The nation's longest-running magazine about comic books, the Comics Buyer's Guide (CBG) is undergoing a major transformation starting in June with issue #1595.  The longtime weekly publication will henceforth become a monthly, and rather than the approximately tabloid-sized newsprint publication that we have all become accustomed to, the new CBG will be a squarebound, 244-page magazine with a five-color heavy-stock cover.  The new CBG will feature full color features up front as well as the largest monthly price guide in comics, which will report prices based exclusively on actual transactions.  The CBG will also increase its coverage of anime, manga and pop culture-centered media projects.  Each issue will contain more than 100 reviews of current and upcoming comic books.  Longtime industry stalwart Maggie Thompson will continue to edit the CBG, which should provide consumers with an attractive package at a $5.99 cover price.

Changes in frequency are nothing new for the CBG, which began as a bimonthly publication in 1971, but this will be the first version printed on something other than newsprint.  The CBG's weekly format served the industry well when it functioned as comicdom's most timely news source in the pre-Internet age, but with the advent of daily Internet industry news coverage, it makes sense for the CBG to focus more on features and comments from its large stable of well-connected columnists.