Academy Con

The Academy of Comic-Book Fans and Collectors (ACBFC) was the first official organization of comic book enthusiasts and historians. Active during the 1960s, the ACBFC was established by Jerry Bails, the "father of comics fandom." A vital player in the development of comics fandom, the ACBFC brought fans of the medium together, administered the first industry awards (the Alley Awards), and assisted in the establishment of the first comic book fan conventions.

The idea of the Academy was inspired by Bails' friend and fellow enthusiast Roy Thomas, who felt a comics-industry version of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences would be an effective way "to emphasize the seriousness of comics fans about their hobby." Bails further liked "the idea of a fandom organization that would not only perpetuate the concept of comics as an art form, but would also act as a sort of umbrella for all his ideas and projects, and those of others." In short order — 1961 or 1962 — the Academy of Comic-Book Arts and Sciences was established. Bails served as the Academy's first executive secretary, which had an initial roster of about twenty members.

The Academy's first order of business was to administer the Alley Awards, which traced their origin to "a letter to Jerry dated October 25, 1961," by Thomas, in which he suggested to Bails that his fanzine Alter-Ego create its own awards to reward fandom's "favorite comic books in a number of categories" in a manner similar to the Oscars. Initially suggested as "The Alter-Ego Award," the resulting idea was soon named "The Alley Award," "named after V. T. Hamlin's Alley Oop" by Thomas "because surely a caveman had to be the earliest superhero chronologically." The first Alley Awards, given for the calendar year 1961, were reported in Alter Ego #4 (Oct. 1962).

In 1963 Bails renamed the organization (which now had a membership of 90) the Academy of Comic-Book Fans and Collectors upon ratification of its charter, with these goals: