rec.arts.comics.misc

RAC/RACM FAQ

Part 7: Whatever Happened to ___________?

by Carl Henderson
carl.henderson@airmail.net
Based on original FAQs by Francis Uy, Tom Galloway, Paul Estin, et al. 


7-1: THE 1963 ANNUAL

Both Liefeld and Lee (the "modern age" artists associated with the project)
have left Image. Although Moore has continued to work for both of them, the
1963 ANNUAL appears dead.
 
From an interview with Alan Moore (conducted by Stéphane Mahaut) at the
Alan Moore Fan Site:

     I really don't see any way that there'll be any chance to finish the 
     series, you know. It's just something that is, sort of, too bad, where 
     events in the real world over took events in the comics. It was just 
     difficult, you know, because Image had been very much a coherent, you 
     know, one for all unit when we started doing 1963 with them but even 
     by the end of the series we started to, sort of, move apart from each 
     other in certain key ways and I think 1963 was a kind of victim and a 
     casualty of that.
     (http://www.alanmoorefansite.com/features/interviews/moore.html)


7-2: BIG NUMBERS

Yet another lost Alan Moore project. Written by Alan Moore and drawn by
Bill Sienkiewicz, only two issues of this projected twelve issue series
came out.

Some of issue three with art by Sienkiewicz was apparently completed. Kevin
Eastman bought Sienkiewicz's completed pages to BIG NUMBERS #3. A few of
these pages were published along with an interview with Eastman in THE
COMICS JOURNAL (#202, March 1998). Ten more pages from BIG NUMBERS #3 were
published in the first issue of SUBMEDIA magazine, illustrating an in-depth
interview with Bill Sienkiewicz.

Somewhere in the middle of issue three, Sienkiewicz left the project due to
either creative differences with Moore or burn out, and was replaced by his
former assistant Al Columbia. Columbia apparently finished the some or all
of the art for BIG NUMBERS #3 and #4, and then destroyed it (the two most
common stories are either he burned it or tore it up and make a collage out
of it). Former Tundra editor Paul Jenkins confirms this story--and
elaborates on the end of BIG NUMBERS in an Newsarama interview:
     http://www.fandom.com/comics/articles.asp?action=page&obj_id=208903

Although Moore has been quoted as saying he would like to see BIG NUMBERS
finished, it seems less and less likely as time goes on.


7-3: BILL MANTLO

From the rec.arts.comics.marvel.universe FAQ (written by Jim Smith):

     Mantlo, whose notable Marvel credits include ROM and INCREDIBLE HULK, 
     left the industry to become a lawyer. Several years ago he was hit by 
     an automobile, putting him in a coma for months and ultimately leaving 
     him seriously brain damaged. He currently resides in a nursing home in 
     New York City. According to Michael Mantlo, his brother and guardian, 
     cards and letters may be sent to Bill care of the following address:

     The Mantlo Family
     1995 Miller Place
     Merrick, NY 11566

According to a December 1999 Tony's Online Tips column, Bill Mantlo has not
been doing well recently. Mantlo and his family would no doubt appreciate
hearing from his fans:
      http://www.wfcomics.com/tony/backissues/b122199.vs


7-4: BROADWAY COMICS

Broadway Comics were sold to Golden Books, Inc. as part of a package (a
small part) that included Broadway Video's children's and family video
titles. Golden Books promptly shut Broadway Comics down. Broadway Comics
was loosing money, and Golden Books wasn't interested in getting back into
the comics business.

Ironically enough, Golden Books also owns Solar, Turok, and Magnus. They
licensed those properties to Valiant (later Acclaim) back when Jim Shooter
was starting that company.


7-5: ECLIPSE

Eclipse went out of business in 1994. In April of 1996, Todd McFarlane
Productions purchased the remaining assets of Eclipse at a bankruptcy
auction. These assets included Eclipse-owned characters such as Airboy, the
Heap, Valkyrie, Sky Wolf, etc. What rights TMP acquired to Miracleman with
his purchase of the Eclipse assets are unclear (see section 6-10). So far,
TMP's only use of the Eclipse characters has been to introduce a new
version of the Heap in an issue of SPAWN.

