CAPA-alpha (sometimes abbreviated to K-a) was the first

amateur press association An amateur press association (APA) is a group of people who produce individual pages or zines that are sent to a Central Mailer for collation and distribution to all members of the group. History The first APAs were formed by groups of amateur pr ...

(APA) devoted to

comic books A comic book, also called comicbook, comic magazine or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) simply comic, is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are of ...

, started by

Jerry Bails Jerry Gwin Bails (June 26, 1933 – November 23, 2006) was an American popular culturist. Known as the "Father of Comic Book Fandom," he was one of the first to approach the comic book field as a subject worthy of academic study, and was a primar ...

(the "father of comics fandom") in the United States in 1964.

History

In October 1964 Bails released the first issue of comics' first dedicated APA publication.Bails, Jerry G., "America's Four-color Pastime..." ''The Guidebook to Comics Fandom'' (

Bill Spicer Bill Spicer (born October 1, 1937) is an editor and publisher who spearheaded the 1960s movement away from commercial comics, opening the gateway to underground, alternative, and independent comics, notably with his publication '' Graphic Story Mag ...

, Summer 1965). Between 1963 and 1964, "new fanzines were popping up right and left . . . sa lot of fans were infected by the "publishing bug," many of them talented writers and artists."Schelly, Bill. "Jerry Bails' Ten Building Blocks of Fandom," ''Alter Ego'' vol. 3, #25 (June 2003), pp. 5-8. In an attempt to focus these emerging talents, and head off the over-abundance of poor quality fanzines (or "crud-zines") which seemed to equal in number their good quality counterparts, Bails adapted the long-standing practice of APAs for comics, creating the first all-comics APA, "CAPA-alpha" (the first—e.g., 'alpha'—'Comics A.P.A.'). Cartoonist and fanzine publisher Johnny Chambers is credited with coming up with the title CAPA-Alpha.Caplan, Alan
"50 Years of Comics Fandom,"
John G. Fantucchio Artwork Gallery (2011). Accessed May 1, 2013. This allowed the easy formulation of a

fanzine A fanzine (blend word, blend of ''fan (person), fan'' and ''magazine'' or ''-zine'') is a non-professional and non-official publication produced by fan (person), enthusiasts of a particular cultural phenomenon (such as a literary or musical genre) ...

, created through submissions by each of its fifty-strong membership, who could all contribute short submissions on a regular basis. Compiled in the regular APA mold by a "central mailer" (in which role Bails first served), copies of the membership's individual submissions could then be collated and mailed out to everyone. "Now," explained fandom historian

Bill Schelly William Carl Schelly (November 2, 1951 – September 12, 2019) was an Eisner Award-winning author who chronicled the history of comic books and comic book fandom, and wrote biographies of comic book creators, including Otto Binder, L.B. Cole, J ...

, "fans could get into print and retain editorial control of their material, without publishing their own fanzine." CAPA-alpha soon grew to its present limit of fifty members, becoming along the way the archetype for most subsequent comics APAs. Besides Bails, notable members have included

Mark Evanier Mark Stephen Evanier (; born March 2, 1952) is an American comic book and television writer, known for his work on the animated TV series ''Garfield and Friends'' and on the comic book ''Groo the Wanderer''. He is also known for his columns and bl ...

Carl Gafford Carl Gafford (born November 23, 1953) is a colorist (and occasional editor) who has worked for several decades in the comics industry. His career has spanned several publishers, including Marvel Comics, DC Comics and Topps Comics. Biography Ea ...

Fred Patten Frederick Walter Patten (December 11, 1940 – November 12, 2018) was an American writer and historian known for his work in the science fiction, fantasy, anime, manga, and furry fandoms, where he gained great distinction through a substantial c ...

Richard Richard is a male given name. It originates, via Old French, from Frankish language, Old Frankish and is a Compound (linguistics), compound of the words descending from Proto-Germanic language, Proto-Germanic ''*rīk-'' 'ruler, leader, king' an ...

and

Wendy Pini Wendy Pini ''née'' Fletcher, (born June 4, 1951) and Richard Pini (born July 19, 1950) are the husband-and-wife team responsible for creating the well-known '' Elfquest'' series of comics, graphic novels and prose works. They are also known a ...

Neal Pozner Neal Pozner (1955 – June 21, 1994), sometimes credited as Neil Pozner, was an art director, editor, and writer known for his work in the comic book industry. He worked with DC Comics at two points, first as a design director and later as Group ...

Roy Thomas Roy William Thomas Jr."Roy Thomas Checklist" ''Alter Ego'' vol. 3, #50 (July 2005) p. 16 (born November 22, 1940) is an American comic book writer and editor, who was Stan Lee's first successor as editor-in-chief of Marvel Comics. He is possibl ...

, Tony Isabella,

Bob Ingersoll Robert Ingersoll (born October 13, 1952) is an American lawyer and writer. Ingersoll's full-time occupation was an appellate attorney with the Cuyahoga County Public Defender Office in Cleveland, Ohio, until he retired in 2009. He is more widely ...

Dan Alderson Daniel John Alderson (October 31, 1941 – May 17, 1989) was a scientist at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California, and a prominent participant in science fiction fandom. He came from a middle-class family and had diabetes. A high school sci ...

Dave Kaler Dave may refer to: Film, television, and theater * ''Dave'' (film), a 1993 film starring Kevin Kline and Sigourney Weaver * ''Dave'' (musical), a 2018 stage musical adaptation of the film * Dave (TV channel), a digital television channel in the ...

, Ralph Alfonso, Rick Norwood, Don Markstein, Dwight Decker, Rob Solomon, Rocky Bronstein, Tom Stern, Jim Korkis, Richard Morrissey, Harry Broertjes, Jim Chadwick, Wayne DeWald, Meloney Crawford, Gary Brown, Alan Hutchinson, Jeffrey H. Wasserman, and Don and

Maggie Thompson Maggie Thompson (born Margaret Curtis; November 29, 1942), is an American longtime editor of the now-defunct comic book industry news magazine ''Comics Buyer's Guide'', science fiction fan, and collector of comics. Early life Margaret (nickname ...

. In addition,

Michael Barrier Michael J. Barrier (born June 15, 1940) is an American animation historian. Work Barrier was the founder and editor of ''Funnyworld'', the first magazine exclusively devoted to comics and animation. It began as a contribution to the CAPA-Alpha a ...

's animation fanzine ''Funnyworld'' started as a CAPA-alpha contribution.

References

Comics fandom Magazines about comics Journalism-related professional associations Zines {{comics-stub