Short answers, pulled from the story.
The Comic Reader (TCR) was a comics news-fanzine published from 1961 to 1984, making it the first regularly published comics industry news fanzine. It began as On the Drawing Board, founded by Jerry Bails in October 1961, and was renamed The Comic Reader in March 1962. Its final issue was #219, published in September 1984.
The Comic Reader was founded by Jerry Bails, known as the "Father of Comics Fandom". It launched in October 1961 under the name On the Drawing Board, spun off from Bails' other fanzine Alter Ego. The name changed to The Comic Reader with issue #8, in March 1962.
The Comic Reader won multiple industry awards including the 1963 Alley Award for Best Comics Fanzine, the 1969 Alley Award for Best Unlimited Reproduction Fanzine, the 1973 Goethe Award for Favorite Fan Magazine, and the Comic Fan Art Award for Favorite Fanzine in both 1974 and 1975. It was also nominated for Eagle Awards in 1983 and 1984.
Paul Levitz, a New York teenager, bought The Comic Reader in early 1971 and revived it with issue #78, merging it with a zine he had co-published with Paul Kupperberg called Etcetera. Under Levitz, TCR went monthly, grew to typically 16 pages, and attracted professional cover artists including Jack Kirby, Rich Buckler, Walt Simonson, and Howard Chaykin.
The Comic Reader's readership was significantly eroded by Amazing Heroes, a competing publication launched by Fantagraphics Books in 1981. Fantagraphics co-publisher Kim Thompson stated directly that the intent was to take TCR's audience. The final issue, #219, was published in September 1984 under Street Enterprises, which had run the magazine since November 1973.
The Comic Reader served as an early publishing ground for many future professionals, including Paul Kupperberg, Tony Isabella, Byron Preiss, Neal Pozner, Don Rosa, Carl Gafford, and Doug Hazlewood. Don Rosa contributed a recurring strip called "Captain Kentucky," and Fred Hembeck ran "Dateline @!!?#". Chuck Fiala's "Bullet Crow" strips were later reprinted by Eclipse Comics in 1987.