Originally printed in The Comics Journal #226
Programming by William Nerini

De gustibus non est disputandum -- There's no accounting for taste. It's been the maxim of unrepentant middlebrows who have misinterpreted it for centuries. Far from suggesting that tastes are relative and that anything goes -- live and let live, so to speak, aesthetically speaking - the verity to which the statement refers indicates just the contrary: You can't argue taste because taste is inarguable, you either have it or you don't.

We at The Comics Journal, of course, have no anxieties in this regard. The critical line is drawn where we say it's drawn, and we're quite sure, thank you, about which side we're on. Fine distinctions between comics, cartoonists, and companies need to be made and we're certainly willing to make those calls, assured in our wisdom and girded by the rightness of our aesthetic and moral vision.

Quite frankly, it's you that we're not quite sure about.

There's no need to proclaim your cultural insight to us, your plaintive demands to be recognized as one of the culturati are as foreign to us as that Poison Elves t-shirt you're wearing. Besides, no one with real style would bother to object to the misrecognition.

Yet we at The Comics Journal are an open-minded lot with a tremendous faith in our readership. As a consequence of that goodwill we have opted to allow you an opportunity to prove your mettle to us. Take this test -- find out whether you're good enough to read The Comics Journal.

If you pass then by all means let us know -- send us a printout of your test sheet and we'll be happy to include your name in our masthead. If you fail, please send us your name, address and a blank check payable to "Fantagraphics Books, Inc.". We'll send you a nice big box full of at-home learning material from our Ultimate Catalogue, and when you feel you've studied The Blonde: Phoebus III long enough we'll be happy to permit you to take the test for a second time.

Instructions:

Below are evaluative judgments of fifty well-known comics from the past eight years. These quotations have been selected at random from four leading critical magazines: The Comics Journal, Comic Buyer's Guide, Wizard and Previews. Your task is a simple one. Simply Agree or Disagree with the sentiments expressed in the cited quotation. Points are awarded when your own opinion coincides with the opinion of legitimate comics critics (that would be us). Points are deducted when your opinion deviates from that of the legitimate comics press. The greater the deviance, the greater the humiliation. What could be simpler?

For those of you who have good taste this will be a walk in the park. For those of you who lack style and distinction, well, good luck anyway.

Please begin. Mark each of the following statements with which you agree. Please, no equivocating.