Critical perspectives on mainstream, groundlevel, and alternative comics in The Comics Journal, 1977 to 1996

Abstract

The Comics Journal, the premiere venue for comics criticism in the United States since its inception in 1977, built its reputation on its harsh criticism of mainstream comics and its championing of alternative comics, but the Journal did not arrive fully at this position for two decades. During this time its critical perspective was complex and contradictory, with the Journal continuing to hold out hope for the eventual improvement of superhero comics. However, the Journal focused most of its critical energies on what were known at the time as groundlevel comics, small, independently published comics that utilised the genres of science fiction, fantasy, horror and superheroes. The Journal largely ignored alternative comics until the late 1980s, and it wasn’t until the 1990s that the Journal fully embraced them as the driving force for the evolution and improvement of American comics.