The Comics Journal #308

Pia Guerra, Gary Groth, Rachel R Miller, Kristy Valenti

Fantagraphics

This issue of the award-winning magazine focuses on the intersections of comics and activism. Gary Groth interviews editorial cartoonist Pia Guerra (Y: The Last Man); Civil Rights activists talk about the creation of the Black Panther Party symbol and their tactics to battle voter suppression; and much more.

In this issue, Gary Groth conducts a career-spanning interview with Y: The Last Man comics artist Pia Guerra about her turn to editorial cartooning and future projects. John Jennings explores the vision behind the graphic imprint Megascope, devoted to "rediscovering powerful speculative work by and about people of color." Jennie S. Law interviews Civil Rights activists Jennifer Lawson and Courtland Cox about their ingenious strategies — comics pamphlets about gaining political power, going undercover, mass meetings — to register voters in Lowndes County circa 1965. Nicknamed "Bloody Lowndes," 80% of its population was Black, yet only two Black people were registered to vote. Also: a gallery of Frank Leet's one-panel cartoons illustrating Don Marquis's (Archy and Mehitabel) verse, a conversation with Alex Graham about self-publishing a 400-page graphic novel, a Rob Guillory (Chew, Farmhand) sketchbook, an original comic by Meg O'Shea, and more.