Antarctic Press

Antarctic Press is a San Antonio-based comic book publishing company which publishes "Amerimanga" style comic books. The company also produces "how-to" and "you can" comics, instructing on areas of comic book creation and craft.

Beginning in 1985, Antarctic Press has published over 850 titles with a total circulation of over 5 million. Befitting the company name, Antarctic's self-proclaimed mission is to "publish the ''coolest'' creator-owned comics on Earth"."About Us"
Antarctic Press official website. Accessed November 24, 2019. Co-founder Ben Dunn's brother Joe Dunn is the company's publisher.

Many now-established creators started their careers at Antarctic (with most continuing to publish with them), including Chris Bunting, Ben Dunn, Eisner-nominated Rod Espinosa, and Joseph Wight. Cartoonist Alex Robinson serialized his first book, ''Box Office Poison'', with Antarctic in the 1990s.

History

Antarctic Press was founded by Ben Dunn and Marc Ripley in late 1984 to publish the anthology ''Mangazine'', Klaw, Rick
"Comic Book Heroes: San Antonio Brothers Keep Antarctic Press Thriving Long Enough For One of Its Creations to Land a Netflix Show"
''San Antonio Current'' (February 28, 2019). one of North America's first publications of original English-language manga. Local San Antonio creators Fred Perry, Joseph Wight, and Rod Espinosa were early contributors to ''Mangazine''; later all of them had their own Antarctic Press titles. ''Mangazine'' eventually ran for 120 issues in three volumes over a 20-year period.

Another early title was ''Extremely Silly Comics''.

The company's first hit was Dunn's Amerimanga ''Ninja High School'', which debuted as a limited series with Antarctic in 1987. Originally intended as a miniseries, the comic hit such a boom of popularity that it became a full series, currently totaling over 160 issues (as well as two miniseries, ''Ninja High School V2'' and ''Quagmire USA'', and the color limited series ''The Prom Formula'').

Co-founder Ripley left the company in 1989 and Dunn brought on his brother Joeming ("Joe") Dunn to help manage the business.

Fred Perry's ''Gold Digger'', which debuted in limited series form in 1992, is still being published by Antarctic Press.

In the 1990s, the company also published furry comics and erotic comics — from 1994 to 1998 the company operated an erotic imprint, Venus Comics.

In late 1996, however, looking to cut costs and focus more on more mainstream properties, Antarctic discontinued publishing all translated manga, anthropomorphic, and adults-only titles. As a result, two Antarctic Press employees, Elin Winkler-Suarez and Pat Duke, left the company to form Radio Comix. ''Furrlough'' and ''Genus'', both long-running anthology titles, were taken over by Radio Comix.

Many of Antarctic's staple characters, from titles including ''Warrior Nun Areala'', ''Ninja High School'', ''Gold Digger'', ''The Courageous Princess'', and ''Dragons Arms'', came together in the 2005 ''How to Break into Comics'', which also featured their creators in the narrative.

In April 2006, the popular title ''Warrior Nun Areala'' was re-launched as ''Warrior Nun Lazarus'' and began to include computer coloring.

In 2007, David Hutchison's ''Final Girl'' limited series gave readers the choice as to which characters lived and which ones died.

In August 2016, the company began publication of ''Rochelle'', from creator and writer John E. Crowther and artist Dell Barras.

In 2018 Antarctic more than doubled its monthly publishing schedule to 15 titles. It also branched into distribution, taking on the comics of the all-ages San Antonio small-press publisher Guardian Knight Comics.

In the spring of 2018 Antarctic announced to publish controversial creator Richard C. Meyer's ''Jawbreakers: Lost Souls'' (crowdfunded on Indiegogo) in. After a backlash and threat of a retailer boycott, however, on May 11, Antarctic decided not to publish the title. Meyer filed a civil suit against fellow creator Mark Waid for "tortious interference with contract, defamation, and exemplary damages" for working to keep his book from being published by Antarctic; on December 23, 2020, the parties released a joint statement announcing that "Mr. Meyer has decided to voluntarily dismiss the lawsuit".

