Comic book
A comic book or comicbook called comic magazine or comic, is a publication that consists of comic art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are accompanied by brief descriptive prose and written narrative dialog contained in word balloons emblematic of the comics art form. Although comics has some origins in 18th century Japan, comic books were first popularized in the United States and the United Kingdom during the 1930s; the first modern comic book, Famous Funnies, was released in the U. S. in 1933 and was a reprinting of earlier newspaper humor comic strips, which had established many of the story-telling devices used in comics. The term comic book derives from American comic books once being a compilation of comic strips of a humorous tone; the largest comic book market is Japan. By 1995, the manga market in Japan was valued at ¥586.4 billion, with annual sales of 1.9 billion manga books/magazines in Japan. The comic book market in the United States and Canada was valued at $1.09 billion in 2016.
As of 2017, the largest comic book publisher in the United States is manga distributor Viz Media, followed by DC Comics and Marvel Comics. Another major comic book market is France, where Franco-Belgian comics and Japanese manga each represent 40% of the market, followed by American comics at 10% market share. Comic books are reliant on their appearance. Authors focus on the frame of the page, size and panel positions; these characteristic aspects of comic books are necessary in conveying the content and messages of the author. The key elements of comic books include panels, balloons and characters. Balloons are convex spatial containers of information that are related to a character using a tail element; the tail has an origin, path and pointed direction. Key tasks in the creation of comic books are writing and coloring. Comics as a print medium have existed in America since the printing of The Adventures of Mr. Obadiah Oldbuck in 1842 in hardcover, making it the first known American prototype comic book.
Proto-comics periodicals began appearing early in the 20th century, with historians citing Dell Publishing's 36-page Famous Funnies: A Carnival of Comics as the first true American comic book. The introduction of Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster's Superman in 1938 turned comic books into a major industry and ushered the Golden Age of Comics; the Golden Age originated the archetype of the superhero. According to historian Michael A. Amundson, appealing comic-book characters helped ease young readers' fear of nuclear war and neutralize anxiety about the questions posed by atomic power. Historians divide the timeline of the American comic book into eras; the Golden Age of Comic Books began in the 1930s. The Silver Age of comic books is considered to date from the first successful revival of the then-dormant superhero form, with the debut of the Flash in Showcase #4; the Silver Age lasted through the late 1960s or early 1970s, during which time Marvel Comics revolutionized the medium with such naturalistic superheroes as Stan Lee and Jack Kirby's Fantastic Four and Lee and Steve Ditko's Spider-Man.
The demarcation between the Silver Age and the following era, the Bronze Age of Comic Books, is less well-defined, with the Bronze Age running from the early 1970s through the mid-1980s. The Modern Age of Comic Books runs from the mid-1980s to the present day. A notable event in the history of the American comic book came with psychiatrist Fredric Wertham's criticisms of the medium in his book Seduction of the Innocent, which prompted the American Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency to investigate comic books. In response to attention from the government and from the media, the U. S. comic book industry set up the Comics Magazine Association of America. The CMAA instilled the Comics Code Authority in 1954 and drafted the self-censorship Comics Code that year, which required all comic books to go through a process of approval, it was not until the 1970s that comic books could be published without passing through the inspection of the CMAA. The Code was made formally defunct in November 2011.
In the late 1960s and early 1970s, a surge of creativity emerged in what became known as underground comix. Published and distributed independently of the established comics industry, most of such comics reflected the youth counterculture and drug culture of the time. Many had an uninhibited irreverent style. Underground comics were never sold at newsstands, but rather in such youth-oriented outlets as head shops and record stores, as well as by mail order. Frank Stack's The Adventures of Jesus, published under the name Foolbert Sturgeon, has been credited as the first underground comic; the rise of comic book specialty stores in the late 1970s created/paralleled a dedicated market for "independent" or "alternative comics" in the U. S; the first such comics included the anthology series Star Reach, published by comic book writer Mike Friedrich from 1974 to 1979, Harvey Pekar's American Splendor, which continued sporadic publication into the 21st century and which Shari Springer Berman an
Maggie Thompson
Margaret "Maggie" Thompson, is a former librarian, longtime editor of the now-defunct Comics Buyer's Guide, science fiction fan and collector of comics. Her mother, Betsy Curtis, was a science fiction writer, nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Short Story in 1969 for her story "The Steiger Effect". According to family tradition, Betsy claimed descent from Anne Bradstreet and at least two presidents of Yale University. Thompson and her late husband and fellow science fiction fan Don Thompson were among the instigators of what developed in the 1960s into comic book fandom, their Harbinger announced the upcoming publication of Comic Art, one of the early amateur magazines devoted to all aspects of sequential art. The initial issue of Comic Art was released the following spring. Seven issues were published at irregular intervals between 1961 and 1968; as publication of Comic Art wound down, they shifted their attention to a new venture as the Thompsons started a fanzine titled Newfangles in March 1967.
