''Penthouse Comix'' was an American mass-market, magazine-sized
comic book
A comic book, also called comicbook, comic magazine or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) simply comic, is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are of ...
, published by
Penthouse International/General Media Communications[ Grand Comics Database: ''Penthouse Comix'']
/ref> from spring 1994 through July 1998. Founded and initially edited by George Caragonne
George Caragonne (September 16, 1965 – July 20, 1995) was an American comic book writer and editor, most notable for being co-founder of ''Penthouse Comix'' magazine. He died by suicide on July 20, 1995, by jumping off the 45th floor of the inte ...
and Horatio Weisfeld
Horatio (Ray) Weisfeld is a writer/editor/publisher who co-founded mass-market comics magazines and developed other media properties. His creation of often irreverent commercial entertainment follows in the footsteps of his father, Irwin Weisfe ...
, it ran 32 issues plus one special edition. Foreign versions of ''Penthouse Comix'' were still published as of 2011.
Publication history
''Penthouse Comix'' began as a series of short segments in Penthouse Magazine
''Penthouse'' is a men's magazine founded by Bob Guccione. It combines urban lifestyle articles and softcore pornographic pictures of women that, in the 1990s, evolved into hardcore pornographic pictures of women.
Although Guccione was Americ ...
. After 3 of these sections were printed (featuring artwork by Adam Hughes, Kevin Nowlan and Garry Leach), publisher Bob Guccione
Robert Charles Joseph Edward Sabatini Guccione ( ; December 17, 1930 – October 20, 2010) was an American photographer and publisher. He founded the adult magazine ''Penthouse'' in 1965. This was aimed at competing with Hugh Hefner's ''Playboy'', ...
dictated that Penthouse Comix become its own stand-alone magazine, something which he envisioned competing in both US and European magazine markets. Guccione agreed to a budget that was designed to cherry pick art talent from both American comic book companies and non-US publishers and this resulted in ''Penthouse Comix'' offering a per-page rate among the highest ever paid to freelance comic book artists.
The first issue of the stand-alone Penthouse Comix was a 96-page, color, glossy magazine with cover price of $4.95 US. It appeared in spring 1994 and featured work by Adam Hughes
Adam Hughes (born May 5, 1967) is an American comics artist and illustrator best known to American comic book readers for his renderings of pinup-style female characters, and his cover work on titles such as ''Wonder Woman'' and ''Catwoman''. H ...
, Mark Beachum, Garry Leach
Garry Leach (19 September 1954 – 26 March 2022) was a British comics artist and publisher.
Biography
Garry Leach's early work for ''2000 AD'' included mainly one-off stories featuring '' Dan Dare'' and '' M.A.C.H. 1''.[Kevin Nowlan
Kevin Nowlan (born 1958) is an American comics artist who works as a penciler, inker, colorist, and letterer. He has been called "one of the few artists who can be called 'artists's artist'", a master of the various disciplines of comic producti ...]
, Mike Harris
Michael Deane Harris (born January 23, 1945) is a Canadian retired politician who served as the 22nd premier of Ontario from 1995 to 2002 and leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario (PC Party) from 1990 to 2002. During his time ...
, Arthur Suydam
Arthur Suydam (born May 18, 1953) is an American comic book artist known for his work on Marvel Zombies, Deadpool, Black Panther, and KISS Zombies. He has done artwork for magazines including '' Heavy Metal'', '' Epic Illustrated'' and '' Nationa ...
, Jordan Raskin
Jordan ( ar, الأردن; Romanization of Arabic, tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; Romanization of Arabic, tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levan ...
, Horacio Altuna
Horacio Altuna (born November 24, 1941) is an Argentine comics artist.
Biography
Altuna was born in Córdoba. He began working in the comics world in 1965 for the publisher Editorial Columbia. His first characters were Titan, a Superman-like s ...
, and Milo Manara
Maurilio Manara (; born 12 September 1945), known professionally as Milo Manara, is an Italian comic book writer and artist.
Career
After architecture and painting studies, he made his comics debut in 1969 drawing for ''Genius'', a Fumetti neri s ...
. Subsequent issues contained work by artists such as Roberto Baldazzini
Roberto Baldazzini (born August 18, 1958) is an Italian illustrator and comics artist who specializes in writing and illustrating black and white and full-color erotic comic books.
He received a formal education in commerce, after which he took ...
, 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 ...
