Tales from the Aniverse is a science fiction comic book created by Randy Zimmerman and Susan Van Camp , first published in 1985 by Arrow Comics , featuring anthropomorphic animals as the main characters.
30-486: Arrow Comics was one of the original independent publishers of black-and-white comics in the mid-1980s, the first truly creator-owned comic companies, started in Ypsilanti , Michigan , by founders Ralph Griffith (24 April 1960–11 December 2020) and Stuart Kerr . Griffith and Kerr were just getting ready to publish a local comic fanzine called Fantastic Fanzine (a name which they later discovered had already been used in
60-466: A horror title written by Griffith and Kerr themselves and penciled by Jason Moore (later of Evil Ernie inking fame), that pushed the envelope on gore even farther than their earlier Deadworld . Despite the first issue being labelled "For Mature Audiences Only", the violence and nudity made retailers reluctant to carry it, and only one additional issue was published (featuring the banner "Banned in Canada and
90-542: A second volume of The Dead , The War of the Worlds: The Memphis Front , Arrow Spotlight , August , and Korvus v2 (continued from Human Monster Press). A sub-imprint named "Arrow Manga" began in 1999 and included Descendants of Toshin , Miss Chevious: The Armageddon Project , Semantic Lace , and Butterly Gunn (originally solicited as Happy the Clown Manga Special ). In 2002, "Arrow Books" released
120-431: A series by Mirage Studios , was very influential on a new generation of creators and became a huge success story of self publishing. Jeff Smith , a friend of Dave Sim, was also very influential in self-published comics, creating the highly popular and long-lived Bone . As with Sim with Cerebus and unlike mainstream comic books stories with their spontaneously generated and rambling narratives, Smith produced Bone as
150-544: A story with a planned end. The publishing house Fantagraphics published the work of a new generation of artists, notably Love and Rockets by the brothers Jaime , Gilbert and Mario Hernandez . Dan DeBono published Indy – The Independent Comic Guide , a magazine covering only independent comics starting in 1994. It ran for 18 issues and featured covers by Daniel Clowes , Tim Vigil , Drew Hayes , William Tucci , Jeff Smith and Wendy and Richard Pini. Alternative comics have increasingly established themselves within
180-470: Is more in line with the popular genres of other media: thrillers , romances, realistic drama and so on. Oni Press avoids publishing superhero, fantasy and science fiction titles, unless interesting creators approach these concepts from an unusual angle. Top Shelf Productions has published many notable alternative comics such as Craig Thompson's Blankets and Alex Robinson 's Box Office Poison . In 2010 they branched out into unusual Japanese manga, with
210-596: The "alternative" umbrella. By the mid-1970s, artists within the underground comix scene felt that it had become less creative than it had been in the past. According to Art Spiegelman , "What had seemed like a revolution simply deflated into a lifestyle. Underground comics were stereotyped as dealing only with sex, dope and cheap thrills. They got stuffed back into the closet, along with bong pipes and love beads , as things started to get uglier." In an attempt to address this, underground cartoonists moved to start magazines that anthologized new, artistically ambitious comics in
240-768: The 1980s, following the underground comix movement of the late 1960s and early 1970s. Alternative comics present an alternative to mainstream superhero comics which in the past have dominated the American comic book industry. They span across a wide range of genres , artistic styles, and subjects. Alternative comics are often published in small numbers with less regard for regular distribution schedules. Many alternative comics have variously been labelled as post-underground comics , independent comics , indie comics , auteur comics , small press comics , new wave comics , creator-owned comics , art comics , or literary comics . Many self-published " minicomics " also fall under
270-402: The 1980s. RAW , a lavishly produced, large format anthology that was clearly intended to be seen as a work of art was founded by Spiegelman and his wife Françoise Mouly in 1980. Another magazine, Weirdo , was started by the leading figure in underground comix, Robert Crumb , in 1981. These magazines reflected changes from the days of the underground comix. They had different formats from