Unlike other comics news fanzines of the time it was devoted to the doings of comics fandom instead of news about comic books and comic book professionals. Thompson graduated in 1964 from Oberlin College as an English major worked as an assistant children's librarian in the Cleveland Public Library system through the summer of 1966, when she quit to have children, she worked as a freelance writer and editor until coming to Krause Publications as the editor of Movie Collector's World and Comics Buyer's Guide in 1983. That same year she created and edited Fantasy Empire magazine and wrote Dark Shadows: Book Two #1-4 for Innovation Comics. With her husband Don, she wrote a miscellany of comic-book stories. With others, she produced the Comics Buyer's Guide Price Guide. Krause sold the movie newspaper, but she continued to edit Comics Buyer's Guide, long after her husband's death in 1994 and the transformation of the publication into a monthly magazine. In 2013 she began a column for San Diego Comic-Con International's Toucan blog called "Maggie's World".
Her son Stephen Thompson would go on to become an editor for The Onion and creator of The A. V. Club before moving on to NPR, he co-hosts "Pop Culture Happy Hour", a pop-culture-themed podcast on which Thompson herself makes semi-regular appearances. Under Maggie's editorial direction, Comics Buyer's Guide twice won the comics industry's Eisner Award for periodicals, among other awards, she was a recipient of the Bob Clampett Humanitarian Award and was the first recipient of the Friends of Lulu's "Women of Distinction" Award. Maggie and Don Thompson were the recipients of many joint awards, including: Comic Fan Art Award Favorite Fan Writer, 1973 & 1974 Inkpot Award, 1976 Jack Kirby Award, Best Comics Publication, 1985 Diamond Lifetime Fandom Award, 1991 Eisner Award, Best Comics-Related Periodical, 1992 The Motor City Comic Con awarded the Don Thompson Award from 1992–1998. Known as the "Compuserve Comics and Animation Forum Award", the name was changed to the "Compuserve Comics and Animation Forum's Don Thompson Award" after Don Thompson's death in 1994.
Maggie Thompson official site Maggie's World Comics Buyer’s Guide Harbinger online reprint Comic Art #1 online reprint Newfangles online collection
The Comic Reader
The Comic Reader was a comics news-fanzine published from 1961 to 1984. Debuting in the pre-direct market era, TCR was the first published comics industry news fanzine, was able to secure many contacts from within the ranks of the larger publishers; as TCR increased in popularity and influence, it was able to attract professional artist to illustrate the covers. TCR proved to be a launching pad for aspiring comic book creators, many of whom published work in the fanzine as amateurs. Contributors from the world of fandom included founding editor Jerry Bails, key editor Paul Levitz, Paul Kupperberg, Tony Isabella, Byron Preiss, Neal Pozner, Don Rosa, Carl Gafford, Doug Hazlewood; the fanzine was founded in 1961 as On the Drawing Board by Jerry Bails, the "Father of Comics Fandom. During its run, TCR won a number of industry awards, including the Alley Award and the Goethe Award/Comic Fan Art Award. In its last incarnation, published by Street Enterprises, it was more professional magazine than fanzine, was known colloquially as "the TV Guide of the comics industry."
