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The Editors | July 6, 2026

The dictionary defines regret in some manner or other wholly unrelated to the 50-year ethos of The Comics Journal. While we habitually frolic with the spirit of doubling down to prove oneself both strong and wrong, for a few vanishing weeks, as the nation gathers in celebration to mark the half-century since the magazine’s establishment, we invited contributors to submit writing on moments in TCJ’s history that conceivably could have gone differently.

Every Tuesday and Thursday over the next two months, we'll be featuring essays about overlooked comics or responses to sentiments the authors regard as undercooked. For instance, we'll kick off the pot-stirring tomorrow with Helen Chazan on James Kochalka's infamous August 1996 letter “Craft Is The Enemy,” printed in issue 189 of the Journal. Other upcoming pieces include:

• A reassessment on Jim Shooter's legacy at Marvel
• A look at why James O'Barr's The Crow is good, actually.
• An obscure comic strip about gardening
• An appreciation of Rachel Pollack’s run on Doom Patrol

Far be it for us to claim perfect insight into the regrets of the past. For the moment it’s safe for us to say that for TCJ, hindsight is 50/50, as when the next 50 years comes to a close, those who contributed to the Journal will likely be shaking our heads in disagreement, looking up at you all from hell.