The next issue of McSweeney’s
Quarterly, No. 33, due out momentarily, is “an attempt to demonstrate all
the great things print journalism can (still) do, with as much first-rate
writing and reportage and design (and posters and games and on-location
Antarctic travelogues) as we can get in there,” saith the press release. No. 33
will be a “one-time-only, Sunday-edition sized newspaper — the San Francisco Panorama — and it’ll have
the news of the day, plus sixteen pages of comics from the likes of Chris Ware and Dan Clowes and Art
Spiegelman and many others besides. But, apparently, no editorial cartoons.
At least none the publisher feels like mentioning at this date. For
subscription information (i.e., purchase instruction), consult
store.mcsweeney.net. This is the third attempt that I’m aware of to rejuvenate
the Sunday funnies by publishing an exemplary model. DC Comics did it with its
short-lived Wednesday Comics; and
then in Minnesota a couple months ago a consortium of enthusiasts published Big Funny, a coffee-table size paper of
original comics that pays heed to the glory days of newspaper comics. Someday,
one of these things might catch on if we’re not careful.
Comments