Dean Mullaney (born June 18, 1954) is an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

editor, publisher, and designer whose Eclipse Enterprises, founded in 1977, was one of the earliest independent comic-book companies. Eclipse published some of the first

graphic novels A graphic novel is a long-form, fictional work of sequential art. The term ''graphic novel'' is often applied broadly, including fiction, non-fiction, and anthologized work, though this practice is highly contested by comic scholars and industry ...

and was one of the first comics publishers to champion creators' rights. In the 2000s, he established the imprint

The Library of American Comics Library of American Comics (abbreviated as LoAC) is an American publisher of classic American comic strips collections and comic history books, founded by Dean Mullaney and Bruce Canwell in 2007. History Background Dean Mullaney, the founder ...

of IDW Publishing to publish hardcover collections of comic strips. Mullaney and his work have received seven Eisner Awards.

Biography

Dean Mullaney and his brother, rock musician Jan Mullaney, are the sons of early electronica musician Dave Mullaney of the band

Hot Butter Hot Butter were an American instrumental band fronted by the keyboard player and studio musician Stan Free. The other band members were John Abbott, Bill Jerome, Steve Jerome, and Danny Jordan and Dave Mullaney. They were best known for their 19 ...

. Gulacy, Paul (2008). Untitled, unnumbered introduction page, '' Sabre: 30th Anniversary Edition'' (Dallas, Georgia:

Desperado Publishing Desperado Publishing is an American independent comic book publisher, established in 2004. Located in Norcross, Georgia, Desperado's president is Joe Pruett, its creative director is Stephan Nilson, and its director of business development is forme ...

). . The brothers founded Eclipse Enterprises in Staten Island,

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

, New York, in 1977, and the following year published one of the first original

graphic novel A graphic novel is a long-form, fictional work of sequential art. The term ''graphic novel'' is often applied broadly, including fiction, non-fiction, and anthologized work, though this practice is highly contested by comic scholars and industry ...

s, '' Sabre: Slow Fade of an Endangered Species''. Written by

Don McGregor Donald Francis McGregor (born June 15, 1945) is an American comic book writer best known for his work for Marvel Comics; he is the author of one of the first graphic novels. Early life Don McGregor was born in Providence, Rhode Island, where he ...

and drawn by

Paul Gulacy Paul Gulacy (; born August 15, 1953) is an American comics artist best known for his work for DC Comics and Marvel Comics, and for drawing one of the first graphic novels, Eclipse Enterprises' 1978 '' Sabre: Slow Fade of an Endangered Species'', ...

, ''Sabre'' was additionally the first graphic novel sold through the new " direct market" of comic-book stores. Eclipse went on to publish the anthology magazine '' Eclipse'' and the color-comic anthology '' Eclipse Monthly'', the first of an Eclipse Comics line that eventually included such titles and creators as ''

The Rocketeer The Rocketeer is a fictional superhero appearing in American comic books originally published by Pacific Comics. Created by writer/artist Dave Stevens, the character first appeared in 1982 and is an homage to the Saturday matinee serial heroes ...

'' by

Dave Stevens Dave Lee Stevens (July 29, 1955 – March 11, 2008) was an American illustrator and comics artist. He was most famous for creating ''Rocketeer, The Rocketeer'' comic book and film character, and for his pin-up style "glamour art" illustrations, ...

; ''

Zot! ''Zot!'' is a comic book created by Scott McCloud in 1984 and published by Eclipse Comics until 1990 as a lighthearted alternative to the darker and more violent comics that dominated the industry during that period.Scott McCloud Scott McCloud (born Scott McLeod; June 10, 1960) is an American cartoonist and comics theorist. He is best known for his non-fiction books about comics: ''Understanding Comics'' (1993), '' Reinventing Comics'' (2000), and '' Making Comics'' (20 ...

