The Comics Journal Library: The Writers Book

A surprisingly disjointed book, The Writers tackles several major comics-themed issues head on with writers and dilettantes such as Harlan Ellison, Steve Gerber, and Chris Claremore - as well as dull, uninvolved commentary revolving around narcissism, defeatism, and professional panderism.

The interviews with Ellison and Gerber are fascinating, and on a lesser scale, parts of the tete-a-tetes with the others. For the most part, however, the book is comprised of Gary Groth pissing off big name writers with his unsubstantiated (often solicited) single-minded opinions and views. Groth seemingly thrives on the uncomfortable interviewee, never giving way to tact or poise, and going for the jugular after faux-camaraderie and gales of forced laughter (which, for the benefit of the reader, is included in the text). And the interviews not conducted by Groth himself leave much to be desired, seemingly meandering free-association from disconnected ideas, ramblings, etc.

Ironically, for a book pieced together by a team of "journalistic" editors, the book is slipshod in terms of mistyped, even omitted, words. As much as Groth decries the pulpy, melodramatic nature of the comic book medium, his own interviews veritably stagger with a similar ramshackle presentation.

The writers herein are primarily those selected from the "Big Two:" Marvel and D.C. Comics. Great.

Interviews are clipped directly from The Comics Journal from the mid-1970s through the early 1980s, leaving little room for matured opinions, changed conditions, or differences between the writer's work at that particular time versus what he (unanimously) had been writing twenty years prior. Spurgeon includes a supplementary introduction prior to each interview, sometimes stating the time and circumstances during which the interview originally took place, but it remains unsatisfying.

The aforementioned two interviews are, however, very interesting and deserve to be read by comics afficianados. The remainer are not exactly illuminating by any means, but may serve to enhance one's preformulated notions of the popular writers.