{"id":4971,"date":"2013-01-09T17:59:00","date_gmt":"2013-01-09T17:59:00","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2020-08-01T15:45:40","modified_gmt":"2020-08-01T20:45:40","slug":"end-of-era-comics-buyers-guide-1971-2013","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/comichron.com\/blog\/2013\/01\/09\/end-of-era-comics-buyers-guide-1971-2013\/","title":{"rendered":"End of an era: Comics Buyer\u2019s Guide, 1971-2013"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n
\n\n\n\n\n
<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
The last issue, #1699.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Today, F+W Media announced the closure of Comics Buyer\u2019s Guide<\/i><\/b><\/a> after the publication of its 1,699th issue (March 2013). The magazine,
\nwhich began life in the basement of a comics fan in 1971 was for many years the
\nlargest marketplace for comics sales by mail \u2014 as well as being the leading
\nnews source for many fans during the weekly portion of its run.<\/p>\n

Quite a lot
\nabout the history of comics, both as a hobby and as an entertainment medium,
\ncan be seen in the pages from its 42-year history. It was a history that was filled with highs and lows and
\nquite a few changes. Some changes were caused from external events; others,
\nfrom moves by its owners.<\/p>\n

It isn\u2019t my intent to tell those stories now \u2014 there
\nare a number of posts that could be written telling some of those stories, and
\nI expect to at some point down the road. But now, just at the announcement of its
\ncancellation, I hope to provide some broad perspective on the magazine.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
\n\n\n\n\n
<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
“Daring! Original! Inevitable!” #1, 1971<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n
<\/div>\n

It certainly played a major role in my life, both as a
\ncollector and as a publishing professional. A regular reader of the publication
\nsince 1984, I went to work for CBG<\/i><\/b>\u2019s spinoff retail publication Comics
\nRetailer<\/i><\/b> (later Comics & Games Retailer<\/i><\/b>) as editor in late
\n1993. I would be involved at one level or another with Comics Buyer’s Guide<\/i> ever
\nafter, as a contributing editor, as a managing editor, as editorial director
\nfor the division and later the company \u2014 and, finally, after I left in 2007 to
\nwrite full time, as an outside columnist. The magazine has been there in one
\nway or another in my life for nearly 30 years. But it existed long before that.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
The Alan Light years
\n(1971-1983).<\/b> As noted, Comics Buyer\u2019s Guide <\/i>began life when Alan Light<\/b>, then 17, launched his own
\ntrade newspaper, The Buyer\u2019s Guide for Comic Fandom<\/i><\/b>, in February 1971. Fandom
\nwas in full swing, then, with Robert Overstreet<\/b>\u2019s first Comic Book Price Guide<\/b><\/i>
\njust published. Fanzines were providing most of the mail order connections for
\ncomics collectors, and Light\u2019s addition was crafted as an ad-zine, charging $30
\nfor its full-page ads. The circulation for the broadsheet newspaper was 3,600
\ncopies, and subscriptions were available for free to requesting readers. (Ads
\nin that first issue included two different copies of Amazing Spider-Man<\/i> #1 \u2014 for $11 and $4 respectively!)<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\n\n\n\n\n
<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
The Buyer’s Guide #100<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

