Comic Book Resources

• 1. Introduction

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  Comic Book Resources began its life not as a news site, but as a message board dedicated to a single DC Comics story. In 1995, Jonah Weiland created the Kingdom Come Message Board to discuss DC's then-new mini-series of the same name. From that narrow starting point, he built what the University at Buffalo's research library would call, in 2008, "the premiere comics-related site on the Web." The site would go on to win both Eagle Awards and Eisner Awards, attract daily readers who also read the Financial Times, and eventually become the center of a very public fight over what comics journalism should look like. How does a fan forum become an award-winning institution? And what happens when a media conglomerate decides that comics coverage is no longer the point?

• 2. From Message Board to Media Presence

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  Weiland launched the site in 1995, growing it from a single-topic forum into a full news and reviews operation covering comics, movies, television, anime, and video games. By 2009, the industry had taken formal notice. CBR won the Eisner Award for Best Comics-Related Periodical/Journalism that year, the comics field's equivalent of a major industry honor. Eagle Awards followed in multiple years between 1999 and 2011, recognizing the site as a favorite among readers. In 2013, its Robot 6 blog brought home a Harvey Award for Best Biographical, Historical or Journalistic Presentation. The recognition was not just institutional. Comics writer Mark Millar stated in April 2013 that he read CBR every morning alongside the Financial Times.

• 3. The Valnet Acquisition

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  By the 4th of April 2016, CBR had been sold to Valnet Inc., a Montreal, Canada-based company that also owns Screen Rant, Collider, MovieWeb, and XDA Developers. Valnet itself is a subsidiary of Valsef Group, also headquartered in Montreal. On the 23rd of August 2016, the site relaunched as CBR.com, with its blogs folded into the main site. Popverse later reported that following the acquisition, comics coverage was "increasingly sidelined" and that reviews and columns gave way to shorter news pieces and reactions to news stories. Heidi MacDonald, writing for The Beat in June 2023, put it more bluntly, saying CBR had "gradually became a more generic 'content farm' turning out less and less comics content and more and more listicles and inane click-baity articles."

• 4. The 2023 Staff Exodus

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  In May 2023, Valnet laid off Adam Swiderski, who had served as CBR's editor-in-chief since July 2022. Alongside him went Stephen Gerding, a senior news editor with eighteen years at CBR, and Christopher Baggett, a senior features editor with eight years at the site. MacDonald, reporting for The Beat, wrote that the three were removed for "standing up for writers" and "pushing back against" changes Valnet had put in place. She described a situation where writers were being asked to produce more work while pay-per-view rates were shrinking. One source told her the situation was "working writers to the bone." MacDonald also reported that two HR staff members who objected to management's demands were laid off at the same time. Graeme McMillan, writing for Popverse, described a Valnet culture that does not permit contributors or employees to question corporate decisions, a pattern he said had led to layoffs at CBR and other Valnet-owned properties. By June 2023, McMillan was reporting a continuing "editorial exodus" at CBR. Between May and August 2023, former CBR Comics News Editor Sean Gribbin stated that ten News Editors had either left or been let go. CBR Managing Editor Jon Arvden pushed back on reports suggesting the news section was being eliminated.

• 5. Community and Controversy

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  In 2014, CBR published an article by guest author Janelle Asselin that criticized the cover of DC Comics's Teen Titans. The piece triggered harassment and personal threats directed at Asselin through the site's community forums. Weiland issued a public statement apologizing for the incident and condemned the response from some community members. He then rebooted the forums entirely to establish new ground rules. That incident illustrated the friction between a site built on passionate fandom and the editorial responsibilities that come with a large, engaged readership. The site's trajectory from award-winning comics journalism to a Valnet-owned property shedding editors in bulk raises the question of what audience that readership now gets.