Fantagraphics (previously Fantagraphics Books) is an American publisher of alternative comics, classic comic strip anthologies, manga, magazines, graphic novels, and (formerly) the erotic Eros Comix imprint.

History

Founding

Fantagraphics was founded in 1976 by Gary Groth and Michael Catron in College Park, Maryland. The company took over an adzine named The Nostalgia Journal, which it renamed The Comics Journal. As comics journalist (and former Fantagraphics employee) Michael Dean writes, "the publisher has alternated between flourishing and nearly perishing over the years." Kim Thompson joined the company in 1977, using his inheritance to keep the company afloat. (He soon became a co-owner.) The company moved from Washington, D.C., to Stamford, Connecticut, to Los Angeles over its early years, before settling in Seattle in 1989. Beginning in 1981 Fantagraphics (under its Redbeard Inc. imprint) published Amazing Heroes, a magazine which examined comics from a hobbyist's point of view, as another income stream to supplement The Comics Journal. Amazing Heroes ran for 204 issues (plus a number of specials and annuals), folding with its July 1992 issue.

Comics publisher

Beginning in 1979, Fantagraphics began publishing comics, starting with Jay Disbrow's The Flames of Gyro. They gained wider recognition in 1982 by publishing the Hernandez brothers' Love and Rockets, and moved on to such critically acclaimed and award-winning series as Acme Novelty Library, Eightball, and Hate. The company moved operations to Greater Los Angeles in 1984. Catron acted as Fantagraphics' co-publisher until 1985 (also handling advertising and circulation for The Comics Journal from 1982 to 1985), when he left the company.

The Kirby Award and the Harvey Award

From 1985 to 1987, Fantagraphics coordinated and presented (through their magazine Amazing Heroes) The Jack Kirby Award for achievement in comic books, voted on by comic-book professionals. The Kirby Award was managed by Dave Olbrich, a Fantagraphics employee (and later publisher of Malibu Comics). In 1987, a dispute arose when Olbrich and Fantagraphics each claimed ownership of the awards. A compromise was reached, and, starting in 1988, the Kirby Award was discontinued and two new awards were created: the Eisner Award, managed by Olbrich; and the Fantagraphics-managed Harvey Award, named for cartoonist Harvey Kurtzman.

Relocation to Seattle

In 1989, Fantagraphics relocated from Los Angeles to its current location in the Maple Leaf neighborhood of Seattle, Washington. In 1990, the publisher introduced Eros Comix, a lucrative line of erotic comics that provided a replacement revenue stream for Amazing Heroes and which helped the company again avoid bankruptcy. Longtime employee Eric Reynolds joined Fantagraphics in 1993, first as news editor for The Comics Journal from 1993, before moving to marketing and promotion in 1996. Groth and Thompson acknowledged Reynolds was key to the company's rise to profitability. Tom Spurgeon, later known as the publisher of The Comics Reporter, was editor of The Comics Journal from 1994 to 1999.

Financial ups and downs

In 1998, Fantagraphics was forced into a round of layoffs; and in 2003 the company almost went out of business, losing over $60,000 in the wake of the 2002 bankruptcy of debtor and book trade distributor Seven Hills Distribution. One employee quit during the subsequent downsizing while denouncing Fantagraphics' "disorganization and poor management." Fantagraphics was saved by a restructuring and a successful appeal to comic book fandom that resulted in a huge number of orders. After restructuring, the company has had greater success with such hardcover collections as The Complete Peanuts, distributed by W. W. Norton & Company. In 2009, Fantagraphics ceased publishing the print edition of The Comics Journal, shifting from an eight-times a year publishing schedule to a larger, more elaborate, semi-annual format supported by a new website.

European line

Starting in 2005, Fantagraphics began a European graphic novel line, starting with the co-publication of the Ignatz Series, edited and produced by the Italian artist Igort. The publisher announced a deal with Jacques Tardi in March 2009 that would see co-publisher Thompson translate a large number of his books.

New challenges

In 2006, Fantagraphics opened its own retail store, Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery, in Seattle's Georgetown neighborhood. In 2009 Jacq Cohen started as the publicist for Fantagraphics. Co-publisher Kim Thompson left Fantagraphics due to illness in March 2013, and died of lung cancer a few months later. His absence left the company without a number of titles it had been counting on for the summer and fall of 2013; and, in November, Fantagraphics started a Kickstarter campaign to raise $150,000, which it surpassed in four days. In August 2020 the company rebranded, from Fantagraphics Books to just Fantagraphics. At the same time it introduced a more compact logo featuring a stylized ink pen nib and a torch.

