Comics Buyer's Guide

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CBG #1600

Comics Buyer's Guide (ISSN 0745-4570) (CBG) is the longest-running periodical reporting on the comic book industry. Founded in 1971 primarily as an advertising venue by Alan Light under the title The Buyer’s Guide for Comic Fandom (abbreviated TBG), it was bought in late 1982 by collectibles publisher Krause Publications and renamed Comics Buyer’s Guide (abbreviated CBG) and since that time has been edited by Don and Maggie Thompson (with Maggie editing it alone after Don's death in 1994). The magazine has been published by F+W Publications Inc. since 2002, when that firm bought Krause.

For most of its history Comics Buyer's Guide has been published weekly in a tabloid newspaper format. In May 2004 the editors announced that the publication would be switching to a monthly magazine format, allowing it to broaden its distribution to the mass market. In July 2005, the magazine began archiving past features at its CBGXtra.com service.

CBG has at times been noted for its lively letter column "Oh, So?", as well as columns by Peter David, Tony Isabella, catherine yronwode, Mark Evanier, John Jackson Miller, Bob Ingersoll, Heidi McDonald, Chuck Rozanski, Craig Shutt, Beau Smith, Andrew Smith and others. Cartoonists who have graced its pages over the years include Chuck Fiala, Jim Engel, Dan Vebber, Fred Hembeck, Mark Engblom, Brian Douglas Ahern, Chris Smigliano, Mark Martin (cartoonist), Batton Lash and others. For some years they reprinted installments of The Spirit comic strip by Will Eisner. The panel cartoon Last Kiss by John Lustig is among the longtime fixtures. In addition, the CBG monthly is especially valuable to those with an avid interest in comic books as an investment for its monthly price guides and 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 1992, the magazine spun off its distributor and retailer news into a separate periodical, Comics & Games Retailer. It has also awarded their annual Comics Buyer's Guide Fan Awards since 1982.