Black Sands Entertainment

Last updated
Black Sands Entertainment, Inc.
Type Private company
IndustryEntertainment
Founded2016;7 years ago (2016)
Headquarters Columbia, Maryland, US
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
  • Manuel Godoy
  • (Founder and CEO)
  • Geiszel Godoy
  • (Co-Publisher and CFO)
Products
  • Animation
  • Books
  • Comics
Website www.blacksandsentertainment.com

Black Sands Entertainment, Inc. is an American entertainment company founded in 2016 and based in Columbia, Maryland, US. The company is privately operated and is mainly known for its comic book publishing as well developing animated shorts within Black Sands Studios. It was founded in 2016 by Manuel Godoy and his wife, Geiszel, who serves as an author and producer and distributes comic books aimed towards African mythology, Afrofuturistic titles, and the education of children and adults. The plan is to create a Black entertainment media company that can deliver all kinds of content to Black consumers. [1]

Contents

Black Sands publishes a number of graphic novels and comics with Afrofuturist themes, often coded in the non-fictional and fictional genres, and reissues of Afrofuturist titles from comic-book houses like DC and Dark Horse. Manuel and his wife, Geiszel, want to create Black media outside the realm of slavery and within historical means. In the end, creating worlds in which existing power structures are dismantled and Black people thrive. [2]

History

Black Sands Entertainment was established in 2016 by founder and CEO Manuel Godoy to provide indie comics by Black artists, written for Black families about Black people, with a focus on tales of Africa before slavery. The first publishing of the company was the launch of a video game named Kids 2 Kings. This was the original name, however, after Black Sands spent $20,000 on it and game production failed, Godoy transitioned to comic books. Black Sands started a Kickstarter campaign in 2017 and raised $20,000 for comic book production. but with the independent success of their titles, Black Sands Entertainment is transitioning into a publishing company. [3]

The company created Black Sands: The Seven Kingdoms in 2017. The character Ausar, loosely based on the Egyptian god Ausar, was created by Manuel Godoy and the comic follows the time of gods and legends. Ausar is one of the four royal children with superpowers. They embark on an adventure to prove their ability to rule as kings and queens while undermining the secret plans of the great and powerful Sumerian god Marduk! Then, Geiszel released the children's book Mori’s Family Adventures in November 2017. The series will follow a black American family that spends their days traveling the world together, visiting remarkable countries, and having adventures. The first release was based in South Africa. In January 2019, Manuel then released the comic Cosmic Girls. This sci-fi comic follows two girls, one human, and one alien, that travel the galaxy together doing wild and crazy missions for the Common Wealth of Earth. [4]

In 2020, Black Sands Studios was formed as an animation studio leg of Black Sands Entertainment. The independent animated content will be based on the bestselling comics of the Black Sands Entertainment library. It was founded by Manuel Godoy and Teunis de Raat. Teunis was picked up as partner & head of studio. Teunis will guide the development and production with his 25 years of experience as an artist, technical director, creative/technical lead, and VFX Supervisor with companies like Disney, Pixar, and ImageMovers.

In December 2020, Black Sands raised over $1 million on Wefunder, exceeding the company's fundraising goal. [5]

The company launched the Black Sands Publishing app on May 1, 2021, which was Free Comic Book Day and will offer free access to 26 original comic books. The new app offers access to a variety of digital comics series created by Black Sands and about 16 independent publishers and artists. [1] [6] Among their projects are an upcoming animated series and to manage their intellectual property (characters) in other units as they work with other companies in the future.

In January 2022, Black Sands Entertainment was featured in the 13th series of ABC’s “Shark Tank”, represented by Geiszel, Manuel, and partner Teunis. They sought $500,000 in funding for the company for 5 percent of their company's equity. They accepted a handshake offer for $500,000 in funding from Kevin Hart and Mark Cuban in exchange for a 30 percent stake in the business. [7] [8] In November 2022, Kevin Hart and Mark Cuban have closed the deal. [9]

Titles

Original series

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marvel Comics</span> American comic book publisher

Marvel Comics is an American comic book publisher and the flagship property of Marvel Entertainment, a division of The Walt Disney Company since September 1, 2009. Evolving from Timely Comics in 1939, Magazine Management/Atlas Comics in 1951 and its predecessor, Marvel Mystery Comics, the Marvel Comics title/name/brand was first used in June 1961.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Archie Comics</span> American comic book publisher