The \u201cTBG<\/i>\u201d \u2014 as people referred to it, despite the article
\nalready being in the acronym \u2014 shifted from bimonthly to monthly with its
\nsecond issue. Editorial content was scarce in the early issues (although later
\nregular Mark Evanier<\/b> did have a column in the fourth issue). With artists
\nincluding Klaus Janson <\/b>and P. Craig Russell <\/b>providing some of the earliest
\ncovers, circulation topped 4,000 in early 1972. With issue #18 (Aug. 1, 1972)
\nit went biweekly. That issue included the publication\u2019s first convention photo
\nfeature, on the 1972 New York ComiConvention. (I indexed the first hundred or
\nso issues years ago for the CBG<\/i> website; while it lasts, you can find it here<\/b><\/a>.
\nRuss Maheras<\/b>, artist on many of the early covers, provided all the scans and cover index.)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
As TBG<\/i> became a bigger and bigger production, Murray Bishoff
\n<\/b>joined Light as an assistant \u2014 and the magazine brought in the couple who would
\nbecome synonymous with it in later years: Don and Maggie Thompson<\/b>. Sometimes
\n(and in my view, rightly) regarded as the \u201cGeorge and Martha Washington of
\ncomics fandom,\u201d Don and Maggie had produced one of the first comics fanzines<\/b><\/a> in
\n1961 and had continued in their own publication Newfangles<\/i> (seen here)<\/b><\/a>. The Thompsons
\nhad first appeared in TBG<\/i> #14 to continue the fan awards they\u2019d started in Newfangles<\/i> \u2014 and Light brought them in
\nas columnists in #19 (Aug. 15, 1972). Their \u201cBeautiful Balloons\u201d column would
\nrun in alternating issues for years after that.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
There\u2019s a reason why alternating issues were usually often
\nthe only place you could find editorial content in the early TBGs<\/i>. It was only
\nthere at all because with the Dec. 1, 1972 issue (#26) TBG<\/i> stopped being free
\nand became a paid subscription publication \u2014\u00a0$2 for 23 issues. By changing
\nfrom a requestor publication to a paid one, the Postal Service required that
\nadvertising could fill no more than 75% of the magazine\u2019s pages. Since the
\nauditing period back then was two issues, Light chose to run all ads in one
\nissue, and with the next being half editorial. So #26 included regular news
\nsections, including \u201cNow What,\u201d by Bishoff.
\n<\/b><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
And there was a lot of content. Golden Age creators like Bill Everett
\n<\/b>were eulogized. Marvel\u2019s expansion in the early 1970s was covered. Articles on
\nattempts to censor comics appeared as early as 1973, with a piece on Direct
\nMarket pioneer Phil Seuling<\/b>\u2019s arrest for selling undergrounds. Coverage
\nexpanded when the publication went weekly with #87 (July 18, 1975), adding
\nmedia topics. A movie called The Star
\nWars<\/i> <\/b>(sic) was announced as a Christmas 1976 release in TBG<\/i> #97 (Sept. 26, 1975). San Diego
\nComic-Con cofounder Shel Dorf <\/b>would
\nlater provide one of the only fandom interviews with Harrison Ford <\/b>for TBG<\/i>.<\/i><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\n\n\n\n\n
<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
An original Frank Thorne cover, TBG #106.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Big news stories appeared throughout the 1970s. Superman
\ncreator Jerry Siegel<\/b> spoke out in fandom for the first time in a piece that ran
\nin TBG<\/i> #105 (Nov. 21, 1975), \u201cThe Victimization of Superman\u2019s Creators.\u201d (The issue, seen above left, had an original Jack Kirby<\/b> cover.) The
\nmagazine aggressively covered the drive to get pensions for him and Joe
\nShuster, and was able to announce their settlement in #113, two months later.<\/p>\n

The advertising base continued to grow \u2014 now including Steve Geppi<\/b>, today of Diamond Comic Distributors<\/b>, whose testimonial ad for TBG<\/i> ran in #71 (Mar. 1, 1975). As a result, the
\nnewspaper continued to expand \u2014 some issues had as many as four folded over
\nsections \u2014 with the Thompsons\u2019 column expanding to take up nine full pages of
\nthe newspaper by 1976. (The largest issue of TBG<\/i> was #190, the July 8, 1977 issue, which ran 148 pages,
\nincluding a 52-page catalog from Mile High Comics<\/b>.) And pure entertainment
\nfeatures were added, with Fred Hembeck<\/b> launching his Dateline<\/i> cartoon.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
\n\n\n\n\n
<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Walter Koenig, featured on #201.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

