FantaCo Enterprises
Encyclopedia
FantaCo Enterprises was an American
comic book
store and publishing company founded by Thomas Skulan and based in Albany, New York
. As a publisher, FantaCo was known for its idiosyncratic line-up of mostly black-and-white titles, including the humorous Hembeck Series and the horror
title Gore Shriek. FantaCo also published a "Chronicles Series," which catalogued top-selling Marvel Comics titles. In its later years, FantaCo published mostly horror and "good girl art
" comics.
FantaCo began as a comic book store before branching out into publishing books, magazines, and comics. They also hosted FantaCon, a popular Albany-area comics and horror convention.
. These magazine-sized black-and-white books poked loving fun at the mainstream comics industry, with Hembeck himself appearing as a cartoon interlocutor with the superhero
es he interviewed. During this period, FantaCo also published the Fantaco Chronicles Series, edited by Mitch Cohn and Roger Green, which exhaustively documented popular Marvel Comics
titles such as the X-Men, Fantastic Four, Daredevil, Avengers, and Spider-Man. A one-shot title published during this period was Gates of Eden, which featured comics about the 1960s by an impressive array of talent, including John Byrne, Steve Leialoha
, Michael T. Gilbert
, Trina Robbins
, Hembeck, Foolbert Sturgeon, P. Craig Russell
, Rick Geary
and Spain Rodriguez
.
1986 saw the debut of the horror anthology Gore Shriek, edited by Stephen R. Bissette
, who also contributed stories to each issue. Besides Bissette, other Gore Shriek creators of note included Greg Capullo
, Bruce Spaulding Fuller, Eric Stanway and Gurchain Singh. Gore Shriek volume I ran for three years, and is still fondly remembered by horror fans as one of the top comics in that genre. Gore Shriek Delectus (1989) collects much of the best material from the first volume. Bissette left FantaCo in 1990, over a dispute about a new FantaCo series based on George A. Romero
's Night of the Living Dead
.
FantaCo revived Gore Shriek in 1990 and started a new line of horror and zombie-related titles and one-shots. This period was noteworthy for the career jump-starts it gave to young creators like Chynna Clugston
(Bloodletting) and Steve Niles
(King of the Dead, Night of the Living Dead: London, Kill Me Slowly, Scab, and Uptown Zombies).
projects with Eastman's company Tundra Press. Books under the FantaCo/Tundra imprint included Infectious, No Guts or Glory, and Zombie Wars. These projects petered out once Tundra folded in 1993.
. Later on, FantaCo published more trade books on the subjects of horror films; splatter films; exploitation films; an early guide to horror, science fiction, and fantasy films on videocassette; and even a straight-ahead horror novel. John McCarty
authored three books published by FantaCo, and Chas Balun
wrote four.
In a similar horror vein, they put out the FantaCo Horror Yearbook and Price Guide every year from 1978 until 1996; magazines like Barbara Steele: An Angel for Satan, Demonique 4, and the Comics Enquirer; twelve issues of Dread: The Official Clive Barker
Newsletter in 1992–1993; and Clive Barker and Zombie War commemorative card sets.
The book Amazon Women: The Art of Tom Simonton, edited by Tim D'Allaird, was FantaCo's final publication, right on the eve of their closure in 1998.
events." FantaCon lasted from 1979 to 1990.
of Tom Simonton's Amazon Woman comics, and titillating titles like Babes & Biomechanics, Lady Dracula, and Dead Chicks in Lace: Bloodletting Lingerie Special. As a publisher, their last couple of years were exclusively limited to Simonton projects, and in 1998 FantaCo — publisher and retailer — closed its doors for good.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
comic book
Comic book
A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...
store and publishing company founded by Thomas Skulan and based in Albany, New York
Albany, New York
Albany is the capital city of the U.S. state of New York, the seat of Albany County, and the central city of New York's Capital District. Roughly north of New York City, Albany sits on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River...
