Founded | 1976 |
---|---|
Founder | Gary Groth Michael Catron |
Country of origin | United States |
Headquarters location | Seattle, Washington |
Distribution | W. W. Norton & Company (United States) Diamond Book Distributors (Canada) [1] Turnaround Publisher Services (United Kingdom) [2] |
Key people | Gary Groth Kim Thompson Eric Reynolds |
Publication types | Books, comic books, magazines |
Imprints | Eros Comix Ignatz Series Redbeard Inc. |
Official website | fantagraphics |
Fantagraphics (previously Fantagraphics Books) is an American publisher of alternative comics, classic comic strip anthologies, manga, magazines, graphic novels, and (formerly) the erotic Eros Comix imprint.
Fantagraphics was founded in 1976 by Gary Groth and Michael Catron in College Park, Maryland. The company took over an adzine named The Nostalgia Journal, which it renamed The Comics Journal . [3] [ dead link ]
As comics journalist (and former Fantagraphics employee) Michael Dean writes, "the publisher has alternated between flourishing and nearly perishing over the years." [4] Kim Thompson joined the company in 1977, using his inheritance to keep the company afloat. [4] (He soon became a co-owner.) [5]
The company moved from Washington, D.C., to Stamford, Connecticut, to Los Angeles over its early years, before settling in Seattle in 1989. [6]
Beginning in 1981 Fantagraphics (under its Redbeard Inc. imprint) [7] published Amazing Heroes , a magazine which examined comics from a hobbyist's point of view, [8] as another income stream to supplement The Comics Journal. [9] Amazing Heroes ran for 204 issues (plus a number of specials and annuals), folding with its July 1992 issue. [10]
Beginning in 1979, Fantagraphics began publishing comics, starting with Jay Disbrow's The Flames of Gyro. [11] They gained wider recognition in 1982 by publishing the Hernandez brothers' Love and Rockets , [12] and moved on to such critically acclaimed and award-winning series as Acme Novelty Library , Eightball , and Hate .
The company moved operations to Greater Los Angeles in 1984. [6]
Catron acted as Fantagraphics' co-publisher until 1985 (also handling advertising and circulation for The Comics Journal from 1982 to 1985), when he left the company. [13]
From 1985 to 1987, Fantagraphics coordinated and presented (through their magazine Amazing Heroes) The Jack Kirby Award for achievement in comic books, voted on by comic-book professionals. The Kirby Award was managed by Dave Olbrich, a Fantagraphics employee (and later publisher of Malibu Comics). In 1987, a dispute arose when Olbrich and Fantagraphics each claimed ownership of the awards. [14] A compromise was reached, and, starting in 1988, the Kirby Award was discontinued and two new awards were created: [15] the Eisner Award, managed by Olbrich; and the Fantagraphics-managed Harvey Award, named for cartoonist Harvey Kurtzman.
In 1989, Fantagraphics relocated from Los Angeles to its current location in the Maple Leaf neighborhood of Seattle, Washington. [6]
In 1990, the publisher introduced Eros Comix, a lucrative line of erotic comics that provided a replacement revenue stream for Amazing Heroes and which helped the company again avoid bankruptcy. [4]
Longtime employee Eric Reynolds joined Fantagraphics in 1993, first as news editor for The Comics Journal from 1993, before moving to marketing and promotion in 1996. [16] Groth and Thompson acknowledged Reynolds was key to the company's rise to profitability. [17]
Tom Spurgeon, later known as the publisher of The Comics Reporter , was editor of The Comics Journal from 1994 to 1999. [18]
In 1998, Fantagraphics was forced into a round of layoffs; [4] and in 2003 the company almost went out of business, losing over $60,000 in the wake of the 2002 bankruptcy of debtor and book trade distributor Seven Hills Distribution. [19] One employee quit during the subsequent downsizing while denouncing Fantagraphics' "disorganization and poor management." [4] Fantagraphics was saved by a restructuring and a successful appeal to comic book fandom that resulted in a huge number of orders. [4] After restructuring, the company has had greater success with such hardcover collections as The Complete Peanuts , distributed by W. W. Norton & Company. [6]
In 2009, Fantagraphics ceased publishing the print edition of The Comics Journal, [20] shifting from an eight-times a year publishing schedule to a larger, more elaborate, semi-annual format supported by a new website. [21] [22]
Starting in 2005, Fantagraphics began a European graphic novel line, [23] starting with the co-publication of the Ignatz Series, edited and produced by the Italian artist Igort. The publisher announced a deal with Jacques Tardi in March 2009 that would see co-publisher Thompson translate a large number of his books. [24]
In 2006, Fantagraphics opened its own retail store, Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery, in Seattle's Georgetown neighborhood.