Before the final liquidation, much of Eclipse's remaining inventory of
comics, cards, and graphic novels ended up being owned by cat yronwode
(former editor-in-chief of Eclipse). This inventory is available online
through "The Comics Warehouse" at:
     http://www.sonic.net/yronwode/comicswarehouse.html


7-6: HEPCATS #13 AND MARTIN WAGNER

According to Wagner, HEPCATS is over. In January 1999, Wagner was quoted in
Beau Yarbrough's "Comics Wire" explaining his departure from comics thusly:

     [...] I have chosen to end the book. After nine years of struggling it
     became clear to me, upon seeing the pitiful orders for issue #13 (the 
     one everyone was supposedly waiting for), that the book was never 
     going to 'take off' or 'break out,' and it would be necessary for me 
     to find a better way to make a living. Hepcats on its own was not even 
     providing me with a living. In my opinion the independent arm of 
     comics publishing is no longer supportable; at best it can only be a 
     hobby for an artist, the occasional breakout hit like 'Bone' 
     notwithstanding.

That's Wagner's story, but that's not all there is to the story. Matt High
(who was working for Antarctic Press when Wagner vanished off the face of
the earth) reported that HEPCATS #13 pre-orders were around 4000 units, at
$3.95 each--far from pocket change, and better sales than quite a few Image
books and even a few DC titles. 

At one point, Wagner claimed to have finished the art for HEPCATS #13, but
Antarctic Press (his publisher) never saw it. Wagner even refused to send
Antarctic the artwork for the "Snowblind" TPB which was supposed to come
out the same month as HEPCATS #13. As Matt High pointed out, since the TPB
was all reprint, it would have been "money for doing almost nothing" for
Wagner. As it stands, Antarctic lost thousands in promotional costs for
books that never materialized.

As to what Wagner is doing now, in the same "Comics Wire" article, he
stated, "I am currently working in film, am doing story boards and
conceptual designs for a well known Austin director's next project, have
made a 35MM short and hope to direct my first feature this summer or fall."


7-7: JIM SHOOTER

After the demise of Broadway Comics, Jim Shooter, worked for Golden Books,
Inc. (the purchasers of Broadway Comics) for a while. Then in early 1999,
he announced that he would be launching a new comics company--Daring
Comics--later in the year. As of yet, no Daring Titles have yet been
solicited. However, a Shooter associate, Peter Gyrich, has reserved the
"daringcomics.com" domain. 

Jim Shooter is currently writing UNITY 2000 for Acclaim (Jim Stalin is
doing the art) which features both the old VH-1 characters and the VH-2
characters. He has also written a BATTLESTAR GALACTICA story for Realm
Press that appeared in GALACTICA: THE NEW MILLENNIUM #1.


7-8: KITCHEN SINK PRESS

Kitchen Sink went out of business in early 1999. Although the candy
division of the company (Kitchen Sink Konfections) is still in business,
publisher Denis Kitchen has no involvement in it.

According to the COMICS JOURNAL, "A showdown between Todrin and KSP
president and founder Denis Kitchen led to Kitchen being fired from his own
company in December by chief investor Fred Seibert." Kitchen Sink died
leaving a great many creators and other creditors unpaid. 

For more information about the end of Kitchen Sink, check out the TCJ
ONLINE article at:  
     http://www.tcj.com/3_online/newswatch.html


7-9: MILESTONE COMICS

Big news on the Milestone front. STATIC is coming back--as a weekly
animated series Saturdays on Kids WB called STATIC SHOCK!, as a four-issue
limited series from DC called STATIC: REBIRTH OF THE COOL, and as a trade
paperback collection of the first four issues of the original 1993-1997
comic book series called STATIC SHOCK!: TRIAL BY FIRE.

According to co-creator Dwayne McDuffie, the Kids WB animated series:

     [...] is being produced by Warner Animation and is brought to you by 
     several of the immensely talented folks behind the excellent 
     BATMAN BEYOND, SUPERMAN and BATMAN animated series. Milestone 
     alumni and co-founder Denys Cowan is also on board as a director 
     (Denys helmed several episodes of the SABRINA cartoon, so he's an 
     old hand at this stuff). I will also be contributing to the 
     series, writing as many episodes as they let me. From what I've 
     seen so far, the series is remarkably close to the comic, fans of 
     the early issues of Static should be pleased, I know I am. 

