Antarctic Press
This article needs additional citations for verification. (January 2017) |
Founded | 1984 |
---|---|
Founders | Ben Dunn and Mark Ripley |
Country of origin | United States |
Headquarters location | San Antonio, Texas |
Distribution | Diamond Book Distributors[1] |
Key people | Joe Dunn, Brian Denham[2] |
Publication types | Comics, Books |
Fiction genres | Amerimanga, Furry, Funny Animals, Horror, Science Fiction, Steampunk, Political Parodies[2] |
Imprints | Venus Comics (c. 1994–1998) |
Official website | Official website |
Antarctic Press is a San Antonio-based comic book publishing company which publishes "Amerimanga"[2] style comic books. The company also produces "how-to" and "you can" comics, instructing on areas of comic book creation and craft.
Beginning in 1985,[3] Antarctic Press has published over 850 titles with a total circulation of over 5 million.[citation needed] Befitting the company name, Antarctic's self-proclaimed mission is to "publish the coolest creator-owned comics on Earth."[3] Co-founder Ben Dunn's brother Joe Dunn is the company's publisher.
Many now-established creators started their careers at Antarctic (with most continuing to publish with them), including Chris Bunting, Ben Dunn, Eisner-nominated Rod Espinosa, and Joseph Wight. Cartoonist Alex Robinson serialized his first book, Box Office Poison, with Antarctic in the 1990s.[2]
History[]
Antarctic Press was founded by Ben Dunn and Marc Ripley in late 1984 to publish the anthology ,[2] one of North America's first publications of original English-language manga. Local San Antonio creators Fred Perry, Joseph Wight, and Rod Espinosa were early contributors to Mangazine; later all of them had their own Antarctic Press titles.[2] (Mangazine eventually ran for 120 issues in three volumes over a 20-year period.)
Another early title was .
The company's first hit was Dunn's Amerimanga Ninja High School, which debuted as a limited series with Antarctic in 1987.[2] Originally intended as a miniseries, the comic hit such a boom of popularity that it became a full series, currently totaling over 160 issues (as well as two miniseries, Ninja High School V2 and Quagmire USA, and the color limited series The Prom Formula).
Co-founder Ripley left the company in 1989 and Dunn brought on his brother Joeming ("Joe") Dunn to help manage the business.[2]
Fred Perry's Gold Digger, which debuted in limited series form in 1992, is still being published by Antarctic Press.[2]
In the 1990s, the company also published furry comics and erotic comics — from 1994 to 1998 the company operated an erotic imprint, Venus Comics.
In late 1996, however, looking to cut costs and focus more on more mainstream properties, Antarctic discontinued publishing all translated manga, anthropomorphic, and adults-only titles.[citation needed] As a result, two Antarctic Press employees, Elin Winkler-Suarez and Pat Duke, left the company to form Radio Comix. Furrlough and Genus, both long-running anthology titles, were taken over by Radio Comix.
Many of Antarctic's staple characters, from titles including Warrior Nun Areala,[2] Ninja High School, Gold Digger, The Courageous Princess, and Dragons Arms, came together in the 2005 How to Break into Comics, which also featured their creators in the narrative.
In April 2006, the popular title Warrior Nun Areala was re-launched as Warrior Nun Lazarus and began to include computer coloring.
In 2007, David Hutchison's Final Girl limited series gave readers the choice as to which characters lived and which ones died.[citation needed]
In August 2016, the company began publication of Rochelle, from creator and writer and artist .[citation needed]
In 2018 Antarctic more than doubled its monthly publishing schedule to 15 titles. It also branched into distribution, taking on the comics of the all-ages San Antonio small-press publisher Guardian Knight Comics.[2]
In the spring of 2018 Antarctic announced that it would publish controversial creator Richard C. Meyer's Jawbreakers: Lost Souls (crowdfunded on Indiegogo) in September 2018. After a backlash and threat of a retailer boycott, however, on May 11, 2018, Antarctic announced they would no longer be publishing the title.[4][5][2] Meyer filed a civil suit against fellow creator Mark Waid for "tortious interference with contract, defamation, and exemplary damages" for working to keep his book from being published by Antarctic; litigation is still ongoing.[6][7][8][9]
Titles (selected)[]
- Albedo Anthropomorphics — taken over from Thoughts & Images; later taken over by Shanda Fantasy Arts
- Box Office Poison (21 issues plus a special, October 1996 – October 2000)
- Chesty Sanchez
- The Courageous Princess
- Diesel
- Dinowars
- Families of Altered Wars (includes Luftwaffe 1946)
- Fantastic Panic
- Far West
- Furrlough — taken over by Radio Comix
- Gold Digger — written and drawn by Fred Perry
- Hepcats (reprints plus one issue of original material)
- King of Zombies, Kaiju vs Giant Zombie, written and drawn by Joseph Wight
- Land of Oz: the Manga
- vol. 1 (5 issues, Aug. 1985–Dec. 1986)
- Mangazine vol. 2 (44 issues, Jan. 1989–May 1996)
- Mangazine vol. 3 (71 issues, July 1999–Nov. 2005)
- written by , MD, and illustrated by Rod Espinosa
- Nazi Zombies
- Neotopia
- Ninja High School
- Oz: the Manga
- President Evil,[10] a zombie parody comic featuring Barack Obama
- PolyCombats (2020) - Pre-Smash Comic story A Prequel to Nintendo's Smash Bros 64 with Vaporwave game.
