Gary Groth
Comics fans will be able to explore the world of editorial production of one of the most innovative publishing houses on the American scene: Fantagraphics Books. The publishing house co-founded by Gary Groth, Mike Catron and Kim Thompson will be present with a stand at the Napoleone Pavilion. It was founded in 1976 with the publication of The Comics Journal, and has been the driving force for the promotion of comics as a form of art. It quickly became known, loved and hated, for her advocacy of comics as an art form through Groth's highly reviewed magazine, editorials, and off-the-cuff criticism, as well as its detailed interviews with a wide range of artists, from Jack Kirby to R. Crumb, from Ralph Steadman to Jules Feiffer, up to Roz Chast.
Among the illustrious guests of this edition of the festival, there is one of the co-founders, Gary Groth. At a time when comics were despised and ridiculed in mainstream culture, Fantagraphics treated them as an art form worthy of respect, demanding high aesthetic standards as a result. Indeed, Groth believed that the aesthetic potential of comics was no less than that of other popular art forms - fiction, cinema, music, theater, painting, etc. - and that it rarely reached its potential.
Even today, Groth continues to select and edit many books for Fantagraphics, as well as writing and conducting interviews for The Comics Journal. His defense of artistic standards, contempt for mediocrity and commitment to risk taking remain unchanged.