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Avatar Press

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"Avatar comic" redirects here. For the comic-book series, see Avatar: The Last Airbender (comics).
Avatar Press
Founded1996; 28 years ago (1996)
FounderWilliam A. Christensen
Country of originUnited States
Headquarters locationRantoul, Illinois
DistributionDiamond Book Distributors (books)[1]
Key peopleWarren Ellis, Garth Ennis, Alan Moore
Publication typesComic books
Fiction genresBad girl
ImprintsBoundless Comics
Bleeding Cool
Official websiteavatarpress.com

Avatar Press is an independent American comic book publisher founded in 1996 by William A. Christensen, and based in Rantoul, Illinois. It was originally known for publishing bad girl comics, such as Pandora, Hellina, Lookers, The Ravening, and Brian Pulido's Lady Death. Later the company became better known for publishing particularly violent creator owned titles by writers such as Alan Moore, Garth Ennis, Warren Ellis, Jonathan Hickman, and Kieron Gillen.

Avatar also publishes the comics news site Bleeding Cool, helmed by Rich Johnston.

History

Founder and editor-in-chief William A. Christensen.

1990s

Avatar Press launched in December 1996 with three titles: Pandora, Silent Rapture, and Donna Mia. Lookers followed in January, 1997.[2] The founding publisher was Richard Christensen, his son William Christensen was editor-in-chief, and Mark Seifert was creative director.[3]

The Christensens previously founded the comic book retail outfit Comic Cavalcade in 1989, when William Christensen was 16 years old.[4] Seifert worked as a manager at Comic Cavalcade.[5] Seifert and William Christensen co-bylined several articles for Wizard magazine during the early 1990s, including installments of the “The Wizard’s Crystal Ball” column, an interview with Alan Moore, and a Jack Kirby retrospective.[6] Before the launch of Avatar Press, William Christensen was also credited as "managing editor," among other roles, at London Night Studios in 1995 and 1996.[7]

Avatar began publishing at the end of the 1990s comic book speculation boom and bust, when many publishers and retailers were going out of business, yet the company expanded, publishing titles by creators such as Mike Wolfer, David Quinn, Tim Vigil, Eric Powell, and Warren Ellis.[8] Pandora became the company's flagship character, appearing in crossovers with numerous other "bad girl" characters, including Hellina, Razor, Lady Death, Shotgun Mary, and Widow. [9]

2000s

In 2000, Avatar Press began publishing comics featuring characters licensed from Rob Liefeld's defunct Awesome Comics company, including Avengelyne and The Coven.[10] The next year, Avatar began publishing previously unreleased issues of Glory written by Moore and originally intended for Awesome.[11] More works by Moore followed, including adaptations of his prose stories and song lyrics, such as Alan Moore's Magic Words, and reprints such as the graphic novel A Small Killing.[12]

Avatar soon attracted other critically acclaimed writers such as Garth Ennis, Jamie Delano, and Mark Millar. Eventually the company became better known for publishing creator owned titles by popular writers featuring "extreme" content than for the company's earlier bad girl titles.[13]

The company has also licensed comic book adaptations of famous science-fiction and horror movies and television shows, such as RoboCop, Stargate, Night of the Living Dead, and Friday the 13th.[14]

2010s to present

In need of quick money to pay a tax bill, Moore created a new comic book mini-series for Avatar called Neonomicon.[15] The series was published in 2010 and featured art by Jacen Burrows. That same year, Avatar launched a new imprint called "Boundless Comics" to publish a new line of Lady Death titles and similar bad girl and "cheesecake" comics titles similar to those Avatar published during its early days.[16]

In 2013, comics journalist Heidi MacDonald criticized the company's "torture" variant covers, writing "I get the appeal of a little transgressive gore now and then, but these are basically images of sawed off limbs, flaying and twisted sexual situations that make Mark Millar look like Hannah Montana. And yes, I know people are getting what they asked for but….seriously what kind of people are they?"[17]

Much of what Moore says will be his final comics work before retiring from the medium was published by Avatar Press, including Crossed +100, Providence, and Cinema Purgatorio.[18]

As of June 2023, the Avatar Press website's news page has not been updated since October, 2020,[19] but Bleeding Cool continues to publish.[20]

Titles

By author

Selected other titles

  • Pandora (Avatar's flagship character)
  • Demonslayer by Marat Mychael
  • Dreamwalker by Jenni Gregory
  • Hellina
  • Jungle Fantasy, starring Fauna from the Threshold series' "Fauna, Jungle Girl"
  • Jungle Fantasy: Ivory, starring an independent cave-woman named Ivory who is a "widow" in search of her infant son who was abducted
  • Lookers
  • Medieval Lady Death
  • Nira-X Cyberangel by Bill Maus
  • The Ravening
  • Razor by Everette Hartsoe
  • Rich Johnston's Holed Up by Rich Johnston
  • Twilight, which, along with Twilight: Live Wire, was reprinted in Twilight: Raw

