Discuss Black And White 80s Comics And Publishers

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Re: Black And White 80s Publishers

Post by StarBrand »

I ventured into my closet a couple days ago, stepped over the skeletons, and came across a copy of The Final Cycle #1, by 80s black and white publisher Dragon's Teeth. It was 48 pages, and I really enjoyed it. I plan to pick up the final three issues of that series, which I believe was the only series they ever published.
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Re: Black And White 80s Publishers

Post by StarBrand »

Did a bit of work off of Greg's list. Added Antarctic Press and Beanworld Press. Unable to confirm if Chick Publications and Broadway Comics published in black and white, so left them on Greg's list without adding them to the top post.
Working off Greg's list may be problematic, as I can't tell if those publishers listed printed in black and white or not.
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Re: Black And White 80s Publishers

Post by Chiclo »

Antarctic Press is still around and some of their current publications are printed in colour. Popular Antarctic Press properties include Gold Digger and Warrior Nun Areala.

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Re: Black And White 80s Publishers

Post by Brother J »

StarBrand wrote:Did a bit of work off of Greg's list. Added Antarctic Press and Beanworld Press. Unable to confirm if Chick Publications and Broadway Comics published in black and white, so left them on Greg's list without adding them to the top post.
Working off Greg's list may be problematic, as I can't tell if those publishers listed printed in black and white or not.
Not sure why Broadway Comics would be mentioned. Unless there was another Broadway Comics other than Shooter's, that is. Shooter's Broadway was neither 80's nor black and white. I wouldn't count Chick Publications, either. They are mainly known for creating those little religious comic books that were often available in Christian churches. Here's an example of some of them:

Image

They did publish a religious regular sized comic book in the 70's called the Crusaders, but again, not really the kind of thing we're looking for with this list.

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Re: Black And White 80s Publishers

Post by StarBrand »

I will clear Chick off the list of potential publishers. There was a different Broadway comics. I've seen them when searching eBay for Broadway.
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Re: Black And White 80s Publishers

Post by Brother J »

StarBrand wrote: There was a different Broadway comics. I've seen them when searching eBay for Broadway.
If you ever come across this other Broadway, post a link to one of their books, please.

Mile High has no information on any other Broadway Comics and I also didn't come across any when I just did an eBay search.

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Re: Black And White 80s Publishers

Post by StarBrand »

Brother J wrote:
StarBrand wrote: There was a different Broadway comics. I've seen them when searching eBay for Broadway.
If you ever come across this other Broadway, post a link to one of their books, please.

Mile High has no information on any other Broadway Comics and I also didn't come across any when I just did an eBay search.

If you search mycomicshop.com for the word broadway, one of the titles that comes up is Broadway Comics Featuring Rader. That's the comic I kept seeing on eBay for sale. No idea if this publisher published anything else.
A search of that site for the publisher Broadway reveals one or two other comics published by a Broadway that had nothing to do with Shooter's Broadway.
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Re: Black And White 80s Publishers

Post by Brother J »

StarBrand wrote:
If you search mycomicshop.com for the word broadway, one of the titles that comes up is Broadway Comics Featuring Rader. That's the comic I kept seeing on eBay for sale. No idea if this publisher published anything else.
A search of that site for the publisher Broadway reveals one or two other comics published by a Broadway that had nothing to do with Shooter's Broadway.
http://www.comics.org/issue/226456/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Other than this self published book that appears to be a one-off, the only other things listed on mycomicshop.com under the Broadway publisher name not Shooter-related appear to regular (non-comic) books by book publisher Broadway Books.

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Re: Black And White 80s Publishers

Post by Burrito Boy »

Brother J wrote:

Not sure why Broadway Comics would be mentioned. Unless there was another Broadway Comics other than Shooter's, that is. Shooter's Broadway was neither 80's nor black and white. I wouldn't count Chick Publications, either. They are mainly known for creating those little religious comic books that were often available in Christian churches. Here's an example of some of them:

Image

They did publish a religious regular sized comic book in the 70's called the Crusaders, but again, not really the kind of thing we're looking for with this list.
Apparently, those little religious comic books are still available. I found one at the Bible study I went to last night. :thumb:

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Re: Black And White 80s Publishers

Post by StarBrand »

Brother J wrote:
StarBrand wrote:
If you search mycomicshop.com for the word broadway, one of the titles that comes up is Broadway Comics Featuring Rader. That's the comic I kept seeing on eBay for sale. No idea if this publisher published anything else.
A search of that site for the publisher Broadway reveals one or two other comics published by a Broadway that had nothing to do with Shooter's Broadway.
http://www.comics.org/issue/226456/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Other than this self published book that appears to be a one-off, the only other things listed on mycomicshop.com under the Broadway publisher name not Shooter-related appear to regular (non-comic) books by book publisher Broadway Books.
Thanks for the research and clarification. I assume the distributors that later offered the self-published book were secondary types, like Cold Cut.
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Re: Black And White 80s Publishers

Post by rasputin9977 »

StarBrand wrote:I ventured into my closet a couple days ago, stepped over the skeletons, and came across a copy of The Final Cycle #1, by 80s black and white publisher Dragon's Teeth. It was 48 pages, and I really enjoyed it. I plan to pick up the final three issues of that series, which I believe was the only series they ever published.
I have all four. I found them to be a fun read. Kind of a cross between SciFi and fantasy.

