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It all began with an interview: twenty years ago, Markus Gruber asked the French comic artist Jean Giraud (alias Moebius) to do a Cologne community radio broadcast. He then began to discuss comics on the radio – a difficult undertaking. His fans liked it. Later, the Comic Radio Show morphed into a website that features extensive interviews to this day. An 120-page booklet with a selection of the best discussions and a few drawings is being issued for the anniversary.

How are you different from other websites?

Our site grew out of a small project. In the beginning there were the interviews; then came the reviews and the raffles, portraits and news. To date there have been over 3,789 contributions, and a new one comes at least every two days, for the most part.

Basically, I always had a fanzine in mind, and not a magazine with too high a journalistic standard. Our editors are often very subjective, and in the beginning I was unfortunately (as I see it now) pretty obnoxious and unjust to the artists and many of their products.
For years, I did a lot on my own. In the beginning there were three of us, today, six editors work for the website nationwide. After 20 years, we have become a kind of dinosaur of the comic fanzine scene – no doubt because of our mascot “Fumpf” (a lot of people say on account of our outdated design, also! ;-))

How has the German comic scene changed over the years?

In my view, there has been a great deal of positive development in the last ten years. Overall, appreciation for pictorial literature (alias the ninth art) has risen in Germany. The comic crazies have established themselves, graphic novels are being written about on a regular basis even in literary supplements. The scene still has to slog away, but it has produced a few nationwide success stories – like Joscha Sauer, Felix Görmann or Uli Lust, for instance, and publishers such as Reprodukt Verlag or Avant Verlag.

The success of web comics is also worth noting, those of Sarah Burrini, Johannes Kretzschmar or Leo Leowald, among others. Their stories are so interesting that they can in turn be issued in print form once again.

What are you doing for your anniversary?

We are currently planning our first print publication with a collection of the best interviews – drawn and written. The booklet will have about 120 pages. And in addition, the booklet will contain a few drawings in honour of various artists. Next to each interview is a bit of space for a drawing or signature made by the artist at the Comic Salon in Erlangen or the Comic Festival in Munich.