The Comics Interpreter


The Comics Interpreter was a zine of comics criticism, published and edited by Robert Young. Published from 1999 to 2004, it focused on alternative comics, and was characterized by interviews and reviews of greater length and detail than most comics-oriented publications. Although The Comics Interpreter generally had low production values, well-known artists contributed cover art.
In addition to editor Young, notable prose contributors to TCI included former Comics Journal stalwart Gene Phillips, Chad Parenteau, David Choe, Nick Abadzis, and Mark Staff Brandl.

Overview

Early issues featured interviews with seminal indy comics creators including brothers Asaf & Tomer Hanuka, Brian Ralph, Jordan Crane, Jesse Reklaw, David Choe, and even a brief chat with Neil Gaiman. There were lengthy reviews of Frank Miller's 300, the work of Alex Ross, and the first reviews of works by Kurt Wolfgang, Kevin Huizenga, and Martin Cendreda.
In 2000, publisher Young released TCI Interview, a collection of interviews from earlier issues with the creators Jordan Crane, David Choe, Jesse Reklaw, and Jef Czekaj.
With issue #6, Dec. 2001, the magazine went to offset printing. Following that issue TCI re-emerged after a long layover with TCI volume 2, #1, featuring a cover by underground cartoonist Hans Rickheit and an interview with iconoclastic artist Paul Pope. Subsequent issues demonstrated the magazine's eclectic interests, with essays from Gene Phillips, reviews of works ranging from Alan Moore to obscure minicomics by Jamie Tanner and Dave Shelton, and interviews with George Pratt, Kozyndan, James Jean, David Rees, Alex Maleev, and Tak Toyoshima.
In the mid-2000s TCI also had a podcast.

Issues

Volume 1