Status | defunct in 1989 |
---|---|
Founded | 1983 |
Founders | Rich Maurizio, Kelley Jarvis, Jim Main |
Country of origin | United States |
Headquarters location | Connecticut |
Key people | Rich Maurizio, publisher Jim Main, editor |
Publication types | Comics |
Imprints | TV Comics Airwave Comics |
Spotlight Comics was an American comic publisher based in western Connecticut. It is best known for a short run of comic books based on licensed characters such as Mighty Mouse and Heckle and Jeckle that contained contributions from several major US comic book creators. [1]
After beginning his career in collectible magazines such as the Comics Collector and Toy Values Monthly, [2] Richard "Rich" Maurizio and his then-significant other Kelley Jarvis wrote, drew, and published two issues of a comic entitled Samurai Squirrel: Master of the Sword, under the publisher name Spotlight Comics starting in 1983. They also produced a comic containing reprints of the daily Stern Wheeler comic strip from The Hartford Times , illustrated by Jim Aparo, and another comic, L. T. Caper, Agent for H.E.R.O. (the Higher Espionage Reinforcement Organization), written and drawn by Maurizio.
Spotlight expanded into licensed character comics and acquired the rights to Mighty Mouse, Underdog, and other properties. The company ran into financial problems in 1988 [3] and ceased operations in 1989. [4] In the end, they only produced a total of 11 individual issues of their various titles.
Notable writers and artists who contributed to the Spotlight titles included Curt Swan, Joe Gill, Win Mortimer, Frank Mclaughlin, Tom Moore, Gary Fields, Bill White, Ray Dirgo, Doug Cushman, Nate Butler, Jim Engel, John A. Wilcox, Mark Scott Marcus, Milton Knight, Paul Chadwick, and Mike Tiefenbacher.
The Spotlight Comics titles were all edited by Jim Main.
After Spotlight's demise, Maurizio and Jarvis co-produced the Tom & Jerry comic strip for a five-year run.
In the late 1990s and early 2000s, Maurizio packaged and edited licensed comics such as The Munsters and I Dream of Jeannie for the short-lived publishers TV Comics and Airwave Comics. [5] [6]
Uncle Scrooge is a Disney comic book series starring Scrooge McDuck, his nephew Donald Duck, and grandnephews Huey, Dewey, and Louie, and revolving around their adventures in Duckburg and around the world. It was first published in Four Color Comics #386, as a spin-off of the popular Donald Duck series and is still presently ongoing. It has been produced under the aegis of several different publishers, including Western Publishing, Gladstone Publishing, Disney Comics, Gemstone Publishing, Boom! Studios, and IDW Publishing, and has undergone several hiatuses of varying length. Despite this, it has maintained the same numbering scheme throughout its six decade history, with only IDW adding a secondary numbering that started at #1.
Gladstone Publishing was an American company that published Disney comics from 1986 to 1990 and from 1993 to 1998. The company had its origins as a subsidiary of Another Rainbow Publishing, a company formed by Bruce Hamilton and Russ Cochran to publish the Carl Barks Library and produce limited edition lithographs of Carl Barks oil paintings of the Disney ducks. The name references Gladstone Gander.
Mighty Mouse is an American animated character created by the Terrytoons studio for 20th Century Fox. The character is a anthropomorphic superhero mouse, originally called Super Mouse, and made his debut in the 1942 short The Mouse of Tomorrow. The name was changed to Mighty Mouse in his eighth film, 1944's The Wreck of the Hesperus, and the character went on to star in 80 theatrical shorts, concluding in 1961 with Cat Alarm.
Terrytoons was an American animation studio in New Rochelle, New York, that produced animated cartoons for theatrical release from 1929 to 1973. Terrytoons was founded by Paul Terry, Frank Moser, and Joseph Coffman, and operated out of the "K" Building in downtown New Rochelle. The studio created many cartoon characters including Fanny Zilch, Mighty Mouse, Heckle and Jeckle, Gandy Goose, Sourpuss, Dinky Duck, Little Roquefort, the Terry Bears, Dimwit, and Luno; Terry's pre-existing character Farmer Al Falfa was also featured often in the series.
Walt Disney's Comics and Stories, sometimes abbreviated WDC&S, is an American anthology comic book series featuring characters from The Walt Disney Company's films and shorts, including Donald Duck, Scrooge McDuck, Mickey Mouse, Chip 'n Dale, Li'l Bad Wolf, Scamp, Bucky Bug, Grandma Duck, Brer Rabbit, Winnie the Pooh, and others. With more than 700 issues, Walt Disney's Comics & Stories is the longest-running Disney comic book in the United States, making it the flagship title, and is one of the best-selling comic books of all time.
