Gary Groth in conversation with Ben Katchor, Aug 29, 2023

The 364th meeting of the NY Comics & Picture-story Symposium held on Tuesday, August 29, 2023 at 7pm EDT. Visit nycomicssymposium.wordpress.com for more information about this series.

Comics from Juvenile Entertainment to Aspiring Graphic Literature.

Gary Groth in conversation with Ben Katchor, moderated by Austin English

Some of the fans who grew up in the late 1960s comics fandom era went on to work at Marvel and DC. But Ben Katchor and Gary Groth went in the opposite direction in their own very different ways — rejecting the prevailing idiom in mainstream comics and pursuing comics as a form of literature. Both moved from beloved childhood genre comics to the very different aesthetics they embraced as adults. The question this discussion between Groth and Katchor will try to answer is: Why? How? What did their respective paths look like? How did their childhood love of comics affect their later mature views of the art form? A wide-ranging discussion of comics aesthetics.

Gary Groth is the editor in chief of The Comics Journal, and co-founder of Fantagraphics Books.

Ben Katchor is a cartoonist. He teaches at Parsons, The New School and, since 2011, helps run the NY Comics & Picture-story Symposium.

Austin English is a cartoonist and writer living in New York. His most recent book is Meskin and Umezo. He teaches art and cartooning at Parsons and SVA.