Toonopedia author Donald David Markstein (March 21, 1947 – March 11, 2012) was fascinated with all forms of cartoon art since his childhood. During 1981, Markstein and his wife, GiGi Dane (August 7, 1949 – August 5, 2016), founded "Apatoons", an amateur press association devoted to animation. He edited "Comics Revue", a monthly anthology of newspaper comics, from 1984 to 1987, and 1992 to 1996. A writer for Walt Disney Comics, Markstein based Toonopedia on American and other English-language cartoons with the goal of developing the largest online resource concerning American cartoons. Toonopedia accumulated over 1,800 articles since its launch on February 13, 2001.