- Punchline[11]
- Robotech
- Sarah Palin vs. the World,[12] a parody of Scott Pilgrim
- Sentai
- Shōjo
- Steampunk Palin,[13] a sci-fi satire featuring Sarah Palin
- Strangers in Paradise by Terry Moore — 3 issues (1993–1994); debuted with Antarctic before becoming self-published[2]
- by
- Twilight X by Joseph Wight
- Twilight X Storm
- Wall Might,[14] a Donald Trump-themed parody of My Hero Academia
- Warrior Nun Areala
- Wild Life, a humorous slice-of-life anthology edited by which ran February 1993-April 1995 for twelve issues. Included ' Wildlifers and 's Buffalo Wings
- Winds of Winter
Venus Comics titles (selected)[]
- The Barr Girls (1996) — by Donna Barr
- Battle Binder Plus (1995)
- Big Boob Bondage (1997)
- Bondage Fairies (1994)
- Cheeta Pop Scream Queen (1994)
- Deviant (1999) — by Robin Bougie
- Emblem (1994) — by Kei Taniguchi
- Genus (1994–1997) — long-running anthology; taken over by Radio Comix
- Melty Feeling (1996) — by Komashi Mamiya
- No-No UFO (1996)
- Nosferatu: The Death Mass (1997–1998) — by Holden Morris
- Vanity Angel (1994)
Creators associated with Antarctic Press[]
- Ben Dunn
- Rod Espinosa
- Michel Lacombe
- Richard Moore
- Terry Moore
- Fred Perry
- Alex Robinson
- Joseph Wight
Notes[]
- ^ Our Publishers, Diamond Book Distributors website. Accessed Jan. 3, 2020.
- ^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g h i j k l m Klaw, Rick. "Comic Book Heroes: San Antonio Brothers Keep Antarctic Press Thriving Long Enough For One of Its Creations to Land a Netflix Show," San Antonio Current (Feb 28, 2019).
- ^ Jump up to: a b "About Us," Antarctic Press official website. Accessed Nov. 24, 2019.
- ^ Naylor, Marshall. "Important Announcement!". Antarctic Press. Archived from the original on 2018-05-12. Retrieved 2018-05-13.
- ^ Carter, Justin (2018-05-13). "Antarctic Press Cancels Jawbreakers in Wake of Controversy, Retailer Boycott". CBR.com. Retrieved 2018-05-13.
- ^ "Comicsgate figurehead Richard Meyer is suing Marvel/DC writer Mark Waid". The Daily Dot. 2018-10-01. Archived from the original on 2018-10-01. Retrieved 2018-10-01.
- ^ "Marvel Writer Says Comicsgate To Blame For Dropped Deal - Law360". www.law360.com. Retrieved 2019-11-13.
- ^ "Antarctic Press Publisher Deposed in Mark Waid Lawsuit". CBR. 2019-04-24. Retrieved 2019-11-13.
- ^ "MARK WAID Asks Court to Dismiss RICHARD MEYER Lawsuit over Jurisdiction". Newsarama. Retrieved 2019-11-13.
- ^ Bilsborough, Jack (August 7, 2009). "Barack Obama depicted as Zombie-killer in new comic book". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on August 10, 2009. Retrieved August 7, 2009.
- ^ Johnston, Rich (February 20, 2020). "Punchline: DC Comics vs Antarctic Press Vs Bronx Heroes". Bleeding Cool. Avatar Press.
- ^ "Sarah Palin vs. the World". Antarctic-press.com. Archived from the original on 7 July 2011. Retrieved 2011-08-01.
- ^ "Steampunk Palin Comic More Insane Than You Imagined". Comics Alliance. 2011-07-28. Archived from the original on 8 July 2011. Retrieved 2011-08-01.
- ^ "Wall Might Trilogy". Antarctic-press.com. Archived from the original on 6 March 2021. Retrieved 2021-07-06.
References[]
- Antarctic Press at the Grand Comics Database
- Antarctic Press at the Comic Book DB (archived from the original)
- Antarctic Press at the Big Comic Book DataBase
External links[]
- Companies based in San Antonio
- Comic book publishing companies of the United States
- Publishing companies established in 1984
- Original English-language manga