Imprints

Ignatz Series

The Ignatz Series is an international comic imprint. It is published by Fantagraphics (U.S.), Avant Verlag (Germany), Vertige Graphic (France), Oog & Blik (Holland), Coconino Press (Italy), and Sinsentido (Spain). It is named for Ignatz Mouse, a character in the comic strip Krazy Kat. The books in the Ignatz Series are designed midway between standard North American comic book pamphlet-size and graphic novel-size. Each title is 32 pages, two-color, saddle stitched, 81/2″ × 11″, with jacket, priced at $7.95. The Ignatz collection is edited and produced by Italian artist Igort. Fantagraphics editor Kim Thompson frequently provided translations.

Eros Comix

Eros Comix was an adult-oriented imprint of Fantagraphics, established in 1990 to publish pornographic comic books like Gilbert Hernandez' Birdland and reprints of work by Wally Wood and Frank Thorne. Eventually, Eros added to its catalogue dozens of comics titles, over 40 collected editions, anime videos, DVDs, and books of erotic art and photography. The 2006 Eros Comix print catalog sold over 470 items, including adult comic books and humorous cheesecake-style comics often featuring pin-up girls like Bettie Page. The Eros Comix imprint was popular enough that it is credited with making Fantagraphics financially solvent. Notable Eros titles include Bill Willingham's Ironwood, SS Crompton's Demi the Demoness, Howard Chaykin's Black Kiss, Domino Lady; and the Italian series Djustine, Ramba, and Adult Frankenstein. Writer-artist Tom Sutton contributed work to Eros titles under the pseudonym "Dementia". Other contributors to Eros titles included Eric Stanton, Mary Fleener, Mikael Oskarsson, Bill Pearson, Malachy Coney, Richard Bassford, Gary Dumm, Frank Stack, Bob Fingerman, Molly Kiely, Yanick Paquette, Robert Peters, John Workman, Colleen Coover, Marc Andreyko, Raulo Cáceres, Larry Fuller, Dennis Eichhorn, Dennis Cramer/Justine Mara Andersen, Jon Macy, John Blackburn, and Greg Budgett. Eros' MangErotica line featured translated hentai manga by the likes of Isutoshi, Oh! great, Toshiki Yui, Teruo Kakuta, and Benkyo Tamaoki; and titles like Bondage Fairies, Hatsuinu, Hot Tails, A Strange Kind of Woman, Slut Girl, and Super Taboo. In the beginning, there was some controversy over Eros titles featuring back cover ads with phone sex numbers. In 1994, Eros editor Tom Verre was replaced by Jeremy Pinkham. By the late 1990s, the imprint was no longer profitable, and the publication of new material diminished rapidly. The Eros Comix website was no longer being maintained by 2017; its titles no longer appear on the Fantagraphics website under that label.

Titles

Comics anthology magazines

Magazines

Comic book series

# series

Graphic novels

Classic comics compilations

Disney comics Other titles

Books

Eros Comix titles

MangErotica titles

Recognition

Kirby Awards

1986 Note: In 1988, the Kirby Awards was disbanded and replaced by the Harvey and the Eisner Awards.

Eisner Awards

List of won Eisner Awards: 1994 by Winsor McCay 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2007 1959–1960, 1961–1962'', by Charles Schulz 2008 2009 2011 2012 by Floyd Gottfredson, edited by David Gerstein and Gary Groth 2013 by Michael Kupperman, in Tales Designed to Thrizzle #8 by Walt Kelly, edited by Carolyn Kelly and Kim Thompson 2014 by Jacques Tardi and Jean-Pierre Verney 2015 2016 by Héctor Germán Oesterheld and Francisco Solano López, edited by Gary Groth and Kristy Valenti 2017 edited by Trina Robbins, Gary Groth and J. Michael Catron 2018 by Marcelo D'Salete, translated by Andrea Rosenberg edited by Dan Nadel, Timothy Hodler and Tucker Stone, www.tcj.com by Paul Karasik and Mark Newgarden

Harvey Awards

List of won Harvey Awards: 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2011 2013

Sources