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| Former type | Comic publisher |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1985 |
| Founder(s) | Steve Schanes, Ann Fera |
| Defunct | 1990 |
| Headquarters | El Cajon, California |
| Key people | John Stephenson, editor-in-chief |
| Industry | Comics |
Blackthorne Publishing, Inc. was a comic book publisher that flourished from 1986-1989. They were notable for the Blackthorne 3-D Series, their reprint titles of classic comic strips like Dick Tracy, and their licensed products. Blackthorne achieved its greatest sales and financial success with their licensed 3-D comics adaptations of the California Raisins, but was done in by the failure of their 3-D adaptation of the Michael Jackson movie Moonwalker.
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History
Blackthorne was established in 1985 by husband-and-wife team Steve Schanes and Ann Fera, formerly associated with Pacific Comics (which had gone out of business in 1984). Schanes and Fera raised $16,000 to start Blackthorne (naming the company after the street on which they lived),[1] mostly using their credit cards.[2]
Blackthorne's first title was Jerry Iger's Classic Sheena, with a cover date of April 1985, featuring Sheena, Queen of the Jungle reprints and a new Dave Stevens cover. (The book had originally been slated as a Pacific Comics release.)[1] Things started off well for the company, with its books being sold in 7-Elevens nationwide[3] (in addition to comic book specialty stores), and earning praise from critics and hobbyists alike for its reprints of classic newspaper comic strips.[4]
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.[5] Blackthorne also suffered from the contemporaneous financial troubles of the Los Angeles-based distributor Sunrise Distributors.[6] Sunrise went bankrupt in 1988, and although Blackthorne (along with fellow West Coast publisher Fantagraphics) sued the distributor,[7][8] they were never able to recoup their losses. This in turn led to Blackthorne being audited by the federal government in 1988.[9][10]
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.[2] The company made a fatal error, however, when they signed on to adapt the Michael Jackson film Moonwalker to a 3-D comic book. Blackthorne had paid enormous licensing fees for the property, and when the Moonwalker comic flopped later that year, it hit the company hard.[11]
By mid-1989 the company was outsourcing its operations,[12] 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.[13][14]
Titles
Original series
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Blackthorne 3-D Series80 issues
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Licensed and reprint titles
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Notes
- ^ a b Sanford, Jay Allen. "The History Of Comic Books In San Diego: The '80s," San Diego Reader blog (September 14, 2008).
- ^ a b "Comics publisher pins stellar hopes to Moonwalker." San Diego Business Journal (March 6, 1989).
- ^ "Blackthorne in 7-11s," The Comics Journal #108 (May 1986), p. 19.
- ^ Harvey, R.C. "Bringing Back the Reprints" The Comics Journal #111 (September 1986), pp. 56-61: Reviews of reprints of newspaper comic strips by Blackthorne Publishing.
- ^ "Blackthorne Cancels Color Comics Line, Will Refocus on Licensed Product," The Comics Journal #117 (September 1987), p. 15.
- ^ "Sunrise announces it may not pay some publishers until July," The Comics Journal #115 (April 1987), p. 24.
- ^ "Two Publishers Sue Sunrise Distributors," The Comics Journal #120 (March 1988), p. 8.
- ^ "Sunrise Creditors Meet," The Comics Journal #122 (June 1988), p. 22.
- ^ "Blackthorne Audited," The Comics Journal #124 (August 1988), pp. 12-13.
- ^ "IRS Pursues Blackthorne," The Comics Journal #125 (October 1988), p. 13.
- ^ Hudson, Laura. "The 5 Greatest Michael Jackson Moments in Comics," Comics Alliance (June 26, 2009).
- ^ "Blackthorne Temporarily Contracts Operations," The Comics Journal #130 (July 1989), pp. 27-28.
- ^ Hardie, Mary. "Cash-strapped comic book maker hits hard times again," San Diego Business Journal (January 22, 1990).
- ^ "Blackthorne Struggles to Stay Afloat," The Comics Journal #134 (February 1990), pp. 7-8.
References
- Blackthorne Publishing at the Grand Comic-Book Database
- Blackthorne Publishing at the Comic Book DB
- Steve Schanes interview, David Anthony Kraft's Comics Interview #54-55 (1988)
- Duin, Steve, and Mike Richardson. Comics Between the Panels (Dark Horse Comics, Milwaukie, OR: 1998), p. 50.
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