Amazing Heroes was a magazine about the comic book medium published by American company Fantagraphics Books from 1981 to 1992. Unlike its companion title, The Comics Journal, Amazing Heroes was a hobbyist magazine rather than an analytical journal.

Publication history<!--'Zam Inc.' and 'Redbeard Inc.' redirect here-->

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<nowiki>'</nowiki>s cheese. Which we did."

Amazing Heroes<nowiki>'</nowiki> 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.<!--boldface per WP:R#PLA-->, through issue #6. Beginning with #7, the publishing imprint became Redbeard Inc.<!--boldface per WP:R#PLA--> 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<nowiki>'</nowiki> 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), After a dispute in 1987 over who owned them, 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

References

  • Bethke, Marilyn. "The New Kids on the Block," The Comics Journal #70, January 1982, pp.&nbsp;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).