. As a publisher, FantaCo was known for its idiosyncratic line-up of mostly black-and-white titles, including the humorous Hembeck Series and the horror
Horror comics
Horror comics are comic books, graphic novels, black-and-white comics magazines, and manga focusing on horror fiction. Horror comic books reached a peak in the late 1940s through the mid-1950s, when concern over content and the imposition of the self-censorship Comics Code Authority contributed to...
title Gore Shriek. FantaCo also published a "Chronicles Series," which catalogued top-selling Marvel Comics titles. In its later years, FantaCo published mostly horror and "good girl art
Good girl art
Good girl art is found in drawings or paintings which feature a strong emphasis on attractive women no matter what the subject or situation. GGA was most commonly featured in comic books, pulp magazines and crime fiction...
" comics.
FantaCo began as a comic book store before branching out into publishing books, magazines, and comics. They also hosted FantaCon, a popular Albany-area comics and horror convention.
Publishing history
FantaCo began in 1978 as a comic book store and mail-order business, before branching out into publishing in 1980. They were located on the first block of Central Avenue in Albany. Many of the store's employees, including owner Tom Skulan, Mitch Cohn, Roger Green, and Raoul Vezina, worked on FantaCo titles in creative capacities. (Vezina drew Smilin’ Ed from 1980 until his death in 1983.)Comics
The company made its mark in the early 1980s with The Hembeck Series, seven volumes of comics by Fred HembeckFred Hembeck
Fred Hembeck is an American cartoonist best known for his parodies of characters from major American comic book publishers. His work has frequently been published by the firms whose characters he spoofs. His characters are always drawn with curlicues at the elbows and knees...
. These magazine-sized black-and-white books poked loving fun at the mainstream comics industry, with Hembeck himself appearing as a cartoon interlocutor with the superhero
Superhero
A superhero is a type of stock character, possessing "extraordinary or superhuman powers", dedicated to protecting the public. Since the debut of the prototypical superhero Superman in 1938, stories of superheroes — ranging from brief episodic adventures to continuing years-long sagas —...
es he interviewed. During this period, FantaCo also published the Fantaco Chronicles Series, edited by Mitch Cohn and Roger Green, which exhaustively documented popular Marvel Comics
Marvel Comics
Marvel Worldwide, Inc., commonly referred to as Marvel Comics and formerly Marvel Publishing, Inc. and Marvel Comics Group, is an American company that publishes comic books and related media...
titles such as the X-Men, Fantastic Four, Daredevil, Avengers, and Spider-Man. A one-shot title published during this period was Gates of Eden, which featured comics about the 1960s by an impressive array of talent, including John Byrne, Steve Leialoha
Steve Leialoha
Steve Leialoha is an American comic book artist whose work first came to prominence in the 1970s. He has worked primarily as an inker, though occasionally as a penciller, for several publishers, including Marvel Comics and later DC Comics.-Biography:Leialoha's professional career began in 1975...
, Michael T. Gilbert
Michael T. Gilbert
Michael Terry Gilbert is an American comic book artist and writer who has worked for both mainstream and underground comic book companies.-Biography:Michael T. Gilbert was born on May 7, 1951 and attended the State University of New York...
, Trina Robbins
Trina Robbins
Trina Robbins is an American comics artist and writer. She was an early and influential participant in the underground comix movement, and one of the few female artists in underground comix when she started. Both as a cartoonist and historian, Robbins has long been involved in creating outlets for...
, Hembeck, Foolbert Sturgeon, P. Craig Russell
P. Craig Russell
Philip Craig Russell , also known as P. Craig Russell, is an American comic book writer, artist, and illustrator. His work has won multiple Harvey and Eisner Awards...
, Rick Geary
Rick Geary
Rick Geary is an American cartoonist and illustrator.-Biography:Rick Geary was born on February 25, 1946 in Kansas City, Missouri. Geary was initially introduced to comics readers with his contributions to the Heavy Metal and National Lampoon magazines...
and Spain Rodriguez
Spain Rodriguez
Manuel Rodriguez , better known as Spain or Spain Rodriguez, is an American underground cartoonist who created the character Trashman. His experiences on the road with the biker gang, the Road Vultures, provided inspiration for his work, as did his left-wing politics.-Biography:Born in Buffalo, New...
