I really enjoyed Tom Spurgeon’s piece on comics coverage from mainstream news outlets. I thought this sentence from the concluding paragraph really hit the nail on the head:
“At some point, however, comics needs to stop being flattered and start being covered, pulled apart, questioned, challenged and dissected.”
It’s weird to see excitement about an outlet like The New York Times covering comics terribly, just because it’s the Times doing it. And while it does get kind of irritating to see reporters swap “manga” and “anime” in those smaller-market papers that write stories about clubs at libraries and high schools, I would rather read a hundred of those articles than some strangely condescending piece on comics growing up and getting serious that uses Marvel’s Civil War as an example.
It seems like the larger and better resourced the outlet is, the more likely they are to swallow a publisher’s agenda whole, which is precisely the opposite of how it should be. To keep harping on the Times, it’s exceedingly strange to me that there’s such a disconnect between their critical standards (publishing comics from interesting talents and reviewing books by Adrian Tomine) and their willingness to commit accessory to hype when Marvel or DC has a story of questionable merit to flog.
Maybe it’s because I spend so much time reading the comics blogoshere where these spandex event comics are routinely recognized as ghoulish, franchise-prolonging stunts even by people who like them. Maybe I’ve bought too much into the concept of high-profile journalistic prestige and recoil when I see the Times or Newsweek looking dumb in easily avoidable ways. I’m not really sure, nor do I really have many ideas as to how to ameliorate the state of affairs. Cordial, constructively critical letters to reporters and arts editors? Consistent use of the “super-hero” modifier before “comics” when it’s appropriate?
I think I must be one of six or seven people who actually read Entertainment Weekly, because I don’t remember seeing anyone mention a piece by Jeff Jensen in the January 11 issue about how much he’s always loved Marvel comics. Seriously, that’s the beginning, middle and end of it for five heavily illustrated pages. With everything that’s happening in comics as a medium, EW’s big comics think piece comes down to how Jean Grey made some guy feel squishy when he was 10 years old?
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Updated to note: Kate Dacey-Tsuei has posted an excellent comic wish list for the new year, including some helpful suggestions for print outlets trying to cover the subject.