When I was a young lad. eeh, 'eck, way back when good Queen Victoria twere on throne...
No, that's just going to confuse all the foreign CBO visitors.
When I was younger I had two dreams (that I can tell you about!) -to publish/write/draw comics and to work for Marvel Comics. Well, Marvel Comics died for me and my other choice of company was Archie -but one characters such as The Mighty Crusaders. The heroes.
There's a long interview somewhere on this blog conducted by Phil Latter that goes into all this stuff.
But as a kid I picked up all sorts of comics -my prized "Quarto format" (Digest) Tex Willer 100 pager is long gone. But I picked up what I could afford and up until the 1970s seeing a Marvel or DC comic was still hit-or-miss...it didn't really improve that much in the 1970s. And my grand dad, Bill, used to buy me comics -not sticking to a regular title but picking up what he thought I might like -my first comic was The Robin.
Then there was The Topper, Dandy and so on. I grew up on an eclectic mix. Even finding one of my fathers porno mags saw critical perusal. I have no idea if it was Parade or something like that but it had a photo comic Casanova story.
I looked at the costumes, the interiors -the photographs were excellent quality, very eye-catching colour. I had no interest in what I now recall was very lame sexual antics! Maybe that stood me in good stead when I wrote best selling porno erotic adult fiction best sellers for Fantagraphic Books Eros Comix.
But I was soaking this all in.
I always spoke to people writing, drawing, though mainly running/owning comic companies. I knew the ins and outs of printers tricks to bump up prices as well as those of the "industry" to make money back through double or even very poor book keeping. Ahh, the time before computers!
But I learnt how much each printed comic cost, how much you would need to sell it for and how many sales were needed to break even and even how to use the old books after their week or month of being on sale.
So, when I first hopped boyishly into comics I knew a lot...but not enough about the ..."dubious" people working in comics. I bought rights from Thorpe & Porter, Mylon Fass (very annoying being continuously referred to as "kid") and others.
As I moved into comics as a writer, artist, editor and artists agent, I spoke more to old pros and to people just getting established in the industry. I learnt the dirty tricks used by publishers to not pay them and, eventually, I began pushing for Creators Rights --apparently a good deal of my work dried up because I was "blacked" by certain companies. I do wonder whether it was worth it as creators in the UK start to bleat on about never asking for Creators Rights!!!
Eventually, through my work as well as correspondence, I made contact with comickers in other countries. I learnt the ins and outs of their native industries, the problems, the movers and shakers and the crooks.
From Japan, China, Korea, India, Russia, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands as well as Australia, New Zealand and, of course, the USA, I had publishers contact me to try and help them get into the UK market or find out the pros and cons of which genre might sell better than another.
I produced annual British comic industry reports which, by the final one (2005) had an accuracy of 96%. Universities and libraries, researchers -lots of people wanted full lectures on comics and what to do, avoid and so on.
I gave up the Agents work in the mid 1990s -the same time I quit acting as a UK rep for US Independents (a long story for another day).
But I got to speak, correspond and meet up with these publishers and my collection has so many first issues of titles!
It was only while looking at the list of publishers in my collection (not complete yet) that I realized just how much I had read and how varied the art and publishers were. Yes, I love comics as an art form but after 40+ years (scarily, I just realized its more like 50 years) of collecting comics my Independent comics number almost as many as my Marvel and DC comics.
That is why people come to me for advice or information. Because, sadly, I have no real life but a brain full of comics!
So I thought I would just present the preliminary list of publishers in my collection. I've outlasted many of the publishers and comics which is sad because so many had potential. But I learnt what mistakes they made.
Anyway, here is the list. See how many you know!
AVATAR COMICS
BURLYMAN
ENTERTAINMENT
CONTINUITY COMICS
CROSSGEN COMICS
OLD TOWN COMICS
TOP SHELF COMICS
AC COMICS
PACIFIC COMICS
DDP
ONI COMICS
COMICO
COMICS INTERVIEW
IDW PUBLISHING
DORK STORM COMICS
VORTEX COMICS
RIP OFF PRESS
ECLIPSE
HUMANOIDS PUBLISHING
ANUBIS PRESS
LAMP POST PRODUCTIONS
COMIC LEGENDS LEGAL
DEFENSE FUND
DARK HORSE
FIRST COMICS
GOLD KEY
DELL
KING FEATURES
BCSI PUBLICATIONS
SLAVE LABOR GRAPHICS
FUNK O TRON
STRAWBERRY JAM COMICS
DAVAN COMICS
CEREBUS AARDVARK
VANAHEIM
TOWER COMICS
JC COMICS
KITCHEN SINK COMICS
ANACOM
ABSOLUTE COMICS
VENUSIAN PRESS
P.O.C.A.A.N.