Underdog, also known as The Underdog Show, is an American Saturday morning animated television series that ran from October 3, 1964, to March 4, 1967, starting on the NBC network until 1966, with the rest of the run on CBS, under the primary sponsorship of General Mills, for a run of 62 episodes. It is one of the early Saturday morning cartoons. The show continued in syndication until 1973.
First Comics is an American comic book publisher that was active from 1983 to 1991 and then from 2011 to present, known for titles like American Flagg!, Grimjack, Nexus, Badger, Dreadstar, and Jon Sable. Along with competitors like Pacific Comics and Eclipse Comics, First took early advantage of the growing direct market, attracting a number of writers and artists from DC and Marvel to produce creator-owned titles, which, as they were not subject to the Comics Code, were free to feature more mature content.
Slave Labor Graphics (SLG) is an independent American comic book publisher, well known for publishing darkly humorous, offbeat adult comics. Creators associated with SLG over the years include Evan Dorkin, Roman Dirge, Sarah Dyer, Woodrow Phoenix, Jhonen Vasquez, and Andi Watson.
Malibu Comics Entertainment, Inc. was an American comic book publisher active in the late 1980s and early 1990s, best known for its Ultraverse line of superhero titles. Notable titles published by Malibu included The Men in Black, Ultraforce, and Night Man.
Gold Key Comics was an imprint of American company Western Publishing, created for comic books distributed to newsstands. Also known as Whitman Comics, Gold Key operated from 1962 to 1984.
Mighty Mouse: The New Adventures is an American animated television series. It is a revival of the Mighty Mouse cartoon character. Produced by Bakshi-Hyde Ventures and Terrytoons, the show aired on CBS on Saturday mornings from fall 1987 through the 1988–89 season. It was briefly rerun on Saturday mornings on Fox Kids in November and December 1992.
Heckle and Jeckle are postwar animated cartoon characters created by Paul Terry, originally produced at his own Terrytoons animation studio and released through 20th Century Fox. The characters are a pair of identical anthropomorphic yellow-billed magpies who usually cause problems to others and for themselves with their bizarre antics. Heckle speaks in a tough New York style manner, while Jeckle has a more polite British accent. They were voiced at different times by Sid Raymond (1947), Ned Sparks (1947–51), Roy Halee (1951–61), Dayton Allen (1956–66) and Frank Welker (1979).
Peter B. Gillis was an American comic book writer best known for his work at Marvel Comics and First Comics in the mid-1980s, including the series Strikeforce: Morituri and the digitally drawn comic series Shatter.
St. John Publications was an American publisher of magazines and comic books. During the 1947-1958 existence of its comic-book division, St. John established several industry firsts. Founded by Archer St. John, the firm was located in Manhattan at 545 Fifth Avenue. After the St. John comic books came to an end in 1958, the company continued to publish its magazine line into the next decade. Flying Eagle Publications was a magazine affiliate of St. John Publications. Comic book imprints included Approved Comics, Blue Ribbon, and Jubilee Publications.
Solson Publications was a New York-based black-and-white comic book publisher active in the 1980s and revived for a short period in the late 1990s. The company was founded in 1985 by Gary Brodsky, the son of long-time Marvel Comics executive Sol Brodsky ; the name of the company was derived from Brodsky's name: "Sol's son" = Solson.
Eternity Comics was an American comic book publisher active from 1986 to 1994, first as an independent publisher, then as an imprint of Malibu Comics. Eternity published creator-owned comics of an offbeat, independent flavor, as well as some licensed properties. One of its most notable titles was Ex-Mutants. Eternity was also notable for reprinting foreign titles, and introducing Cat Claw, The Jackaroo, and the Southern Squadron to the U.S. market.
Gandy Goose is a Terrytoons cartoon character who first appeared in the 1938 short Gandy the Goose. He is frequently paired with Sourpuss, a cat, beginning in the 1939 short Hook Link and Sinker. Sourpuss' first appearance was in the 1939 The Owl and the Pussycat, and had appearances without Gandy in the shorts How Wet Was My Ocean (1940), Fishing Made Easy (1941), and A Torrid Toreador (1942). Originally voiced by composer and orchestral arranger Arthur Kay from 1939 to 1941, Gandy spoke in a lyrical vocal parody of radio comedian Ed Wynn while Sourpuss vocally impersonated an impatient Jimmy Durante. Their surreal adventures often showcase extended dreams, bookended by coarse bedroom arguments.