In late 2023 it was announced that Penthouse Comics will resume publication in February 2024. Comics new site Bleeding Cool officially covered the first solicitations, which included creators like Matteo Scalera, Jeff Dekal, Joshua Swaby, Marc Aspinall, Vanesa Del Rey, Maria Llovet, and others.[5]
Publication history
Penthouse Comix began as a series of short segments in Penthouse magazine. After 3 of these sections were printed (featuring artwork by Adam Hughes, Kevin Nowlan and Garry Leach), publisher Bob Guccione dictated that Penthouse Comix become its own stand-alone magazine, something which he envisioned competing in both US and European magazine markets. Guccione agreed to a budget that was designed to cherry pick art talent from both American comic book companies and non-US publishers and this resulted in Penthouse Comix offering a per-page rate among the highest ever paid to freelance comic book artists.
Sold on newsstands, the periodical debuted in a squarebound magazine format 10¾" x 8¼" (27.5cm x 20.7cm). With issue #11, the size was reduced to 10½" x 8" (26.7cm x 20.4cm). From issue #26 to the end of its run, Penthouse Comix was published at standard modern comic-book size, with saddle-stitching, card-stock covers, and glossy interior pages. Issues #6-7 were published in both a magazine-size newsstand edition and a comic-book sized direct-market edition for sale in comic-book stores.[1]
Two additional titles were later added to the line: The seven-issue Men's Adventure Comix (cover-titled Penthouse Men's Adventure Comix) (April/May 1995 – April/May 1996),[6] and the three-issue (March/April 1995 – Oct./Nov. 1995) Omni Comix,[7] the latter a companion to the science magazine Omni.
The reboot released in 2024 similarly features a 96-page, color, glossy magazine, with the more expensive version including a nude cover that is polybagged and contains a free poster that is folded and covers the front. The periodical also has the original squarebound magazine size of 10¾" x 8¼".[8]
Disintegration
After the magazine's successful start, editor-in-chief George Caragonne, who was developing a history of erratic behavior,[9] purged managing editor Horatio Weisfeld during the production of Penthouse Comix #4. After Weisfeld's departure, some top-line artists began abandoning assignments, to be replaced by lesser talents, while overall quality and sales declined.[citation needed]
In 1995, Caragonne was accused of embezzlement by Penthouse, was fired, and later committed suicide.[10]
General Media then seized control of its comics-related publishing from the deceased Caragonne's packaging company, and installed Dave Elliott as editor.[citation needed] The Penthouse Comix line was then whittled to only the original magazine and Elliott edited the remainder of the magazine's run, largely printing sub-par material which had been contracted by Caragonne. General Media went bankrupt a few years later.[11]
Censorship
In June 1994, Canadian authorities warned that they would prohibit distribution of Penthouse Comics issue #2 (July/August 1994) because of "six panels of comics dealing with the subjugation of women and other sexual themes."[12]
Some European countries also altered a story that featured Adolf Hitler (under laws which prohibited depiction of the Nazi leader). Editor Carragonne then went out of his way to inflame the issue by prominently featuring a swastika on the cover of Penthouse Comix #3. Although the cover had clearly been modeled on 1960s men's pulp magazine covers (which routinely featured Nazi villains), for foreign markets the swastika was altered to become an "X," and depictions of Hitler's head and swastika ring (in one story written by Caragonne) were replaced with a smiley face.[citation needed]
Foreign versions of Penthouse Comix initially reprinted the material from the American magazine, but later began contracting for new material by top non-American creators, such as Jordi Bernet and Enrique Sánchez Abulí. Foreign editions of Penthouse Comix continued publishing long after the American version ceased. Overseas editions of Penthouse Comix have been published in England, France, Greece, Italy, Germany, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Australia, South Africa, and Mexico. The Spanish edition of Penthouse Comix celebrated its 108th issue in 2011.[14][citation needed]
A graphic novel is a long-form work of sequential art. The term graphic novel is often applied broadly, including fiction, non-fiction, and anthologized work, though this practice is highly contested by comics scholars and industry professionals. It is, at least in the United States, typically distinct from the term comic book, which is generally used for comics periodicals and trade paperbacks.
Penthouse is a men's magazine founded by Bob Guccione and published by Los Angeles–based Penthouse World Media, LLC. It combines urban lifestyle articles and softcore pornographic pictures of women that, in the 1990s, evolved into hardcore pornographic pictures of women.
Omni was a science and science fiction magazine published for domestic American and UK markets. It contained articles on science, parapsychology, and short works of science fiction and fantasy. It was published as a print version between October 1978 and 1995. The first Omni e-magazine was published on CompuServe in 1986 and the magazine switched to a purely online presence in 1996. It ceased publication abruptly in late 1997, following the death of co-founder Kathy Keeton; activity on the magazine's website ended the following April.
An American comic book is a thin periodical originating in the United States, on average 32 pages, containing comics. While the form originated in 1933, American comic books first gained popularity after the 1938 publication of Action Comics, which included the debut of the superhero Superman. This was followed by a superhero boom that lasted until the end of World War II. After the war, while superheroes were marginalized, the comic book industry rapidly expanded and genres such as horror, crime, science fiction and romance became popular. The 1950s saw a gradual decline, due to a shift away from print media in the wake of television and the impact of the Comics Code Authority. The late 1950s and the 1960s saw a superhero revival and superheroes remained the dominant character archetype throughout the late 20th century into the 21st century.