Jerry Bails founded and published On the Drawing Board In October 1961, to showcase the latest comic news. Spinning-off from Bails' other zine, Alter Ego, On the Drawing Board "was devoted to blurbs and news items pertaining to upcoming events in pro comics."Released in stand-alone form as "a single-page news-sheet," On the Drawing Board #4 debuted on October 7, 1961. Comics fandom historian Bill Schelly described its impact: Suddenly, fans had a way to see what was coming up on the newsstands. In some cases, they found out the names of the writers and artists of certain features, in an era before such credits were given. While there was considerable interest in developments at DC, fans closely followed the entrance of other companies into the costumed hero sweepstakes: Archie Comics, Gold Key and Marvel. In March 1962, issue #8 of On the Drawing Board was retitled The Comic Reader; the "On the Drawing Board" name was retained for the periodical's news section. The monthly title became "a mainstay of fandom," winning a 1963 Alley Award.
In January 1964, Bails announced the merger of The Comic Reader with another of his fanzines, The Comicollector, under the editorship of Bill White. However, a death in White's family prevented the merger from happening, at which point Florida-based published G. B. Love merged The Comicollector into his own fanzine Rocket's Blast, as well as offering to absorb The Comic Reader; the ACBFC board, voted to maintain TCR as a standalone publication, in mid-1964 New Mexico-based comics enthusiast Glen Johnson stepped forward to take over editorial duties. Johnson was followed a succession of editors, including Derrill Rothermich, who switched the fanzine to offset printing in late 1965. Mark Hanerfeld took over TCR in 1968 with issue #65, but by mid-1969 was having trouble maintaining a consistent publication schedule. Hanerfeld was doing double-duty as executive secretary of the ACBFC, this workload was too much for him; the ACBFC went defunct in mid-1969. In early 1971, New York teenager Paul Levitz bought the property and took over The Comic Reader with issue #78, merging it with Etcetera, a zine he had co-published with Paul Kupperberg.
From issues # 78 -- # 89, the merged zine was called The Comic Reader. Under Levitz's editorship, TCR increased circulation and changed format featuring an illustrated cover and 16 pages in length; as the zine gained in popularity and influence, it was able to attract industry professionals, such as Jack Kirby, Rich Buckler, Walt Simonson, Howard Chaykin, to illustrate the covers. During this period, TCR won two Best Fanzine Comic Fan Art Awards. TCR published ballots for the 1973 Goethe Awards. Issue #99 featured TCR's first color cover. In November 1973, with issue #101, Wisconsin-based publisher Street Enterprises took over TCR, Mike Tiefenbacher took over as editor. Under Street Enterprises' oversight, TCR changed format to digest size, giving it more the impression of being "the TV Guide of the comics industry."In early 1979, due to the cancellation of another Street Enterprises title, The Menomonee Falls Gazette, the publisher moved many of the strips featured in The Gazette over to The Comic Reader.
The Comic Reader published its final issue, #219, in September 1984. In addition to news about creators, publishers and the like, TCR ran recurring comic strips and features such as: "Bullet Crow" by Chuck Fiala "Captain Kentucky" by Don Rosa "Dateline @!!?#" by Fred Hembeck "Dick Duck, Duck Dick" by Jim Engel "Fandom Confidential" by Jim Engel and Chuck Fiala "Fowl of Fortune" by Chuck Fiala 1963: Alley Award for "Best Comics Fanzine" 1969: Alley Award for "Best Unlimited Reproduction Fanzine" 1973: Goethe Award for "Favorite Fan Magazine" 1974: Comic Fan Art Award for "Favorite Fa
Tony Isabella
Tony Isabella is an American comic book writer, editor and critic, known as the creator and writer of Marvel Comics' Black Goliath. Tony Isabella was born in Ohio, he discovered comics at the age of four, when his mother began bringing him I. W. Publications titles she bought at Woolworth. Early influences from the comic book world included Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Roy Thomas, Robert Kanigher, Len Wein; as a teenager, Isabella had many letters published in comic book letter columns in the pages of Marvel titles. He was active in comics fandom as well, a member of CAPA-alpha, a regular contributor to comics fanzines. Isabella's work in comics fandom attracted the attention of Marvel editor Roy Thomas, in 1972 Thomas hired Isabella as an editorial assistant at Marvel. With Marvel's establishment of Marvel UK that year, Isabella was assigned the task of overseeing the reprints used in Marvel UK's nascent comics line, he served for a time as an editor for Marvel's black-and-white magazine line. As a writer, Isabella scripted Ghost Rider.
