Since it was founded in 1984, Texas-based Antarctic Press has made a name for itself as a publisher of American Manga, or original English language (OEL) manga for the U. S. market. Despite layoffs and cutbacks by Tokyopop, the leading publisher of original manga in the U.S., and at Borders’s bookstore chain, one of the biggest retailers of manga in the country, Antarctic is optimistic about launching several new original manga series, including an effort to produce library editions of comics for the children’s market.
According to managing editor Wes Hartman, October will be a big month for Antarctic and its series, Gold Digger, a tongue-in-cheek manga-styled sci-fi adventure series written and drawn by Fred Perry. First published in 1991, Gold Digger is one of Antarctic’s longest-running original manga series and has accumulated more than 20 trade paperback collections. “We have the 100th issue of Gold Digger, which will be 48 pages,” Hartman said. “That will be the end of a very big story line [Perry’s] been working on for the last 20 issues, and it kind of brings everything back to the way Gold Digger was when it first started. Issue 101 in November will be kind of a new jumping off point for everyone.” Also in October, Antarctic will launch a new series, called Yeti vs. Vampire, an adventure tale featuring vampires, brain-eating monks and werewolves. The new serial will be written by Miles Gunter and illustrated by Kelsey Shannon, and will sell for 99-cents an issue.
This month look for How to Draw and Fight Zombies, the next installment in Antarctic’s How to Draw series. And just in time for election season, Antarctic will release comic books on presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama. Chris Allen will draw both books and write the Obama book while Joe Dunn will write the McCain title. The third issue of Fire and Brimstone, veteran comics artist Richard Moore’s spoof about an angel and a devil teaming up to fight demons, will be released in a few weeks
“We’re a creator-based company,” said Hartman. “We’re real proud of that, and we try to maintain it. Some times that makes it hard [depending on] the way the market goes. Sometimes things we would love to publish we can’t market in this day and age.”
This year, Antarctic also began producing children’s comics for libraries through Abdo Publishing, a Minneapolis publisher that specializes in library editions. The books range from historical stories to biographies to Shakespeare and are published in bound hardcovers especially designed for libraries, as opposed to traditional paper comics.
Artist Rod Espinosa, creator of the original fantasy manga titles Neotopia and Courageous Princess, which was nominated for an Eisner, is also the creator of Prince of Heroes and Pirates vs. Ninjas, which Hartman said have been selling well as serials. Hartman said to look for a Pirates vs. Ninjas annual in September that will feature several stand-alone stories. And the first trade paperback volume of Prince of Heroes, complete with extra features, has been collected and will be released in December. Espinosa is already working on volume 2, and Antarctic expects to continue the periodical series in 2009.
Next year, Antarctic has plans for a new series with Joe Dunn and artist Mike Olmos entitled Juice, and the continuation of Oz, the Manga, a manga adaptation of Frank Baum’s classic The Wizard of Oz. Hartman said that comics writer and novelist Warren Ellis is also working on a project, which Antarctic hopes to make available in 2009.
Hartman attributes much of Antarctic’s success to creators developing a strong fan base that has stuck with them throughout the years, particularly in the cases of Perry’s Gold Digger and Dunn’s Ninja High School, their longest-running series. “There are not many titles out there, especially in the independent market that have done that,” Hartman said.
A ntarctic’s creators make themselves accessible to fans via the forum on the company’s Web site, and through the creators’ personal sites. Hartman attributes the company’s success to a mix of Internet accessibility, convention appearances and, of course, the quality of the books themselves. And he points to the importance of the strength and loyalty of Antarctic’s fan base, especially given the shifts in the U.S. manga market.
Hartman acknowledged the recent struggles of Borders and Tokyopop and noted that Antarctic has been “hit with some returns that we weren’t expecting.” In fact, he said, the struggles of Tokyopop and Borders have led fans and professionals to believe that the market for original manga is shrinking. But while admitting that the downsizing of Tokyopop was disheartening, Hartman credits the L.A. manga house with growing the U.S. manga market and hopes that Antarctic titles can fill the void left for OEL fans.
“Anybody that knows comics knows that we’ve been here for a long time and we’re not planning on going anywhere,” Hartman said.