The new limited series from DC (STATIC: REBIRTH OF THE COOL) should be out
late in 2000. It will be set in Milestone's Dakota Universe continuity
(rather than the animated series continuity) and will be written by Dwayne
McDuffie and illustrated by original STATIC artist John Paul Leon (coming
off of the very successful EARTH X for Marvel).

Milestone had ceased publishing comics in late 1996 due to low sales. The
last issue of HARDWARE was #50, the last issue of ICON was #42, and the
last issue of STATIC was #45. 

Two issue of STATIC (#46 and #47), one issue of HARDWARE (#51), and three
issues of ICON (#43-#45) were finished (or in the late stages of
production), solicited, and later cancelled by DC. According to a post by
Dwayne McDuffie (Milestone co-creator and Editor-in-Chief), these
unpublished issues would have covered the following material:

     [HARDWARE] #51 was most decidedly "closure." I don't think there would 
     have been a dry eye in the house.

     STATIC #46 was the end of Mark's Laserjet storyline and probably the 
     best art job yet from Jeff Moore. #47 was set at Static's 10th high 
     school reunion, where he is forced to become Static one last time. We 
     find out what happens to the entire cast, the final fate of Virgil's 
     comic book store and finally, 10 years in the future of that, meet 
     Virgil's kids.

     ICON #43 was the end of Blood Reign and Holocaust and the rebirth of 
     the Blood Syndicate. #44 and 45 were a two-parter where EVERYBODY 
     teams up to try and stop Dharma's "great disaster." #45 also contained 
     a seven page prose story where in Raquel convinces the author not to 
     commit suicide, while the two discuss the success and failures of 
     Milestone. They also give away almost every secret and loose end left 
     in the Dakotaverse.

To keep up with all things Static and Milestone-related check out Dwayne
McDuffie's home page at:
     http://www.dwaynemcduffie.com/


7-10: MIRACLEMAN

The rights to MIRACLEMAN are a tangled mess. 

The story begins with CAPTAIN MARVEL. In 1953, DC managed to finally stop
Fawcett from publishing CAPTAIN MARVEL. After a drawn-out legal battle, the
courts held CAPTAIN MARVEL to violate DC's SUPERMAN copyright. At this
point, Fawcett decided that continuing the appeals process was not
worthwhile and settled with DC (see section 5-25).

British publisher L. Miller & Sons had been publishing black and white
reprints of CAPTAIN MARVEL. With Fawcett out of the CAPTAIN MARVEL
business, L. Miller & Sons was left without anything to reprint. So they
decided to make their own hero, and approached artist Mick Anglo to create
one. What Anglo came up with was MARVELMAN. Anglo's CAPTAIN MARVEL "clone"
was quite successful; MARVELMAN ran until 1963.

When MARVELMAN was revived and revamped in the 1982 (by Alan Moore and Gary
Leach), as a feature in Dez Skinn's WARRIOR, the rights to the character
apparently came to be held jointly by Skinn, Moore, and Leach (each holding
a third). When Alan Davis took over from Gary Leach, Leach's share of the
rights was apparently transferred to Davis.

However, there is a complication. Depending upon who is telling the story,
Dez Skinn either:  
(a) believed that MARVELMAN was in public domain when WARRIOR revived the 
    character,  
(b) bought the rights to MARVELMAN from Mick Anglo (and shared them with   
    Moore and Leach), or  
(c) promised to buy the rights from Anglo, but never paid him for them. 

If (a) or (b) is correct-and MARVELMAN was in the public domain when it was
revived for WARRIOR-then the rights were shared equally by Skinn, Moore,
and Davis. However, if (c) is correct, then Anglo may have a claim on
some-if not all-of the MARVELMAN/MIRACLEMAN rights. catherine yronwode
(former editor-in-chief of Eclipse) has said that Dez Skinn represented (b)
being true when Eclipse was negotiating the purchase of Skinn's portion of
the rights.

Assuming that MARVELMAN/MIRCALEMAN rights really were held jointly by
Moore, Davis, and Skinn (which most of the principles involved apparently
believed), then here's what happened:

Moore's MARVELMAN story was never completed in WARRIOR. In 1985, Eclipse
and Alan Moore, revived the WARRIOR revival as MIRACLEMAN. The change from
MARVELMAN to MIRACLEMAN was made in deference to Marvel Comics, because
both publishers involved felt that a superhero named "MARVELMAN" might
infringe on Marvel's US trademark. 

