As a long-time subscriber to The Comics Journal, and a fan of the bulk of Fantagraphics’ output, even I have to admit that TCJ.com is was pretty lacking in decent content. However, that all changes today, as Fantagraphics announces that they have relaunched the site, with a new design and a new editorial team. The new team consists of Dan Nadel and Tim Hodler, who together co-founded the Eisner-nominated magazine and blog Comics Comics.

I welcome the new team, and look forward to seeing what they have up their sleeves. Time to stick TCJ.com back into my daily list of sites to read!

Read the full press release, posted below:

The Comics Journal is proud to announce the relaunch of TCJ.com with new editorial oversight.

The editorial team that is taking over are Dan Nadel and Tim Hodler. Together they co-founded the Eisner-nominated magazine and blog Comics Comics with cartoonist Frank Santoro in 2006. They published four print issues and the web edition quickly grew into one of the most vital forums for critical and historical discussion of comics, marked by contributions from some of the leading cartoonists and writers in the field.

The Comics Journal print magazine has chronicled the comics medium since its first publication in 1976. It has been a leading force of journalism exploring both the facets of the comics industry and the artistic value of the books. Releasing over 300 issues, The Journal is changing face as well with an over 600-page tome of criticism and interviews for issue 301.

The new TCJ.com will continue this tradition by offering an online magazine for interviews, criticism, history and ideas in a concise, beautifully designed format. The site will feature multiple book reviews every week, making it a clearinghouse for the latest critical responses to comics and graphic novels from all over the spectrum.

There is a myriad of contributing writers offering a wide a to the new TCJ.com, all bringing together leading voices from literary critics, to pop culture journalists, to comics reviewers. Expect to see writing from Richard Gehr, Nicole Rudick, Jesse Pearson, Andrew Leland, Frank Santoro, Jeet Heer, Ken Parille, R. Fiore, Joe McCulloch, Chris Mautner, Ryan Holmberg, Gary Groth, and many others.

Along with featuring long form articles on all aspects of the medium from leading contemporary writers, TCJ.com will also host a monthly diary feature, in which an artist (or other comics figure) takes us through a week of their life in prose, pictures or cartoons, one day at a time. This column is kicking off with Vanessa Davis, followed by Brandon Graham, then Joyce Farmer, with many more to come.

The new TCJ.com is focused on bringing the magazine’s archive to a new online readership. With holdings including hundreds of interviews with the leading cartoonists of the 20th century and serve as a living record of the development of the comics medium. Beginning March 1, and rolling out over several months, each issue of The Comics Journal will be made available in its entirety to subscribers. Non-subscribers will have the opportunity to sample highlights from many of the issues as well.

Dan Nadel is the publisher of the acclaimed PictureBox Inc, which has released graphic novels, art books, and novels by the likes of Gary Panter, Charles Willeford, Yuichi Yokoyama, and Wilco. He has also written two of the most vital recent books on comics history: Art Out of Time: Unknown Comics Visionaries, 1900-1969 and Art in Time: Unknown Comic Book Adventures, 1940-1980. Nadel won a Grammy Award for his art direction of Wilco’s A Ghost is Born album package, and currently teaches at the School of Visual Arts in NYC.

Tim Hodler is a writer and editor who has been published in Bookforum, Details, New York Magazine, and The Ganzfeld, among other places.

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