Editor, columnist, collector to speak at library
By Maggie Jones
Maggie Thompson will present “Words and Pictures: The Excellence of Today’s Comic Books” at 6:30 p.m. Monday, July 27, at the Waupaca Area Public Library.
A writer and retired editor of Comics Buyer’s Guide, Maggie Thompson is a nationally-recognized expert.
Last week she returned home from San Diego’s massive annual Comic-Con International, where she served as a judge for the Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards, considered the “Oscar” awards of the comics industry.
Thompson will share her knowledge of current trends in the production and design of the best comics, a pop culture phenomenon.
She began collecting comic books before she was 5 years old. On Comic-Con’s Toucan website blog she admits that she loved comics as a child because “comics tell stories quickly and clearly; comics support a love of reading for entertainment, as well as education; comics provide good – not just mediocre – reading for kids; and the comics format for storytelling is more appealing and cheaper than text-only tales.”
Maggie and husband Don Thompson were pioneering fans in the 1960s. They published magazines devoted to comics.
She began co-editing the pioneering fanzine “Comic Art” with Don when she was just 18. She continued collecting and writing in the course of a career that included 30 years of editing Comics Buyer’s Guide.
Thompson remains active in the comics field as both a collector and an essayist. She continues to work on a variety of comics-oriented projects, including her monthly contribution to Comic-Con’s Toucan website, a weekly post for Diamond Comic Distributors’ Scoop newsletter, and maintenance of her own www.maggiethompson.com website.
This program is free and open to the public. Cookies and coffee are served at 6 p.m. and the program begins at 6:30 p.m.
Winchester Academy program expenses are funded through sponsors and tax-deductible donations. Maggie Thompson’s program is sponsored by Bob and Marilyn Olson.
For more information about Winchester Academy and the summer program series, check winchesteracademywaupaca.org or contact Executive Director Ann Buerger Linden at 715-258-2927 or [email protected].