While writing the "Iron Fist" feature in Marvel Premiere, he co-created the supporting character Misty Knight with artist Arvell Jones. Isabella wrote the first several issues. During his mid-1970s run on Ghost Rider, Isabella wrote a two-year story arc in which Johnny Blaze encountered an unnamed character referred to as "the Friend" who helped Blaze stay protected from Satan, who had granted Blaze supernatural power and created the Ghost Rider. Isabella said in 2007, Getting prior approval from editor Roy Thomas, as I would from editors Len Wein and Marv Wolfman, I introduced "The Friend" into the series, he looked sort of like a hippie Jesus Christ and that's who He was, though I never called Him that.... It allowed me to address a disparity. Though we had no end of Hell and Satan surrogates in our comics, we had nothing of Heaven.... I'd written a story wherein, couched in mildly subtle terms, Blaze accepted Jesus as his savior and freed himself from Satan's power forever. Had I remained on Ghost Rider, my intent at the time, the title's religious elements would have faded into the background.
Blaze would be a Christian, but he'd express this in the way he led his life.... An assistant editor took offense at my story; the issue was ready to go to the printer when he ripped it to pieces. He had some of the art redrawn and a lot of the copy rewritten to change the ending of a story two years in the making. "The Friend" was a demon in disguise. To this day, I consider what he did to my story one of the three most arrogant and wrongheaded actions I've seen from an editor. Isabella said the assistant editor referenced was Jim Shooter. For DC Comics, Isabella worked as a writer and story editor but is known for his creation of Black Lightning, writing both the character's short-lived 1970s and 1990s series. After reaching an agreement with DC, Isabella returned to the character in 2017 with the publication of the Black Lightning: Cold Dead Hands limited series. Isabella and artist Richard Howell produced the Shadow War of Hawkman mini-series in 1985, involving the characters of Hawkman and Hawkwoman.
An ongoing series was launched the following year. In 1987, Isabella began writing the Justice Machine series for Comico, co-plotting with series creator and penciller Mike Gustovich; the new series picked up from the end of the Bill Willingham/Gustovich written limited series Justice Machine featuring the Elementals, which re-booted the series' continuity from the older Noble Comics/Texas Comics-published original series. The ongoing book became one of Comico's best-selling series, selling upwards of 70,000 copies of each issue at its peak. Isabella wrote the first 11 issues of the Comico series before moving on to other projects. In 1990, Isabella returned to the characters and wrote the series for Innovation Comics, with Gustovich pencilling once more. Isabella wrote the Comics Buyer's Guide column "Tony's Tips" for over a decade; the last column was June 22, 2010. Starting in 2013, he continued "Tony's Tips" online at Tales of Wonder, he regularly writes about comics and his work on his personal blog.
Isabella is the co-author with his fellow Comics Buyer's Guide columnist Bob Ingersoll of the short story "If Wishes Were Horses...", published in The Ultimate Super-Villains: New Stories Featuring Marvel's Deadliest Villains, the novels Captain America: Liberty's Torch and Star Trek: The Case Of The Colonist's Corpse. In 2009, his non-fiction book 1000 Comics. During the 1980s, Isabella operated Cosmic Comics, a comic book shop in the Colonial Arcade in Downtown Cleveland, he has worked on translating foreign-language Disney comics and revising the wording for the U. S. market. Isabella's wife is named Barbara. 1972 Goethe Award for "Favorite Fan Writer" 2013 Inkpot Award Grim Ghost #3 Tales of Evil #3 Grim Ghost vol. 2 #1–6
Rocket's Blast Comicollector
Rocket's Blast Comicollector was a comics advertising fanzine published from 1964 to 1983. The result of a merger with a similar publication, RBCC's purpose was to bring fans together for the purpose of adding to their comic book collections, it proved to be a launching pad for aspiring comic book creators, many of whom corresponded and exchanged their work through RBCC, published work in the fanzine as amateurs. RBCC featured fan-generated art, original articles, advertisements from comic book fans and dealers. Debuting in the pre-direct market era, RBCC was one of the first and largest forums for buying and selling comics through the mail — the only way for fans to acquire back issues was through advertisements in RBCC. And, as ComicSource wrote, "RBCC was an educational forum, with rich articles devoted to comics and creators long absent from the newsstands, such as EC Comics." Inspired in part by the science-fiction fanzine/"adzine" The Fantasy Collector, in 1961, Jerry Bails, "the father of comics fandom," created The Comicollector as "a publication devoted to the field" rather than the occasional advertisements of comics for sale that appeared in The Fantasy Collector.
