The DNAgents

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The DNAgents
Dnagents.png
The cover to The DNAgents #1; art by Will Meugniot & Al Gordon
Publication information
Publisher Eclipse Comics (1983–1988)
Antarctic Press (1994)
First appearance DNAgents #1 (March 1983)
Created by Mark Evanier
Will Meugniot
In-story information
Species Genetically engineered humans
The DNAgents
Publication information
Publisher Eclipse Comics
ScheduleMonthly
Format Ongoing series
No. of issues24 (The DNAgents)
17 (The New DNAgents)
Main character(s)Amber
Rainbow
Sham
Surge
Tank
Creative team
Written by Mark Evanier
Artist(s) Will Meugniot
Mitch Schauer
Erik Larsen
Editor(s) Cat Yronwode

The DNAgents is a comic-book series created by writer Mark Evanier and artist Will Meugniot [1] and published by Eclipse Comics from 1983. The series centers on a team of superheroes created through genetic engineering by the Matrix Corporation to act as superhuman enforcers for the head of the company.

Contents

Publication history

The DNAgents, art by Will Meugniot. Dnagentscv.jpg
The DNAgents, art by Will Meugniot.

Both Marvel Comics and DC Comics expressed interest in publishing The DNAgents, but Evanier and Meugniot decided against signing with them because they would have had to give up the TV and merchandising rights, and since both had extensive backgrounds and contacts in the television industry, they were confident that they would be able to sell DNAgents as a TV series without help from a publisher. [1] Mike Friedrich served as an agent for Evanier and Meugniot, submitting The DNAgents to five different publishers. When all five offered to publish it, they decided on large independent publisher Eclipse Comics for the amount of creative freedom they were ready to allow and for their strong plan for promoting the series. [1]

Eclipse published DNAgents from March 1983 to July 1985, reaching 24 issues. After drawing the first 14 issues, Meugniot moved to other projects. Richard Howell, Dan Spiegle, Jerry Ordway and Mitch Schauer were among the artists to guest on the title, with the final issue featuring a cover by Dave Stevens. [2] The series was then relaunched as The New DNAgents with a new #1 and Schauer as the main artist. [3] The comic was initially as part of Eclipse's line of 75¢ titles [4] - though the price proved unsustainable and the title reverted to 95¢ from #7. [2] The New DNAgents ran to 17 issues, and featured guest art from Chuck Patton, Mike Sekowsky, Rick Hoberg before Erik Larsen became the regular artist for the final five issues - among his earliest paid professional work. [5]

Further spin-offs included Crossfire (26 issues between May 1984 and February 1988), the 4-issue mini-series Surge and Crossfire and Rainbow, and the stereoscopy one-shot Three Dimensional DNAgents.

In 1994, Antarctic Press released a single issue retelling their story; this had originally been produced as a sample strip for pitching to TV networks. [6] The DNAgents reappeared a brief cameo appearance as guests at the wedding of Barbaric and Ricochet in the Savage Dragon comic series. [7] In 2004, About Comics reprinted several issues in digest form, and in June 2006, reprinted issues were collected into DNAgents Volume 1 by Image Comics. [6]

Characters

DNAgents

Others

Other media

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References

  1. 1 2 3 Gerber, Steve (April 1983). "Will Meugniot". Comics Interview . No. 2. Fictioneer Books. pp. 36–42.
  2. 1 2 "Newsflashes". Amazing Heroes . No. 70. Fantagraphics Books. May 1, 1985.
  3. ↑ "Newsflashes". Amazing Heroes . No. 66. Redbeard, Inc. March 1, 1985.
  4. 1 2 "Newsflashes". Amazing Heroes . No. 80. Fantagraphics Books. October 1, 1985.
  5. ↑ "Newsline". Amazing Heroes . No. 98. Fantagraphics Books. July 1, 1986.
  6. 1 2 Strangers in a Strange Land: The Story of the DNAgents at the Wayback Machine (archived September 12, 2016)
  7. ↑ Savage Dragon Vol.2 #41 (August 31, 1997)
  8. ↑ "Newsflashes". Amazing Heroes . No. 64. Redbeard, Inc. February 1, 1985.
  9. ↑ "Newsflashes". Amazing Heroes . No. 65. Redbeard, Inc. February 15, 1985.
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