; two '' Detectives Inc.'' graphic novels by McGregor and artists

Marshall Rogers William Marshall Rogers III (January 22, 1950 – March 24, 2007),William Marshall Rogers III

and

Gene Colan Eugene Jules Colan (; September 1, 1926 – June 23, 2011)Eugene Colan
at the

, respectively; the graphic novel ''

Stewart the Rat ''Stewart the Rat'' is a graphic novel written by Steve Gerber, penciled by Gene Colan, and inked by Tom Palmer. It was published in November 1980 by Eclipse Enterprises. ''Stewart the Rat'' was reprinted in January 2003 by About Comics Abo ...

'' by writer

Steve Gerber Stephen Ross Gerber (; September 20, 1947 – February 10, 2008) was an American comic book writer and creator of the satiric Marvel Comics character Howard the Duck. Other works include ''Man-Thing'', ''Omega the Unknown,'' ''Marvel Spotlight:' ...

and artists Colan and Tom Palmer; and the U.S. reprints of '' Miracleman'' by

Alan Moore Alan Moore (born 18 November 1953) is an English author known primarily for his work in comic books including ''Watchmen'', ''V for Vendetta'', ''The Ballad of Halo Jones'', ''Swamp Thing'', ''Batman:'' ''The Killing Joke'', and ''From Hell' ...

. Eclipse also brought out graphic novels featuring

opera Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a librett ...

adaptations, such as ''

The Magic Flute ''The Magic Flute'' (German: , ), K. 620, is an opera in two acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to a German libretto by Emanuel Schikaneder. The work is in the form of a ''Singspiel'', a popular form during the time it was written that inclu ...

'' by

P. Craig Russell Philip Craig Russell (born October 30, 1951) is an American comics artist, writer, and illustrator. His work has won multiple Harvey and Eisner Awards. Russell was the first mainstream comic book creator to come out as openly gay. Biography ...

, and children's literature such as ''

The Hobbit ''The Hobbit, or There and Back Again'' is a children's fantasy novel by English author J. R. R. Tolkien. It was published in 1937 to wide critical acclaim, being nominated for the Carnegie Medal and awarded a prize from the '' ...

'' by

J. R. R. Tolkien John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (, ; 3 January 1892 – 2 September 1973) was an English writer and philology, philologist. He was the author of the high fantasy works ''The Hobbit'' and ''The Lord of the Rings''. From 1925 to 1945, Tolkien was ...

. In 1980 Mullaney moonlighted as co-editor of the brand-new hobbyist publication ''

Comics Feature ''Comics Feature'' was an American magazine of news, criticism, and commentary pertaining to comic books, comic strips, and animation. Published by New Media Publishing, it produced 57 issues (and a number of specials) between 1980 and 1987. S ...

'', produced by Hal Schuster's

New Media Publishing New Media Distribution/Irjax Enterprises was a comic book distributor and publisher active from the mid-1970s to the mid-1980s. In 1978, the company's legal actions against the dominant distributor of the era, Sea Gate Distributors, widened the fi ...

, but left after one year to focus on Eclipse. In the early 1980s, Mullaney met writer-editor

Catherine Yronwode Catherine Anna Yronwode (née Manfredi; May 12, 1947) is an American writer, editor, graphic designer, typesetter, and publisher with an extensive career in the comic book industry. She is also a practitioner of folk magic. Early life Catherine A ...

, who was working for cartoonist and entrepreneur

Will Eisner William Erwin Eisner (March 6, 1917 – January 3, 2005) was an American cartoonist, writer, and entrepreneur. He was one of the earliest cartoonists to work in the American comic book industry, and his series ''The Spirit'' (1940–1952) was no ...

. Yronwode recalled that Eisner and his wife Ann "hosted a party for me with all these comic book men I was flirting with. All these men came up; they all wanted to meet Will. One of them was Dean Mullaney, the co-owner of Eclipse Comics, a small independent publishing house. He was the most flirtatious." At some point afterward, once Yronwode finished her work organizing Eisner's archives, she and Mullaney became engaged and moved to

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

, where they were married. By the late 1980s, Eclipse was selling a half-million comics a month, and was the third largest comics publisher after

Marvel Comics Marvel Comics is an American comic book publishing, publisher and the flagship property of Marvel Entertainment, a divsion of The Walt Disney Company since September 1, 2009. Evolving from Timely Comics in 1939, ''Magazine Management/Atlas Co ...

and

DC Comics DC Comics, Inc. (doing business as DC) is an American comic book publisher and the flagship unit of DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC Comics is one of the largest and oldest American comic book companies, with thei ...