, Tony Salmons
Thomas Anthony "Tony" Salmons (born January 1, 1957) is an American alternative comic book artist, film storyboard artist and character designer.
Biography
Born in Rolla, Missouri, Salmons grew up in Casa Grande, Arizona, with stops in New York ...
, Bart Sears
Bart Whitman Sears (born 1963) is an American comics artist, toy and packaging designer and author, known for his work on such books as ''Justice League Europe'', '' Legends of the Dark Knight'', ''X-O Manowar'', ''Turok'', '' Violator'', ''The He ...
and Gray Morrow
Dwight Graydon "Gray" Morrow (March 7, 1934 – November 6, 2001).e., the Gilberton Company, publisher of the ''Classics Illustrated'' comic-book series of literary adaptations], and I was given a script. One thing led to another and I was soo ...
. The magazine's early issues avoided hardcore sex in favor of "soft-core erotica" and satire, satiric humor that poked fun at various popular genres and popular culture.
Sold on newsstands, the periodical debuted in a squarebound magazine format 10¾" x 8¼" (27.5 cm x 20.7 cm). With issue #11, the size was reduced to 10½" x 8" (26.7 cm x 20.4 cm). From issue #26 to the end of its run, ''Penthouse Comix'' was published at standard modern comic-book size, with saddle-stitching, card-stock covers, and glossy interior pages. Issues #6-7 were published in both a magazine-size newsstand edition and a comic-book sized direct-market edition for sale in comic-book stores.
Two additional titles were later added to the line: The seven-issue ''Men's Adventure Comix'' (cover-titled ''Penthouse Men's Adventure Comix'') (April/May 1995 - April/May 1996), and the three-issue (March/April 1995 - Oct./Nov. 1995) ''Omni Comix'', the latter a companion to the science magazine '' Omni''.
Disintegration
After the magazine's successful start, editor-in-chief George Caragonne
George Caragonne (September 16, 1965 – July 20, 1995) was an American comic book writer and editor, most notable for being co-founder of ''Penthouse Comix'' magazine. He died by suicide on July 20, 1995, by jumping off the 45th floor of the inte ...
, who was developing a history of erratic behavior,[Evanier, Mark]
"George"
. ''POV Online: News from Me'' (July 20, 2005). purged managing editor Horatio Weisfeld
Horatio (Ray) Weisfeld is a writer/editor/publisher who co-founded mass-market comics magazines and developed other media properties. His creation of often irreverent commercial entertainment follows in the footsteps of his father, Irwin Weisfe ...
during the production of ''Penthouse Comix'' #4. After Weisfeld's departure, some top-line artists began abandoning assignments, to be replaced by lesser talents, while overall quality and sales declined.
In 1995, Caragonne was accused of embezzlement by Penthouse
Penthouse most often refers to:
*Penthouse apartment, a special apartment on the top floor of a building
*Penthouse (magazine), ''Penthouse'' (magazine), a British-founded men's magazine
*Mechanical penthouse, a floor, typically located directly u ...
, was fired, and later committed suicide.
General Media then seized control of its comics-related publishing from the deceased Caragonne's packaging company, and installed Dave Elliott as editor. The ''Penthouse Comix'' line was then whittled to only the original magazine and Elliott edited the remainder of the magazine's run, largely printing sub-par material which had been contracted by Caragonne. General Media went bankrupt a few years later.
Censorship
In June 1994, Canadian authorities warned that they would prohibit distribution of ''Penthouse Comics'' issue #2 (July/August 1994) because of
"six panels of comics dealing with the subjugation of women and other sexual themes."
Some European countries also altered a story that featured Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...
(under laws which prohibited depiction of the Nazi leader). Editor Carragonne then went out of his way to inflame the issue by prominently featuring a swastika
The swastika (卐 or 卍) is an ancient religious and cultural symbol, predominantly in various Eurasian, as well as some African and American cultures, now also widely recognized for its appropriation by the Nazi Party and by neo-Nazis. It ...
on the cover of ''Penthouse Comix'' #3. Although the cover had clearly been modeled on 1960s men's pulp magazine
Pulp magazines (also referred to as "the pulps") were inexpensive fiction magazines that were published from 1896 to the late 1950s. The term "pulp" derives from the cheap wood pulp paper on which the magazines were printed. In contrast, magazine ...
covers (which routinely featured Nazi
Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...
villains), for foreign markets the swastika was altered to become an "X," and depictions of Hitler's head and swastika ring (in one story written by Caragonne) were replaced with a smiley face
A smiley, sometimes referred to as a smiley face, is a basic ideogram that represents a smiling face. Since the 1950s it has become part of popular culture worldwide, used either as a standalone ideogram, or as a form of communication, such a ...