After publishing The Comicollector for a year, Bails passed it on to Ronn Foss. Meanwhile, Miami-based comics and science fiction enthusiast G. B. Love had formed the Science Fiction and Comics Association and begun publishing his own fanzine, The Rocket's Blast. In 1964 The Comicollector and The Rocket's Blast merged to form The Rocket's Blast and the Comicollector; the first issue of the new publication was #29 and dated April 1964. Cartoonist Grass Green was an early and frequent contributor to RBCC, as was Buddy Saunders, Raymond L. Miller. Contributing writers during this era included science fiction author Howard Waldrop. Between issues #25 and #50, the zine's circulation grew from about 200 to over 1,100. By RBCC #75, the circulation was 2,000. With issue RBCC #100, the circulation hit 2,250. Between 1968 and 1973, comics artist Don Newton produced two dozen covers for the Rocket's Blast Comicollector. Newton's science fiction strip The Savage Earth ran from 1968 to 1970 in RBCC. Joe Kubert serialized his strip "Danny Dreams" in the pages of RBCC in 1971.
From 1972–1975 comics historian James Van Hise serialized his "Al Williamson Collector" in the pages of RBCC. In the early 1970s, RBCC joined the WE Seal of approval program, a consumer protection/anti-mail fraud program. Love published RBCC until 1974, when he moved from Miami to Houston, where he became involved with Star Trek fandom. With Love's departure, long-time contributor James Van Hise took over the publishing duties of Rocket's Blast Comicollector. Van Hise introduced new features and columns to the zine, freshening its aesthetic for new audiences. From 1976–1978, cartoonist Don Rosa serialized his adventure comic strip The Pertwillaby Papers in RBCC. With the rise of the direct market system in the late 1970s and early 1980s, Rocket's Blast Comicollector no longer served the same purpose, as its readers could more find back issues in local comic shops than buying them through the mail. Competition from the likes of Comics Buyer's Guide pressured RBCC as well. RRBC published four issues in 1979, one issue in 1980, no issues in 1981, two issues in 1982, its final issue, #153, in 1983.
The last few issues were published by New Media Publications, which published the fanzine LOC. RBCC's final issue was a parody issue titled "The Contentious Journal", which appeared to be satirizing its competitor magazine The Comics Journal. In 2002–2003, James Van Hise temporarily revived The Rocket's Blast and the Comicollector, publishing four issues out of a new headquarters in Yucca Valley, California. Starting out as a photocopied fanzine, RBCC morphed into a magazine-size publication. RRBC regular features included columns, reviews and cultural commentary. "RB-CC Information Center" — question-and-answer feature originated by Raymond L. Miller dealing with readers' queries on all forms of pop entertainment, including comics and movies. From 1974 to 1979, Don Rosa illustrated the column. "Comic Collector's Comments" — news and gossip by Howard P. Siegel, running from c. 1968–c. 1979 "Comicopia" — R. C. Harvey feature on syndicated newspaper comic strips "Rocketeer Gossip" — a regular column from 1964–c.
1967 written by Rick Weingroff, with occasional contributions by Paul Gambaccini "The Oddity Page" — c. 1967–1968 written by Raymond L. Miller "Eyeing the Egos" — late 1960s feature by Jan Strnad "The Keyhole" — Hamilton Benedict news & analysis feature debuting in 1973.
