CAPA-alpha (sometimes abbreviated to K-a) was the first amateur press association (APA) devoted to comic books, started by Jerry Bails (the "father of comics fandom") in the United States in 1964. In October 1964 Bails released the first issue of comics' first dedicated APA publication. Between 1963 and 1964, "new fanzines were popping up right and left . . . [as] a lot of fans were infected by the "publishing bug," many of them talented writers and artists." In an attempt to focus these emerging talents, and head off the over-abundance of poor quality fanzines (or "crud-zines") which seemed to equal in number their good quality counterparts, Bails adapted the long-standing practice of APAs for comics, creating the first all-comics APA, "CAPA-alpha" (the first — e.g., 'alpha' — 'Comics A.P