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Re: Black And White 80s Publishers

Post by StarBrand »

rasputin9977 wrote:
StarBrand wrote:I ventured into my closet a couple days ago, stepped over the skeletons, and came across a copy of The Final Cycle #1, by 80s black and white publisher Dragon's Teeth. It was 48 pages, and I really enjoyed it. I plan to pick up the final three issues of that series, which I believe was the only series they ever published.
I have all four. I found them to be a fun read. Kind of a cross between SciFi and fantasy.
Thanks for that! I'm hoping to get more comments about 80s black and white books in this thread. :thumb:
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Re: Black And White 80s Publishers

Post by jimcripps »

:clap: This is the greatest thread since Tim Berners-Lee's "10 Greatest The Fall Guy Episodes"!

Anyway, I've been working on a similar list for awhile, and I have this contribution to your list:

4Winds Publishing (Downtime)
A.C.E. (Ace) Comics (The Adventures of Spencer Spook)
Abacus Press (The Chronicles of Panda Khan)
AC / Americomics (Power Plays)
Acme Press (imprint?) (Aces)
Action Comics (Femforce)
Adventure Comics (Sinbad)
Adventure Publications (Elf Warrior, Ninja Elite)
Aeon (Those Annoying Post Bros.)
Age of Heroes (The Renegades)
Alpha Productions (Captain Cult)
Amazing Comics (Ex-Mutants Special Edition) have this?
Amazing Publishing (Tales of the Sun Runners) have this?
Archie (Bascially Strange)
Army Surplus Komikz (Army Surplus Komikz featuring Cutey Bunny)
Atlas (Basically Strange)?
Attitude Zone (Billy Nguyen Private Eye)
Black Tie Studios (The Last Generation)
Blackburn Video and Comics (Blood Lines)
Bruce Quast (solo) (Dark)
Burnside Comics (The Survivors)
Cadillac Comics (Savage Ninja)
Canis Publications (Ismet)
Catalan Communications (Evaristo: Deep City)
CFW Enterprises (Tales of the Ninja Warriors)
Chance Entertainment (Domino Chance)
Chester Brown / Tortured Canoe (Yummy Fur)
Coda Publishing (Coda)
Creative Force (Scimidar)
Cry for Dawn Productions (Cry for Dawn)
Curtis Publications (Basically strange)?
Custom Pic Comics (Night Masters)
Dark Horse (Aliens, Dark Horse Presents)
Darkline (Cecil Kunkle)
David Boswell (solo) (Reid Fleming..., Heartbreak Comics)
David Publishing House (The Wizard of Time)
Deep Sea (Reid Fleming...)
Double Diamond (Hepcats)
Drawn & Quarterly (Yummy Fur)
E.F. Graphics (Cat & Mouse)
Excalibur Publishing (G.I. Jackrabbits, Neo)
Express Press (Enchanter)
Extrava-Gandt (Power Plays)
Fancheristics (Gate of Ivrel)
Fantaco (Deja-Vu, Hembeck Series)
Fantagor Press (Jaxon's Illustrated Tales)
Fantagraphics (Love and Rockets)
Fantasy General Comics (Alpha Tracks, Radium and His Intergalactic Odd Squad)
Fantasy West Publications (Pryderi Terra)
Graphik Publikations (Figments Unlimited)
Guild Publications (Crusaders)
Hammac Publications (Captain Cult)
Hernandez (solo?) (Love and Rockets)
Heroic Fantasy Publi (Heroic Fantasy)
ICG (Naive Interdimensional Commando Koalas)
Infinity Graphics (Buccaneers)
James Reade (Doctor What?)
John C. Productions (Basically Strange)
Just Imagine Graphics (Mildly Microwave Pre-Pubescent Kung-Ku Gophers)
Keyline (Empire Lanes)
Kidgang Comics (Jack of Nines)
Killian Barracks (Flaming Carrot)
Kitchen Sink (Cherry, )
Klutzian Komidy Kaus (Ultra Klutz)
Kraus publications (Comics Collector)
KZ Comics (K-Z Comics Presents, Colt)
Last Gasp (Weirdo, Cherry)
Lightning Comics (A.C.T.I.O.N. Force)
Literacy Volunteers of Chicago (Quest for Dreams)
Lodestone (The March Hare)
Mad Dog Comics (Eddy Current, Retief)
Malibu Graphics (Bones)
Marvel (yes, Marvel!) (Savage Tales, The Destroyer)
Millenium (Power Plays)
Miller Publishing (Trial Run)
Mother of Ashes Press (El Salvador: A House Divided)
New Comics Group (Asylum)
New England Comics / Press (The Tick)
New Media Publishing (Adventure Illustrated)
New Sirius Productions / Prelude (Gnatrat)
Nicotat (Boris the Bear)
Nightwynd (Elf Lord, Dragonring)
Northern Lights (Empire Lanes)
Northstar Publishing (Cases of Sherlock Holmes)
Onward (Ultra Klutz)
Pacific Comics (Alien Worlds, Heroes of Sports)
Paragon Publ (AC) (Fun Comics)
Paragraphics (Boffo Laff)
Piranha Press (DC) (Beautiful Stories for Ugly Children)
Pyramid Productions (The Adventures of Theown) same as Pyramid Comics?
Quadrant (Quadrant)
Quest Publications (Quest Presents)
Raw Books & Graphics (Raw, Maus)
Rebel Creations (Hellstalker)
Redstone (Jim Nastics)
Revolutionary Comics (Stickboy, Rock n' Roll Comics)
Savage Graphics (Shadowstar)
Shadowstar Press (Shadowstar)
Sirius Comics (Tales of the Sun Runners)
Solson-Lubert (Rockheads)
Spectrum Comics (Survivors, Spectrum Comics Previews)
Sphinx Productions (Comic Book Confidential)
Spotlight Comics (Samurai Squirrel)
Starblaze Graphics (Thieves' World)
Starhead Comix (Armageddonquest, Roth's Rat Fink Comix)
Steeldragon Press (Ant Boy!, Steeldragon Stories)
Thunder Bass Press (The 39 Screams)
Trigon Comics (UK) (Cyborg Gerbils)
TRT (Cruise)
U.S. Comics (Blackmoon)
Valkyrie (The Adventures of Luther Arkwright)
Victor Comics (Concepts Illustrated)
Victor Plajas (solo?) (Concepts Illustrated)
Visionary Graphics (Escape to the Stars)
Viz Comics (Area 88, Mai the Psychic Girl)
Vortex Comics (Vortex, Stig's Inferno)
Wandering Star (Ace?) (The Cosmic Book)
Warren Publishing (Goblin)
WeeBee (The Realm, The Aniverse)
Zen Comics (Zen Intergalactic Ninja)

