The CBCA is very proud to have the following individuals listed below currently serving as members of our Board of Advisors.

Please note that BOA members are not members of the organization and do not have to abide by the Code of Ethics that bind our membership, although no doubt many of them are in agreement with the Code and all certainly uphold the general principles of Fellowship, Education and Ethics that guides our organization.

Doug Braithwaite, Comic book artist
Dan Cusimano, Flying Donut Trading Company
Steve Eichenbaum, CEO CGC
Danny Fingeroth, Writer, Historian, former Marvel Editor
Jamie Graham, Graham Cracker Comics
Tracey Heft, Restoration Expert
John Haines, Rare Comics
Dave Kapelka, North Coast Nostalgia
John Jackson Miller, Comic book and game writer
Josh Nathanson, ComicLink
James Payette, Rare Books and Comics
Brian Peets, A-1 Comics
Dave Reynolds, Dave's American Comics
Wayne Smith, VP Warner Bros. Entertainment
John K. Snyder Jr., former President, Geppi's Entertainment Publishing & Auctions
Jim Steranko, Comic book writer, artist, historian
Bob Storms, High Grade Comics
Doug Sulipa, Comic World
Ted Van Liew, Superworld Comics
J.C. Vaughn, Gemstone Publishing
Joe Vereneault, JHV Associates
Vincent Zurzolo, Metropolis Collectibles, Inc.

Organizations are listed for affiliation purposes only.


As the membership constitution of the BOA changes, which it is designed to do, we will make the appropriate announcements in this thread.

The CBCA is pleased to announce a new addition to its Board of Advisors: Steve Korte.

Steve Korte is the Group Editor of the DC Comics Licensed Publishing department. Steve joined DC in 1993, and since then he has edited several hundred books featuring the DC Comics characters, including novels, children's books, and coffee-table books.

Among the books he has edited are DC Comics: A Celebration of the World's Favorite Heroes, Batman: The Ultimate Evil by Andrew Vacchs, Jack Cole and Plastic Man: Forms Stretched to Their Limits by Art Spiegelman and Chip Kidd (Harvey award winner), Wonder Woman: The Complete History (Eisner award winner), The Dark Knight (New York Times best-seller), and It's Superman! by Tom De Haven.

We welcome Steve's involvement with our organization and look forward to working with him and DC Comics.

Nice work, Mark. I look forward to getting Steve's input on the how the organization can grow and meet the needs of the community.

Was simply wondering why the persons on the list would not want to be seen as adhering to the Code of Ethics, etc of this org? As in not being members? There are some heavy weight dealers on that list. Ain't trying to stir anything up, just curious for the rationale?

That's a good question and how many of them actually still contribute (or advise)?

I'm a know-nothing and am only tossing out my conjecture on the matter but I'd assume all of the aforementioned people are either OSPG Advisors or persons of influence within the hobby and therefore provide some legitimacy / private guidance to the BoD and/or officers without any constraints.

I guess I can understand why it was decided that it would look impressive to have some of those people on the BOA and would make the org look like a major "force". I actually found some of the names on there to be offputting when I was deciding whether to join and had to look past it.

I am curious as to whether a lot of them will ever actually be involved with the org. Will we be kept informed of participation of the BOA?

We wanted to bring on a Advisory Board with a wide range of opinions... some of which did not perfectly align with the organizations guidelines. So, this was a very intentional move. You'll also notice that we have members who are dealers to those on the creative and administrative ends of the hobby.

Bear in mind that the advisers provide advice and insight... we are not obligated in any way to follow that advice. It's an arm's length relationship, although each adviser allowed us to use their name publicly in association with the group.

Here is a good explanation of a Board of Advisers:
http://www.yourbrandplan.com/forum/pers ... ctors.html

Board of Advisors
Informal in nature, the board of advisers provides mentorship and specific, individual experiences/talents to the organization. Each adviser and the collection of advisers give advice, but the organization does not need to act and the advisers are not responsible for the organization.

Note that our advisers are not compensated in any way.

We have been in touch with our advisers, although most of it goes on behind the scenes. For example, we recently sent a survey to our advisers to gather their insight on a number of issues. Personally, I have called several advisers just to chat and get their feedback on specific issues. We have advisers giving us assistance on our planned Grading Workshop as well as advisers who have contributed (and more will contribute going forward) articles to the newsletter.

One note worth mentioning... a few individuals we approached to be advisors immediately opted to join the organization instead. We have a policy that advisors can't be members and vice versa (to maintain the arm's length relationship).

Mike and Garry -

I think I answered some of your questions in the response above.

In terms of how much they contribute... it's all up to the adviser. Some have been very vocal, responsive and willing to contribute. Others play a less active role. We try not to be a thorn in their side. If we send out an inquiry or survey and they can respond, great. If not, we understand they may be busy.

As always - I appreciate the reply (thanks).

Thanks for the reply response. I understand all what was written, I guess i was just wondering out loud. It was mentioned some adviser board persons opted to join this org instead which in a way does answer my query.

So, I wonder why some of the sellers of vintage comics, and others who have a hand in shaping where this hobby is headed, did not opt to join this org which advocates ethics of some sort of Comics Guarantee in this hobby I turned "pro" in back in 1972 when Bud Plant, John Barrett and myself opened what became the first Comics & Comix location at 2512 Telegraph Ave in Berkeley.

http://stores.shop.ebay.com/BLB-COMICS
http://www.facebook.com/robert.beerbohm

Some of them don't adhere to the code of ethics in the CBCA so there is no surprise that they won't be members of the organisation.

Likewise, thanks for the reply Steve.

I don't know that I'd go that far. I think you'll find they just might enjoy keeping a certain "air" distance as Zipper said. Others might feel a sense of obligation by becoming formal members than being on the BoA. And still others might not want to 'pay to play.' I'm willing to give them the benefit of doubt.