Ten Years Of High-Low

The most recent review I've done marks the tenth anniversary of posts to my High-Low blog. High-Low as a column existed for a couple of years over at sequart.com, but it's nonetheless been precisely a decade since I decided to strike out on my own. I want to thank my readers, my patrons, the publishers and the artists who have supported me in my critical endeavor. I want to especially thank the late Kim Thompson, Eric Reynolds, Tom Spurgeon, Annie Koyama, the late Dylan Williams, Megan Kelso, Rob Kirby, Rebecca Perry Damsen, Dirk Deppey, Colleen Frakes, James Sturm, Michelle Ollie, Tom Hart among many others for their support, advice, encouragement and support. Here's to many more years!

Introducing The High-Low Patreon

I've decided to launch a Patreon for High-Low: High-Low Patreon. For those unfamiliar with the concept, this is a website that allows supporters to pledge a certain small amount of money per month to help keep this site sustainable. I want to go to this model rather than do yearly fundraisers. Starting in November, Patrons will get (at minimal donation) a review exclusively for them. There will still be four days of free content per week, but that fifth day will be for supporters of the site. Thanks for considering it.

Summer Fundraiser For High-Low

After a bit of a time away from this blog and writing in general, readers of this blog may notice that I'm back in a rhythm. Unofficially, I'm in the middle of doing a long series on autobiographical comics. I have about another week left in this series, after which I will tackle comics for kids for a week. After that, I'll finally get to the big profile on Josh Bayer I've been promising for a while.

One reason why my writing output has been lessened is the usual financial pressures made more dire by a variety of medical bills stacking up. Any reader who wishes to make a paypal donation for the site may do so using the button on the right. I would like to thank all of the readers who have made contributions in the past; you don't know how much those contributions, both big and small, have helped me and my family.

Lastly, thanks to said financial pressures, this will be the first year since 1999 that I won't be able to attend a comics festival. I'm usually a mainstay at SPX, but I regret to say that I won't be there this year. Anyone who hoped to pass on their work for review at that show may send it to me at the address at the left. This is especially true for artists at comics programs like SAW, SVA, MCAD, Columbia College and especially the Center for Cartoon Studies. I'd like to continue to make my Thirty Days of CCS an annual tradition, so for any any CCS students and/or alums who see this, please pass it on.

New Articles at Cicada, Foxing Quarterly

Those interested in my reviews may want to check out my reviews of books by Rutu Modan and Nicole Georges over at Cicada. I've also started a new weekly minicomics review column over at Foxing Quarterly. New editions will appear every Thursday. The first column was about Whit Taylor's The Anthropologists. 

High-Low At Autoptic

Just a quick note to let folks know that I'll be attending the first Autoptic show in Minneapolis, MN this Sunday, August 18th. I'll be moderating a conversation between Lisa Hanawalt and Jaime Hernandez, as well as a panel called "The Dark Roots of Myth", featuring Eleanor Davis, Eamon Espey, Max Mose, Caitlin Skaalrud and Anna Bongiovanni. As always, I'm happy to review any comics that are given to me. If you don't know me, I'll be wearing a black hat. This promises to be a remarkable show.

Self-Promotion: Big Feminist But, Studygroup Magazine

I'd like to indulge in a bit of self-promotion for some other recent projects of mine. I was a consulting editor for The Big Feminist But, an anthology edited by Shannon O'Leary and Joan Reilly. The only thing I really did was suggest a sequence for the stories in a manner that I thought made sense. While I wasn't thrilled with every story in here, there's some excellent work as well. Gabrielle Bell's "Manifestation" (her story about adapting Valerie Solanos' SCUM Manifesto) is one of my favorite stories of her career. Lauren Weinstein's heartfelt "If This Is All You Get" is a wonderful account of motherhood. Ulli Lust's autobio story about polyamory with her partner Kai Pfieffer is excellent; a mix of outrageous and strangely sensible. There are also strong pieces like the collaborations between real-life partners Vanessa Davis & Trevor Alixopulos, Josh Neufeld & Sari Wilson and former partners Jesse Reklaw & Andrice Arp. Other highlights include stories by Corinne Mucha, Virginia Paine, Justin Hall, Ron Rege', Jeffrey Brown, Emily Flake and Jen Wang. The book also contains one of Dylan Williams' last comics, and it's one of the best in the entire book. It's a fine group of artists examining a topic worthy of discussion, whether it relates to personal identity, sexual identity, marriage or child-rearing. Please consider buying a copy.