Fanzine
A fanzine is a non-professional and non-official publication produced by enthusiasts of a particular cultural phenomenon for the pleasure of others who share their interest. The term was coined in an October 1940 science fiction fanzine by Russ Chauvenet and first popularized within science fiction fandom, from there it was adopted by other communities. Publishers, editors and other contributors of articles or illustrations to fanzines are not paid. Fanzines are traditionally circulated free of charge, or for a nominal cost to defray postage or production expenses. Copies are offered in exchange for similar publications, or for contributions of art, articles, or letters of comment, which are published; some fanzines are photocopied by amateurs using standard home office equipment. A few fanzines have developed into professional publications, many professional writers were first published in fanzines; the term fanzine is sometimes confused with "fan magazine", but the latter term most refers to commercially produced publications for fans.
The origins of amateur fanac "fan" publications are obscure, but can be traced at least back to 19th century literary groups in the United States which formed amateur press associations to publish collections of amateur fiction and commentary, such as H. P. Lovecraft's United Amateur; these publications were produced first on small tabletop printing presses by students. As professional printing technology progressed, so did the technology of fanzines. Early fanzines were hand-drafted or typed on a manual typewriter and printed using primitive reproduction techniques. Only a small number of copies could be made at a time, so circulation was limited; the use of mimeograph machines enabled greater press runs, the photocopier increased the speed and ease of publishing once more. Today, thanks to the advent of desktop publishing and self-publication, there is little difference between the appearance of a fanzine and a professional magazine; when Hugo Gernsback published the first science fiction magazine, Amazing Stories in 1926, he allowed for a large letter column which printed reader's addresses.
By 1927 readers young adults, would write to each other, bypassing the magazine. Science fiction fanzines had their beginnings in Constructive correspondence. Fans finding themselves writing the same letter to several correspondents sought to save themselves a lot of typing by duplicating their letters. Early efforts included simple carbon copies but that proved insufficient; the first science fiction fanzine, The Comet, was published in 1930 by the Science Correspondence Club in Chicago and edited by Raymond A. Palmer and Walter Dennis; the term "fanzine" was coined by Russ Chauvenet in the October 1940 edition of his fanzine Detours. "Fanzines" were distinguished from "prozines,":. Prior to that, the fan publications were known as "fanmags" or "letterzines". Science fiction fanzines used a variety of printing methods. Typewriters, school dittos, church mimeos and multi-color letterpress or other mid-to-high level printing; some fans wanted their news spread, others reveled in the beauty of fine printing.
The hectograph, introduced around 1876, was so named because it could produce up to a hundred copies. Hecto used an aniline dye, transferred to a tray of gelatin, paper would be placed on the gel, one sheet at a time, for transfer. Messy and smelly, the process could create vibrant colors for the few copies produced, the easiest aniline dye to make being purple; the next small but significant technological step after hecto is the spirit duplicator the hectography process using a drum instead of the gelatin. Introduced by Ditto Corporation in 1923, these machines were known for the next six decades as Ditto Machines and used by fans because they were cheap to use and could print in color; the mimeograph machine, which forced ink through a wax paper stencil cut by the keys of a typewriter, was the standard for many decades. A second-hand mimeo could print in color; the electronic stencil cutter could add illustrations to a mimeo stencil. A mimeo'd zine could look terrible or look beautiful, depending more on the skill of the mimeo operator than the quality of the equipment.