The industry was changing quickly, with editorial upheaval
\nat Marvel<\/b>, runaway cover price inflation, and troubles in the newsstand market
\nfilling many columns. News of layoffs at Charlton<\/b> reached readers in 1976. TBG<\/i>
\n#257 (Oct. 20, 1978) reported the publication of Cancelled Comics Cavalcade<\/i>, a consequence of the DC Implosion. But
\nwith its circulation topping 10,000 copies in 1977, TBG<\/i> was also reporting on
\nthe nascent comics shop market, its ads connecting start-up distributors to
\nstart-up retailers. Seuling\u2019s first ad introducing Sea Gate Distributors<\/b>
\nappeared on the back of TBG<\/i> #207, the Nov. 4, 1977 issue.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
And the newspaper had long provided a venue for smaller
\npublishers to reach readers. Underground publishers Rip Off Press<\/b> and Last Gasp<\/b>
\nbegan advertising in 1973, and many more alternative publishers followed. Jack
\nKatz\u2019s <\/b>First Kingdom<\/b> <\/i>was featured in
\n1977, one of many indie spotlights to follow. (People advertised to sell and find all sorts of things \u2014 including subscriber Walter Koenig<\/b> of Star Trek<\/i><\/b>, who was looking to expand his button collection.)<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\n\n\n\n\n
<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
TBG #237, 1978, on the Spidey TV show<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

The 1970s TBG<\/i> also covered collectors\u2019 issues, including the
\nprice spikes on early \u201chot comics\u201d like Conan<\/i>
\n#1, Howard the Duck<\/i> #1, <\/b>and Red Sonja<\/i> #1<\/b>. It also warned of the
\npublication of the first counterfeit comic book, a version of Eerie<\/i> #1<\/b>, in
\n1976. (CBG<\/i> would also later warn of
\nthe Cerebus<\/i> #1<\/b> counterfeit among many
\nothers.)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
As the 1980s began, TBG had really grown into its role as
\nmore than an ad sheet. Cat Yronwode<\/b> had taken over Bishoff\u2019s news column with
\nTBG<\/i> #329 (March 7, 1980), renaming it \u201cFit to Print,\u201d and a lot of players in
\nwhat would be the modern Direct Market were in place. But after publishing 481
\nissues comprising 33,000 pages, Alan Light, then just 29, decided he\u2019d had
\nenough. He sold the publication to Krause Publications<\/b> of Iola, Wis.\u00a0 <\/span><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
The Don and Maggie
\nyears (1983-1994).<\/b> Krause was owned by Chester \u201cChet\u201d Krause<\/b>, who, like
\nLight, had started his own magazine from his kitchen table \u2014 Numismatic News<\/i> for coin collectors \u2014 in
\n1952. The company had acquired or started several publications in other
\ncollectibles fields, and determined to follow that model in comics. That meant
\nturning TBG<\/i> into Comics Buyer\u2019s Guide<\/i>
\n\u2014 putting the comics word up front \u2014 and it meant hiring Don and Maggie
\nThompson as its coeditors.<\/div>\n
\n
\u00a0<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n\n
<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
#483, the second Krause ish. “Comics” was added to the logo<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

The first Krause issue, #482 (Feb. 11, 1983) was a shock for
\nsome. The folded-over newsprint publication had much higher production values \u2014
\nand as with all Krause publications, handwritten ads were typeset by the production
\nstaff. (This earned the derision of one reader, who said he could no longer
\ntell which sellers were idiots by the quality of their ads.) The
\nevery-other-week editorial thing went away, with each issue now 25% editorial. A
\npaid classified ad section was added, often running many pages. Yronwode,
\nHembeck, and other features were brought into the new CBG<\/i>. The word “comics” was added very gradually to the logo, growing in weight and size every week.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
\n\n\n\n\n
<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
#547, from the second Krause year, 1984<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Included in that first issue was a new feature: \u201cComics in Your
\nFuture,\u201d a highly detailed week-by-week listing of what was shipping. It would
\nrun for more than 20 years, before switching to the magazine\u2019s website.<\/p>\n

The
\nThompsons added \u201cOh, So?\u201d a letters-column feature that was populated by fans
\nand creators alike. Erik Larsen<\/b> was one of the writers in that first column;
\nand over the course of the next decade-plus, John Byrne <\/b>sent dozens of letters that were published. Don also began the “Comics Guide” review column, continuing the review work he’d done in “Beautiful Balloons” in TBG<\/i>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n\n\n\n\n
<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
The ballot, as it appeared in comics.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

