CBR, formerlyComic Book Resources, is a news website primarily coveringcomic book news, comic book reviews, and comic book–related topics involving movies, television, anime, and video games. It is owned byValnet, parent of publications includingScreen Rant,Collider,MovieWeb andXDA Developers.
Comic Book Resources (CBR) was founded by Jonah Weiland in 1995 as a development of the Kingdom Come Message Board, a message forum that Weiland created to discussDC Comics' then-newmini-series of the same name.[1][2]
By April 4, 2016,CBR was sold to Valnet Inc., aMontreal, Canada–based company that owns other media properties includingScreen Rant.[3][4] The site was relaunched as CBR.com on August 23, 2016, with the blogs integrated into the site.[5][6]Popverse reported that following the acquisition by Valnet "comics were increasingly sidelined for coverage [...], as were both reviews and columns as focuses for publishing; instead, the site refocused on shorter news pieces and reactions to news stories".[6] Valnet Inc. is a subsidiary of Valsef Group, which is also headquartered in Montreal.[7]
Adam Swiderski,CBR's editor-in-chief since July 2022,[8] along with "senior news editor Stephen Gerding after 18 years withCBR and senior features editor Christopher Baggett after eight years" were laid off by Valnet in May 2023.[9]Heidi MacDonald, forThe Beat, reported that Swiderski, Gerding and Baggett were removed for "standing up for writers" and "pushing back against" changes Valnet instituted.[10] MacDonald wrote that "writers were being asked to do more work while shrinking the pay-per-view rates. The situation was described to me by one person as 'working writers to the bone', saying "The situation is so dire that in addition to the three editors, I'm told two HR people were laid off, who also objected to the demands that management was making on writers, who, as a reminder, are contractors, not employees".[10] Graeme McMillan, forPopverse, commented that Valnet's culture does not permit "its contributors and employees to question corporate decree" which has led to layoffs of people who have spoken out "about potential issues over Valnet's management and business practices" at CBR and other Valnet-owned sites.[6]
In June 2023, McMillan ofPopverse reported that there was a continuing "editorial exodus" at CBR.[11] In August 2023,Rich Johnston ofBleeding Cool commented that there appears to be "serious internal tensions" at CBR and highlighted that former CBR Comics News Editor Sean Gribbin stated between May and August ten News Editors have either left CBR or been laid off.[12] Johnston reported that CBR Managing Editor Jon Arvden pushed back on speculation that CBR was eliminating its news section.[12]
In 2014, an article by guest authorJanelle Asselin criticized the cover ofDC Comics'sTeen Titans,[15] leading to harassment of and personal threats against Asselin in the website's community forums. Weiland issued a statement apologizing for the incident, condemning the way some community members had reacted, and rebooted the forums in order to establish new ground rules.[16][17]
Heidi MacDonald, forThe Beat in June 2023, commented that afterCBR was purchased by Valnet in 2016 it "gradually became a more generic 'content farm' turning out less and less comics content and more and morelisticles and inaneclick-baity articles".[10]
