science-fiction
Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel univers ...
comic magazine Comic magazine may refer to:
* Comics anthology
* ''Comic Magazine'', a 1986 Japanese film
* Comic Magazines, the parent company of Quality Comics
* Franco-Belgian comics magazines
* Japanese manga magazines
* A periodical containing comic strips, ...
published in New York City by
Warren Publishing
Warren Publishing was an American magazine company founded by James Warren (publisher), James Warren, who published his first magazines in 1957 and continued in the business for decades. Magazines published by Warren include ''After Hours (magazin ...
from
1978
Events January
* January 1 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes off the coast of Bombay, killing 213.
* January 5 – Bülent Ecevit, of Republican People's Party, CHP, forms the new government of Turkey (42nd go ...
to
1983
The year 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call.
Events January
* January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to Internet protocol suite, TCP/IP is officially completed (this is consid ...
1980
Events January
* January 4 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter proclaims a grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission.
* January 6 – Global Positioning System time epoch begins at 00:00 UTC.
* January 9 – ...
based on a request by the estate of
George Orwell
Eric Arthur Blair (25 June 1903 – 21 January 1950), better known by his pen name George Orwell, was an English novelist, essayist, journalist, and critic. His work is characterised by lucid prose, social criticism, opposition to totalitar ...
. The magazine ceased publication with issue #29 in February, 1983 due to the bankruptcy of Warren Publishing.
Contributors
Artists who contributed stories to ''1984''/''1994'' included Alex Niño,
Richard Corben
Richard Corben (October 1, 1940December 2, 2020) was an American illustrator and comic book artist best known for his comics featured in '' Heavy Metal'' magazine, especially the ''Den'' series which was featured in the magazine's first film ad ...
Frank Thorne
Benjamin Franklin Thorne (June 16, 1930 – March 7, 2021 at the Esteban Maroto
Esteban Maroto (born 1942) is a Spanish Comics, comic book artist.
Career
Born in Madrid, he began his career in the 1960s with series like ''Cinco por infinito'', published in English by Continuity Comics as ''Zero Patrol'' (heavily retouche ...
,
Rudy Nebres
Rodolfo D. Nebres (born January 14, 1937) is a Filipino comics artist who has worked mostly as an inker in the American comic book industry. Known for his lush, detailed inklines, Nebres' most prolific period was in the late 1970s and the 1980s. ...
,
Jimmy Janes
Jimmy Janes (July 17, 1947–September 1, 2020) was an American comics artist and storyboard artist best known for his work on DC Comics' '' Legion of Super-Heroes'' series.
Early life
Jimmy Janes was born July 17, 1947 on Staten Island, New ...
, Abel Laxamana,
Wally Wood
Wallace Allan Wood (June 17, 1927 – November 2, 1981) was an American comic book writer, artist and independent publisher, widely known for his work on EC Comics's titles such as ''Weird Science (comic), Weird Science'', ''Weird Fantasy'', an ...
,
Luis Bermejo
Luis Bermejo Rojo (12 August 1931 – 12 December 2015) was a Spanish illustrator and comics artist known for his work published in Spain, Italy, Great Britain, and the United States. He has illustrated a number of novels, and worked for a while ...
,
Alfredo Alcala
Alfredo P. Alcala (August 23, 1925 – April 4, 2000) was a Filipino comics artist, born in Talisay, Negros Occidental in the Philippines. Alcala was an established illustrator whose works appeared in the ''Alcala Komix Magazine''. His 1963 cre ...
, and Vic Catan. Cover artists included Nino, Corben, Patrick Woodroffe, Jim Laurier,
Sanjulián
Manuel Pérez Clemente (better known as Sanjulián; born 24 June 1941) is a Spanish painter, most notable for his magazine and novel covers. He was born in Barcelona, and studied at Belles Arts of Sant Jordi.
Sanjulián began working for Selecc ...
, Jordi Penalva,
H.R. Giger
Hans Ruedi Giger ( ; ; 5 February 1940 – 12 May 2014) was a Swiss artist best known for his airbrushed images that blended human physiques with machines, an art style known as " biomechanical". Giger later abandoned airbrush for pastels, mark ...