Archie Comic Publications, Inc., is an American comic book publisher headquartered in Pelham, New York. The company's many titles feature the fictional teenagers Archie Andrews, Jughead Jones, Betty Cooper, Veronica Lodge, Reggie Mantle, Sabrina Spellman, Josie and the Pussycats and Katy Keene. The company is also known for its long-running Sonic the Hedgehog comic series, which it published from 1992 until 2016.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Golden Age of Comic Books</span> Late 1930s to mid-50s era of comic books

The Golden Age of Comic Books describes an era of American comic books from 1938 to 1956. During this time, modern comic books were first published and rapidly increased in popularity. The superhero archetype was created and many well-known characters were introduced, including Superman, Batman, Robin, Captain Marvel, Captain America, and Wonder Woman.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dark Horse Comics</span> American comic book and manga publisher

Dark Horse Comics is an American comic book, graphic novel, and manga publisher founded in Milwaukie, Oregon by Mike Richardson in 1986. The company was created using funds earned from Richardson's chain of Portland, Oregon comic book shops known as Pegasus Books and founded in 1980.

Image Comics is an American comic book publisher and is the third largest comic book and graphic novel publisher in the industry in both unit and market share. It was founded in 1992 by several high-profile illustrators as a venue for creator-owned properties, in which comics creators could publish material of their own creation without giving up the copyrights to those properties. Normally this isn't the case in the work for hire-dominated American comics industry, where the legal author is a publisher, such as Marvel Comics or DC Comics, and the creator is an employee of that publisher. Its output was originally dominated by superhero and fantasy series from the studios of the founding Image partners, but now includes comics in many genres by numerous independent creators. Its best-known publications include Spawn, Savage Dragon, Witchblade, Bone, The Walking Dead, Invincible, Saga, Jupiter's Legacy, Kick-Ass and Radiant Black.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">IDW Publishing</span> American comic book publishing company

IDW Publishing is an American publisher of comic books, graphic novels, art books, and comic strip collections. It was founded in 1999 as the publishing division of Idea and Design Works, LLC (IDW), itself formed in 1999, and is regularly recognized as the fifth-largest comic book publisher in the United States, behind Marvel, DC, Dark Horse and Image Comics, ahead of other major comic book publishers such as Archie, Boom!, Dynamite, Valiant and Oni Press. The company is perhaps best known for its licensed comic book adaptations of movies, television shows, video games, and cartoons.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ty Templeton</span> Canadian comic book artist and writer (born 1962)

Tyrone Templeton is a Canadian comic book artist and writer who has drawn a number of mainstream titles, TV-associated titles, and his own series.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Harvey Comics</span> American comic book publisher

Harvey Comics was an American comic book publisher, founded in New York City by Alfred Harvey in 1941, after buying out the small publisher Brookwood Publications. His brothers, Robert B. and Leon Harvey, joined shortly after. The company soon got into licensed characters, which by the 1950s, became the bulk of their output. The artist Warren Kremer is closely associated with the publisher.

Kevin VanHook is an American comic book writer, comic book artist, visual effects supervisor, and filmmaker.

Dynamite Entertainment is an American comic book publisher founded by Nick Barrucci in 2004 at Mount Laurel, New Jersey. It is best known as the owners of The Boys franchise across several IP medias. Dynamite primarily publishes adaptations of franchises from other media. These include licensed adaptations of film properties such as Army of Darkness, Terminator, and RoboCop, and licensed or public domain literary properties such as Zorro, Dracula, Sherlock Holmes, Alice in Wonderland, Red Sonja, Tarzan and John Carter of Mars. It also publishes superhero books such as Project Superpowers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tarzanesque</span> Term used to describe Tarzan-like characters.

Tarzanesque is a term created by Frenchman Francis Lacassin used to describe characters in comic books inspired by Tarzan. A tarzanesque character resembles Tarzan in his physical resourcefulness, within a line of action that includes an adventurous life in the jungle, the gift of understanding and being understood by animals, contact with lost civilizations and courage combined with the ability to deal with nature. The creation of such characters may have been propitiated by the success that Tarzan had achieved since his appearance in literature in 1912, culminating with the release of daily comic strips in 1929, which paved the way for a genre that combined the allure of the unknown environment, the need for the archetypal characteristics of the hero and the popularity of access.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Boom! Studios</span> American comic book and graphic novel publisher

Boom! Studios is an American comic book and graphic novel publisher, headquartered in Los Angeles, California, United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Platinum Studios</span> US media company

Platinum Studios, Inc. is a media company based in the United States. It controls a library of thousands of comic-book characters, which it seeks to adapt, produce, and license for all forms of media. The company has released films and/or television programming with Universal Studios, Paramount Pictures, DreamWorks, MGM, Showtime, and Lions Gate. Platinum has developed film or television with others, including Disney's 20th Century Studios, WarnerMedia's New Line Cinema and Sony Pictures Entertainment.