300-596: The Avian empire), P'Jonn, and others. Arrow Comics published Tales from the Aniverse for six issues. Zimmerman restarted the series on Wee Bee Comics in 1987, but it was canceled after its second issue. Massive Comics published three new issues under the original name. In 1996, Arrow Comics was revitalized a third time and one of the Aniverse's characters, Miss Chevious, was given a mini-series written and drawn by Steph Graves. This lasted two issues. Zimmerman later revived
330-592: The Delta variant of the COVID-19 virus. Both spent several months in the hospital and had similar experiences with life threatening complications to the virus. Fortunately, after 5 months of hospitalization and rehab, both returned to work. With renewed creative energy, the company got a shot of adrenal and properties such as Zimmerman's The Fool and Allison Chains were added in 2023 and 2024 respectfully. Arrow comics continues to recruit new creators and properties from some of
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#1733092860032360-467: The Hybrids:The Sons of Gods series to the roster. From there, additional creators and their properties joined the team. Craig white joined with his space war adventure, SOLTAC. Justin K. Sweet brought his bionic werewolf, Chrome-Dog. Stone partnered with Piper Steed to produce the all ages sci-fi adventure, Rift Riders Shortly after the revival of Arrow Comics, both Zimmerman and Stone fell ill with
390-514: The Monkey and Rebel Nun (both by Zimmerman). Randy Zimmerman has once again restarted Arrow Comics, due to a retail deal that never existed) and, along with a number of other Indie creators, returned to publishing comics for the direct and crowdfunding market. Initially began as Arrow Comics 4.0 the number designation was dropped in January 2023 and the brand continues on as Arrow Comics. A new "sub-brand
420-550: The U.K.!!!") before Griffiths and Kerr moved to Caliber Comics to write Oz (1994–1997). After the release of Shock and Spank: The Monkeyboys by Creative Force Designs in 1996, a far more significant revival began with the first of four issues of Arrow Anthology by Arrow Comics Group in 1997, followed in 1998 by a variety of titles continuing the Oz series from Caliber Comics: Dark Oz , Land of Oz , Wogglebug , Wonderland , and Bill Bryan's Oz Collection . Also beginning in 1998 were
450-583: The Wanderer , and James O'Barr 's The Crow . Oni Press used the term "real mainstream," coined by Stephen L. Holland of the UK comic shop Page 45, to describe its output. Traditional American comic books regard superhero titles as "mainstream" and all other genres as "non-mainstream", a reversal of the perception in other countries. Oni Press, therefore, adopted the "real mainstream" term to suggest that it publishes comic books and graphic novels whose subject matter
480-487: The black-and-white comic book market their idea of quality work, in comparison to what they thought was sub-par work intended only as a source of revenue for the larger publishers. Fantastic Fanzine ran thirteen issues in its first volume, during which time Griffith and Kerr discovered local Michigan artists Randy Zimmerman, Guy Davis , Vincent Locke , Susan Van Camp , Mark Bloodworth , and Tim Dzon . In December 1985, Tales From The Aniverse by Zimmerman and Van Camp
510-685: The industry. He often used the back of his comic to deliver "messages from the President", which were sometimes editorials concerning the comics industry and self-publishing . Wendy and Richard Pini founded WaRP Graphics , one of the early American independent comics publishers, in 1977 and released the first issues of their long-running series, Elfquest , in February 1978. They followed with titles such as MythAdventures and related titles by Robert Asprin ; and Thunder Bunny , created by Martin Greim . WaRP
540-603: The larger culture, as evidenced by the success of the feature film Ghost World based on one of the best selling alternative titles, Eightball , by Daniel Clowes and the cross-genre success of the book Jimmy Corrigan, the Smartest Kid on Earth , by Chris Ware , a story that was serialized in Ware's comic, Acme Novelty Library . Image Comics and Dark Horse Comics publish many alternative comics. Notable examples include Stan Sakai 's Usagi Yojimbo , Sergio Aragonés 's Groo
570-455: The mid-1980s, Elfquest was selling 100,000 copies per issue in the initial print run, attracting one of the largest followings of any direct-sale comic. Most issues up to No. 9 saw multiple printings. It was the visible success of Elfquest that inspired many other writers and artists to try their own hand at self-publishing. Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird 's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles ,