The Thompsons
\nalso immediately revived their fan awards, which had started back in Newfangles<\/i>. The first CBG<\/i> Fan Awards
\nissue ran in CBG<\/i><\/b> #500, the Jun. 17, 1983 issue. (Frank Miller<\/b> was the big
\nwinner.) Fan Awards ballots would appear in comics from Marvel and many other
\npublishers, with award ceremonies at Chicago Comicon <\/b>for many years. The
\nprogram \u2014 which, yeah, was also a way of getting prospective subscribers\u2019 addresses
\n\u2014 was getting something like 5,000 votes mailed in at its 1990s peak.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
CBG<\/i> was, in fact, part of a two-pronged entry into the
\ncomics field for Krause in 1983. Alex G. Malloy, Neil A. Hansen, <\/b>and Richard
\nMaurizio<\/b> packaged a first issue of a newsstand magazine, Comics Collector<\/i><\/b>, for Krause. Krause gave the title to the
\nThompsons to edit thereafter, and while the magazine only lasted 10 issues, the
\nprice guide included in it would later form the basis for Comics Buyer\u2019s Guide Price Guide<\/i><\/b> magazine in the 1990s, the CBG Checklist and Price Guide<\/i><\/b> book
\nseries, and the Standard Catalog of Comic Books<\/i><\/b><\/a> series.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\n\n\n\n\n
<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
#575, one of the theme issues<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

CBG<\/i>, meanwhile,
\nprospered thanks to subscription efforts and direct market distribution, with
\ncirculation topping 20,000 copies by the late 1980s. With the Thompsons at the
\nhelm, CBG<\/i> continued to report on
\nindustry news. Expansion in the Direct Market brought more rounds of
\nspeculation, such as the run on 1984\u2019s Amazing
\nSpider-Man<\/i> #252<\/b> (with the black costume) and 1986\u2019s Dark Knight Returns<\/i> #1<\/b>. The many failed attempts at Spider-Man,
\nBatman, and Watchmen films provided lettercol fodder. Censorship remained a
\nmajor topic, following the Friendly Frank\u2019s<\/b> case and creators\u2019 attempt to stave
\noff a ratings system. The debate over Marvel and Jack Kirby<\/b>\u2019s artwork filled
\nmany pages. And the top-selling issue of the 1980s was 1987\u2019s issue reporting
\nJim Shooter<\/b>\u2019s departure from Marvel.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
\n\n\n\n\n
<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
CBG #866, 1990<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

The ease with which the Direct Market made self-publishing
\npossible made the publication an important vehicle for a plethora of new
\npublishers. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles<\/i>
\n#1<\/b> was first advertised by its publishers in CBG<\/i> #542 (Apr. 6, 1984) for $2 postpaid, and CBG<\/i> followed with
\nreports throughout the black-and-white comics glut that followed in the
\nmid-1980s. The Thompsons promoted many up-and-coming creators, with Don later
\nevangelizing for Jeff Smith<\/b>\u2019s creation Bone<\/i>
\nin the early 1990s.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
Theme issues for international, Golden Age, and media-related comics
\nappeared in the first Krause decade, as did many new columnists. Tony Isabella<\/b>,
\nwho had written for the original TBG<\/i>,
\nstarted a regular presence in the 1980s, as did Heidi MacDonald<\/b>, now of ComicsBeat.com<\/a><\/b>. Bob Ingersoll <\/b>wrote a legal column. And Peter David<\/b>, who first
\nappeared as a Marvel representative in CBG<\/i>\u2019s pages, started his \u201cBut I Digress\u201d
\ncolumn in CBG<\/i> #871 (July 27, 1990); he would serve as the inside-back-page
\ncolumnist ever after.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\n\n\n\n\n
<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
The new tabloid size in 1992<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