.
1986 saw the debut of the horror anthology Gore Shriek, edited by Stephen R. Bissette
Stephen R. Bissette
Stephen R. Bissette is an American comics artist, editor, and publisher with a focus on the horror genre. He is best known for working with writer Alan Moore and inker John Totleben on the DC comic Swamp Thing in the 1980s....
, who also contributed stories to each issue. Besides Bissette, other Gore Shriek creators of note included Greg Capullo
Greg Capullo
Gregory “Greg” Capullo is an American comic book artist and penciller, best known for his work on Quasar , X-Force , Angela and Spawn ....
, Bruce Spaulding Fuller, Eric Stanway and Gurchain Singh. Gore Shriek volume I ran for three years, and is still fondly remembered by horror fans as one of the top comics in that genre. Gore Shriek Delectus (1989) collects much of the best material from the first volume. Bissette left FantaCo in 1990, over a dispute about a new FantaCo series based on George A. Romero
George A. Romero
George Andrew Romero is a Canadian-American film director, screenwriter and editor, best known for his gruesome and satirical horror films about a hypothetical zombie apocalypse. He is nicknamed "Godfather of all Zombies." -Life and career:...
's Night of the Living Dead
Night of the Living Dead
Night of the Living Dead is a 1968 American independent black-and-white zombie film and cult film directed by George A. Romero, starring Duane Jones, Judith O'Dea and Karl Hardman. It premiered on October 1, 1968, and was completed on a USD$114,000 budget. After decades of cinematic re-releases, it...
.
FantaCo revived Gore Shriek in 1990 and started a new line of horror and zombie-related titles and one-shots. This period was noteworthy for the career jump-starts it gave to young creators like Chynna Clugston
Chynna Clugston
Chynna Clugston is an American comic book creator known for her manga-influenced teen comedy series Blue Monday.-Early life:Clugston grew up in Fresno, California and attended the Roosevelt School of the Arts...
(Bloodletting) and Steve Niles
Steve Niles
Steve Niles is an American comic book author and novelist, known for works such as 30 Days of Night, Criminal Macabre, Simon Dark, Mystery Society and Batman: Gotham County Line....
(King of the Dead, Night of the Living Dead: London, Kill Me Slowly, Scab, and Uptown Zombies).
FantaCo/Tundra
From 1991-1994, the company co-published a number of Kevin EastmanKevin Eastman
Kevin Brooks Eastman is an American comic book artist and writer, best known as the creator of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Eastman is also the current owner, editor and publisher of the magazine Heavy Metal.-Early life:Eastman was born on May 30, 1962 in Springvale, Maine...
projects with Eastman's company Tundra Press. Books under the FantaCo/Tundra imprint included Infectious, No Guts or Glory, and Zombie Wars. These projects petered out once Tundra folded in 1993.
Books and magazines
FantaCo published book and magazine in addition to comics; their first book being 1980's Mug Shots, a book of cartoons by John CaldwellJohn Caldwell (cartoonist)
John I. Caldwell is a nationally syndicated American gag cartoonist primarily known for his work in National Lampoon and Mad, where he is a member of "The Usual Gang of Idiots."...
. Later on, FantaCo published more trade books on the subjects of horror films; splatter films; exploitation films; an early guide to horror, science fiction, and fantasy films on videocassette; and even a straight-ahead horror novel. John McCarty
John McCarty
John A. McCarty was a Major League Baseball pitcher. He played for the Kansas City Cowboys of the American Association during the 1889 season. He played minor league ball between 1887 and 1891.-Sources:...
authored three books published by FantaCo, and Chas Balun
Chas Balun
Charlie 'Chas' Balun was an American film critic and writer for several horror magazines. He contributed to Fangoria and to Gorezone...
wrote four.