Only a few fans could afford more professional printers, or the time it took them to print, until photocopying became cheap and ubiquitous in the 1970s. With the advent of computer printers and desktop publishing in the 1980s, fanzines began to look far more professional; the rise of the internet made correspondence cheaper and much faster, the World Wide Web has made publishing a fanzine as simple as coding a web page. The printing technology affected the style of writing. For example, there were alphanumeric contractions which are precursors to "leet-speak". Fanspeak is rich with concatenations. Where teenagers labored to save typing on ditto masters, they now save keystrokes when text messaging. Ackerman invented nonstoparagraphing as a space-saving measure. Whe
Comic Book Resources
CBR, known as Comic Book Resources until August 2016, is a website dedicated to the coverage of comic book-related news and discussion. Comic Book Resources was founded by Jonah Weiland in 1995 as a development of the Kingdom Come Message Board, a message forum that Weiland created to discuss DC Comics's then-new mini-series of the same name. Comic Book Resources features weekly columns written by industry professionals that have included Warren Ellis, Erik Larsen, Steven Grant, Robert Kirkman, Gail Simone, Rich Johnston, Scott Shaw, Rob Worley, Rik Offenberger, Keith Giffen and Mark Millar. Other columns are published by comic book historians and critics such as George Khoury and Timothy Callahan. On April 4, 2016, Jonah Weiland announced that Comic Book Resources had been sold to Valnet Inc. a company, known for its acquisition and ownership of other media properties such as Screen Rant. The site was relaunched as CBR.com on August 2016 with the blogs integrated into the site. The company has hosted a YouTube channel since 2008, with 1.3 million subscribers as of September 12, 2018.
Comic Book Idol known as CBI, is an amateur comic book art competition created and hosted by comics writer J. Torres, sponsored by Comic Book Resources and its participating advertisers. Inspired by the singing contest American Idol, CBI is a five-week and five-round competition in which each contestant is given one week to draw a script provided by guest judges; these invited comic book professionals comment on the artists' work in each round. The contestants to move on to subsequent rounds are selected by fans. Patrick Scherberger won CBI1 and has since worked on a number of Marvel Comics titles like Marvel Adventures: Spider-Man, Marvel Adventures: Hulk and GeNext. Jonathan Hickman was the runner-up in CBI1 and went on to work for Virgin Comics, Image Comics and Marvel Comics. Carlos Rodríguez won CBI2 and went on to work on Shadowhawk for Image and Batman and the Outsiders for DC Comics. Billy Penn competed in CBI2 and went on to work on Savage Dragon. Joe Infurnari, another CBI2 contestant, went on a couple of titles from Oni Press, including Wasteland and Borrowed Time, as well as on the back-up feature of Jersey Gods with Mark Waid.
Dan McDaid and artist on various Doctor Who comics for Panini and IDW and Jersey Gods for Image Comics, as well as strips for DC Comics, competed in CBI3. Nick Pitarra competed in CBI3 and went on to do work for Marvel Comics on books such as Astonishing Tales. Charles Paul Wilson III, artist on The Stuff of Legend, competed in CBI3; the University at Buffalo's research library described Comic Book Resources as "the premiere comics-related site on the Web."In April 2013, comics writer Mark Millar said he read the site every morning after reading the Financial Times. 1999: Won the "Favourite Comics-Related Website" Eagle Award. 2000: Won the "Favourite Comics-Related Website" Eagle Award. 2001: Won the "Favourite Comics-Related Website" Eagle Award. 2004: Nominated for the "Favourite Comics-Related Website" Eagle Award. 2005: Nominated for the "Favourite Comics-Related Website" Eagle Award. 2006: Nominated for the "Favourite Comics-Related Website" Eagle Award. 2007: Nominated for the "Favourite Comics Related Website" Eagle Award.
2008: Nominated for the "Favourite Comics-Related Website" Eagle Award. 2009: Won the "Best Comics-Related Periodical/Journalism" Eisner Award. 2010: Won the "Favourite Comics-Related Website" Eagle Award. 2011: Won the "Favourite Comics-Related Website" Eagle Award. 2011: Won the "Best Comics-Related Periodical/Journalism" Eisner Award. 2013: Won the "Best Biographical, Historical or Journalistic Presentation" Harvey Award for its Robot 6 blog. 2014: Won the "Best Comics-Related Periodical/Journalism" Eisner Award. In 2014, the site found itself at the center of a debate around the harassment of women trying to participate in the online comics community; the debate was sparked by the community's reactions to an article by guest author Janelle Asselin, which criticized the cover of DC Comics's Teen Titans. Following harassment and personal threats against the guest author, the site's main editor issued a statement condemning the way that some community members had reacted and rebooted the community forums in order to establish new ground rules.
Official website