By the early 1990s, the comics industry was amid the biggest
\nboom of its history, driven by speculation and the availability of easy credit
\nfrom comics distributors. CBG<\/i> reported that annual sales in 1991 were $475
\nmillion \u2014 including the newsstand; that figure would reach $850 million in
\n1993. (By contrast, the Direct Market alone in 2012 had sales of $475 million<\/b><\/a>,
\nwith the wider marketplace bringing it north of $700 million \u2014 in today\u2019s
\ndollars, that is.) CBG<\/i> reported on one boomlet after another, from the bagged Spider-Man #1<\/i> and 1992\u2019s \u201cDeath of
\nSuperman.\u201d The magazine switched to a tabloid in 1992 for easier shipping, which opened up the cover again for art. And after reporting on distributors and their conferences for many
\nyears, CBG<\/i> spun off all business material into Comics Retailer<\/b><\/a> <\/i>in 1991.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
As the comics glut reached epic proportions with more than
\n500 comics coming out a month, the Thompsons famously editorialized for
\nrestraint. CBG<\/i> issues ran over 120 pages many weeks \u2014 still running at a 75\/25
\nad-to-edit ratio \u2014 stuffed with ads from comics dealers. With Wizard<\/i><\/b> starting to attract readers,
\nKrause tried to improve the salability of the magazine by publishing the issue
\nas an upright single-section tabloid, with a color cover. But many comics shops
\nrefused to carry CBG<\/i> because of the
\nperceived competition from its ads \u2014 a problem that would harm it greatly later
\non.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Wisconsinite Brent
\nFrankenhoff<\/b> joined the staff as Don\u2019s associate editor in September 1992,
\nand publisher Greg Loescher<\/b> hired me
\nto take over Comics Retailer<\/i> in
\nNovember 1993. (On Don\u2019s behalf, Brent had previously mailed the rejection
\nletter for my sole previous submission to CBG<\/i>,
\na comic strip; I would rib him over that fact for many years. They were right
\nto reject it, of course \u2014 no cartoonist I!) But by the end of 1993, the comics
\nindustry was on the brink of a historic collapse.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\n\n\n\n\n
<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
#1077, from 1994<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

And sadly, Don\u2019s health was failing, too. He continued to
\nwrite his review column from a hospital bed in late 1993, and kept up a busy
\nschedule into 1994. Very<\/i> busy. I have to say I have never seen anyone work as
\nhard as Don Thompson did. He was in the office at all hours, working on those
\ngargantuan papers. He died in May 1994 at 58, having reviewed more than 10,000
\ncomics in his career; his and Maggie\u2019s work together had appeared in 739 issues
\nof the combined magazines.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
CBG<\/i> #1074 (June
\n17, 1994) was hours from going to press when Don died; somehow, Maggie managed
\nto get an obituary and remembrance note in that issue. The first condolence
\nnote across the fax machine came from Neil Gaiman.<\/b> There were many, many more.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
The Maggie years (1994-present).<\/b>
\nMaggie soldiered on, dealing with what had become by that point an enormous weekly
\nnewspaper. The editorial computer system was an unholy disaster of a thing \u2014 an
\nancillary product of, no joke, a chemical firm \u2014 and the copy was still, in
\nthose days, being pasted physically on layout boards. Brent and I resolved to
\nhelp, and we did \u2014 as did Michael Dean<\/b>, who was brought on later that year.
\nMark Evanier signed on as a columnist, helping to fill some of the pages.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\n\n\n\n\n
<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
#1257, cover by Jim Steranko and J. David Spurlock<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

The problem, of course, was the same one everyone in comics
\nfaced. The business model for CBG<\/i> used page and advertising budgets based on
\npast performance. After the fall of 1993, the comics industry was on a downward
\ntrajectory that was not going to improve until after 2000. In the meantime,
\nretail accounts vanished, taking a chunk out of the newspaper\u2019s ad and
\nsingle-copy sales. Since ad pages determined the number of edit pages in those
\ndays, subscribers saw less of CBG<\/i> in
\ntheir mailboxes.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
With the Feb. 23, 1996 issue (#1162), CBG<\/i> reduced its trim
\nsize to a smaller tabloid; becoming less newspaper, and more magazine. I worked
\non that redesign (and another one in 2001, each coping with the changing
\navailability of pages). The Internet began chipping away the direct-mail market
\nfor collectible comics, and that, too, cost editorial pages. Finally, at some point, the 75\/25 rule was dropped, with a 60-page minimum page count
\ninstituted.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\n\n\n\n\n
<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
#1277: One of the best articles, and covers<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

