About Us
The History of Bud’s Art Books
What started in 1970 as a grassroots mail-order venture—advertised through single-page flyers and early fanzines like The Rocket’s Blast and Comics Buyer’s Guide—has grown into one of the art and pop-culture industry’s most enduring institutions.
Built around a love for underground comics, fanzines, and graphic literature, the business quickly expanded into issuing regular mini-catalogs. This early foundation laid the groundwork for a decades-long mission: bringing rare, beautiful, and hard-to-find visual and comic art publications directly to passionate collectors and enthusiasts.
Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, the enterprise rapidly expanded its physical footprint. The company co-founded Comics & Comix, Northern California’s pioneer comic book retail chain that eventually grew to seven locations. Simultaneously, the wholesale side blossomed into a major distribution network operating out of seven warehouses across four states, helping establish early direct-market distribution before selling that division to Diamond Comic Distributors in 1988.
Following the 1988 transition, the business deliberately refocused on its specialized mail-order roots. Stepping away from monthly single-issue comic books, the company shifted its full attention toward art history, graphic archives, illustrated books, and the growing popularity of graphic novels.
At the core of the company's identity is its flagship catalog publication, historically known as The Incredible Catalog. Published continuously for over 55 years, the catalog—serving as literal time capsules of comic and art history—built a global reputation for its meticulous curation. Beyond offering standard releases, the business is famous for producing hundreds of exclusive artist-signed bookplates, as well as scouting out limited editions, signed convention sketchbooks, and hard-to-find titles from small specialty publishers.
Today, operating from Grass Valley, California, Bud's Art Books (budsartbooks.com), seamlessly bridges its historic mail-order heritage with a modern e-commerce website. Alongside its bi-monthly print catalog and weekly email lists sent to thousands of subscribers, the store offers everyday discounts on new arrivals, backlist volumes, and deep-discount sales.
Staffed by an experienced team of dedicated fans—we love books as much as you do! — we treat every shipment with collector-level care and continue to deliver exceptional service and world-class visual art to customers around the globe.