Adaptations and licensed properties

By author

Selected other titles

References

  1. ^ Our Publishers
  2. ^ "Avatar Gears Up For December". Avatar Press website. Retrieved 2023-06-25. {{cite web}}: |archive-date= requires |archive-url= (help)
  3. ^ Pandora', vol. 1, no. 1 (January 1997). Avatar Press.
  4. ^ "Comic Cavalcade | Better Business Bureau Profile". www.bbb.org. Retrieved 2023-06-25. Mitchell, Tim (2005-05-17). "Comic book dealer wants to use site as a warehouse". The News-Gazette. Retrieved 2023-06-25.
  5. ^ Carlson, Debbie (November 23, 1992). "Superman's death sparks reflection, sends dealers searching for more". Journal Gazette from Mattoon, Illinois.
  6. ^ Christensen, William; Seifert, Mark (November 1992). "Wizard's Crystal Ball". Wizard The Comics Magazine. USA: Garab Shamus Enterprises. p. 79. Christensen, William; Seifert, Mark (November 1993). "The Unexplored Medium". Wizard The Comics Magazine. USA: Garab Shamus Enterprises. p. 42. Christensen, William; Seifert, Mark (August 1994). "The King". Wizard The Comics Magazine. USA: Garab Shamus Enterprises. p. 90.
  7. ^ Credited as "Sales Representative": Widow: Metal Gypsies', vol. 1, no. 1 (August 1995). London Night Studios.. As "Executive director": Widow: Metal Gypsies', vol. 1, no. 2 (1995). London Night Studios.. As "Project manager: Razor Torture', vol. 1, no. 0 (December 1995). London Night Studios.. As "Managing Editor" Razor Torture', vol. 1, no. 1 (1996). London Night Studios.. As "Managing Editor": Razor/The Suffering', vol. 1, no. 3 (1995). London Night Studios..
  8. ^ Publishers and retailers going out of business at the time: published, Jim McLauchlin (2021-06-17). "Comic books' crazy 1996 revisited: a wedding, a bankruptcy, a DC-Marvel crossover, more". gamesradar. Retrieved 2023-06-25. and "Tales From the Database - Mile High Comics, Chuck Rozanski". www.milehighcomics.com. Retrieved 2023-06-25. Avatar founding and expanding during the bust: Wolfer, Mike (2007-07-17). "HOW AVATAR PRESS SAVED MY LIFE, Part 4: Reconstruction". Avatar Press. Retrieved 2023-06-25.
  9. ^ Flagship character: "'Avatar' builds on Pandora fever". Chicago Tribune. 2010-01-20. Retrieved 2023-06-25. and "C2E2: Bad Girls Return in "War Goddess"". CBR. 2011-03-19. Retrieved 2023-06-25. Crossovers: "Pandora -- Avatar Press". www.avatarpress.com. Retrieved 2023-06-25. and Seifert, Mark (1998-06-01). "News & Notes". Avatar Press. Retrieved 2023-06-25.
  10. ^ Seifert, Mark (2000-07-24). "Shaw, Rio, Haley Take Avengelyne to the Brink in Avengelyne: Revelation". Avatar Press. Retrieved 2023-06-25.
  11. ^ "To the Extreme: A conversation with Rob Liefeld". CBR. 2001-07-30. Retrieved 2023-06-25.
  12. ^ "Alan Moore category page from the 2000s". Avatar Press website. Retrieved 2023-06-25.
  13. ^ McCulloch, Joe (2016-05-11). "THIS WEEK IN COMICS! (5/11/16 - Crashing Headlong Into the Limits of My Charisma". The Comics Journal. Retrieved 2023-06-25.
  14. ^ "Steven Grant Aims To Do Permanent Damage with 'Frank Miller's Robocop'". CBR. 2003-05-02. Retrieved 2023-06-25. "Dynamite Gets 'Stargate'". icv2.com. Retrieved 2023-06-25. "Wolfer Takes "Night of the Living Dead" West". CBR. 2011-02-04. Retrieved 2023-06-25. Jasper, Gavin (2019-09-13). "The Weird History of Friday the 13th Comics". Den of Geek. Retrieved 2023-06-25.
  15. ^ Thill, Scott. "Alan Moore Gets Psychogeographical With Unearthing". Wired. ISSN 1059-1028. Retrieved 2023-06-25.
  16. ^ Johnston, Rich (2010-04-15). "Avatar Launches Boundless At C2E2 - Brings Back Lady Death". bleedingcool.com. Retrieved 2023-06-25.
  17. ^ MacDonald, Heidi (2013-08-20). "So what kind of person buys a "Torture variant" cover anyway? (NSFW, trigger images)". The Beat. Retrieved 2023-06-25.
  18. ^ Cain, Sian (2016-09-08). "Alan Moore confirms he is retiring from creating comic books". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2023-06-25. Leith, Sam (2022-10-07). "Watchmen author Alan Moore: 'I'm definitely done with comics'". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2023-06-25. Shapira, Tom (2020-09-15). "Their Other Last Hurrah – Cinema Purgatorio". The Comics Journal. Retrieved 2023-06-25.
  19. ^ "Avatar Press". Avatar Press. Retrieved 2023-06-25.
  20. ^ "Bleeding Cool News - Comics, Movies, TV, Games, Collectibles". bleedingcool.com. Retrieved 2023-06-25.
  21. ^ "Future Imperfect: Jamie Delano talks Narcopolis". Comic Book Resources. November 7, 2007.
  22. ^ "Entering Narcopolis I: Jamie Delano". Newsarama. March 1, 2008. Archived from the original on May 15, 2009.
  23. ^ "Double-Crossed: Ennis & Burrows talk Crossed". Comic Book Resources. June 12, 2008.
  24. ^ "CCI: Christos Gage discusses Absolution". Comic Book Resources. July 23, 2008.
  25. ^ Leader, Michael (November 3, 2009). "Kieron Gillen and Jamie McKelvie Interview". Den of Geek. Archived from the original on 6 November 2009. Retrieved 2009-11-03.
  26. ^ "WW Philly: The Avatar Panel". Newsarama. June 1, 2008. Archived from the original on February 12, 2009.
  27. ^ "Escape of the Living Dead". Avatar Press.
  28. ^ "WWC XTRA: Picking the Brains of a 'Living Dead' Legend with Avatar Press". Comic Book Resources. August 13, 2007.
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