.
Merchandising
In 1996, RC Cards issued a boxed set of ''Penthouse Comix'' trading card
A trading card (or collectible card) is a small card, usually made out of paperboard or thick paper, which usually contains an image of a certain person, place or thing (fictional or real) and a short description of the picture, along with other ...
s. The 27 standard cards were accompanied by a chase card
A trading card (or collectible card) is a small card, usually made out of paperboard or thick paper, which usually contains an image of a certain person, place or thing (fictional or real) and a short description of the picture, along with other ...
of Penthouse Pet
This is a list of the models who have appeared in the American edition of ''Penthouse'' magazine and were either named Pet of the Month or Pet of the Year from September 1969 to the present. Pet of the Year names are in bold type and are typica ...
Emerald Heart; a 1,000-limited-edition Alphonso Azpiri
Alphons (Latinized ''Alphonsus'', ''Adelphonsus'', or ''Adefonsus'') is a male given name recorded from the 8th century (Alfonso I of Asturias, r. 739–757) in the Christian successor states of the Visigothic kingdom in the Iberian peninsula. ...
autograph card; and an Adam Hughes
Adam Hughes (born May 5, 1967) is an American comics artist and illustrator best known to American comic book readers for his renderings of pinup-style female characters, and his cover work on titles such as ''Wonder Woman'' and ''Catwoman''. H ...
Hericane promotional card. The set included art by Hughes, Julie Bell
Julie Bell (born October 21, 1958) is an American fine artist, illustrator, photographer, bodybuilder and wildlife painter. Bell is also a fantasy artist and a representative of the heroic fantasy and fantastic realism genres. Bell has won Ches ...
, Ernie Colón
Ernesto Colón SierraColón in English translation of Via (July 13, 1931 – August 8, 2019) was a stateside Puerto Rican comics artist, known for his wide-ranging career illustrating children's, superhero, and horror comics, as well as mains ...
, Glenn Fabry
Glenn Fabry (; born 24 March 1961) is a British comics artist known for his detailed, realistic work in both ink and painted colour.
Career
Glenn Fabry's career began in 1985, drawing ''Sláine (comics), Slaine'' for ''2000 AD (comics), 2000 AD ...
, Frank Frazetta
Frank Frazetta (born Frank Frazzetta ; February 9, 1928 – May 10, 2010) was an American fantasy and science fiction artist, noted for comic books, paperback book covers, paintings, posters, LP record album covers, and other media. He is ...
, Mark Texeira
Mark Texeira () is an American comic book artist. Classically trained as a painter, he broke into the comics field in the early 1980s.
Career
Mark Texeira was born and raised in New York City. He attended Manhattan's High School of Art and ...
, Boris Vallejo
Boris Vallejo (born January 8, 1941) is a Peruvian-American painter who works in the science fiction, fantasy, and erotica genres. His hyper-representational paintings have appeared on the covers of numerous science fiction and fantasy fiction ...
, and others.
Foreign editions
Foreign versions of ''Penthouse Comix'' initially reprinted the material from the American magazine, but later began contracting for new material by top non-American creators, such as Jordi Bernet
Jordi Bernet Cussó (born 14 June 1944) is a Spanish comics artist, best known for the gangster comics series ''Torpedo'' and for American weird western comic book ''Jonah Hex''.
Career
He was born in Barcelona, the son of a Spanish comic book a ...
and Enrique Sánchez Abulí
Enrique Sánchez Abulí (born 20 February 1945) is a Spanish comics comic book creator, author, well known for his participation in the Spanish comics industry. His most famous work is the darkly comical gangster comics saga ''Torpedo (comics), T ...
. Foreign editions of ''Penthouse Comix'' continued publishing long after the American version ceased. Overseas editions of ''Penthouse Comix'' have been published in England, France, Greece. Italy, Germany, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Australia, South Africa, and Mexico. The Spanish edition of ''Penthouse Comix'' celebrated its 108th issue in 2011.
Notes
External links
*
*{{comicbookdb, type=title, id=7768, title=''Penthouse Comix''
"A return for ''Penthouse Comix''?,"
''Bleeding Cool'' (Aug. 15, 2014)
Erotic comics
Comics magazines published in the United States
Penthouse (magazine)
1994 comics debuts
1998 comics endings