Titles (selected)

*'' Albedo Anthropomorphics'' — taken over from Thoughts & Images; later taken over by Shanda Fantasy Arts
*''American Woman''
*''Bad Kids Go to Hell''
*''Battle Girlz''
*''Box Office Poison'' (21 issues plus a special, October 1996 – October 2000)
*'' Chesty Sanchez''
*'' The Courageous Princess''
*''Diesel''
*'' Dinowars''
*''Dragon Arms''
* ''Extremely Silly Comics''
* ''Families of Altered Wars'' (includes ''Luftwaffe 1946'')
* ''Fantastic Panic''
*'' Far West''
*''Final Girl''
*'' Furrlough'' — taken over by Radio Comix
*''Gold Digger'' — written and drawn by Fred Perry
*'' Hepcats'' (reprints plus one issue of original material)
*''A History of Webcomics''
*''AP's How to Draw Manga''
*''King of Zombies'', written and drawn by Joseph Wight
* ''Land of Oz: the Manga''
*''The Last Zombie''
*''Luftwaffe 1946''
*''Mangazine'' vol. 1 (5 issues, Aug. 1985–Dec. 1986)
* ''Mangazine'' vol. 2 (44 issues, Jan. 1989–May 1996)
* ''Mangazine'' vol. 3 (71 issues, July 1999–Nov. 2005)
*''MetaDocs'' written by Joeming Dunn, MD, and illustrated by Rod Espinosa
*''Mighty Tiny''
*''Nazi Zombies''
*'' Neotopia''
*''Ninja High School''
* ''Oz: the Manga''
*''Pirates versus Ninjas''
*''President Evil'', a zombie parody comic featuring Barack Obama
*''The Prince of Heroes''
*''PolyCombats'' (2020)
*''Pose File''
*''Punchline''
*''Robotech''
*''Rochelle''
*''Sarah Palin vs. the World'', a parody of ''Scott Pilgrim''
*''The Science Fair''
*''Sentai''
*''Shanda The Panda''
*''Shōjo''
*''Steampunk Palin'', a sci-fi satire featuring Sarah Palin
*''Stellar Losers''
*''Strangers in Paradise'' by Terry Moore — 3 issues (1993–1994); debuted with Antarctic before becoming self-published
*''Strong Box the Big, Bad Book of Boon'' by H. Thomas Altman
*''Tank Vixens''
*'' Twilight X'' by Joseph Wight
*'' Twilight X Storm''
*''Wall Might'', a Donald Trump-themed parody of ''My Hero Academia''
*''Warrior Nun Areala''
*''Weapons File''
*''Wild Life'', a humorous slice-of-life anthology edited by Elin Winkler-Suarez which ran February 1993-April 1995 for twelve issues. It included Joe Rosales' ''Wildlifers'' and John Nunnemacher's ''Buffalo Wings''.
*''Winds of Winter''
*''Zetraman: Revival''

Venus Comics titles (selected)

* ''The Barr Girls'' (1996) — by Donna Barr
* ''Battle Binder Plus'' (1995)
* ''Big Boob Bondage'' (1997)
* ''Bondage Fairies'' (1994)
* ''Cheeta Pop Scream Queen'' (1994)
* ''Deviant'' (1999) — by Robin Bougie
* ''Emblem'' (1994) — by Kei Taniguchi
* ''Genus'' (1994–1997) — long-running anthology; taken over by Radio Comix
* ''Melty Feeling'' (1996) — by Komashi Mamiya
* ''No-No UFO'' (1996)
* ''Nosferatu: The Death Mass'' (1997–1998) — by Holden Morris
* ''Vanity Angel'' (1994)

Creators associated with Antarctic Press

* H. Thomas Altman
* Dell Barras
* Robby Bevard
* John E. Crowther
* Brian Denham
* Lee Duhig
* Ben Dunn
* Rod Espinosa
* Danny Fahs
* Ganbear
* Wes Hartman
* Ben Hunzeker
* David Hutchison
* Michel Lacombe
* Richard Moore
* Terry Moore
* Ted Nomura
* Fred Perry
* Gianluca Piredda
* Alex Robinson
* Jochen Weltjens
* Joseph Wight
* Elin Winkler-Suarez

Notes

References

*
*
Antarctic Press
at the Big Comic Book DataBase

External links

*
A ''Tank Vixens'' history

{{Authority control
Companies based in San Antonio
Comic book publishing companies of the United States
Publishing companies established in 1984
Original English-language manga