For the Little Nemo character see The Imp (character)

The Imp is a zine

Zine

A zine is most commonly a small circulation publication of original or appropriated texts and images. More broadly, the term encompasses any self-published work of minority interest usually reproduced via photocopier....

 about comics

Comics

Comics denotes a hybrid medium having verbal side of its vocabulary tightly tied to its visual side in order to convey narrative or information only, the latter in case of non-fiction comics, seeking synergy by using both visual and verbal side in...

 that was written and published by Daniel Raeburn during the late 1990s and early 2000s. Each issue of the zine examined a single cartoonist

Cartoonist

A cartoonist is a person who specializes in drawing cartoons. This work is usually humorous, mainly created for entertainment, political commentary or advertising...

 or type of comic in depth, often incorporating interview

Interview

An interview is a conversation between two people where questions are asked by the interviewer to obtain information from the interviewee.- Interview as a Method for Qualitative Research:"Definition" -...

s done by Raeburn with or about the subject. Raeburn frequently took an idiosyncractic view of his subject matter in The Imp; in the introduction

Introduction (essay)

An introduction is a beginning section which states the purpose and goals of the following writing. The introduction is usually interesting and it intrigues the reader and causes him or her to want to read on. The sentence in which the introduction begins can be a question or just a statement...

 to the first issue he wrote that "the fact that I don't know anything about comics can only help me to take them seriously." He frequently described his personal experiences with his subject matter in irreverent terms and gave detailed accounts of the people and places he encountered while doing his research, in the manner of gonzo journalism

Gonzo journalism

Gonzo journalism is a style of journalism that is written without claims of objectivity, often including the reporter as part of the story via a first-person narrative. The word "gonzo" is believed to be first used in 1970 to describe an article by Hunter S. Thompson, who later popularized the style...

. The Imp is also notable for the unique design

Design

Design as a noun informally refers to a plan or convention for the construction of an object or a system while “to design” refers to making this plan...

 of each issue.

The Imp #1 was published in 1997 and was devoted to the works of Daniel Clowes

Daniel Clowes

Daniel Gillespie Clowes is an American author, screenwriter and cartoonist of alternative comic books....

. The second issue appeared a year later and examined the religious comics of Jack T. Chick; it was designed in a format that mimicked Chick's own tract

Chick tract

Chick tracts are short evangelical-themed tracts created by American publisher Jack Chick. Chick tracts use a comic book format. They are often controversial for their enthusiastic endorsement of fundamentalist Christianity and condemnation of ecumenical, liberal, and prosperity Christians, the...

s and included a concordance

Concordance (publishing)

A concordance is an alphabetical list of the principal words used in a book or body of work, with their immediate contexts. Because of the time and difficulty and expense involved in creating a concordance in the pre-computer era, only works of special importance, such as the Vedas, Bible, Qur'an...

 of terms and concepts that appear in his work. The third issue, designed in imitation of a broadsheet

Broadsheet

Broadsheet is the largest of the various newspaper formats and is characterized by long vertical pages . The term derives from types of popular prints usually just of a single sheet, sold on the streets and containing various types of material, from ballads to political satire. The first broadsheet...

 newspaper, contained a series of essays and article about Chris Ware

Chris Ware

Franklin Christenson Ware , is an American comic book artist and cartoonist, widely known for his Acme Novelty Library series and the graphic novel Jimmy Corrigan, the Smartest Kid on Earth. Born in Omaha, Nebraska, he resides in the Chicago area, Illinois...

. It included a single-page insert of original comic strips about Ware drawn by other cartoonists. The fourth issue of The Imp, released after a long delay, examined extremely lurid Mexican

Mexico

The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...

 historietas and their cultural and commercial context. It featured extensive full-color illustrations and an original painted cover commissioned from a Mexican comic artist. The expense of printing the issue, which raised its cover price to $20, resulted in a significant financial loss for its creator and brought publication of the series to an end. A fifth issue of The Imp devoted to the work of Ivan Brunetti

Ivan Brunetti

Ivan Brunetti is an American cartoonist and comics scholar based in Chicago, Illinois.Noted for combining blackly humorous taboo-laden subject matter with simplified and exaggerated cartoon drawing styles, Brunetti's best known comic work is collected in his largely autobiographical series Schizo,...

 was advertised in the back of issue #4 but was never released.

In 2010 Raeburn made all four issues of The Imp freely available on his website.

Issues

• #1 - The Fallen World of Daniel Clowes (1997)
• #2 - The Imp? (1998)
• #3 - The Smartest Cartoonist on Earth. (1999)
• #4 - ¡Historietas Perversas! Mexico's Addictive Comics (2002)

External links

• Downloadable PDFs of The Imp on danielraeburn.com
• Review of The Imp #4 in City Pages
  City Pages
  City Pages is an alternative weekly newspaper serving the Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan area. It features news, film, theatre and restaurant reviews, and music criticism. It is printed in a tabloid format, and is available free every Wednesday...