In a similar horror vein, they put out the FantaCo Horror Yearbook and Price Guide every year from 1978 until 1996; magazines like Barbara Steele: An Angel for Satan, Demonique 4, and the Comics Enquirer; twelve issues of Dread: The Official Clive Barker
Clive Barker
Clive Barker is an English author, film director and visual artist best known for his work in both fantasy and horror fiction. Barker came to prominence in the mid-1980s with a series of short stories which established him as a leading young horror writer...
Newsletter in 1992–1993; and Clive Barker and Zombie War commemorative card sets.
The book Amazon Women: The Art of Tom Simonton, edited by Tim D'Allaird, was FantaCo's final publication, right on the eve of their closure in 1998.
FantaCon
Publisher Skulan also hosted FantaCon, a popular Albany-area horror convention and comic book convention that was preferred by many to the "over-crowded FangoriaFangoria
Fangoria is an American magazine devoted to horror and exploitation films, which has a number of associated brands:* Fangoria Comics* Fangoria Films* Fangoria RadioFangoria may also refer to:* Fangoria , a Spanish electro pop band...
events." FantaCon lasted from 1979 to 1990.
Decline and closure
With the mid-90s bursting of the speculation bubble, combined with the decline in demand for horror comics, FantaCo started losing money. From about 1995, their titles shifted to the good girl artGood girl art
Good girl art is found in drawings or paintings which feature a strong emphasis on attractive women no matter what the subject or situation. GGA was most commonly featured in comic books, pulp magazines and crime fiction...
of Tom Simonton's Amazon Woman comics, and titillating titles like Babes & Biomechanics, Lady Dracula, and Dead Chicks in Lace: Bloodletting Lingerie Special. As a publisher, their last couple of years were exclusively limited to Simonton projects, and in 1998 FantaCo — publisher and retailer — closed its doors for good.
Comic book titles (chronologically)
1980
- The Hembeck Series (1980–1983)
- #1 — Hembeck: The Best of Dateline: @!!?# (1980)
- #2 — Hembeck 1980 (1980)
- #3 — Abbott and Costello Meet the Bride of Hembeck (1980)
- #4 — Bah, Hembeck! (1980)
- #5 — The Hembeck File (1981)
- #6 — Jimmy Olsen's Pal, Fred Hembeck (1981)
- #7 — Dial H for Hembeck (1983)
- Smilin' Ed Comics (1980–1983)
1981
- Alien EncountersAlien EncountersAlien Encounters is a science fiction anthology comic book published by FantaCo Enterprises and then Eclipse Comics. The comic debuted with FantaCo in 1981, and in 1985 was revived by Eclipse, where it ran for fourteen issues until 1987.Eclipse began publishing the title soon after the...
- FantaCo's Chronicles Series (1981–1983)
- #1 — The X-Men Chronicles (Dec. 1981)
- #2 — The Fantastic Four Chronicles (Feb. 1982)
- #3 — The Daredevil Chronicles (Apr. 1982)
- #4 — The Avengers Chronicles (June 1982)
- #5 — The Spider-Man Chronicles (Aug. 1982)
- Chronicles Annual (1983)
1991
- Night of the Living Dead (1991–1992); collected in Night of the Living Dead (1991) ISBN 978-0938782209, Night of the Living Dead/Two (1992) ISBN 978-0938782209, and Night of the Living Dead/Three (1992) ISBN 978-0938782223
- Night's Children
- Vault of Screaming Horror
1992
- Danger Brain
- Night's Children: Vampyr
- Scab
- Shriek Special
- Tales of Screaming Horror
- Uptown Zombies
1993
- Blood & Kisses (1993–1994)
- Girl Squad X
- Kill Me Slowly
- Night of the Living Dead: London
- Official Comics Enquirer Swimsuit Price Guide Annual
1994
- Air Warriors
- Amazon Woman (1994–1996, including some Specials)
- Attack of the Amazon Girls
- Blood Gothic
- King of the Dead
- Night of the Living Dead: Zombie Genesis
- Sand Demon