That meant a change in the size of the newshole \u2014 an
\nincrease, the first in a long time. It also meant that much more of the value
\nof the magazine would be in its editorial content. This was a challenge for the
\npublication, as its editorial budget had always been paltry: many contributors
\nin previous years simply wrote for free, whereas the existence of new competitors
\nlike Wizard<\/i> had raised the price of
\ncontent. The internal staff \u2014 which later on at different times included Joyce
\nGreenholdt, Nathan Melby, James Mishler, Jason Winter, <\/b>and Ray Sidman <\/b>\u2014 began generating a lot
\nmore original content. CBG<\/i> included much coverage of the gyrations of the
\ndistribution market in the 1990s, and Marvel\u2019s bankruptcy; censorship made its
\nreappearance with the Planet Comics<\/b> case. Later, a news-capsule deal was struck
\nwith Newsarama<\/b><\/a>, whose Matt Brady<\/b> had gotten his start writing for Comics Retailer<\/i>. Michael Doran\u00a0<\/b>and Matt contributed many pieces over the years.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
The 1990s and early 2000s thus saw a lot of experimentation
\n\u2014 some of it, admittedly, chasing whatever genre the ad staff saw potential
\npromise in. While there was always a separation between advertising and
\neditorial, there were fishing expeditions into manga, games, and toys. (The
\nonly artifact of the game foray is that 1995\u2019s CBG<\/i> #1116 became the
\nhighest-selling issue of the magazine ever, including in its polybag an
\nexclusive card for then-white-hot Magic:
\nThe Gathering<\/i><\/b>.)<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\n\n\n\n\n
<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
CBG passed Dell Four Color’s issue count in 1999.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

More luck was had following something closer to the core
\nmission: CGC<\/b>, and the rise of auction houses in the early 2000s. It became
\napparent, however, that nostalgia was the major unifying factor in CBG<\/i>\u2019s readership \u2014 as typified by
\npopular columnist additions Craig \u201cMr.
\nSilver Age\u201d Shutt<\/b> and Andrew
\n\u201cCaptain Comics\u201d Smith.\u00a0<\/b> The magazine also continued to cover the comics resale market, adding Mile High’s Chuck Rozanski <\/b>as a columnist.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
The missing piece, however, was the Internet. CBG<\/i> had weathered the ups and downs of
\nthe hobby by being one of a stable of collector\u2019s magazines at Krause.
\nUnfortunately, this safety in numbers tended to make it tougher for a single
\nmagazine \u2014 one serving early-adopters \u2014 to offer a service that the other magazines
\ndid not have. Opportunities to acquire or host major comics sites operating
\ntoday had to be passed on, because of a lack of infrastructure or resources.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\n\n\n\n\n
<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
#1499, an example of the return to news covers<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

And the competition that proved most damaging to the
\nmagazine came not from Internet news sites or other magazines \u2014 but rather,
\neBay<\/b>. It struck directly at the weekly shopper model, wiping out the
\nclassifieds. It was this, among other things, that led to the end of the
\nnewspaper format in 2004. Krause had been sold to a private equity firm in 2002
\nand merged with what is now F+W Media<\/b>; in 2004, with the private equity firm contemplating
\nanother sale (which happened in 2005), CBG<\/i> abandoned the weekly shopper model
\nto become a monthly magazine. For the first time, it was almost fully dependent on
\nsingle-copy and subscription sales.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
That redesign was assigned to me, and as I wrote in a CBG<\/i>
\ncolumn a few years ago, it was one of the scariest things I\u2019ve ever had to do.
\nThe history of the magazine was formidable, as were the expectations of the
\nreaders. I had asked what percentage we could be allowed to lose and make the
\nchangeover work; the answer was one in three.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\n\n\n\n\n
<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
#1595, August 2004, the first magazine issue<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Fortunately, we didn\u2019t go anywhere near that \u2014 I think the
\nnumber of people who canceled that first summer was in the single digits. The reason was in part
\nbecause then-publisher Mark Williams<\/b> committed to giving the staff, for one
\nyear, the same number of pages that would have been in a month of weekly
\nissues. For a year, no issues had fewer than 240 pages \u2014 and the second monthly
\nissue, #1596 (September 2004) was the largest ever, at 292 pages. The \u201cbig
\nchunk\u201d model had enough room to pursue the three directives the staff had been
\ngiven: directing one third of the publication toward new comics with lots of
\nreviews; one third toward older readers, with nostalgia pieces; and one third
\ntoward collectors, with a price guide section that drew upon actual
\ntransactions, digitally culled from \u2014 yes, our old nemesis eBay. <\/i>That <\/i>was part of a strategy supporting the Standard Catalog of Comic Books<\/i><\/a><\/b> line, which the staff had recently started. We threw
\neverything we could find into the monthly magazine.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
The new format also allowed CBG<\/i> to do something it hadn\u2019t
\nbeen able to do before: purchase original art covers. All those covers in the
\n1990s, almost all, had been promotional pieces. With CBG<\/i> finally in a format
\nwhere Barnes & Noble<\/b> could carry it on the main shelves, what was on the
\ncover mattered. Mark Patten<\/b> and David Campiti <\/b>helped the magazine acquire cover art. In 2005, CBG<\/i> also finally got its own website, CBGXtra.com<\/b><\/a>. I developed the initial version of it, one of my last acts before moving on in the company (which I left in 2007). Jim Johnson, John Petty, Brett Weiss<\/b>, and Michelle Nolan<\/b> came aboard as contributors.<\/p>\n