Luis Royo is a Spanish artist. He is best known for his fantasy illustrations published in numerous art books, magazines such as Heavy Metal and various other media including book and music CD covers, video games and Tarot cards.
Paul Gulacy is an American comics artist best known for his work for DC Comics and Marvel Comics, and for drawing one of the first graphic novels, Eclipse Enterprises' 1978 Sabre: Slow Fade of an Endangered Species, with writer Don McGregor. He is most associated with Marvel's 1970s martial-arts and espionage series Master of Kung Fu.
JC Comics was a comic book company primarily involved with the post-Silver Age iteration of the characters the T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents. JC Comics was owned by John Carbonaro.
Kevin Nowlan is an American comics artist who works as a penciler, inker, colorist, and letterer. He has been called "one of the few artists who can be called 'artists's artist'", a master of the various disciplines of comic production, from "design to draftsmanship to dramatics".
Steve Pugh is a British comic book artist who has worked for American and British comic producers including DC, Marvel, Dark Horse and 2000 AD.
Arthur Suydam is an American comic book artist known for his work on Marvel Zombies, Deadpool, Black Panther, and KISS Zombies. He has done artwork for magazines including Heavy Metal, Epic Illustrated and National Lampoon, while his comic book work includes Batman, Conan, Tarzan, Predator, Aliens, Death Dealer, and Marvel Zombies.
Jason Trent Pearson was an American comic book creator, known for his series Body Bags and for his dynamic illustration work on books featuring characters such as the Legion of Super-Heroes, Spider-Man, Batman, and Deadpool. He was one of the founding members of Gaijin Studios.
Adam Hughes is an American comics artist and illustrator best known to American comic book readers for his renderings of pinup-style female characters, and his cover work on titles such as Wonder Woman and Catwoman. He is known as one of comics' foremost cheesecake artists, and one of the best known and most distinctive comic book cover artists. Throughout his career Hughes has provided illustration work for companies such as DC Comics, Marvel Comics, Dark Horse Comics, Lucasfilm, Warner Bros. Pictures, Playboy magazine, Joss Whedon's Mutant Enemy Productions, and Sideshow Collectibles. He is also a fixture at comics conventions where his commissioned sketches command long lines.
George Caragonne was an American comic book writer and editor, most notable for being co-founder of Penthouse Comix magazine. He committed suicide on July 20, 1995, by jumping off the 45th floor of the interior atrium of the Marriott Marquis Hotel in Times Square.
X-Men: First Class is a comic book series published by Marvel Comics starring the original X-Men.
Paris Cullins is an American comics artist best known for his work on DC Comics' Blue Devil and Blue Beetle, and Hyperkind from the Marvel Comics imprint Razorline.
Joe In The Future is an ongoing short story comic strip that appears in Heavy Metal Magazine. The strip is co-written by Horatio Weisfeld and Peter Koch. The first installment of the series appeared in the January 2002 issue of Heavy Metal Magazine. The most recent appeared in the September 2010 issue. Heavy Metal began running Joe In The Future as a print series in 2001 after the initial episode appeared as 3-minute internet flash web animation and Heavy Metal editor Howard Jorofsky suggested Weisfeld allow the magazine to run additional episodes as print stories. Weisfeld then followed with several additional Joe in the Future installments for Heavy Metal. The nearly simultaneous appearance of Joe in the Future as both web-animation and print episodes makes the series an early example of web-initiated Transmedia storytelling.
Horatio "Ray" Weisfeld is a writer/editor/publisher who co-founded mass-market comics magazines and developed other media properties. His creation of often irreverent commercial entertainment follows in the footsteps of his father, Irwin Weisfeld, a writer and manufacturer of ubiquitous mid-late '60s counterculture buttons.
Jan Steven Strnad is an American writer of comic books, horror, and science fiction. He is known for his many collaborations with artist Richard Corben, as well as his work in the Star Wars expanded universe, the majority of which has been published by Dark Horse Comics. He has also written for DC Comics, Marvel Comics, Eclipse Comics, and Fantagraphics Books.
Keyhole is a black-and-white alternative comic book published from 1996 to 1998. A two-man anthology by cartoonists Dean Haspiel and Josh Neufeld, Keyhole was published by two different publishers, starting with Millennium Publications and ending up at Top Shelf Productions. In 2021, Haspiel and Neufeld released a 25th-anniversary issue of Keyhole, with new material from both creators.
Jay Allen Sanford is an American author and cartoonist best known for his work with Revolutionary Comics, Carnal Comics, and Pacific Comics. He began writing the comic book Rock ‘N’ Roll Comics in 1989 as of the title's second issue, and still oversees the rock comic reprints published by Bluewater Productions and others. The publishing company he co-founded, Carnal Comics, is best known for launching the movie and cartoon character Demi the Demoness. Sanford ran Carnal Comics from 1994 through 2000, before handing over the publishing reins to SS Crompton.
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.
