RAW (magazine)

"RAW" was a groundbreaking comics anthology edited by Art Spiegelman and Françoise Mouly and published from 1980 to 1991. It was a flagship publication of the 1980s alternative comics movement, serving as a more intellectual counterpoint to Robert Crumb's visceral "Weirdo", which followed squarely in the underground tradition of "Zap" and "Arcade". Along with the more genre-oriented "Heavy Metal" it was also one of the main venues for European comics in the United States in its day.

Origin

Spiegelman has often described his reasoning and process for starting the magazine with Mouly: after the demise of "Arcade", the '70s underground comics anthology he co-edited with Bill Griffith, and the general waning of the underground scene, Spiegelman was despairing that comics for adults might fade away for good. He had sworn not to work on another magazine where he would be editing his peers because of the tension and jealousies involved; however, Mouly had her own reasons for wanting to do just that. Having set up her small publishing company, Raw Books & Graphics, in 1978, she saw a magazine encompassing the range of her graphic and literary interests as a more attractive prospect than publishing a series of books. At the time, large-format, graphic punk and New Wave design magazines like "Wet" were distributed in independent bookstores. Mouly installed a printing press in her and Spiegelman's fourth floor walk-up loft and experimented with different bindings and printing techniqes. She and Spiegelman eventually settled on a very bold, large-scale and upscale package. Calling "RAW" a "graphix magazine," they hoped their unprecedented approach would bypass readers' prejudices against comics and force them to look at the work with new eyes.

Contents

"RAW" featured a mix of American and European contributors (including some of Spiegelman's students at the School of Visual Arts), as well as various contributors from other parts of the world, including the Argentine duo of José Muñoz and Carlos Sampayo, the Congolese painter Cheri Samba, and several Japanese cartoonists known for their work in "Garo". Though comics were the main focus, many issues included galleries of non-comics illustration and illustrated prose or non-fiction pieces; for example, "RAW" Volume 2 Number 2 featured one of the earliest published articles on Henry Darger, complete with fold-out color reproductions of his paintings and diaries. "RAW" also frequently reprinted public domain works by cartoonists and illustrators of historical significance such as George Herriman, Gustave Doré, and Winsor McCay.

The most famous work to come from the pages of "RAW" is Spiegelman's Pulitzer Prize-winning graphic novel "Maus", which was published serially in "RAW". Individual chapters were packaged as small comic books bound within each issue of "RAW" Volume 1 (a few color comics, such as Spiegelman's "Two-Fisted Painters: The Matisse Falcon" and Yoshiharu Tsuge's "Red Flowers", were also packaged as inserts). By Volume 2 "RAW"'s own dimensions had shrunk to match those of "Maus".

Formats

The first eight issues of "RAW" (Volume 1), published by Mouly and co-edited by Mouly and Spiegelman, were printed in black-and-white in an enormous, doormat-sized magazine format with a stapled binding. These were usually hand-assembled by Mouly's and Spiegelman's friends, and often packaged very creatively. For example, one issue came with "City of Terror" trading cards and gum; another issue contained a flexi disc with a sound collage made from excerpts of Ronald Reagan's speeches; a third issue had a deliberately torn cover. In 1987 Pantheon Books published a book collection of pieces from the first three issues of the large-size "RAW" titled "Read Yourself RAW".

The final three issues of "RAW" (Volume 2) were printed in a 'digest' or 'paperback' format with a mixture of full-color and black-and-white pages, some of which were printed on differing paper stock. They featured longer stories that focused more on narrative than bold graphic experiments. These issues were published by Penguin Books.

Several solo books by RAW contributors were published with the subtitle "A "RAW" One-Shot". Other solo books were labeled "A "RAW" Book".

In 2000 Spiegelman and Mouly started the "Little Lit" series of children's comic anthologies published as RAW Junior together with HarperCollins/Joanna Cotler Books. They are feature work by some of "RAW"'s most famous contributors as well as established children's book artists such as Maurice Sendak and Ian Falconer.

In the Spring of 2008, Mouly's RAW Junior division launched the first 3 TOON Books. This new collection of hardcover comics for children represents the first time anyone publishes comics specifically for young children learning to read, and brings Mouly (together with Spiegelman, who is an Advisor) full circle back to her roots as a small publisher and confirms her as one of comics' most persistent ground breakers.

Issues

Volume 1
* #1 (July 1980) - "The Graphix Magazine of Postponed Suicides"
* #2 (December 1980) - "The Graphix Magazine for Damned Intellectuals"
* #3 (July 1981) - "The Graphix Magazine That Lost Its Faith in Nihilism"
* #4 (March 1982) - "The Graphix Magazine for Your Bomb Shelter's Coffee Table"
* #5 (March 1983) - "The Graphix Magazine of Abstract Depressionism"
* #6 (May 1984) - "The Graphix Magazine That Overestimates the Taste of the American Public"
* #7 (May 1985) - "The Torn-Again Graphix Magazine"
* #8 (September 1986) - "The Graphic Aspirin for War Fever"

Volume 2
* #1 (1989) - "Open Wounds from the Cutting Edge of Commix"
* #2 (1990) - "Required Reading for the Post-Literate"
* #3 (1991) - "High Culture for Lowbrows"

Notable works published in "RAW"

* "Maus" by Art Spiegelman
* "Here" by Richard McGuire

"RAW" One-Shots and "RAW" Books

* "Agony" by Mark Beyer
* "Big Baby" by Charles Burns
* "Hard-Boiled Defective Stories" by Charles Burns
* "X" by Sue Coe
* "Cheap Novelties: The Pleasures of Urban Decay" by Ben Katchor
* "Jack Survives" by Jerry Moriarty
* "Invasion of the Elvis Zombies" by Gary Panter
* "Jimbo" by Gary Panter
* "How to Commit Suicide in South Africa" by Holly Metz and Sue Coe

Contributors

Notable "RAW" alumni include:
*Lynda Barry
*Mark Beyer
*Charles Burns
*Sue Coe
*Robert Crumb
*Kim Deitch
*Julie Doucet
*Justin Green
*Bill Griffith
*Fletcher Hanks
*Kamagurka & Herr Seele
*Ben Katchor
*Kaz
*Krystine Kryttre
*Jacques Loustal
*Richard McGuire
*Lorenzo Mattotti
*Ever Meulen
*Jerry Moriarty
*Françoise Mouly
*José Muñoz
*Mark Newgarden
*Gary Panter
*Cheri Samba
*Robert Sikoryak
*Edward Sorel
*Art Spiegelman
*Joost Swarte
*Jacques Tardi
*Yoshiharu Tsuge
*Chris Ware

External links

*" [http://64.23.98.142/indy/winter_2005/raw_01/index.html A RAW History] " by Bill Kartalopoulos for "Indy Magazine". Exhaustive two-part history of the magazine, with detailed descriptions of each issue and interviews with all relevant personnel.
* [http://www.little-lit.com/ The site for Little Lit, comics for children, edited by Françoise Mouly and Art Spiegelman]
* [http://www.toon-books.com/ The site for RAW Junior's new publishing venture, the TOON Books]