Archaia Entertainment, LLC, commonly known as Archaia, is an imprint of American comic book and graphic novel publisher Boom! Studios.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ron Fortier</span> American author

Ron Fortier is an American author, primarily known for his Green Hornet and The Terminator comic books and his revival of the pulp hero, Captain Hazzard. Early in his career he also wrote short stories and co-authored two novels for TSR.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Black Eye Productions</span> Defunct Canadian comic book publisher

Black Eye Books is a small but influential Canadian comic book publishing company founded by Michel Vrana. Under the auspices of Vrana, Black Eye was known as a publisher of artfully designed alternative comics and graphic novels, most of whose cartoonists have gone on to successful careers with fellow Canadian publisher Drawn & Quarterly. For several years, Vrana acted as Drawn & Quarterly's exclusive outside design consultant. In 2019 the company was relaunched as a micro-press with a focus on using crowdfunding to bring projects to fruition.

Cavan Scott, is a New York Times bestselling comic writer and author. He is best known for his work on a variety of spin-offs from both Doctor Who and Star Wars, as well as comics and novels for Teen Titans, Black Adam, Ghostbusters, Transformers, Back to the Future, Vikings, Pacific Rim, Sherlock Holmes, and Penguins of Madagascar.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Black Mask Studios</span> American comic book publisher

Black Mask Studios is a comic book and graphic novel publishing company formed by Matt Pizzolo, Steve Niles and Brett Gurewitz, designed as a new infrastructure to support comic book creators and a new pipeline for transgressive art.

<i>Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League</i> Upcoming video game

Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League is an upcoming action-adventure game developed by Rocksteady Studios and published by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. It is the fifth main installment in the Batman: Arkham series, taking place after the events of Batman: Arkham Knight, and the first not to feature Batman as the main protagonist, though the character still appears, posthumously voiced by Kevin Conroy in his final performance as Batman. Based on the DC Comics supervillain/anti-hero team the Suicide Squad, the game revolves around the titular team of super-criminals, who are assembled by Amanda Waller and sent to Metropolis to stop the alien invader Brainiac and save the members of the Justice League who have been brainwashed by him.

References

  1. 1 2 Reid, Calvin (20 May 2021). "Black Sands Publishing Launches Digital Comics App". Publishers Weekly. Retrieved 2022-01-11.
  2. ↑ Pineda, Dorany (29 April 2021). "Yes, lots of comics were racist. A new generation of Black artists is reinventing them". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2021-08-10.
  3. ↑ Adams, Tim (25 January 2021). "Black Sands Entertainment's Manuel Godoy Reflects on Running a Black-Owned Comic Publisher". Comic Book Resources. Retrieved 2022-01-11.
  4. ↑ Worthy, Ariel (24 June 2018). "Birmingham publishing company creates stories that children of color don't often see". Birmingham Times. Retrieved 2022-01-11.
  5. ↑ Prosser, Keegan (18 January 2021). "Black-Owned Comic Publisher Raised Over $1 Million in December 2020". Comic Book Resources. Retrieved 2021-01-20.
  6. ↑ Burns, Stephanie (3 December 2021). "3 Ways You Can Become Your Own Publisher". Forbes. Retrieved 2022-01-11.
  7. ↑ Baruch, Yolanda (9 January 2022). "Black Sands Entertainment Secures $500k Deal on Shark Tank with Kevin Hart and Mark Cuban". Black Enterprise. Retrieved 2021-08-09.
  8. ↑ Baruch, Yolanda (9 January 2022). "Black Sands Entertainment Secures $500k Deal on Shark Tank with Kevin Hart and Mark Cuban". Yahoo. Retrieved 2021-08-09.
  9. ↑ Mortin, Tyler (2023-01-04). "Kevin Hart's Hart Media Company and Mark Cuban have closed the deal with Black Sands" . Retrieved 2023-01-04.
    This page is based on this Wikipedia article
    Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
    Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.