In 2009 Jacq Cohen started as the publicist for Fantagraphics. [25]
Co-publisher Kim Thompson left Fantagraphics due to illness in March 2013, [26] and died of lung cancer a few months later. [27] His absence left the company without a number of titles it had been counting on for the summer and fall of 2013; [23] and, in November, Fantagraphics started a Kickstarter campaign to raise $150,000, which it surpassed in four days. [23] [28]
In August 2020 the company rebranded, from Fantagraphics Books to just Fantagraphics. At the same time it introduced a more compact logo featuring a stylized ink pen nib and a torch. [29]
The Ignatz Series is an international comic imprint. It is published by Fantagraphics (U.S.), Avant Verlag (Germany), Vertige Graphic (France), Oog & Blik (Holland), Coconino Press (Italy), and Sinsentido (Spain). It is named for Ignatz Mouse, a character in the comic strip Krazy Kat .
The books in the Ignatz Series are designed midway between standard North American comic book pamphlet-size and graphic novel-size. Each title is 32 pages, two-color, saddle stitched, 81⁄2″ × 11″, with jacket, priced at $7.95.
The Ignatz collection is edited and produced by Italian artist Igort. Fantagraphics editor Kim Thompson frequently provided translations.
Eros Comix was an adult-oriented imprint of Fantagraphics, [30] established in 1990 to publish pornographic comic books like Gilbert Hernandez' Birdland and reprints of work by Wally Wood and Frank Thorne. [31] [32] Eventually, Eros added to its catalogue dozens of comics titles, over 40 collected editions, anime videos, DVDs, and books of erotic art and photography. The 2006 Eros Comix print catalog sold over 470 items, including adult comic books and humorous cheesecake-style comics often featuring pin-up girls like Bettie Page. The Eros Comix imprint was popular enough that it is credited with making Fantagraphics financially solvent. [33]
Notable Eros titles include Bill Willingham's Ironwood , SS Crompton's Demi the Demoness , Howard Chaykin's Black Kiss , Domino Lady ; and the Italian series Djustine , Ramba , and Adult Frankenstein .
Writer-artist Tom Sutton contributed work to Eros titles under the pseudonym "Dementia". [34] Other contributors to Eros titles included Eric Stanton, Mary Fleener, Mikael Oskarsson, Bill Pearson, Malachy Coney, Richard Bassford, Gary Dumm, Frank Stack, Bob Fingerman, Molly Kiely, Yanick Paquette, Robert Peters, John Workman, Colleen Coover, [35] Marc Andreyko, Raulo Cáceres, Larry Fuller, Dennis Eichhorn, Dennis Cramer/Justine Mara Andersen, [36] Jon Macy, John Blackburn, and Greg Budgett.
Eros' MangErotica line featured translated hentai manga [37] by the likes of Isutoshi, Oh! great, Toshiki Yui, Teruo Kakuta, and Benkyo Tamaoki; and titles like Bondage Fairies , Hatsuinu , Hot Tails , A Strange Kind of Woman , Slut Girl , and Super Taboo .
In the beginning, there was some controversy over Eros titles featuring back cover ads with phone sex numbers. [38] In 1994, Eros editor Tom Verre was replaced by Jeremy Pinkham. [39]
By the late 1990s, the imprint was no longer profitable, and the publication of new material diminished rapidly. [40] The Eros Comix website was no longer being maintained by 2017; its titles no longer appear on the Fantagraphics website under that label.
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1986
Note: In 1988, the Kirby Awards was disbanded and replaced by the Harvey and the Eisner Awards.
List of won Eisner Awards: [45] [46] [47] [48]
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List of won Harvey Awards: [49]
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Gilberto Hernández, usually credited as Gilbert Hernandez and also by the nickname Beto, is an American cartoonist. He is best known for his Palomar/Heartbreak Soup stories in Love and Rockets, an alternative comic book he shared with his brothers Jaime and Mario.
The Comics Journal, often abbreviated TCJ, is an American magazine of news and criticism pertaining to comic books, comic strips and graphic novels. Known for its lengthy interviews with comic creators, pointed editorials and scathing reviews of the products of the mainstream comics industry, the magazine promotes the view that comics are a fine art, meriting broader cultural respect, and thus should be evaluated with higher critical standards.
Kim Deitch is an American cartoonist who was an important figure in the underground comix movement of the 1960s, remaining active in the decades that followed with a variety of books and comics, sometimes using the pseudonym Fowlton Means.