These are mostly USA, some Canadian, and a few UK. A lot only had one title, and several titles had more than one publisher, as you can tell!
Hope there aren't any repeats in this addition. Enjoy!

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Re: Black And White 80s Publishers

Post by StarBrand »

Jimcripps,
Thanks for the contribution to this thread! This will take lots of time to integrate, of course, ut I will get to it.
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Re: Discuss Black And White 80s Publishers

Post by StarBrand »

I made a couple notable changes to this thread. First, I changed the name of the thread to Discuss Black And White 80s Publishers. This was done to encourage discussion of the actual titles and books.
Then, I took Jimcripps list of publishers and put them at the bottom of the top post in the thread. I need to eventually edit that top post.
Thanks again, everyone.
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Re: Discuss Black And White 80s Comics And Publishers

Post by StarBrand »

I went through all the Blackthorne books listed on mycomicshop's website, and saw some stuff that really interested me. Enchanted Valley and Beyond Mars are two titles that come to mind, but I was interested in several others as well.
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Re: Discuss Black And White 80s Comics And Publishers

Post by grendeljd »

StarBrand wrote:I went through all the Blackthorne books listed on mycomicshop's website, and saw some stuff that really interested me. Enchanted Valley and Beyond Mars are two titles that come to mind, but I was interested in several others as well.
Didn't Blackthorne do some 3D comics that would technically be b&w if they weren't printed in blue & red for the 3D effect? I seem to recall having a Transformers 3D comic a very long time ago, and Blackthorne stands out in my mind as the publisher...
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Re: Discuss Black And White 80s Comics And Publishers

Post by StarBrand »

Yeah, Blackthorne did some 3D Transformers books. At the time, Marvel held the license for publishing Transformers comics, but Blackthorne got around that by gaining a license to publish 3D Transformers comics.
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Re: Discuss Black And White 80s Comics And Publishers

Post by Chiclo »

grendeljd wrote:
StarBrand wrote:I went through all the Blackthorne books listed on mycomicshop's website, and saw some stuff that really interested me. Enchanted Valley and Beyond Mars are two titles that come to mind, but I was interested in several others as well.
Didn't Blackthorne do some 3D comics that would technically be b&w if they weren't printed in blue & red for the 3D effect? I seem to recall having a Transformers 3D comic a very long time ago, and Blackthorne stands out in my mind as the publisher...
In one podcast from the long ago, Z was talking about some (either Blackthorne or Eclipse) 3-D comics that were printed in 2-D versions because the president of the company could not see the 3-D effects with the glasses. Those 2-D variants are particularly rare, with print runs of around 100 each.

