Nationality American | Name Tom Spurgeon Role Writer | |
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Area(s) Writer, journalist, historian Awards Best Comics-Related Periodical/Journalism, Eisner Award (2010) (2012) (2013) | ||
Notable works The Comics Reporter | ||
#527 Tom Spurgeon's "We Told You So"
Tom Spurgeon is an American writer, historian and editor in the field of comics, notable for his five-year run as editor of The Comics Journal and his blog The Comics Reporter.
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Career
Spurgeon was editor of The Comics Journal from 1994–1999.
After leaving The Comics Journal, Spurgeon wrote the comic strip Wildwood with his childhood friend Dan Wright. The strip, initially launched as Bobo's Progress, was syndicated by King Features from 1999 to 2002 and ran in about 80 newspapers.
With Jordan Raphael, Spurgeon co-wrote the biography Stan Lee and the Rise and Fall of the American Comic Book, published in 2003.
In 2004, with site designer Jordan Raphael, Spurgeon launched The Comics Reporter.
Spurgeon co-authored an history of Fantagraphics. Written with Jacob Covey, Comics as Art: We Told You So was initially scheduled for release in 2006. However, a defamation lawsuit launched by Harlan Ellison against Fantagraphics, claiming they had defamed him in the book, saw publication delayed. Although the suit was settled with no money or apologies changing hands, The book was released, with references to Ellison, omitted in 2017.
Personal life
He once described himself as "a big, fat guy", being six feet, three inches tall and weighing about 400 pounds. As of mid-2012, he weighs between 205–218 pounds.
In mid-2011, Spurgeon suffered a life-threatening health crisis that necessitated immediate surgery and placed The Comics Reporter website on hiatus for several weeks (attributed to a "summer vacation"). In an essay reflecting on the ordeal, he discussed the experience, relative to his intimacy with and observations of the comics industry, saying,
At this point in my life I'd prefer to read the complete works of a defunct independent comics company from the 1980s than the fruits of the latest top 100 list. I'm sentimental now, and that's a part of it, but I also think there's something to a form that's constantly slipping out of your grasp, that's broader and deeper and weirder and more intense than even the excellent work that sifts to the top.
Awards
Spurgeon and The Comics Reporter won the Eisner Award for Best Comics-Related Periodical/Journalism in 2010, 2012, and 2013.