Grand Comics Database - History

History

One of the earliest published catalogs of comic books appeared in the 1960s, when Dr. Jerry Bails and Howard Keltner put together some projects to catalog the comic books of the "Golden Age." These efforts were Dr. Bails' The Collector's Guide to the First Heroic Age of Comics, and Howard Keltner's Index to Golden Age Comic Books, and their collaboration on The Authoritative Index to DC Comics. The next big step in organizing data about comic books was Robert Overstreet's Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide, which is still being published. This guide is sometimes referred to as the first best attempt to list factual information beyond the superhero comics. It was likely the first catalog to get widespread distribution. Today there are several other comic book price guides.

In 1978, the GCD's immediate predecessor, APA-I (Amateur Press Alliance for Indexing) was formed by a few fans who were interested in exchanging information on comic books in index form. These people were generally interested in either one of two things — either following the plot threads and continuity of the stories, or the creator credits. APA-I is also still running, as a paper-based index. The organization publishes a quarterly magazine. APA-I members have gathered editorial records and conducted interviews with comic book professionals, to add to the information that could be gleaned from the books themselves.

In late 1993 and early 1994, three members of APA-I interested in comic books started up an e-mail correspondence. Tim Stroup, Bob Klein, and Jon Ingersoll soon began sharing indexing information in a common format using electronic media for storage and distribution. By March 1994 they had formed a new group to create an electronic version of APA-I related to comic books, giving it the name Grand Comic-Book Database and the goal to 'contain information on every comic book ever published'.

The newly formed GCD grew slowly, using the new medium of e-mail to canvass friends and acquaintances from APA-I as well as other contacts in comics fandom. Early work consisted of indexing information, setting goals, and deciding on file structure. Information was distributed on floppy discs and via surface mail. The use of e-mail to knit together the group through constant communication has proved important to this day. There had been several previous attempts to set up similar groups that did not have this advantage. The original file structure has changed, and data distribution and collection methods are now almost exclusively over the internet. It is one of several online databases of comic book information.

In December 2009 a vote was held of the membership and it was decided to change the official name from "The Grand Comic-Book Database" to "The Grand Comics Database".