I'm also pleased to note that I have a piece in the new issue of Study Group Magazine (#2). Titled "Punk As Fuck: The Comics of Josh Bayer", this article takes a close look at a number of comics by the emerging cartoonist whose Raw Power was one of the best comics of the year. I'm not exaggerating when I feel like both the first and second issues of this magazine felt like they were being published just for me. Zack Soto is the designer and comics editor of the magazine, and his bright & powerful aesthetic can be felt in both issues. The list of artists he put together to contribute number many of my recent favorites: Aidan Koch, David King, Malachi Ward, Trevor Alixopulos, and Michael DeForge (in issue #1) and Lilli Carre', DeForge, Onsmith, Julia Gfrorer, Dan Zettwoch, Alixopulos, Sam Alden and Koch (in issue #2). None of these artists are turning in half-assed material, either; it's a-list stuff. The other great thing about SGM is that its features editor is former Comics Journal editor Milo George. George presided over one of the greatest runs in TCJ history, and seeing him with his hand back in the comics game is exciting. He was a supportive and hands-on editor whose input helped shape my article on Bayer into a piece I'm truly proud of. His process interview with Craig Thompson in #1 was fascinating. I also enjoyed his interview with Angie Wang, as well as Zack Soto's talks with Eleanor Davis and Mare' Odomo. I'd also like to single out J.T. Dockery's excellent piece on visiting John Byrne's house (!) and the way in general SGM manages to address some mainstream comics with a discerning and critical eye. This is strong and frequently cutting-edge stuff that's designed and packaged beautifully. Strongly recommended.

New Content On High-Low

A site announcement: starting tomorrow, I will be republishing some of my favorite reviews and features from my old sequart.com column. Since that site crashed over two years ago, three years worth of my work disappeared. I've been able to recover a good bit of it, and I plan to republish an old article twice a week. When possible, I'll repost articles relevant to my current work at tcj.com. Tomorrow, I'll republish my first review of the books from the Fantagraphics/Coconino Press Ignatz series. Tuesday, I'll publish another Ignatz review.

Speaking of tcj.com, there are major changes coming to that site on March 1st. I will continue to write for that site, but there will be timing, content and format changes ahead for me. Instead of blogging three times a week, I will be doing a monthly minicomics column and weekly reviews of other material. That's not quite enough to contain my usual writing output, so I will also be writing a new feature for High-Low once a week. I'll be focusing in on slightly older works from my review stack that I haven't quite gotten around to.

Anyone who's still following my work but abandoned TCJ for whatever reason (formatting, design, the content of other writers), please consider giving it another try starting in March. Without revealing details, I think readers will be very pleasantly surprised at the breadth and depth of the new roster of talent. I will continue to post link to tcj on this site. Thanks for reading.

TCJ Entries For September

For those still following my articles through this blog, here are my TCJ reviews and other features for September:

Diario De Oaxaca, by Peter Kuper.

Drinking At The Movies, by Julia Wertz.

Set To Sea, by Drew Weing.

New comics from Colleen Frakes & Alex Kim.

Go For The Gold, a sketchbook from the Meathaus collective.

The comics anthology Nymphomomena.

New volumes of Bone and Amulet, by Jeff Smith and Kazu Kibuishi, respectively.

The fourth volume of Frank King's Walt & Skeezix.

The first three issues of Bob Oxman's minicomics series Smuttynose.

Parts one, two and three of a career-spanning interview with Steve Lafler.

The fourth and fifth issues of Morgan Pielli's Indestructible Universe Quarterly.

