The Grand Comics Database (GCD) is a nonprofit, internet-based organization of international volunteers dedicated to building an open database covering all printed comics throughout the world. Give our search a try, take a look at the menu to the left to see how you can help us improve the site, or use my.comics.org to track and manage your comic collection.

Volunteers Wanted For Adding New Comics

Each week, a small number of GCD volunteers add listings to our database for the new comics released that week in North America. These are just the basic listings, not full indexes. This makes it easier for other volunteers who upload covers and for indexers, as well as for people using my.comics.org.

Each volunteer covers one publisher or a small group of publishers ("D publishers except DC", for example). From public sources such as ComicsList and Diamond Previews online, they add the issues and make note of the prices and a few other details. We are looking for additional volunteers for this weekly task.

Follow this link for a description of the process and a list of which publishers are currently covered.

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GCD Comics Timeline

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George Cruikshank (b. 1792)

1792 September 27 - 1878 February 1
George Cruikshank was a British caricaturist and book illustrator, praised as the "modern Hogarth" during his life. His book illustrations for his friend Charles Dickens, and many other authors, reached an international audience.

Cruikshank was born in London. His father, Isaac Cruikshank, was one of the leading caricaturists of the late 1790s and Cruikshank started his career as his father's apprentice and assistant. His older brother, Isaac Robert, also followed in the family business as a caricaturist and illustrator.

Cruikshank's early work was caricature; but in 1823, at the age of 31, he started to focus on book illustration. He illustrated the first, 1823 English translation (by Edgar Taylor and David Jardine) of Grimms' Fairy Tales, published in two volumes as German Popular Stories.

Cruikshank's early career was renowned for his social caricatures of English life for popular publications.

He achieved early success collaborating with William Hone in his political satire The Political House That Jack Built (1819).

His first major work was Pierce Egan's Life in London (1821) in which the characters Tom and Jerry, two 'men about town' visit various London locations and taverns to enjoy themselves and carouse. This was followed by The Comic Almanack (1835–1853) and Omnibus (1842).

He gained notoriety with his political prints that attacked the royal family and leading politicians. In 1820 he received a royal bribe of £100 for a pledge "not to caricature His Majesty" (George IV of the United Kingdom) "in any immoral situation". His work included a personification of England named John Bull who was developed from about 1790 in conjunction with other British satirical artists such as James Gillray, and Thomas Rowlandson.

Cruikshank replaced one of his major influences, James Gillray, as England's most popular satirist. For a generation he delineated Tories, Whigs and Radicals impartially. Satirical material came to him from every public event – wars abroad, the enemies of Britain (he was highly patriotic), the frolic, among other qualities, such as the weird and terrible, in which he excelled.

For Charles Dickens, Cruikshank illustrated Sketches by Boz (1836), The Mudfog Papers (1837–38) and Oliver Twist (1838). He also illustrated Memoirs of Joseph Grimaldi (1938), which Dickens edited under his regular nom de plume, "Boz". Cruikshank even acted in Dickens's amateur theatrical company.

On 30 December 1871 Cruikshank published a letter in The Times which claimed credit for much of the plot of Oliver Twist. The letter launched a fierce controversy around who created the work. Cruikshank was not the first Dickens illustrator to make such a claim. Robert Seymour who illustrated the Pickwick Papers suggested that the idea for that novel was originally his; however, in his preface to the 1867 edition, Dickens strenuously denied any specific input.

Isaac Robert Cruikshank (b. 1789)

1789 September 27 - 1856 March 13
Isaac Robert Cruikshank, sometimes known as Robert Cruikshank was a caricaturist, illustrator, and portrait miniaturist, the less well-known brother of George Cruikshank, both sons of Isaac Cruikshank. Just like them he holds importance as a pioneer in the history of comics for creating several cartoons which make use of narrative sequence and speech balloons.

In the late 1820s Cruikshank illustrated a number of notable books that were often sequels to previous successes to which he and his brother George had contributed. For example, George Cruikshank illustrated Points of Humour and Isaac Cruikshank illustrated Points of Misery. The brothers collaborated on a series of 'London Characters' in 1827. Amongst his other illustrations are some notable ones for Miguel de Cervantes' classic novel, Don Quixote de la Mancha. They are not as well known as those of William Hogarth or Gustave Doré; however, they can be viewed online at the Quijote Banco de Images. Another is a satirical comment on the marriage of the elderly Grizell, sister of Samuel Hoare Jr, to William Allen; the Quaker couple co-founded Newington Academy for Girls, which Cruikshank refers to as "Newington Nunnery".

Cruikshank caught bronchitis and died aged 66 at his lodgings at 13 Pleasant Row, Pentonville. He was buried in Highgate Cemetery.

Miles Hyman (b. 1962)

1962 September 27
A Vermont native, Hyman studied drawing and printmaking at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut and later attended the Paris Ecole des Beaux-arts. His work was first published by French comics publisher Futuropolis in 1987.

Hyman has been the author and illustrator of graphic novels including his adaptation of his grandmother Shirley Jackson's story "The Lottery" (Hill & Wang/Casterman, 2016) and The Prague Coup, a graphic novel about Graham Green's voyage to Vienna in 1948 to write The Third Man (with writer J-L Fromental, Dupuis, 2017).

Jack Katz (b. 1927)

1927 September 27
Jack Katz created the graphic novel series, The First Kingdom.

He did assisting work as a detail man for King Features Syndicate, Inc, from 1946 to 1951. His work primarily consisted of touching-up artwork for various comic strips within the King Features line-up of comics.

After his comic book career, Katz taught art and then sculpture at University of California at Berkeley.

Additional biographical information was published in the East Bay Times, "Jack Katz, an East Bay artist from the Golden Age of comics, continues to create" by Peter Hegarty, Bay Area News Group. Published: May 24, 2019 at 6:11 am | Updated: May 24, 2019 at 10:56 am, https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2019/05/24/jack-katz-an-artist-from-the-golden-age-of-comics-continues-to-create/.

Alice Kirkpatrick (b. 1912)

1912 September 27 - 1997 July 16
Additional information in Women & the Comics 1985.

Bob Sharen (b. 1946)

1946 September 27
Bob Sharen worked doing support as a colorist for Marvel, from 1978 to 2001. He also worked as colorist for the Image series, Randy O'Donnell is the M@n, during 2001.

Sharen assisted artist David Hunt doing backgrounds, circa 1977.

榎戸洋司 (b. 1963)

1963 September 27
Yōji Enokido (榎戸洋司) is a anime scriptwriter and novelist. Was responsible for creating the manga / anime series Revolutionary Girl Utena (少女革命ウテナ / Shōjo Kakumei Utena) as part of the Be-Papas (ビーパパス) collective.

Gabriel Morrissette (b. 1959)

1959 September 26
Canadian artist/writer best known for his co-creation of the superhero Northguard and his work on Daisy Dreamer for Chickadee magazine.

Jack Schiff (b. 1909)

1909 September 26 - 1999 April 30
Jack Schiff was an American comic book writer and editor best known for his work editing various Batman comic book series for DC Comics from 1942 to 1964. He was the co-creator of Starman, Tommy Tomorrow, and the Wyoming Kid.

Louise Simonson (b. 1946)

1946 September 26
Married artist Jeff Jones in 1966 and changed her name to Jones. Married artist Walt Simonson in 1980 and changed her name to Simonson.