David Scroggy | |
---|---|
Born | Akron, Ohio, U.S. | December 19, 1951
Nationality | American |
Area(s) | Retailer, Columnist, Editor, Executive |
Notable works | VP, Product Development, Dark Horse Comics |
Awards | Inkpot Award, 1977 |
David Scroggy (born December 19, 1951 [1] in Akron, Ohio) [2] is an American retailer, columnist, editor, and executive in the field of comic books. From 1993 to 2017, he was head of new product development at Dark Horse Comics.
Scroggy attended Harvey S. Firestone High School in Akron; classmates included Chrissie Hynde (later of The Pretenders) and future comics professionals Paul Mavrides and Craig Yoe. [3]
Scroggy started out in the comics business in 1975. Having moved from Ohio to San Diego, Scroggy was hired by Shel Dorf, organizer of the San Diego Comic-Con, to work as a volunteer at the convention. With Dorf's encouragement and assistance, Scroggy began writing a column for Alan Light's trade publication The Buyer's Guide to Comics Fandom (later known as the Comics Buyer's Guide ). This in turn got him in the door at the local San Diego retailer Pacific Comics. [2] Before long, Scroggy had risen to general manager of Pacific Comics' four San Diego shops [4] (his official title was Wholesale Distribution Manager). [1] For his work in the industry, Scroggy was given an Inkpot Award at San Diego Comic-Con in 1977. [1]
Later, when Pacific Comics expanded into publishing, Scroggy helped recruit the reclusive Steve Ditko to publish with Pacific. [4] In 1981 Scroggy was named Editorial Director of the comics division; [1] he also edited Jack Kirby's Captain Victory and the Galactic Rangers and the Pacific anthology Vanguard Illustrated during that period. As Pacific Comics began to publish limited-edition art portfolios by comic book and fantasy artists, under the Schanes & Schanes imprint, Scroggy was involved editorially. One example was The Portfolio of Underground Art, published in 1980. [5] The portfolio consisted of thirteen oversize signed and numbered plates; one each by a notable underground comix artist, created for the project. Scroggy selected the artists and wrote both biographies and a text booklet that accompanies the plates. Contributor included Rick Griffin, Robert Crumb, S. Clay Wilson, Robert Williams, Spain Rodriguez, Greg Irons, and others. Scroggy edited and wrote text for The Bladerunner Sketchbook (1982), [6] published by Pacific Comics under their Blue Dolphin imprint. Vanguard Illustrated was an anthology comic book that teamed a new, unpublished talent with an established one. A new writer's story would be illustrated by an established artist, and vice-versa. Writers whose first professional work appeared in Vanguard include Fabian Nicieza, Joey Cavalieri, and David Campiti. Artists included Brendan McCarthy and Geof Darrow. [7]
Scroggy left Pacific in 1984 [1] to become organizer of the annual San Diego Comic Book Expo, [8] [1] the trade show associated with the San Diego Comic-Con. [9] During this same period, roughly from 1983 to 1992, Scroggy worked as an agent for creators in the comics industry. [1] He was an editor at Dark Horse Comics in 1989, [1] and started Dark Horse's Product Development department in 1993.[ citation needed ] Scroggy again wrote a column in Comics Buyer's Guide in the 1990s. [1]
Scroggy was Vice President of Product Development at Dark Horse for many years, retiring in 2017. [10] [11]
In 2019, Scroggy was a reference source for Derf Backderf in the 2020 graphic novel Kent State: Four Dead in Ohio, sharing his eyewitness account of the Kent State shootings over the weekend of May 2-3, 1970. [12]
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.
Sam Kieth is an American comics artist and writer, best known as the creator of The Maxx and Zero Girl.
Comics Buyer's Guide, established in 1971, was the longest-running English-language periodical reporting on the American comic book industry. It awarded its annual Comics Buyer's Guide Fan Awards from 1983 to circa 2010. The publication ceased with the March 2013 issue. The magazine was headquartered in Iola, Wisconsin, after originally being published in the Quad Cities region.
San Diego Comic-Con International is a comic book convention and nonprofit multi-genre entertainment event held annually in San Diego, California since 1970. The name, as given on its website, is Comic-Con International: San Diego; but it is commonly known simply as Comic-Con or the San Diego Comic-Con or SDCC.
