Some change at our Alma Mater CBG:

F+W Publications Associate Group Publisher, Sports and Pop Culture Jeff Pozorski has announced the promotion of Comics Buyer’s Guide Editor Maggie Thompson to Senior Editor and Comics Buyer’s Guide Managing Editor Brent Frankenhoff to Editor. The changes were effective as of Jan. 1.

“Maggie and Brent have both actively and professionally shared their hobby knowledge with fans for years,” Pozorski said. “Their respective interests complement each other, making a stronger editorial package overall. These promotions reflect their contributions to Comics Buyer’s Guide and its affiliated products.”

Thompson has been CBG’s Editor since Krause Publications (now a division of F+W Publications) acquired The Buyer’s Guide to Comic Fandom from the publication’s founder, Alan Light, in 1983. From 1983 to 1994, Maggie co-edited the paper with her husband Don. Often noted as one of the founders of comics fandom, Thompson has supported the hobby all her life, receiving Diamond Comic Distributor’s Lifetime Fandom Award in 1991 and the Bob Clampett Humanitarian Award in 1995 and being named Friends of Lulu’s first “Woman of Distinction” in 2004.

“Being named ‘Senior Editor’ is a nifty tribute,” Thompson commented, “as I enter my 25th year at the helm of the longest-running magazine about comic books. I should point out that the title has nothing to do with so-called ‘senior moments’ and everything to do with the deference paid me by … Hmmm. Well …” She paused. “Never mind. I guess that deference thing is overrated, anyway.” She laughed.


Congrats to our long suffering editors, and more in the link.

1 COMMENT

  1. CBG used to be a very important publication, but in the early 1990s it clearly made a conscious descision to minimize coverage of “bad news” about comics. As ad sales dwindled it played to the publishers more and more until it largely became a product placement vehicle and an uncritical cheerleader for the comics industry. CBG used to be a forum where industry professionals would argue about current issues affecting the industry. Today it is silent on such issues. When publishers screw writers and artists, no word of it appears in CBG. When Crossgen began its slow yearlong death rattle and slide towards ultimate bankruptcy, all CBG printed about Crossgen were press releases about the wonderful things Crossgen had in the works. Everywhere except in CBG you could learn the latest Crossgen gissip (which unlike some gossip, was actually true). Even after Crossgen collapsed there was no article examining what had gone wrong with the company, just a little squib about how Crossgen had closed its doors. Instead we get things like an entire issue of CBG extolling the virtues of CGC (one of its advertisers). Back in the 1980s The Comics Journal used to criticize CBG for being a shill for Marvel and DC. I felt that at the time this was an unfair exaggeration. But lo and behold, little by little it came true until today CBG is really no different from WIZARD (which is frequently criticized for doing the same things CBG routinely does). It is impossible to get a true overview of the comic book industry today by reading CBG. Twenty years ago it was one of the only places to get the unvarnished news about the comics industry. The publication is as different now as night is from day even though it has the same publisher and editor. What happened to CBG didn’t happen overnight, but it did happen and its toothless reporting marginalizes it completely from the industry as it exists today. If it wasn’t for the internet and the news sites found here, the emptiness that CBG has become wouldn’t be so paintfully obvious, but this change began before the Internet became the source for breaking news. CBG abandoned their responsibikity in this area long before it was exclipsed by the Internet.