Thomas Martin Spurgeon[Spurgeon, Thomas. " Mickey Mouse." World Book Advanced, World Book, 2018] (December 16, 1968 – November 13, 2019) was an American writer, historian, critic, and editor in the field of ,
Early life
Spurgeon was born on December 16, 1968, in Muncie, Indiana. He was one of three sons of Sandra "Sunny" McFarren and Wiley W. Spurgeon Jr. His mother was a senior manager in the
health care industry, and his father was the executive editor of the sister newspapers
The Muncie Star and
The Muncie Evening Press, a role that included curating the newspapers' comics pages.
Spurgeon was his class president in high school, and attended college at Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Virginia, where he was a lineman on the football team,
Career
Spurgeon was the managing editor, and later executive editor, of
The Comics Journal, a comics trade magazine and critical journal published by Fantagraphics, from 1994 to 1999.
Under his tenure, the magazine expanded the scope of its coverage to more regularly include European comics, introducing an English-language readership to the new wave of publishing from France led by the group of cartoonists centered around L'Association. As well, Spurgeon's
Journal was notable for the coverage it gave to burgeoning scenes of American comics makers like the
Fort Thunder collective.
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.[ March 24, 2009.][ March 24, 2009.][ March 24, 2009.][ March 24, 2009.]
With Jordan Raphael, Spurgeon co-wrote the biography Stan Lee and the Rise and Fall of the American Comic Book (Chicago Review Press, 2003).[ March 24, 2009.] He was also the coauthor of The Romita Legacy (Dynamite, 2011).
In 2004, with site designer Jordan Raphael, Spurgeon launched The Comics Reporter.
Spurgeon co-authored a history of his former employer, 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.[Spurgeon, Tom, and Jacob Covey. Comics as Art: We Told You So. Seattle, Washington: Fantagraphics, 2006. ] The book was released, with references to Ellison omitted, in 2017.[ from the original on March 25, 2009.]
In 2014, Spurgeon became the executive director of Cartoon Crossroads Columbus, an annual free four-day celebration of cartooning and graphic novels in Columbus, Ohio.
Personal life
Spurgeon described himself as "a big, fat guy", standing at six feet three inches tall and weighing at times over 400 pounds.
In 2011, he underwent emergency surgery that placed
The Comics Reporter website on hiatus.
He wrote an
essay about the experience. A year later, he posted
a second essay detailing his change in perspective, lifestyle modifications, and significant weight loss following his surgery. In it, he explains, "I wasn't sick
because I was overweight. The weight was a factor in my recovery...My desire to lose weight greatly intensified because of the new health realities I faced."
Spurgeon died on November 13, 2019, at age 50, in Columbus, Ohio.
Awards
Spurgeon and
The Comics Reporter won the
Eisner Award for Best Comics-Related Periodical/Journalism in 2010, 2012,
[ 2010-2012 Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards Winners, San Diego Comic-Con site] and 2013.
[ 2013 Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards Winners , San Diego Comic-Con site] The site was also awarded the UTNE Independent Press Award for arts and literature coverage in 2002.
Spurgeon sat on the 2019
Professional Jury.
[Johnston, Rich. "Comic Book Folk Remember Tom Spurgeon," Bleeding Cool (November 14, 2019).]
Bibliography
-
(with Jordan Raphael) Stan Lee and the Rise and Fall of the American Comic Book (Chicago Review Press, 2003)
-
The Romita Legacy (Dynamite Entertainment, 2011)
-
(with Jacob Covey) Comics As Art: We Told You So (Fantagraphics Books, 2016)
External links