POLITE STRANGERS
GOD COMICS
FANTAGOR PRESS
SPIDER BABY GRAPHICS
STEEL DRAGON PRESS
MARTYR PRESS
DAJJ PUBLICATIONS
STAR HEAD COMIX
JOHN SPENCER COMICS
WORLD DISTRIBUTORS
TOP SELLERS
BYBLOS
BLACK LIBRARY
PULP THEATRE
WOLF PUBLISHING
QUALITY
COMMUNICATIONS
IPC
FLEETWAY
EGMONT
D.C. THOMSON
CHARLTON COMICS
ODHAMS PRESS
TRIGON COMICS
ACME COMICS
HERO COMICS
BLAZER STUDIOS
HARRIER COMICS
ARCHIE COMICS
ATLAS (SEABOARD
PERIODICALS) 1970S
ATLAS COMICS (2000S)
DOG SOUP
TOPPS
BLUE COMET PRESS
TAMI COMICS
SEMIC
NIGHT WYND
ENTERPRISES
MAGAZINE ENTERPRISES
HARVEY COMICS
HARRIS COMICS
METEOR COMICS
REBEL STUDIOS
AIRCELL COMICS
ADVENTURE
PUBLICATIONS
ADVENTURE COMICS
EVOLUTION COMICS
NORTHERN LIGHTS
PUBLICATIONS
SPECTRUM COMICS
AMRYL ENTERPRISES
INNOVATION COMICS
A. O. POTTER
MATRIX GRAPHICS
ARTFUL SALAMANDER
POWER COMICS
FANDOM HOUSE
AMERICAN COMICS GROUP
LAST GASP
FAT MAN PRESS
NOBLE COMICS
TRIDENT COMICS
MIND BENDERS
DW
TOP COW
AMAZE INK
TEKNO COMICS
ADHESIVE COMICS
CONGRESS PRESS
CHROME TIGER
AJA BLUE
CAPITAL COMICS
MIRAGE STUDIOS
LODESTONE PRESS
M V CREATIONS
VALIANT COMICS
IFDP
GREATER MERCURY
COMICS
PALLIARD PRESS
DELUXE
MALIBU COMICS
ROGUES GALLERY
ARROW COMICS
FUNNIES PUBLISHING
CO.
BONA FIDE PRODUCTIONS
PAN GRAPHICS
ACME PRESS
MACKIE & ROWDON
ROUGH CUT COMICS
CHARAYDIS COMICS
VIZ MANGA
BECKETT COMICS
ALAN CLASS COMICS
ABSTRACT STUDIOS
ETERNITY COMICS
WILD STORM STUDIOS
TITAN BOOKS
MU PRESS
THOUGHTS & IMAGES
CALIBER
FANTAGRAPHIC BOOKS
IMAGE COMICS
AMERICAS BEST COMICS (ABC)
ATLANTIS STUDIO
INSIGHT STUDIO GROUP
FUTURE COMICS
MOONSTONE PUBLISHING
WILLY PRODS/SMALL
TIME INK
ALTERNATIVE COMICS
AP COMICS
PHOSPHORESCENT COMICS
DANCING ELEPHANT
PRESS
PHANTASY PRESS
BS PRODUCTIONS
MAD LOVE
THE GREENWOOD ORGANISATION/WARREN
ANTARCTIC PRESS
ESCAPE PUBLISHING
VERTIGO COMICS
GENEON ENTERTAINMENT
(USA)
BLACK BIRD COMICS
BLINK TWICE
AUTOCRATIK
WARPTON
MATRIX
TRUE NORTH COMICS
COMELY COMICS
RENEGADE PRESS
MARLOWE & Co.
GEMSTONE
SPEAKEASY COMICS
WILD CARD PRODUCTIONS
PORTENT COMICS
EDICIONS DOLARES
JADEMAN COMICS
VICTORY COMICS
DR LEUNG’S COMICS
EASTERN PUBLISHING
ROMAN ROMANTIKA A
NAPETI
FOKER
KOMETA
KAW
MAGYARORSZAG
FREE COMICS
SLOVO ASSOCIATION
MAHLER
CAPTION COMICS/IPP
ZWERCHFELL VERLAG
CRAGO VERLAG
KEROSIN COMICS
TOTENKOPF VERLAG
LIPPE VERLAG
EDITIONS QUASIMODO
BASTEI VERLAG
JO 84
DOHR
ZACK COMICS
ZEBRA VERLAG
CONDOR VERLAG
BECKER-DEROUET
EHAPA VERLAG
KORDA
PLOP
HIERONIMI
PANEL VERLAG
KLOTZBUCHER
KAUKA VERLAG
COMIC ARCHIV
CHAOS COMICS
SHRINK VERLAG
NATTER COMICS
BASEL BRENNT
STANDAARD UITGEVERIJ
EDICIONES CULPEA
BIG BALLOON BV
BULLES DINGUES
EURA EDITORIALE
BAMBOO COMICS
WEIRDO PUBLISHING
SEVERLEY LTD
RIDDLE COMICS
FUNTIME COMICS
TEA CAKES
RIVER COMICS
DUNDUM QUADRINHOS
DARGAUD
CASTERMAN
JUNGLE BD
FLUIDE GLACIAL
KERUBI COMICS
VEINTEI
GINIPIK PRESS
HELSINKI SF SCURA
SUOMALAINEN
SARJAKUVALEHTI
ALPHA
CLUMP LEMPI
ORGANIZATIO Z
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