. In 1986, Eclipse lost most of its back-issue stock in a flood. This event, along with the repercussions of Mullaney's divorce from Yronwode, by then his partner at Eclipse, and the mid-1990s collapse of the direct market distribution system, caused the company to cease operations in 1994 and file for bankruptcy in 1995. The company's

intellectual property Intellectual property (IP) is a category of property that includes intangible creations of the human intellect. There are many types of intellectual property, and some countries recognize more than others. The best-known types are patents, cop ...

rights were later acquired by

Todd McFarlane Todd McFarlane (; born March 16, 1961) is a Canadian comic book creator, artist, writer, filmmaker and entrepreneur, best known for his work as the artist on ''The Amazing Spider-Man'' and as the creator, writer, and artist on the superhero horro ...

. Mullaney also attributed the company's demise to a problematic contract with the book publisher

HarperCollins HarperCollins Publishers LLC is one of the Big Five English-language publishing companies, alongside Penguin Random House, Simon & Schuster, Hachette, and Macmillan. The company is headquartered in New York City and is a subsidiary of News Cor ...

. Eclipse's last publication was its Spring 1993 catalog, which was a complete bibliography of its publications. In the mid-2000s, Mullaney approached IDW Publishing with a proposal to publish hardcover reprints of American comic strips. This became the IDW imprint

, which debuted with the 2007 book ''The Complete

Terry and the Pirates ''Terry and the Pirates'' is an action-adventure comic strip created by cartoonist Milton Caniff, which originally ran from October 22, 1934, to February 25, 1973. Captain Joseph Patterson, editor for the Chicago Tribune New York News Syndicate, ...

, Vol. 1: 1934-1936'', by

Milton Caniff Milton Arthur Paul Caniff (; February 28, 1907 – April 3, 1988) was an People of the United States, American cartoonist famous for the ''Terry and the Pirates (comic strip), Terry and the Pirates'' and ''Steve Canyon'' comic strips. Biography ...

. As Mullaney described, "''Terry'''s always been my favorite strip, and I was going to publish it in the early '80s (through Eclipse Comics), but Terry Nantier at NBM beat me to it. Luckily, I've lived long enough so that 25 years later I'm in a position to release new editions of ''Terry''." With Mullaney as its creative director, the imprint has gone on to publish collections of strips including ''

Dick Tracy ''Dick Tracy'' is an American comic strip featuring Dick Tracy (originally Plainclothes Tracy), a tough and intelligent police detective created by Chester Gould. It made its debut on Sunday, October 4, 1931, in the ''Detroit Mirror'', and it ...

'', ''

Little Orphan Annie ''Little Orphan Annie'' is a daily American comic strip created by Harold Gray and syndicated by the Tribune Media Services. The strip took its name from the 1885 poem "Little Orphant Annie" by James Whitcomb Riley, and it made its debut on Aug ...

'', ''

Bringing Up Father ''Bringing Up Father'' is an American comic strip created by cartoonist George McManus. Distributed by King Features Syndicate, it ran for 87 years, from January 2, 1913, to May 28, 2000. The strip was later titled ''Jiggs and Maggie'' (or ''M ...

'', ''

Family Circus ''The Family Circus'' (originally ''The Family Circle'', also ''Family-Go-Round'') is a print syndication, syndicated comic strip created by cartoonist Bil Keane and, since Bil's death in 2011, is zombie strip, currently written, inked, and rend ...

'', and ''

Bloom County ''Bloom County'' is an American comic strip by Berkeley Breathed which originally ran from December 8, 1980, until August 6, 1989. It examined events in politics and culture through the viewpoint of a fanciful small town in Middle America, wh ...