In the end, the redesign bought another eight years, and just over
\na hundred issues.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
\n\n\n\n\n
<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
At 292 pages, #1596 was the largest issue.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Brent, who had been promoted to full editor of CBG<\/i> when Maggie (now Senior Editor) cut
\nher workload at the end of 2007, worked with designer Shawn Williams<\/b> to put
\ntogether a nice package each month. The 240-page deal lapsed, and the number of
\npages was slowly allowed to come back down to balance the books. Color pages
\nbecame black and white, glossy paper became newsprint, and the price guide was
\ndropped altogether. My own column eventually was, too, although I had taken up
\nresidence here at Comichron<\/b><\/a> by then.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
While the comics business today is doing fairly well<\/b><\/a>, the magazine business has long been in far worse shape, and while there is still a market for the right magazine model
\n(Alter Ego<\/i><\/b>, etc.), there evidently
\nwasn\u2019t another evolution left in CBG<\/i>. The staff received news of the cancellation
\njust after the new year. Issue #1699 had already gone to press, so there will
\nbe no anniversary issue, nor acknowledgment in the magazine. The last thing in
\nthe magazine is, as always, a column by Peter David, who suffered a stroke at
\nthe end of 2012.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\n\n\n\n\n
<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
#1697 (Jan 2013), completing 42 years<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

I expected such an announcement sooner, as FW\/Krause had
\nalready folded Comics & Games
\nRetailer<\/i> and the much more lucrative Scrye<\/i><\/b><\/a>
\nseveral years ago; still, I am deeply saddened to see it come to pass, both for
\nthe history of comics and for the friends and neighbors who worked there.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
Maggie Thompson continues to blog on her website<\/b><\/a>; her Twitter feed is @ThompsonMaggie<\/a>. I\u2019m working
\nwith her on a number of comics research activities. Maggie will also be blogging for Comic Con International’s new Toucan<\/b><\/a> blog. Brent\u2019s new Twitter feed is
\n@BFrankenhoff<\/a>, and I know he\u2019s going to stay active in the field as well.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
There is no digital archives of CBG<\/i>, beyond the DVDs
\nproduced for the last few years. Krause did not own the rights to many of the
\ncolumns that appeared in the 1980s and 1990s, and excising that material would
\nhave been impractical. Lone Star <\/b>has a huge assortment of back issues<\/b><\/a>
\navailable.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
As a reader in high school, CBG<\/i> gave me a sense of community;
\nas an editor, it gave me the chance to talk comics with thousands of people at
\nonce, and to advance some of my historical interests. The magazine changed my
\nlife, and I know that it touched others as well.<\/p>\n

Update<\/b>: Maggie’s blog post appears here<\/b><\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The last issue, #1699. Today, F+W Media announced the closure of Comics Buyer\u2019s Guide after the publication of its 1,699th issue (March 2013). The magazine, which began life in the basement of a comics fan in 1971 was for many years the largest marketplace for comics sales by mail \u2014 as well as being the … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4972,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[47,82],"class_list":["post-4971","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-comics-buyers-guide","tag-publishing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/comichron.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4971","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/comichron.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/comichron.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/comichron.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/comichron.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4971"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/comichron.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4971\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6483,"href":"https:\/\/comichron.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4971\/revisions\/6483"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/comichron.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4972"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/comichron.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4971"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/comichron.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4971"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/comichron.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4971"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}