- Weird West
1995
- Amazon Tales
- Babes & Biomechanics
- Bloodletting (1995–1996)
- Heatseaker
- Lady Dracula
1997
- Amazing Colossal Amazon Woman
- Amazon Woman Beach Party
- Amazon Woman Christmas Special
1998
- Amazon Woman: Jungle Album trade paperback ISBN 978-0938782438
- Clash of the Amazing Colossal Women
Fantaco/Tundra publications
- No Guts or Glory (1991)
- Zombie War (1992)
- Zombie War: Earth Must Be Destroyed! (1993–1994)
- Infectious (1994)
Books published
- Mug Shots: A Splendid Collection of Cartoons, by John Caldwell (1980)
- Splatter Movies: Breaking the Last Taboo: a Critical Survey of the Wildly Demented Sub-Genre of the Horror Film That is Changing the Face of Film Realism Forever, by John McCarty (1981) ISBN 978-0938782018
- Video Screams: The Official Source Book to Horror, Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Related Films on Videocassette and Disk, by John McCarty (1982) ISBN 0-938782-02-9
- The Amazing Herschell Gordon LewisHerschell Gordon LewisHerschell Gordon Lewis is an American filmmaker, best known for creating the "splatter film" subgenre of horror...
and His World of Exploitation Films, by Daniel Krogh with John McCarty (1983) ISBN 978-0938782032 - Horror Holocaust, by Chas Balun (1986) ISBN 978-0938782056
- The Gore Score, by Chas Balun (1987) ISBN 978-0938782063
- Midnight Marquee #37, edited by Gary J. Svehla (1988) ISBN 093878210X
- Herschell Gordon Lewis' Blood Feast (1988) ISBN 0-938782-07-X
- The Deep Red Horror Handbook, by Chas Balun (1989) ISBN 978-0938782124
- Ninth and Hell Street, by Chas Balun (1990) ISBN 978-0938782131
- Famous Monsters Chronicles, edited by Dennis DanielDennis DanielDennis Daniel is an American media personality. He has been a public figure in radio, TV and film criticism for over 25 years. His regular voice and many character voices have been heard on thousands of radio and TV commercials nationwide.- Writing :...
(1992) ISBN 978-0938782186 - Connoisseur's Guide to Contemporary Horror Film: The Best of the Beasts and Blood (1993) ISBN 978-0938782278
- Freaks of the Heartland, by Steve NilesSteve NilesSteve Niles is an American comic book author and novelist, known for works such as 30 Days of Night, Criminal Macabre, Simon Dark, Mystery Society and Batman: Gotham County Line....
(1995) ISBN 0-938782-37-1 - Amazon Women: The Art of Tom Simonton, edited by Tim D'Allaird (1998) ISBN 0-938782-38-X
Cartoonists associated with FantaCo Enterprises
- Stephen R. BissetteStephen R. BissetteStephen R. Bissette is an American comics artist, editor, and publisher with a focus on the horror genre. He is best known for working with writer Alan Moore and inker John Totleben on the DC comic Swamp Thing in the 1980s....
- Greg CapulloGreg CapulloGregory “Greg” Capullo is an American comic book artist and penciller, best known for his work on Quasar , X-Force , Angela and Spawn ....
- Chynna ClugstonChynna ClugstonChynna Clugston is an American comic book creator known for her manga-influenced teen comedy series Blue Monday.-Early life:Clugston grew up in Fresno, California and attended the Roosevelt School of the Arts...
- Bruce Spaulding Fuller
- Fred HembeckFred HembeckFred Hembeck is an American cartoonist best known for his parodies of characters from major American comic book publishers. His work has frequently been published by the firms whose characters he spoofs. His characters are always drawn with curlicues at the elbows and knees...
- Wendy Lang-Snow
- Steve NilesSteve NilesSteve Niles is an American comic book author and novelist, known for works such as 30 Days of Night, Criminal Macabre, Simon Dark, Mystery Society and Batman: Gotham County Line....
- Tom Simonton
- Gurchain Singh
- Raoul Vezina