''.The Library of American Comics
(official site). Mullaney listed as creative director at site's "About" page In 2014, Mullaney added another imprint at IDW, EuroComics, in order to publish new English translations of European comics, including Hugo Pratt’s ''Corto Maltese'', ''Paracuellos'' by Carlos Giménez, and ''Alack Sinner'' by Muñoz and Sampaya. In December, 2021 it was announced that LoAC and EuroComics would move from IDW to a new publisher, Clover Press.

Awards

As creative director and editor of

, Mullaney has won seven Eisner awards and one Harvey Award. Eisner source unless otherwise indicated: * 2008 Eisner Award: Best Archival Collection/Project - Comic Strips: ''Complete

'', vol. 1, by

(IDW) * 2010 Eisner Award: Best Archival Collection/Project - Comic Strips: ''

: The Complete Library'', vol. 1, by

Berkeley Breathed Guy Berkeley "Berke" Breathed (; born June 21, 1957) is an American cartoonist, children's book author, director, and screenwriter, known for his comic strips ''Bloom County'', '' Outland'', and ''Opus''. ''Bloom County'' earned Breathed the Pu ...

, edited by Scott Dunbier (IDW) * 2011 Eisner Award: Best Archival Collection/Project - Comic Strips: ''

Archie Archie is a masculine given name, a diminutive of Archibald. It may refer to: People Given name or nickname *Archie Alexander (1888–1958), African-American mathematician, engineer and governor of the US Virgin Islands * Archie Blake (mathematici ...

: The Complete Daily Newspaper Strips, 1946–1948'', by Bob Montana, edited by Greg Goldstein (IDW) * 2014 Eisner Award: Best Archival Collection/Project - Comic Strips: ''

Tarzan Tarzan (John Clayton II, Viscount Greystoke) is a fictional character, an archetypal feral child raised in the African jungle by the Mangani great apes; he later experiences civilization, only to reject it and return to the wild as a heroic adv ...

: The Complete

Russ Manning Russell George Manning (January 5, 1929"United States Social Security Death Index," index, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/VMMT-NZN : accessed 28 Aug 2014), Russell Manning, Dec 1981; citing U.S. Social Security Administration ...

Newspaper Strips'', vol. 1, edited by Dean Mullaney (LOAC/IDW) * 2014 Eisner Award: Best Comics-Related Book: ''Genius, Illustrated: The Life and Art of

Alex Toth Alexander Toth (June 25, 1928 – May 27, 2006) was an American cartoonist active from the 1940s through the 1980s. Toth's work began in the American comic book industry, but he is also known for his animation designs for Hanna-Barbera throughout ...

'', by Dean Mullaney and Bruce Canwell (LOAC/IDW) * 2014 Eisner Award: Best Publication Design: ''Genius, Illustrated: The Life and Art of Alex Toth'', designed by Dean Mullaney (LOAC/IDW) * 2015 Eisner Award: Best Comics-Related Book: ''Genius Animated: The Cartoon Art of Alex Toth'', vol. 3, by Dean Mullaney & Bruce Canwell (IDW/LOAC) Mullaney won a 2012

Harvey Award The Harvey Awards are given for achievement in comic books. Named for writer-artist Harvey Kurtzman, the Harvey Awards were founded by Gary Groth in 1988, president of the publisher Fantagraphics, to be the successor to the Kirby Awards that were ...

for Best Biographical, Historical or Journalistic Presentation for ''Genius, Illustrated: The Life and Art of Alex Toth''. Additionally, Mullaney received the

San Diego Comic-Con International San Diego Comic-Con International is a comic book convention and nonprofit multi-genre entertainment event held annually in San Diego, California since 1970. The name, as given on its website, is Comic-Con International: San Diego; but it is co ...

Inkpot Award The Inkpot Award is an honor bestowed annually since 1974 by Comic-Con International. It is given to professionals in the fields of comic books, comic strips, animation, science fiction, and related areas of popular culture, at CCI's annual c ...

in 2013. The following year, he was inducted into editor-publisher Robert Overstreet's Overstreet Hall of Fame.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mullaney, Dean Eclipse Comics 1954 births Living people