, Steve Fastner, Rich Larsen, Lloyd Garrison, Terry Oates and John Berkey. Writers included Dubay, Thorne, Jim Stenstrum, Jan Strnad, Rich Margopoulos, Kevin Duane, Nicola Cuti and Gerry Boudreau.
Recurring characters and series
Similar to its sister publications ''
Eerie
''Eerie'' was an American magazine of horror comics introduced in 1966 by Warren Publishing. Like '' Mad'', it was a black-and-white magazine intended for newsstand distribution and did not submit its stories to the comic book industry's voluntar ...
'' and ''
Vampirella
Vampirella () is a fictional vampire superheroine created by Forrest J Ackerman and comic book artist Trina Robbins in Warren Publishing's black-and-white horror comics magazine ''Vampirella'' #1 (Sept. 1969), a sister publication of ''Creepy'' ...
'', ''1984'' featured numerous recurring series and characters. This included the following:
*Mutant World (Artist: Richard Corben; Writer; Jan Strnad)
*Ghita of Alizarr (Drawn and written by Frank Thorne)
*Idi Amin (Artist: Esteban Maroto; Writer: Bill Dubay)
*Rex Havoc (Artist: Abel Laxamana; Writer: Jim Stenstrum)
*The Starfire Saga (Artist: Rudy Nebres; Writer: Bill Dubay)
*Young Sigmond Pavlov (Artist: Alex Niño; Writer: Bill Dubay)
Controversies
One of the most notable incidents that occurred regarding the magazine was an unauthorized adaptation of
Harlan Ellison
Harlan Jay Ellison (May 27, 1934 – June 28, 2018) was an American writer, known for his prolific and influential work in New Wave speculative fiction and for his outspoken, combative personality. Robert Bloch, the author of '' Psycho'' ...
's short story, "A Boy and His Dog", which has been rumored as one of the major factors in the bankruptcy of Warren Publishing. As discussed in the book ''The Warren Companion'', editor Bill Dubay approached writers Gerry Boudreau and Jim Stenstrum about adapting science fiction stories for the magazine. Boudreau asked permission to adapt Ellison's story, and Dubay approved this, without first asking Ellison. When Ellison refused to grant permission, Dubay had artist Alex Niño draw the story anyway, then provided the art to Stenstrum to use as the basis for a new story. The story was published in issue #4, under the title "Mondo Megillah". Despite Stenstrum's reworking of the script, the basic story was still obvious plagiarism and Ellison filed a lawsuit, which he eventually won.
Advertised as an adult fantasy magazine, ''1984'' contained very mature subject matter by the standards of the time. To compete with rivals such as ''Heavy Metal'' it contained many stories featuring sex and other controversial subjects. As discussed by comics historian Richard Arndt, editor DuBay edited stories within the magazine to focus more on this subject matter, such as this incident that occurred with artist
Wally Wood
Wallace Allan Wood (June 17, 1927 – November 2, 1981) was an American comic book writer, artist and independent publisher, widely known for his work on EC Comics's titles such as ''Weird Science (comic), Weird Science'', ''Weird Fantasy'', an ...
regarding stories that appeared in the first two issues of the magazine:
DuBay's treatment of Corben and Strnad's ''Mutant World'' also alienated the creators. Throughout, DuBay altered Strnad's dialogue to include words and phrases that Strnad has called "a spew of juvenile obscenities." The artwork, also, was altered as one page was arbitrarily flipped right-to-left, with the lettering adjusted to accommodate the change. When approached by Warren to publish an album of the collected episodes, Corben and Strnad politely declined. eference: ''Mutant World'' 2019 edition, forthcoming
Controversial stories included issue #3's satirical story "The Harvest" which featured a future where white people hunted black people for sport and ate them, and issue #13's science fiction story "The Crop" where babies are sliced up and processed through factories to provide food for the starving populace. Both stories were written by DuBay.
Despite its controversies, the magazine has been praised for the high quality of its art. The serials ''Young Sigmond Pavlov'' and ''Ghita of Alizarr'' were both singled out as high quality stories by David A. Roach in ''The Warren Companion''.