Amazing Heroes

Title	Amazing Heroes
Image File
Image Caption	Amazing Heroes #85 (December 15, 1985). Cover art by Alan Davis.
Editor	Michael Catron (founding editor) Kim Thompson (1981–1992)
Editor Title	Editor
Frequency	Varied between monthly and biweekly
Category	Comics criticism and news
Publisher	Fantagraphics Books
Firstdate	June 1981
Lastdate	July 1992
Finalnumber	204 (plus a number of special issues and annuals)
Based	Stamford, Connecticut (1981–1984) Greater Los Angeles, California (1984–1989) Seattle, Washington (1989–1992)
Country	United States
Language	English
Issn	0745-6506

Publication history

Fantagraphics decided to publish Amazing Heroes as another income stream to supplement The Comics Journal. As long-time Fantagraphics co-publisher Kim Thompson put it: "If you want to look at it cynically, we set out to steal The Comic Reader's cheese. Which we did."

Amazing Heroes' first editor was Fantagraphics' head of promotion and circulation, Michael Catron. His inability to meet deadlines led to his being replaced after issue #6 by Comics Journal editor Kim Thompson.

The magazine was initially published under the Fantagraphics imprint Zam Inc., through issue #6. Beginning with #7, the publishing imprint became Redbeard Inc. It remained under Redbeard through at least issue #61, but by issue #68 was being published directly by Fantagraphics Books, Inc.

The magazine began as a monthly, then appeared twice a month for many years, and then went monthly again beginning in 1989. The magazine ran for 204 issues, folding with its July 1992 issue. The final issue was released as a flip book, with issue #203 on the front and issue #204 inverted on the back. It also released a number of special issues, such as Amazing Heroes Preview Special #1–5, 10, & 11 (1985–1990), Amazing Heroes Swimsuit Special #1–5 (1990–1993), and The Best of Amazing Heroes Swimsuit Special (1993).

In February 1993, Fantagraphics announced that the publisher Personality Comics had bought the rights to Amazing Heroes, and planned to revive the magazine. Nothing came of it, however, as Personality itself folded later that year, and by 1994 the rights had reverted back to Fantagraphics.

Format and content

Amazing Heroes' first 13 issues were magazine-sized, while the rest were comic book-sized.

The regular content included industry news, comics creator interviews, histories of comic book characters and reviews. Features included Hero Histories of various characters/features, previews of upcoming series, and letters page. Other regular features were a column called "Doc's Bookshelf" by Dwight Decker (which ran from 1987–1989), and a question-and-answer feature called "Information Center", which ran from 1986–1989.

There were regular special editions presenting previews of all comics slated to appear over the next six months, with Amazing Heroes Preview Special appearing twice a year, beginning with the Summer 1985 issue #1. These were extra-sized issues (often square-bound), and many issues also contained joke entries. The editors fluctuated between publishing these as separately numbered specials and special issues of the regular series itself, with issues #133, 145, 157, and 170 of the regular series (released in 1988 and 1989) taking the place of specials six through nine.

The Amazing Heroes Swimsuit Special, featuring pin-ups of characters in bikinis and similar beach apparel by various artists, debuted with a June 1990 edition. It was preceded by annual swimsuit issues of Amazing Heroes: #115 (April 1987), #138 (April 1988), and #164 (May 1989).

Amazing Heroes #200 (Apr. 1992) contained an extended preview of Scott McCloud's Understanding Comics; the issue was later awarded a Don Thompson Award for Best Non-Fiction Work.

The Jack Kirby Award

From 1985 to 1987, the magazine presented The Jack Kirby Award for achievement in comic books, voted on by comic-book professionals and managed by Amazing Heroes managing editor Dave Olbrich. After a dispute in 1987 over who owned them, the Kirby Awards were discontinued. Starting in 1988, two new awards were created: the Eisner Award, managed by Olbrich, and the Fantagraphics-managed Harvey Award.

Awards

Amazing Heroes won the U.K.'s Eagle Award for Favourite Specialist Comics Publication four years in a row, from 1985 to 1988:

• 1985: Eagle Award — Favourite Speciality Comics Publication
• 1986: Eagle Award — Favourite Specialist Comics Publication
• 1987: Eagle Award — Favourite Specialist Comics Publication
• 1988: Eagle Award — Favourite Specialist Comics Publication
• 1992: Compuserve Comics and Animation Forum Award — Best Non-Fiction Work

See also

• The Comic Reader

Notes

• News Watch: Personality Buys , Amazing Heroes, The Comics Journal, 156, February 1993
• Eric, Reynolds, Newswatch: Comics Publishers Suffer Tough Summer: Body Count Rises in Market Shakedown: The List Goes On, 18, The Comics Journal, 172, November 1994
• Dave, Olbrich, December 17, 2008, The End of the Jack Kirby Comics Industry Awards: A Lesson in Honesty, Funny Book Fanatic (Dave Olbrich official blog), August 22, 2015, June 24, 2013, live

References

• Bethke, Marilyn. "The New Kids on the Block," The Comics Journal #70, January 1982, pp. 110–111.
• Ringgenberg, Steve, editor. The Best of Amazing Heroes #1 (Redbeard, Inc., 1982).
• Spurgeon, Tom with Michael Dean. "'Everything Was in Season': Fantagraphics from 1978–1984: Amazing Heroes," The Comics Journal (DEC. 08, 2016).