Spurgeon was editor of The Comics Journal from 1994 to 1999. In 2004, he launched the comics news blog The Comics Reporter with site designer Jordan Raphael.

With Raphael he also co-wrote the biography Stan Lee and the Rise and Fall of the American Comic Book. He wrote the popular comic strip Wildwood with his childhood friend Dan Wright. The strip, initially launched as Bobo's Progress, was syndicated by King Features from 1999 to 2002 and ran in somewhere close to 80 newspapers.

Spurgeon has also co-authored an as yet unpublished book on the history of Fantagraphics. Written with Jacob Covey, Comics As Art: We Told You So was initially scheduled for release in 2006. However, a defamation lawsuit launched by Harlan Ellison against Fantagraphics, claiming they had defamed him in the book, saw publication delayed. Although the suit was settled with no money or apologies changing hands, no new release date for the book has been set.

He describes himself as "a big, fat guy", being six feet three inches tall and weighing about 400 pounds.

Spurgeon and the Comics Reporter won the 2010 Eisner Award for "Best Comics-Related Periodical/Journalism."

Interviews

• "Chasing Tom Spurgeon" - June 13, 2005 lengthy interview with Spurgeon (by Ed Cunard at CBG)
• Bobo's Progress to Wildwood Sequential Tart interview with Dan Wright and Tom Spurgeon