Marvel had first objected to the use of "MARVELMAN" as a comic book title
back when Skinn had published "MARVELMAN SPECIAL" in 1983.

Eclipse Comics bought Dez Skinn's 1/3 share of the MARVELMAN rights. Then,
some time later, Eclipse bought Alan Davis' 1/3 share (at the time, Davis
and Moore were embroiled in a dispute over whether to allow Marvel to
reprint Moore and Davis' run on CAPTAIN BRITAN, and Davis wanted as little
to do with Moore as possible). This left Eclipse with 2/3 of the rights,
and Moore with 1/3.

When Moore finished his MIRACLEMAN story (at issue 16), and chose Neil
Gaiman to replace him, he transferred his part ownership of the characters
to Gaiman (or to Gaiman and his collaborator, Mark Buckingham). When
Eclipse went bankrupt in 1994, the series ended in mid-story with issue 24.
However, issue 25 of MIRACLEMAN existed in nearly complete form. As Eclipse
was going under, yronwode mailed the finished art for MIRACLEMAN #25 to
Gaiman. Presumably, he still has it. 

According to catherine yronwode, Gaiman had approved a spin-off series
called MIRACLEMAN TRIUMPHANT that took place in the time period between the
end of Gaiman's first storyline and the beginning of his second. MIRACLEMAN
TRIUMPHANT was written by Fred Burke and illustrated by Mike Deodato Jr.
(who shared the rights to this project with Eclipse and Gaiman). Two issues
were scripted, and one issue was finished, but never released.  The artwork
is still in possession of yronwode, and she has stated that she intends to
mail it to Fred Burke whenever someone finally untangles the MIRACLEMAN
copyright problems, and agrees to publish MIRACLEMAN TRIUMPHANT.  

At the time of the Eclipse bankruptcy, Eclipse held with two-thirds of the
rights to MIRACLEMAN, and Gaiman held one-third of the rights (either on
his own, or jointly with Buckingham). Then in 1996, Todd McFarlane
Productions purchased all of Eclipse's assets at a bankruptcy auction for
$40,000. These assets included whatever share of MIRACLEMAN that Eclipse
owned, along with other Eclipse-owned characters like as Airboy, the Heap,
Valkyrie, Sky Wolf, etc.

Rumor has it that McFarlane thought he was getting all rights to MIRACLEMAN
(other than those rights held by Gaiman--or Gaiman and Buckingham).
However, since then, Dez Skinn has reportedly claimed that some or all of
the MIRACLEMAN rights have reverted to him. To further complicate matters,
Anglo has claimed that he owns ALL rights to MARVELMAN/MIRACLEMAN. Finally,
McFarlane and Gaiman are involved in a dispute over Gaiman's rights to
Angela (which he co-created in SPAWN #9 on a handshake deal), and are not
currently on very friendly terms.  

Although there have been numerous second-hand reports that McFarlane has
offered to trade whatever rights he holds to MARVELMAN/MIRACLEMAN to Gaiman
in return for Gaiman dropping any claims on Angela, the rights to the two
characters are in no way linked.

Interestingly enough, in October 1997, Todd McFarlane Productions filed for
a US registered trademark on "MIRACLEMAN" under classes 016 (printed
matter, namely, comic books and posters), 025 (clothing, namely, shirts,
athletic shirts, T-shirts, caps and jackets), and 028 (toys, namely, action
figures and accessories therefore). The proposed trademarks were published
for opposition on 06/02/1998, and according to the US PTO's online database
(http://trademarks.uspto.gov/access/search-mark.html), are still pending.
  
So who owns MIRACLEMAN? Nobody knows...


7-11: NEXUS

After First Comics (NEXUS publisher from 1985 to 1991) ceased publication,
Dark Horse acquired NEXUS from them. Throughout the 90s, Dark Horse
published a number of NEXUS mini-series, one-shots, and trade paperbacks.
At some point during Dark Horse's tenure as publisher of NEXUS, Dark Horse
publisher Mike Richardson returned rights to NEXUS, to its creators, Mike
Baron and Steve Rude. 

However, due to declining sales, the last NEXUS mini-series, "Nightmare in
Blue" (July-October 1997) was published in black and white. Dark Horse
dropped NEXUS after "Nightmare in Blue." Since then, Baron and Rude have
tried to work out a deal for publishing NEXUS with other publishers, but
nothing has materialized.