600-399: The most talented content producers in the independent comic book industry. They are currently distributing to the direct market and fans. They host an online store at www.arrowcomics.store where their properties are available in physical and digital formats. Alternative comics Alternative comics or independent comics cover a range of American comics that have appeared since
630-517: The move of their most popular titles, The Realm and Deadworld , to Caliber Comics . After publishing three issue of Fantastic Fanzine volume two throughout 1992, Griffith and Kerr announced the return of Arrow Comics in a single issue of Fantastic Fanzine volume four in December 1992, this time explicitly under the Arrow Comics banner. In January 1993 they released the first issue of The Dead ,
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#1733092860032660-450: The old comix, and the selection of artists differed, too. RAW featured many European artists, Weirdo included photo-funnies and strange outsider art -type documents. Elfquest was based on a science fiction/fantasy theme with powerful female and male characters of varied races and cultures, and done in a bright and colourful manga -like style. The underground staples of sex, drugs and revolution were much less in evidence. More emphasis
690-529: The origins of self-publishing in the comics industry, many consider Dave Sim an early leader in this area. Starting in 1977, he primarily wrote, drew and published Cerebus the Aardvark , on his own under the "Aardvark-Vanaheim Inc." imprint and announcing he would publish 300 issues of the series consecutively, something unheard of at the time for a self-published book. Sim is known for his activism in favor of creators' rights and his outspoken nature in regards to
720-432: The release of AX:alternative manga (edited by Sean Michael Wilson). This 400-page collection received a high level of critical praise. Randy Zimmerman Tales From The Aniverse was a collection of stories featuring a group of characters in a futuristic animal universe and had such characters as J.B. Space (galactic courier), Miss Chevious (bounty hunter), Falterous (space pirate lord) and Drakestar (maniac ruler of
750-437: The seventies by Fantagraphics founder Gary Groth ), when the first issue of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles came out. Spurred on by the success of this fairly low production level book, Griffith and Kerr set about to gather their own 'bullpen' of local comic creators and start a comic company, using Fantastic Fanzine as a springboard. With their motto "Our Target is Entertainment; Our Aim is Quality", they intended to bring to
780-556: The trade paperbacks The War of the Worlds: Haven and the Hellweed , which collected the 1996 Caliber Comics The War of the Worlds series written by Zimmerman, and then Zimm's Heroic Tales , a superhero anthology. With strong support from Internet readers, the most recent incarnation of Arrow Comics has been spearheaded by Randy Zimmerman and Scott R. Moore, publishing the webcomics Spank
810-414: Was also the original publisher of A Distant Soil by Colleen Doran . As an alternative to most of the masculine-themed comics of its time – and even to this day – Elfquest became enormously popular among female comic book fans around the world, while also drawing a solid male fan base. WaRP Graphics paved the way for many independent and alternative comic book creators who came after them. At its peak in
840-431: Was begun in February 2023 entitled "Arrow Comics 3-G" to designate their adult content titles from their more family friendly works. AR-13L is the first title to carry the "3-G" designation. Since then, Arrow Comics has grown its catalog to include a variety of properties from creators. Zimmerman began Arrow's rebirth with his Hero Bot Zero, Calico of Shard, and Paragon titles. He then recruited creator Luke Stone and added
870-457: Was placed on developing the craft of comics drawing and storytelling, with many artists aiming for work that was both subtler and more complex than was typical in the underground. This was true of much of the new work done by the established comix artists as well as the newcomers: Art Spiegelman's Maus , much celebrated for bringing a new seriousness to comics, was serialized in RAW. While fans debate
900-526: Was published, followed shortly thereafter by The Realm , Deadworld , and Nightstreets . Other titles included Legend Lore: Tales from the Realm and System 7 , but it was not long before Arrow found itself caught up in the infamous "black and white bust", and the revenues from their highest-selling titles were held up in the bankruptcy hearings of several major comic book distributors of the day. In 1989, in order to salvage their legacy, Griffith and Kerr agreed to
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