RIP: Tom Spurgeon
December 16th, 2019 20:54![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alibi_shopI posted this on Facebook at the time, but not here on my public blog because it seemed like there was nothing I could really add to the outpouring of sadness and gratitude from virtually everyone I know in the comics world. But then later it seemed like that's not how it works, so... well anyway.
I don't think I ever met Tom Spurgeon in person or corresponded with him more than briefly, but his writing and editing have given so much to the world of comics for something like 30 years—his work with The Comics Journal was hugely inspiring to me as a kid, both in terms of making me aware of a lot of great art and also as an example of how to write well about things you love... and he continued to be a valuable writer online in this weird new world of atomized voices. And from everything I've read, he was also just a plain great guy.
For so many people I know this is a much more personal loss, but I have to say it really hurts to realize that I will not get to know him. That was something I sort of vaguely intended to try to do, for years and years and years, because his work had made me so happy and he seemed like he'd be great to talk to, but until pretty recently I was just way too shy and had a big hangup about not being a real cartoonist or whatever. Finally a couple months ago I managed to at least connect on Facebook, but then I never said anything. Don't be like me! Talk to people!
Probably the most we ever communicated was 20+ years ago when I was hanging out a lot on the Comics Journal online forum, learning quickly how many ways there were for online dialogue to go bad. For no reason except that he seemed to be the nicest and sanest person there, I emailed him asking if he could do me a weird favor: if he happened to notice me getting into an argument there, could he maybe just send me a note like "don't"? He was incredibly obliging (although I don't think it actually became an issue after that) and commiserated about how badly those things can mess with your head. I don't think I had any idea that he was only four or five years older than me—he seemed like a cool uncle. Tom may have sort of raised his voice there at someone once or twice when they were really asking for it, but mostly I just remember him being calm and saying interesting things while people were flinging hot poop all over the place.
Also, on two occasions he said nice things in reviews about some comics I made, which was pretty good odds considering I was making virtually no comics and virtually no one was reading them. I was simultaneously over the moon because he somewhat liked them, and crushed because he didn't like them more. Always in the back of my mind there was this idea that one of these days I'd show him something that was actually good.
I don't think I ever met Tom Spurgeon in person or corresponded with him more than briefly, but his writing and editing have given so much to the world of comics for something like 30 years—his work with The Comics Journal was hugely inspiring to me as a kid, both in terms of making me aware of a lot of great art and also as an example of how to write well about things you love... and he continued to be a valuable writer online in this weird new world of atomized voices. And from everything I've read, he was also just a plain great guy.
For so many people I know this is a much more personal loss, but I have to say it really hurts to realize that I will not get to know him. That was something I sort of vaguely intended to try to do, for years and years and years, because his work had made me so happy and he seemed like he'd be great to talk to, but until pretty recently I was just way too shy and had a big hangup about not being a real cartoonist or whatever. Finally a couple months ago I managed to at least connect on Facebook, but then I never said anything. Don't be like me! Talk to people!
Probably the most we ever communicated was 20+ years ago when I was hanging out a lot on the Comics Journal online forum, learning quickly how many ways there were for online dialogue to go bad. For no reason except that he seemed to be the nicest and sanest person there, I emailed him asking if he could do me a weird favor: if he happened to notice me getting into an argument there, could he maybe just send me a note like "don't"? He was incredibly obliging (although I don't think it actually became an issue after that) and commiserated about how badly those things can mess with your head. I don't think I had any idea that he was only four or five years older than me—he seemed like a cool uncle. Tom may have sort of raised his voice there at someone once or twice when they were really asking for it, but mostly I just remember him being calm and saying interesting things while people were flinging hot poop all over the place.
Also, on two occasions he said nice things in reviews about some comics I made, which was pretty good odds considering I was making virtually no comics and virtually no one was reading them. I was simultaneously over the moon because he somewhat liked them, and crushed because he didn't like them more. Always in the back of my mind there was this idea that one of these days I'd show him something that was actually good.
