Gary Groth

Gary Groth is co-founder, with Mike Catron and Kim Thompson, of Fantagraphics Books in 1976. At a time when comics were an object of scorn and ridicule in mainstream culture, Fantagraphics insisted on treating comics like an artform deserving of respect and demanding a concomitant adherence to high aesthetic standards. Indeed Groth believed the aesthetic potential of comics were no less than the of other popular art forms —  fiction, film, music, theater, painting, etc.— and that it had so rarely touched upon its potential. Groth still continues today to buy and edit many books for the company as well as write for and conduct interviews for The Comics Journal. His advocacy for artistic standards, disdain for mediocrity, and commitment to risk-taking remain undiminished.