The Comics Journal has won a 2002 Utne Independent Press Award for arts and literature coverage. The winners of the award are chosen annually by the editors of Utne Magazine, 'the nation's leading magazine of alternative ideas,' from around 1600 magazines that they follow. With a paid circulation of 225,000, the Utne readership is a large multiple of The Comics Journal's, offering retailers an opportunity to introduce TCJ to a broader audience.
The Comics Journal has significantly expanded its range in the last year, publishing three Comics Journal Special Editions, 12' x 12' coffee-table books with full-color archival features and new comics material; the first Comics Journal Library, focused on Jack Kirby and also in the 12' x 12' format; and adding color and expanding the page count of The Comics Journal itself. As a venue for serious criticism and discussion of the comic art form, The Comics Journal has no equal, and it's worth display in any store carrying comics. 