The Jack Kirby Comics Industry Awards were a set of awards for achievement in comic books, presented from 1985 to 1987. Voted on by comic-book professionals, the Kirby awards were the first such awards since the Shazam Awards ceased in 1975. Sponsored by Amazing Heroes magazine, and managed by Amazing Heroes managing editor Dave Olbrich, the Kirby Awards were named after the pioneering writer and artist Jack Kirby.
Benjamin Franklin Thorne was an American comic book artist-writer, best known for the Marvel Comics character Red Sonja.
Amazing Heroes was a magazine about the comic book medium published by American company Fantagraphics Books from 1981 to 1992. Unlike its companion title, The Comics Journal, Amazing Heroes was a hobbyist magazine rather than an analytical journal.
The Ignatz Awards recognize outstanding achievements in comics and cartooning by small press creators or creator-owned projects published by larger publishers. They have been awarded each year at the Small Press Expo since 1997, only skipping a year in 2001 due to the show's cancellation after the September 11 attacks. As of 2014 SPX has been held in either Bethesda, North Bethesda, or Silver Spring, Maryland.
Kitchen Sink Press was a comic book publishing company founded by Denis Kitchen in 1970. Kitchen Sink Press was a pioneering publisher of underground comics, and was also responsible for numerous republications of classic comic strips in hardcover and softcover volumes. One of their best-known products was the first full reprint of Will Eisner's The Spirit—first in magazine format, then in standard comic book format. The company closed in 1999.
Catalan Communications was a New York City publishing company that existed from 1983 to 1991. Operated by Bernd Metz, it mainly focused on English-language translations of European graphic novels presented in a series of high-quality trade paperbacks, or rather comic albums, a European book format American comic book readers were at the time not accustomed to, neither for their physical dimensions nor for their contents aimed at a mature readership, and who at the time had the tendency to use the diminutive term "Euro-comics" to refer to the then-unfamiliar format.
Molly Maud Kiely is a Canadian-American alternative cartoonist best known for erotica. Her work is published by Fantagraphics/Eros Comix and has influenced other artists such as Jess Fink.
Chris Staros is the Editor-in-Chief of the graphic novel publishing company Top Shelf Productions, and also does comics mentoring for aspiring comics professionals at www.chrisstaros.com. He is also the author of Yearbook Stories, 1976–1978, published by Top Shelf.
Kevin Huizenga is an American cartoonist, best known as the creator of the comics character Glenn Ganges, who appears in most of his work.
Michael Catron is an American comic book editor and publisher. He is former publisher of Apple Comics and co-founder of Fantagraphics.
Gary Groth is an American comic book editor, publisher and critic. He is editor-in-chief of The Comics Journal, a co-founder of Fantagraphics Books, and founder of the Harvey Awards.
Dennis P. Eichhorn was an American writer, best known for his adult-oriented autobiographical comic book series Real Stuff. His stories, often involving, sex, drugs, and alcohol, have been compared to those of Jack Kerouac, Ken Kesey, and Charles Bukowski.
Kim Thompson was an American comic book editor, translator, and publisher, best known as vice president and co-publisher of Seattle-based Fantagraphics Books. Along with co-publisher Gary Groth, Thompson used his position to further the cause of alternative comics in the American market. In addition, Thompson made it his business to bring the work of European cartoonists to American readers.
Angela Bocage is a bisexual comics creator who published mainly in the 1980s and 1990s. Bocage was active in the queer comics community during these decades, publishing in collections like Gay Comix,Strip AIDS USA, and Wimmen's Comix. Bocage also created, edited, and contributed comics to Real Girl, a comics anthology published by Fantagraphics.
Dave Olbrich is an editor and executive in the American comic book industry. He was instrumental in the creation of two awards for achievement in comic books, voted on by professionals, the Kirby Awards and the Eisner Awards. He was a co-founder and publisher of Malibu Comics. While at Malibu, he helped launch Image Comics. Currently he produces and hosts a YouTube channel about comics and comic-related issues, Geekview Tavern, which began releasing episodes in 2020.
Birdland is a creator-owned erotic comic book limited series created by Gilbert Hernandez. It was first published by Fantagraphics via their Eros Comix imprint between 1990 and 1991. The series features characters from the Love and Rockets series he devised along with his brothers Jaime and Mario but was marketed separately due to its highly explicit sexual content.
...transforming it from an adzine into a magazine of news and criticism that just happened to carry advertisements
Kim Thompson: 'By any standard, Eric's the stabilizing third wheel on the erratic Groth-Thompson bicycle.'