Alan Light years: 1971–1983 CBG was founded in February 1971 by
Alan Light under the title ''The Buyer's Guide for Comic Fandom
(TBG
) as a monthly newspaper in a tabloid format. TBG
began primarily as an advertising venue – known in comics fandom as an "adzine", i.e. a fanzine devoted to ads. Ron Frantz, in his book Fandom: Confidential'', traces the lineage of Light's endeavor to ''Stan's Weekly Express
(aka WE
), a pioneering adzine published from 1969 to 1973, whose bare-bones approach was inspired by an "obscure journal of flower advertising known as Joe's Bulletin''". Frantz also provides background on Light's interaction with the
WE Seal of approval program, with which he cooperated in order to help combat mail fraud. Frantz in addition describes the infamous long-running feud between Light and
Comics Journal founder
Gary Groth.
TBG's frequency was changed to twice-monthly with issue #18 (August 1, 1972). Besides occasional
letter columns, beginning with issue #19 (Aug. 15, 1972), prominent fans Don and
Maggie Thompson began a monthly column, "Beautiful Balloons." A news column, "What Now?" by
Murray Bishoff, was added with #26 (Dec. 1, 1972). These provided the editorial content required by the
United States Postal Service to qualify for
second class mail (along with paid subscriptions being instituted with issue #27, January 1, 1973). At this time,
TBGs circulation was about 3,600 copies. Columnists Don and Maggie Thompson were hired as editors. Krause changed the name with their first issue #482 (February 11, 1983) to Comics Buyer's Guide'''''. At that time Krause instituted the controversial CBG Customer Service Award, the display of which signifies an advertiser had a "clean bill of health". By the late 1980s, the publication had more than 20,000 subscribers. The magazine added
Mark Evanier's column "P.O.V." in late 1994. In 1992, the magazine spun off its distributor and retailer news into a separate periodical,
Comics & Games Retailer (which ceased publication in 2007). Co-editor Don Thompson died on May 23, 1994. In 1998, Krause brought on
John Jackson Miller as managing editor and
Brent Frankenhoff as projects editor, with Maggie Thompson remaining as editor.
CBG was named Best Comics Publication in the 1985
Kirby Awards, and it was given the
Eisner Award for Best Comics-Related Periodical/Publication in 1992 and 1993. In July 2002, Krause was acquired by
F+W Publications.
F+W Publications years: 2002–2013 With issue #1595 (June 2004),
CBG changed its format from a weekly tabloid to a monthly
perfect bound magazine. In addition, in hopes of enhancing
newsstand sales,
CBG added a
price guide for contemporary comics as well as other new features intended to make the magazine more appealing to those with an avid interest in comic books as an investment. This marketing strategy was also tied to the yearly publication of the
Standard Catalog of Comic Books, produced in conjunction with Human Computing, the makers of the comic collectors’ software
ComicBase. In July 2005, the magazine began archiving past features at its CBGXtra.com service. Brett Frankenhoff was promoted to
CBG Editor in 2006, with Maggie Thompson assuming the title of Senior Editor. In late 2009,
CBG's page count was reduced, the perfect binding ended, and some of the features changed, including the removal of the price guide listings.
Cancelation and legacy On January 9, 2013, Krause Publications announced the cancellation of
Comics Buyer’s Guide effective with issue #1699 (March 2013). The website CBGXtra and its Facebook page continued as archived resources for a time but are no longer online, replaced by the website of the new owner
Antique Trader. A complete collection of
TBG/
CBG is held by the
Michigan State University Comic Art Collection. == Columnists ==