The Carleton Comics Journal is the latest to join the ranks of Carleton’s student-run publications, alongside the Carletonian, the CLAP, and Manuscript. New this term, the CCJ is the brainchild of Scott Donaldson ’10 and Jacob Canfield ’12.
Scott got the idea for a student publication dedicated to comics over the summer. He realized, he says, that there was a clear need for something like the CCJ at Carleton. Though comics show up occasionally in the CLAP and the Carl, “It’s a medium which deserves its own publication.” He contacted Jacob about it, and the two of them were up and running. The first issue of the CCJ was mainly made up of Scott and Jacob’s own work. With each passing issue, though, more and more cartoonists on campus have been participating.
The two editors are running the CCJ along the do-it-yourself model of the CLAP. They do all the design work themselves, then print the journal off inexpensively and hand it out in front of Sayles during convo period.
Some of the work featured in the CCJ so far includes an excerpt from Kailyn Kent '11’s graphic novella, Poison People; “Mecha Monkey: A Love Story” (Jacob Canfield); and “Hyper Man”, the first of a two-part series about a somewhat clueless superhero (Jon Kittaka ’13).
The CCJ reflects a passion both editors share for comic-making. Scott has long wanted to be a cartoonist. “When I was a kid, it was my dream job,” he says. Jacob’s not sure what he’s going to do after Carleton yet, but he also thinks cartooning is pretty cool.
Expect to see this term’s final issue coming out on Friday. Back issues can be found at www.scottdonaldson.net.