Pacific Comics (PC) was an American comic book publisher that was active from 1981 to 1984. It was also a chain of comics shops and a distributor. It began at a San Diego, California, comic book shop owned by brothers Bill and Steve Schanes. Along with competitors like First Comics and Eclipse Comics, PC 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 were not subject to the Comics Code, and thus were free to feature more mature content.
Philip Craig Russell is an American comics artist, writer, and illustrator. His work has won multiple Harvey and Eisner Awards. Russell was the first mainstream comic book creator to come out as openly gay.
Blackthorne Publishing, Inc. was a comic book publisher that flourished from 1986–1989. They were notable for the Blackthorne 3-D Series, their reprint titles of classic comic strips like Dick Tracy, and their licensed products. Blackthorne achieved its greatest sales and financial success with their licensed 3-D comics adaptations of the California Raisins, but the financial loss suffered by the failure of their 3-D adaptation of Michael Jackson's film Moonwalker was a major contributor to the publisher's downfall.
Shannon Eric Denton is an American veteran storyteller and artist with credits at Cartoon Network, Warner Bros., Jerry Bruckheimer Films, NBC, Disney, Sony, ToyBiz, Marvel Entertainment, Fox Kids, Paramount Pictures, CBS, Dimension Films, DC Comics, and Nickelodeon.
Mike Okamoto is an American comic book artist and commercial illustrator best known for co-creating Marvel Comics' Atomic Age; as a "good girl art" cartoonist; and as the five-time International Network of Golf Illustrator of the Year.
Scott Joseph Shaw, often spelled Scott Shaw! and Scott Shaw? in Rick and Steve, is an American cartoonist, animator, and historian of comics. Among Shaw's comic-book work is Hanna-Barbera's The Flintstones, Captain Carrot and His Amazing Zoo Crew, and Simpsons Comics. He was also the first artist for Archie Comics' Sonic the Hedgehog comic book series.
The Inkpot Award is an honor bestowed annually since 1974 by Comic-Con International. It is given to professionals in the fields of comic books, comic strips, animation, science fiction, and related areas of popular culture, at CCI's annual convention, the San Diego Comic-Con. Also eligible are members of Comic-Con's Board of Directors and convention committee.
Michael Terry Gilbert is an American comic book artist and writer who has worked for both mainstream and underground comic book companies.
William D. Schanes is an American publishing executive, active for many years in the comic book industry. One of the founders of Pacific Comics, Schanes later worked for many years for Diamond Comic Distributors.
Sheldon "Shel" Dorf was an American comic book enthusiast and the founder of San Diego Comic-Con International. Dorf was also a freelance artist and graphic designer, who lettered the Steve Canyon comic strip for the last 12 to 14 years of the strip's run.
Jess David Spurlock is an author, illustrator, editor, and artist's-rights advocate best known as the founder of Vanguard Productions, a publisher of art books, graphic novels, and prints.
The Detroit Triple Fan Fair (DTFF) was a multigenre convention generally held annually in Detroit from 1965 to 1977. It is credited for being one of the first comic book conventions in the United States. The Triple Fan Fair also gave balanced coverage to historic film showings and science fiction literature, in a manner that provided a template for many future convention organizers — most of which have yet to attain the same level of equal service to this sort of linked fan base.
Richard Alf was an American businessman and former comic book store owner who co-founded the San Diego Comic-Con International and served as its chairman beginning in 1970.
A comic book convention or comic con is an event with a primary focus on comic books and comic book culture, in which comic book fans gather to meet creators, experts, and each other. Commonly, comic conventions are multi-day events hosted at convention centers, hotels, or college campuses. They feature a wide variety of activities and panels, with a larger number of attendees participating in cosplay than most other types of fan conventions. Comic book conventions are also used as a vehicle for industry, in which publishers, distributors, and retailers represent their comic-related releases. Comic book conventions may be considered derivatives of science-fiction conventions, which began in the late 1930s.
Alan L. Light is a publisher involved in comics and pop culture fandom. He is best known as the founder of The Buyer's Guide for Comic Fandom, which was the longest-running English-language periodical reporting on the American comic book industry.