Comic Book Artist

Comic Book Artist is an American magazine primarily devoted to anecdotal histories of American comic books, with emphasis on comics published between the 1960s and the present-day. CBA examines the development of "sequential art" (the more academic term for comic-book storytelling) mostly through comprehensive interviews with the participants -- the artists, writers, editors and publishers -- who contributed to the U.S.-born art form.

History

Comic Book Artist began publication in 1998 as an offshoot from the magazine, The Jack Kirby Collector, flagship periodical of TwoMorrows Publishing (Raleigh, NC), which was devoted to a single comics creator. Jon B. Cooke, TJKC associate editor, proposed a sister magazine devoted to the "other guys" who contributed to the American comics industry, specifically (but not exclusively) those professionals who worked between the 1960s and '80s. The first issue was dated Spring 1998 and was immediately reprinted, a rarity for its type, and CBA editor Cooke quickly received critical praise for the magazine's exhaustive and thematic approach (with most issues respectively devoted to a single publisher's comics and the creators responsible within a certain timespan), by way of multiple interviews -- oral histories -- to form overall impressions of a specific era.

Related Topics:
TwoMorrows Publishing - Jon B. Cooke

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(The first five issues of CBA sported a "flip-side" magazime, the revival of Alter Ego, a renowned 1960s' "fanzine" (fan magazine) devoted to super-hero comics and originated by Dr. Jerry Bails (co-editor of the seminal reference work, Who's Who in American Comic Books). Former Marvel Comics editor-in-chief and writer Roy Thomas, who in the '60s succeeded Bails as A/E editor and who subsequently purchased the 'zine, also served as editor of the CBA version, which Thomas dubbed "volume two." In 1999, Alter Ego was spun off as its own magazine and A/E continues to be published under the TwoMorrows banner and recently reached its 50th issue.)

Related Topics:
Alter Ego - Fanzine - Jerry Bails - Roy Thomas

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Comic Book Artist often featured the first comprehensive histories of any number of previously overlooked comics publishers, including Warren Publishing, Charlton Comics, Tower Comics, Gold Key Comics, and Harvey Comics, though significant emphasis was given to the "Big Two," the leading U.S. comics publishers, then and now: DC Comics and Marvel Comics. After 25 issues, a pair of trade paperback collections, and the winning of two Will Eisner Comics Industry Awards (The 'Eisner') for "Best Comics-Related Periodical," CBA and editor/owner Cooke left TwoMorrows in 2002 to join with Top Shelf Productions (Atlanta, GA).

Related Topics:
Warren Publishing - Charlton Comics - Tower Comics - Gold Key Comics - Harvey Comics - DC Comics - Marvel Comics - Will Eisner - Top Shelf Productions

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CBA, volume two, debuted in 2003 under a new format (complete redesign, square-binding, color section) and a refined approach, with lead features showcasing individual artists, writers and editors, as well as an interior section entitled "Comic Book Artist Classic," a so-called magazines-within-a-magazine that continued the earlier thematic focus of volume one. At Top Shelf, Comic Book Artist has won two consecutive Eisner Awards for "Best Comics-Related Periodical," as well as the 2004 Harvey Award for "Best Historical or Journalistic Presentation."

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Cooke is also well known within the industry as a designer and layout artist, and designed the book The Amazing World of Carmine Infantino for Vanguard Press.

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The first several, sold out issues, of Comic Book Artist have in collected in to three volumes, featuring reprints, as well as bonus new material.

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