For a while things looked little better for the return of NEXUS in cartoon
form. According to the Baron and Rude web pages at hollywoodcomics.com, in
January of 1999, NEXUS was optioned by Sony/Columbia-TriStar for
development as an animated series for FOXKids. Steve Rude was on board as
producer, and Mike Baron was to be one of the writers. Unfortunately, the
animated NEXUS now appears to be dead. As the Baron and Rude sites on
hollywoodcomics.com diplomatically put it, "The latest news on the show is
that FoxKids may pass after all."

For up-to-date news on all things Nexus, go to Baron & Rude-recommended
"Nexus: The Webpage" at:
     http://www.mindspring.com/~nexus1/

Or check out Mike Baron and Steve Rude's official sites at:
     http://www.hollywoodcomics.com/rude.html
     http://www.hollywoodcomics.com/baron.html

 
7-12: OMAHA THE CAT DANCER

OMAHA THE CAT DANCER ended with Volume 2, Number 4 (May, 1995). It is
deader than Tekno, First, and Eclipse put together. The co-creators of
OMAHA, Reed Waller and Kate Worely, went through a very messy break-up.
They have no intention of ever working together--or on OMAHA--again. 

On his website (now no longer covering OMAHA) Waller commented:

     I occasionally had short phone calls with Kate about stuff like doing 
     some work for a proposed Omaha role-playing game, and foreign rights, 
     and stuff. None of it ever came to anything. Neither of us was really 
     capable of working on Omaha anymore. By the time her son Jake was a 
     year old, we had stopped talking altogether. We are now strangers. I 
     have never drawn another comic story again, and do not intend to.

After OMAHA, Kate Worley went on to do some comics work for Tekno, Disney,
and DC. Waller did one issue of TUMBLING BOXES for Eros, and an expanded
edition of THE EROTIC ART OF REED WALLER. Waller is currently working in
the web design/graphic arts field. 


7-13: SAM KIETH

According to Scott Dunbier (of DC/Wildstorm) Sam Kieth was in Ireland
directing a movie for Roger Corman. The IMDB notes that the movie in
question is called "Megan" as was/is being both written and directed by Sam
Kieth. Kieth has also recently produced a 24 page one-shot called SAM
STORIES: LEGS (published by Image). 


7-14: SYCO DISTRIBUTION

SyCo Distribution is no longer in the business of distributing comics.

In April of 1997, SyCo entered the comics distribution business, attempting
to fill the void left by the collapse of Capital City Distribution. SyCo
offered retailers excellent terms, including partial returnability, and a
flat 53% discount. However, SyCo was unable to gain significant market
share due to Diamond's exclusive distribution deals with the top comics
publishers. In a May 1998 press release, SyCo made noises about taking
legal action against Diamond and/or its exclusive publishers. However, no
news of any such litigation ever surfaced.

By mid-1998, SyCo had begun to scale back the comics distribution side of
their business, concentrating on the more profitable distribution of anime
videos and related products. By the end of 1998, they had dropped comics
entirely, refocused on anime, and reinvented themselves as a "dot com"
company--SyCoNet.com.


7-15: TEKNO/BIG ENTERTAINMENT

Tekno Comics stopped publishing comics in 1996. During their last few
months in the comics business Tekno published comics under the more
PREVIEWS-friendly name of their parent corporation, Big Entertainment.
After getting out of comics, Big Entertainment then attempted to move a few
of their "big name" comic book properties (like ISSAC ASIMOV'S I-BOTS) into
illustrated books, but met with little success. 

Big Entertainment later metamorphosed into yet another "dot com" company,
and billed itself as "largest online movie studio store." The reinvented
Big Entertainment was later absorbed into Hollywood.com.

No trace of their four years as a comic book publisher can be found at that
web site.


----------------------------------------------------------------------
J. Carl Henderson
carl.henderson@airmail.net

Intro: Introduction / Revision History
Contents: Table of Contents/Acknowledgements
Part 1: The RAC Newsgroups and Posting to Them
Part 2: Comics News and Commentary on the Net
Part 3: Inside the Comic Book Industry
Part 4: Comics Industry Contact Information
Part 5: Comic Book Professionals--And How to Become One
Part 6: Misc. Comic Book Questions
Part 7: Whatever Happened to ___________?
Part 8: RAC Newsgroup Charters

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