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Re: Discuss Black And White 80s Comics And Publishers

Post by Brother J »

Chiclo wrote:
grendeljd wrote:
StarBrand wrote:I went through all the Blackthorne books listed on mycomicshop's website, and saw some stuff that really interested me. Enchanted Valley and Beyond Mars are two titles that come to mind, but I was interested in several others as well.
Didn't Blackthorne do some 3D comics that would technically be b&w if they weren't printed in blue & red for the 3D effect? I seem to recall having a Transformers 3D comic a very long time ago, and Blackthorne stands out in my mind as the publisher...
In one podcast from the long ago, Z was talking about some (either Blackthorne or Eclipse) 3-D comics that were printed in 2-D versions because the president of the company could not see the 3-D effects with the glasses. Those 2-D variants are particularly rare, with print runs of around 100 each.

Yes, that was Eclipse, if I recall right they were all signed and numbered by Cat Yronwode. I have one of these that I bought from mycomicshop.com a while back, one of the Hamsters 3-D books.

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Re: Discuss Black And White 80s Comics And Publishers

Post by Brother J »

Here's one you might like, StarBrand. A one shot by Blackthorne entitled "Failed Universe". I believe it's a mockery of the New Universe comics:

Image

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Re: Discuss Black And White 80s Comics And Publishers

Post by StarBrand »

Brother J wrote:Here's one you might like, StarBrand. A one shot by Blackthorne entitled "Failed Universe". I believe it's a mockery of the New Universe comics:

Image
I don't really like that one, BrotherJ. Lol
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Re: Discuss Black And White 80s Comics And Publishers

Post by Brother J »

plenty of good Blackthorne books, but they published a lot more clunkers. I was collecting during this time and it always felt like Blackthorne was trying to flood the market with their product, with a majority of it being junk.

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Re: Discuss Black And White 80s Comics And Publishers

Post by StarBrand »

Brother J wrote:plenty of good Blackthorne books, but they published a lot more clunkers. I was collecting during this time and it always felt like Blackthorne was trying to flood the market with their product, with a majority of it being junk.
Do you remember if you read Enchanted Valley? It looks like a possible sleeper to me.
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Re: Discuss Black And White 80s Comics And Publishers

Post by Brother J »

StarBrand wrote:
Brother J wrote:plenty of good Blackthorne books, but they published a lot more clunkers. I was collecting during this time and it always felt like Blackthorne was trying to flood the market with their product, with a majority of it being junk.
Do you remember if you read Enchanted Valley? It looks like a possible sleeper to me.
No, have not read it and do not have it in my collection. The two covers are fairly attractive, it looks like your typical "mystical quest" book but it only lasted two issues, meaning the story can't have delved very deeply into the world that the comic is set in.

Check out the wikipedia entry for Blackthorne, some very interesting things, particularly the latter part of the entry:
In addition to their comic book line, Blackthorne published paperback books and created faux books for movie props; for instance, the comic books and technical manuals seen in the movie Russkies are all props crafted by Blackthorne Publishing.[1]
In 1987, however, with the company losing money on its color line, it cancelled those titles to focus on their 3-D books and black-and-white licensed products.[6] Blackthorne also suffered from the contemporaneous financial troubles of the Los Angeles-based distributor Sunrise Distributors.[7] Sunrise went bankrupt in 1988, and although Blackthorne (along with fellow West Coast publisher Fantagraphics) sued the distributor,[8][9] they were never able to recoup their losses. This in turn led to Blackthorne being audited by the federal government in 1988.[10][11]
In early 1989, the company was still the fifth-largest U.S. comics publisher, bringing in about $1 million in sales and boasting a staff of eight full-time editorial and production employees. They published about 240 different titles a year, with an average print run of about 10,000 copies each.[3] The company made a fatal error, however, when they signed on to adapt the Michael Jackson film Moonwalker to a 3-D comic book. The publisher paid a large licensing fee for the property and when the Moonwalker comic flopped later that year, they experienced a large financial loss.[12]
By mid-1989 the company was outsourcing its operations,[13] and in November the company laid off eight of its nine employees, including editor-in-chief John Stephenson. $180,000 in debt, Blackthorne limped into 1990 before it finally folded.[14][15]
I also found by doing a Google search what appears to be Steve Schanes' eBay account, as I found several printer's proofs from some of the Blackthorne books


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