General Category > Comic Related Discussion

JVJ and the History of Comic Books

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bminor:
I have been a member of this community for some time now and have been enjoying the books scanned on this site and the discussion in the community of people who collect and share their comic books.
It seems as though whenever there is a discussion about a particular item concerning the history of our hobby, whether it be a artist, comic company or what-not, at one point or another JVJ will chime in with his knowledge pertaining the topic.
I get the feeling that he has forgotten more about comics that I will ever know, and I have been reading them since about 1968(I was about ten).
A question then for JVJ. Have you ever written down, at least some, of what you know about comic books and their creators?
I would just love to read it!
If you have not, maybe you could dictate verbally onto tape and someone could transcribe it?
I would love have a long chat with a person who knows as much about the industry as you do.
What does everybody else think?
I don't mean to embarrass you with idle praise. But I do think you are pretty dog gone knowledgeable in this area.
Yours,
Bminor

Yoc:
This Very Topic was raised in another topic somewhere B.
Narfstar suggested that Jim should consider getting his facts down on paper or tape or whatever as it might be lost forever and that would be a real shame.

And I agree with you.  I too would Love to see such a project happen as well!

JVJ (RIP):
While your comments are flattering, guys,
you don't quite understand what I bring to the table. It's really the ability to assimilate the data in question and dissect it objectively and make the connections to figure things out. I'm ALWAYS learning as much myself as I am sharing.

For instance, I'm currently working on a project that suddenly, just before publication, was blind-sided by a new player in comics history. Without even knowing what this new artist looked like, I took the time-frames, the company and the connections given and deduced the style and documented his career. Now HOW could I share that "knowledge" with anyone before the questions were asked?

That's what I do. I answer questions. When somebody asks, I dig up an answer or try to. Mostly I try to answer questions that haven't been asked before, because those are by far the most interesting. But my "knowledge" is strung over thousands of index cards and cross-indexes and notes and tapes shared with Hames Ware and the comics in the boxes in my attic and it is most definitely NOT on tap in my brain. People get very disappointed with me when they encounter me away from my source material (say at WonderCon, for example) and expect me to display my knowledge. The same would happen in front of a tape recorder.

Like a good librarian, I know WHERE to find the answers. I am currently working on isolating the styles of George Kerr and L. Bing on Raggedy Ann and Andy at Dell, filling in a few missing credits for Gary Brown and Alan Hutchinson's Dell Four Color project, helping someone (see, no memory whatsoever) on a Lou Cameron checklist, working with Alberto Becattini on a Matt Baker checklist, updating some Tarzan Annual GCD credits, ID-ing (or TRYING to) some early 1950 Mad-parody art for John Benson, looking over the Marvel Mystery 21-24 Masterworks credits for Doc V, searching out the data to repudiate an erroneous credit in the latest Mystic MM, etc. In every case I'm LEARNING stuff that I didn't know. In every case, someone asked me something we didn't know.

Ask a question, I'll try to answer, but ask me to do a "data dump" and you'll be gravely disappointed.

I hope you can understand the difference. I'm extremely dedicated to getting comics history RIGHT, ONE FACT AT A TIME. Every "history" of comics should be challenged point by point and the author should have a real answer as to why they said what they did. There is way too much that is taken as fact and as "given" that is wrong or misunderstood.

So, if you want to something, I'll try to answer your question and be happy to do so. Just remember, all too often it's going to be "I don't know!"

Peace, Jim (|:{>

Yoc:
Well said Jim.
And for all you do and the scans you've helped produce you will always be a hero to the GA community.

Bless you sir.

bminor:
Well, I expected a quick answer. Sure enough I received one...
So, you want a question. I will give you a question.

First, how about this as an idea for a new topic...

Ask JVJ.

The first question is...
I know next to nothing about Matt Baker, except that hew was a good girl artist(the first?) and a African-American.
Any other information would be nice...

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