirdo" side of things. And it lasted a good long time, and published tons of excellent stuff. (Obviously Kim has renewed his quixotic quest to get Americans to love Tardi--and more power to him for it!) As for Mome, it feels more like Eric Reynolds is the guiding hand, but I assume this is what Gary really likes as well. It's funny, I've known Gary for a long time and worked for him for several years. But I still don't quite understand his tastes (whereas I think I have a very good handle on Kim Thompson's tastes). What Gary likes and what I like have, as far as I can tell, always overlapped a lot, but if I were to be shown a comic by a creator with whom I wasn't familiar, I wouldn't be able to tell you with any confidence whether or not Gary would like it--whereas I think I could make a good guess whether Kim would. OK, this is kind of inside baseball. The point I wanted to make was that Fantagraphics has been trying literally for decades to do anthologies successfully, and it seems that they have hit the mark closest with Mome. Doing an anthology well is really hard, and keeping momentum going is harder. Mome is probably Fantagraphics’ best try. They have tried many times before. Graphic Story Monthly his its moments, but it was kind of a mishmash. Pictopia (which I edited) had good aspects (it was where Fantagraphics first published Chris Ware and Dave Cooper, for example–not to mention Takashi Nemoto). In both of these, you can see the “Kim Thomson” and “Gary Groth” aesthetics duking it out. Kim always wanted to push Euro-comics, particularly what I’d call the “Futuropolis/A Suivre” generation. But they mixed poorly with what Gary liked. Kim finally threw up his hands at trying to get Americans to love Tardi or Munoz and Sampayo (etc.), and was the prime mover of Zero Zero, which had an aesthetic that came more from the “Raw/Bad News/Weirdo” side of things. And it lasted a good long time, and published tons of excellent stuff. (Obviously Kim has renewed his quixotic quest to get Americans to love Tardi–and more power to him for it!)

As for Mome, it feels more like Eric Reynolds is the guiding hand, but I assume this is what Gary really likes as well. It’s funny, I’ve known Gary for a long time and worked for him for several years. But I still don’t quite understand his tastes (whereas I think I have a very good handle on Kim Thompson’s tastes). What Gary likes and what I like have, as far as I can tell, always overlapped a lot, but if I were to be shown a comic by a creator with whom I wasn’t familiar, I wouldn’t be able to tell you with any confidence whether or not Gary would like it–whereas I think I could make a good guess whether Kim would.

OK, this is kind of inside baseball. The point I wanted to make was that Fantagraphics has been trying literally for decades to do anthologies successfully, and it seems that they have hit the mark closest with Mome.

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