The Axe-Man of New Orleans, by Rick Geary.

How I Made It To Eighteen, by Tracy White.

El Vocho, by Steve Lafler.

A minicomics round-up featuring comics by Dina Kelberman, Kyle Baddeley and Desmond Reed.

TCJ Entries For August

Here are my latest columns and reviews from The Comics Journal:

The Minicomics of Virginia Paine

Ganges #3, by Kevin Huizenga

Lightning Round: short reviews of comics by Greg Carter & Stephanie O'Donnell; Ibrahim Ineke; Kyle Baddeley; and Rob Jackson.

Nurse Nurse #6 and Troop 142 #4, by Katie Skelly & Mike Dawson, respectively.

The Living Cain, by Lydia Conklin

Revolver, by Matt Kindt

The first two issues of the Supertalk anthology

Wilson, by Daniel Clowes

Melvin Monster Volume 2, by John Stanley

Second Thoughts, by Niklas Asker

Elephant Man #1, by Greg Houston

These Things Happen #3 and #4, by Sam Carbaugh

An Evening at Chapel Hill Comics

Dance After Dark and Rapt Attention, by Laura Terry & Penina Gal, respectively.

The CCS Anthology Werewolf!!

The Complete Peanuts, 1977-1978, by Charles Schulz.

Diario De Oaxaca, by Peter Kuper.

TCJ (and other) Entries For July

Here's a list of reviews I did in the month of July:

Mome Volume 18.

Hate Annual 8, by Peter Bagge.

Rare Bits Comics Collective: Jen Vaughn, Sam Carbaugh & Jason Week.

The Pterodactyl Hunters In the Gilded City, by Brendan Leach.

Blammo #6 and Blindspot #1, by Joseph Remnant & Noah Van Sciver.

The free Dope Flounder anthology.

Two comics by L. Nichols.

An appreciation of Harvey Pekar.

Newave!, edited by Michael Dowers.

Tales Designed To Thrizzle #6, by Michael Kupperman.

Autobio comics by Ben "Snakepit" White, Jason Young and Robyn Jordan.

Werewolves of Montpellier, by Jason.

James Sturm's Market Day and mental illness.

Death Deals & Quiet Human Contact, by Eamon Espey and various, respectively.

Short takes on comics by Greg Farrell, Dina Kelberman, Sean Andress and volume 10 of Candy Or Medicine.

Tag Team #1, an anthology from various alumni of the Center for Cartoon Studies.

New comics from Jose-Luis Olivares and Joseph Lambert.

Eschew #2, by Robert Sergel.

Whirlwind Wonderland, by Rina Ayuyang.

TCJ (and other) Entries For June

Here's a rundown of links from my recent work for The Comics Journal and the Poopsheet Foundation:

Flesh and Bone, by Julia Grfrorer.

Minicomics from Dina Kelberman and Derik Badman.

Super Spy: The Lost Dossiers, by Matt Kindt.

Yasha Lizard #1 & #2, by Kristina Stipetic.

New comics from Ed Choy Moorman.

New comics from Tom Neely and Sam Henderson.

Dungeon Quest, by Joe Daly.

Undeleted Scenes, by Jeffrey Brown.

New comics from Melissa Mendes.

Smile, by Raina Telgemeier.

Minicomics by Maggie Morrill.

Minicomics from Jason Viola, Josh Latta and David Z Greene.

The Honduran Coup, by Dan Archer.

Minis from Jon Chad and Sophia Wiedeman.

Minis from Aaron Cockle and JT Yost.

Tranz, by William Cardini.

Reich #7, by Elijah Brubaker.

American, Eh? #1-4, by Heather Bryant.

Change of Address

It's come to my attention that some folks have been sending submissions by mail to my old address. If you've sent me something in the last 6-8 months and I have not yet reviewed it, it's likely because I didn't receive it. If you'd care to try again, my new address is:

Rob Clough
507 Dupree Street
Durham, NC 27701

As always, I welcome all submissions for review. Please contact me at tmc (at) duke (dot) edu if you have any questions.