''Hogan's Alley'', a publication devoted to comic art, is subtitled ''the magazine of the cartoon arts''. It has been published on an irregular schedule since 1994 by Bull Moose Publishing in
Atlanta
Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...
. Covering comic strips, comic books, cartoons and animation, each hefty issue contains at least 144 pages with a square-backed spine. Originally planned as a quarterly, the frequency is closer to that of an annual, with 20 issues published in 22 years.
The editor is Tom Heintjes, who also edits three magazines for the
Federal Reserve Bank
A Federal Reserve Bank is a regional bank of the Federal Reserve System, the central banking system of the United States. There are twelve in total, one for each of the twelve Federal Reserve Districts that were created by the Federal Reserve ...
.
[Scoop]
/ref> The magazine was co-founded by Heintjes and Rick Marschall
Richard "Rick" Marschall (born February 3, 1949) Miller, John Jackson"Comics Industry Birthdays" ''Comics Buyer's Guide'', June 10, 2005. Accessed January 10, 2011. . is a writer/editor and comic strip historian, described by ''Bostonia'' magazine ...
, former editor of ''Nemo, the Classic Comics Library
''Nemo, the Classic Comics Library'' was a magazine devoted to the history and creators of vintage comic strips. Created by comics historian Rick Marschall, it was published between 1983 and 1990 by Fantagraphics.
''Nemo'' ran for 31 issues (th ...
''. The designer is David Folkman.
Publication history
Interviewed in 2004. Heintjes gave some background on the magazine's origins:
:Rick Marschall and I conceived the idea of ''Hogan's Alley'' in early 1994. We often talked about the type of coverage we wanted cartooning to have, and we would blue-sky about our ideal comics magazine. It sounded so good that–like a couple of idiots–we decided to put it out ourselves. In the course of that first issue, we brought David Folkman on board as art director, and he's been an indispensable part of things from the first issue. One thing we felt was important was to connect cartooning's present to its earliest days, so we came up with the title ''Hogan's Alley''. In hindsight, from a marketing point of view, it probably isn't a good title. Most comics fans have no idea what the title represents–the Yellow Kid
The Yellow Kid (Mickey Dugan) is an American comic strip character that appeared from 1895 to 1898 in Joseph Pulitzer's ''New York World'', and later William Randolph Hearst's ''New York Journal''. Created and drawn by Richard F. Outcault in t ...
's neighborhood–so they don't know that they might be interested in the magazine. Also–we found this out later–a Hogan's Alley is a firearms training exercise, so I occasionally get letters from gun owners who felt tricked into picking up the magazine. I am not crazy about the idea of misleading a bunch of gun owners, but we're stuck with the title now. To fund the issue–the printing and postage and advertising–we emptied our piggy banks, sold some of our comics stuff and sought investments from friends who thought our idea had merit. The earliest issues all lost money, but it's become largely a break-even endeavor by now. We pay our writers, although David and I have never made a penny from the magazine.[
]
Writers
The scope of the magazine ranges from historical articles to coverage of current comic strips. Contributing writers have included Ron Goulart
Ronald Joseph Goulart (; January 13, 1933 – January 14, 2022) was an American popular culture historian and mystery, fantasy, and science fiction author.
He published novelizations and other work under various pseudonyms: Kenneth Robeson, Co ...
, R. C. Harvey
Robert C. Harvey (May 31, 1937 – July 7, 2022) was an American author, critic and cartoonist. He wrote a number of books on the history and theory of cartooning, with special focus on the comic strip. He also worked as a freelance cartoonist. ...
and Allan Holtz
Allan Holtz () is a comic strip historian who researches and writes about newspaper comics for his Stripper's Guide blog, launched in 2005. His research encompasses some 7,000 American comic strips and newspaper panels. In addition to his contribu ...
. In issue #12, Holtz examined the early evolution of Sunday comics
The Sunday comics or Sunday strip is the comic strip section carried in most western newspapers, almost always in color. Many newspaper readers called this section the Sunday funnies, the funny papers or simply the funnies.
The first US newspap ...
supplements to the daily comic strip, notably ''The Importance of Mister Peewee'', which ran in Joseph Pulitzer
Joseph Pulitzer ( ; born Pulitzer József, ; April 10, 1847 – October 29, 1911) was a Hungarian-American politician and newspaper publisher of the '' St. Louis Post-Dispatch'' and the ''New York World''. He became a leading national figure in ...
's ''New York World
The ''New York World'' was a newspaper published in New York City from 1860 until 1931. The paper played a major role in the history of American newspapers. It was a leading national voice of the Democratic Party. From 1883 to 1911 under pub ...
'' in 1903-04. In that same issue, R. C. Harvey offered an in-depth profile of cartoonist Dave Breger
Irving David Breger (April 15, 1908 – January 16, 1970) was an American cartoonist who created the syndicated ''Mister Breger'' (1945–1970), a gag panel series and Sunday comic strip known earlier as ''Private Breger'' and '' G.I. Joe''. The ...
.
Interview subjects have included Gus Arriola, C. C. Beck
Charles Clarence Beck (June 8, 1910 – November 22, 1989) was an American cartoonist and comic book artist, best known for his work on Captain Marvel (DC Comics), Captain Marvel (today known as Shazam!) at Fawcett Comics and DC Comics.
Early li ...
and Will Eisner
William Erwin Eisner (March 6, 1917 – January 3, 2005) was an American cartoonist, writer, and entrepreneur. He was one of the earliest cartoonists to work in the American comic book industry, and his series '' The Spirit'' (1940–1952) was no ...
.
See also
*Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum
The Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum is a research library of American cartoons and comic art affiliated with the Ohio State University library system in Columbus, Ohio. Formerly known as the Cartoon Research Library and the Cartoon Library ...
*''Comic Art
''Comic Art'' was a magazine, founded and edited by Todd Hignite, which surveyed newspaper comic strips, magazine cartoon panels and comic book art, both historical and contemporary.
History and profile
''Comic Art'' was established in 2002. Th ...
''
*''The Comics Journal
''The Comics Journal'', often abbreviated ''TCJ'', is an American magazine of news and criticism pertaining to comic books, comic strips and graphic novels. Known for its lengthy interviews with comic creators, pointed editorials and scathing r ...
''
*List of comic strip syndicates This is a list of comic strip syndicates. Over the years, many syndicates have been acquired and otherwise absorbed by competitors; this list attempts to illustrate that.
Comic strip syndicates
* Andrews McMeel Syndication (est. 2009) — formed by ...
*''The Menomonee Falls Gazette
''The Menomonee Falls Gazette'' (subtitled "The international newspaper for comic art fans") was a weekly tabloid published in the 1970s by Street Enterprises that reprinted newspaper comic strips from the United States and the U.K. Comic strip ...
''
*'' The Menomonee Falls Guardian''
References
External links
* {{official, https://www.hoganmag.com/
Craig Yoe interviews Tom Heintjes (November 8, 2007)
''Hogan's Alley'' trading card
1994 establishments in Georgia (U.S. state)
Annual magazines published in the United States
Comics magazines published in the United States
Magazines about comics
Magazines established in 1994
Magazines published in Atlanta