Comics author, historian, and translator Wolfgang J. Fuchs has passed away.
Wolfgang J. Fuchs
September 16, 1945 – January 20, 2020
author, journalist, film historian
comics author, historian, translator
From Karen Green, Curator for Comics and Cartoons at Columbia University Libraries:
Just seeing the news, posted by his daughter Anna, that Wolfgang Fuchs passed away this morning.
Wolfgang was a lovely man as well as a true comics historian. He had many strengths, the greatest perhaps being his knowledge of Carl Barks’ Donald Duck, wrote comics, and also translated many comics, including Brian Fies’ Mom’s Cancer.
As Steven Thompson has noted, Wolfgang’s and Reinhold Reitberger’s Comics: Anatomy of a Mass Medium was an introduction to many of us of the wonderful world of comics outside the United States.
From Wolfgang’s Wikipedia page (Google translation):
Fuchs was one of the first authors in German-speaking countries to seriously deal with the medium of “comics”. Together with Reinhold C. Reitberger , he created the basic standard comics. Anatomy of a mass medium (1971) and comics manual (1978). He also worked on Maurice Horn’s The World Encyclopedia of Comics , The Who’s Who of American Comic Books (Jerry Bales / Hames Ware, 1973–1976, 4 volumes) and the film notebook 1978/79 with 1974/75 he was a member of the editorial staff of the magazine Peanuts. He wrote numerous articles for radio and magazines.
Fuchs translated, among others, Prince Eisenherz and Garfield , as well as Brian Fies ‘ originally published as a web comic, autobiographical story Mom’s Cancer , which received the Eisner Award in 2005 (after the comic was published in book form, the online publication was removed from the web ). The volume received the German Youth Literature Prize in the translation by Fuchs in 2007 under the title Mutter hat Krebs.
From Brian Fies, on the occasion of Wolfgang’s death:
I never met him in person but we corresponded by email, and he was great. I could tell he had a lot of knowledge and passion for the medium of comics. His essential warmth and kindness radiated through the keyboard. Plus, when his translation of Mom’s Cancer won a prize at the Frankfurt Book Fair, he was good enough to pick up the trophy on my (our) behalf and, I understand, say some nice things better than I could have said them myself. He was a real gentleman whom I just wish I’d gotten to know better when I had the chance.
Here, from last year, is an interview with Wolfgang on translating the Disney Ducks.
R.I.P.