Maverick (Dark Horse)
Encyclopedia
Maverick is a now-defunct imprint of Dark Horse Comics
, created in 1999
by editor Diana Schutz
for creator-owned works, to "provid[e] a home for creator-owned properties — providing a certain identity to those creator-owned labors of love that distinguishes them from Dark Horse's licensed books." The imprint, Dark Horse's second attempt at a creator-owned imprint (after "Legend") was relatively short-lived, publishing less than fifty issues/titles between 1999 and 2002.
in July 1999 for the purpose of "provid[ing] a kind of identity or specific line for those sorts of individual creator visions." Part of the purpose of having a separate imprint was to noticeably separate Dark Horse's output into discrete sections, and, as Schutz notes:
The aim of the Maverick line was to "push the medium a little bit," although Schutz recognized that such titles are often a hard sell. To help address this, the Maverick Annual anthologies (published from 2000 as Dark Horse Maverick and later under such subtitles as Happy Endings and AutobioGraphix) put newer creators (Farel Dalrymple, Gilbert Austin, Jason Hall, Matt Kindt) alongside established names such as Frank Miller
and Sam Kieth
.
's Hellboy
, Stan Sakai
's Usagi Yojimbo
, Paul Chadwick
's The World Below, Matt Wagner
's Grendel
, and Sergio Aragonés
' (and Mark Evanier
's) Groo
, to mention just a few," bringing in new titles such as Rich Tommaso's The Horror of Collier County and providing a home for such projects as P. Craig Russell
's adaptation of The Ring of the Nibelung.
The eclectic titles had one thing in common according to Schutz: "It has a lot to do with the particular project being a labor of love for the individual creator," despite the logical oddity of "attempting to unite the unique visions of each individual creator," which she termed "a paradoxical enterprise at best." The titles featured design work by Cary Grazzini, and each featured an individual variation of the distinctive Dark Horse "horse head", an idea of Mike Richardson's to "truly reflect... the spirit of independence that is Dark Horse Maverick."
simply changed imprint without any changes in the editorial team working on them), instead she "over[saw] the whole line," as she "couldn't possibly handle editing every single book published under the imprint." Ultimate control over which titles best fit the imprint, however, did lay with Schutz and Dark Horse owner-publisher Mike Richardson
, with input from others including Phil Amara (who "signed up Eric Drooker to do a reprinting of his seminal graphic novel Flood," and worked with Scott Allie
on Scatterbrain).
and Alice Cooper
's The Last Temptation (initially released in 1994
by Marvel Music
), and debuting new work. New works included titles by entirely new creators as well as such legendary individuals as Will Eisner
. Somewhat ahead of its time, the imprint would contend with the "financial obstacles" that go hand-in-hand, said Schutz in 2001, with the then-declining numbers of people reading comics, but she maintained that:
and John Bolton's Harlequin Valentine, which Schutz had originally "planned to [publish] as a 32-page comic book with no ads," but, after seeing the artwork, decided that she wanted:
, J.R. Williams, and Denis Kitchen
. Kitchen is perhaps better known as a publisher, but as Schutz notes, she is "old enough to remember a time when Denis was not merely a publisher but was also an artist and was one of the early crew of underground cartoonists. And he was a fabulous cartoonist, but simply has been pursuing other interests." Kitchen agreed, during a CBDLF cruise in 2000, to contribute a story to Dark Horse Maverick 2001 called "My Five Minutes With God". Schutz also wanted to spotlight then-lesser known French individuals Philippe Dupuy and Charles Berberian, beyond their normal Drawn and Quarterly
audience.
Dark Horse Comics
Dark Horse Comics is the largest independent American comic book and manga publisher.Dark Horse Comics was founded in 1986 by Mike Richardson in Milwaukie, Oregon, with the concept of establishing an ideal atmosphere for creative professionals. Richardson started out by opening his first comic book...
, created in 1999
1999 in comics
-February:* February 3: Pioneering editor Vin Sullivan dies at age 87.* February 26: John L. Goldwater, co-founder of Archie Comics, dies at age 82.-March:* Incredible Hulk is canceled by Marvel with issue #474.-May:...
by editor Diana Schutz
Diana Schutz
Diana Schutz is a comic book editor, most notable as editor in chief of Comico during its peak years and for her continuing tenure at Dark Horse Comics, for whom she has worked since 1990...
for creator-owned works, to "provid[e] a home for creator-owned properties — providing a certain identity to those creator-owned labors of love that distinguishes them from Dark Horse's licensed books." The imprint, Dark Horse's second attempt at a creator-owned imprint (after "Legend") was relatively short-lived, publishing less than fifty issues/titles between 1999 and 2002.
History
Schutz instigated the "Maverick" line at Dark Horse ComicsDark Horse Comics
Dark Horse Comics is the largest independent American comic book and manga publisher.Dark Horse Comics was founded in 1986 by Mike Richardson in Milwaukie, Oregon, with the concept of establishing an ideal atmosphere for creative professionals. Richardson started out by opening his first comic book...
in July 1999 for the purpose of "provid[ing] a kind of identity or specific line for those sorts of individual creator visions." Part of the purpose of having a separate imprint was to noticeably separate Dark Horse's output into discrete sections, and, as Schutz notes:
The aim of the Maverick line was to "push the medium a little bit," although Schutz recognized that such titles are often a hard sell. To help address this, the Maverick Annual anthologies (published from 2000 as Dark Horse Maverick and later under such subtitles as Happy Endings and AutobioGraphix) put newer creators (Farel Dalrymple, Gilbert Austin, Jason Hall, Matt Kindt) alongside established names such as Frank Miller
Frank Miller (comics)
Frank Miller is an American comic book artist, writer and film director best known for his dark, film noir-style comic book stories and graphic novels Ronin, Daredevil: Born Again, Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Sin City and 300...
and Sam Kieth
Sam Kieth
Sam Kieth is a New York Times best-selling American comic book writer and illustrator, best known as the creator of The Maxx and Zero Girl.-Comics career:...
.
Titles
The first title published was Frank Miller's Sin City: Hell and Back — Miller also having suggested the "Maverick" name — and was edited by Schutz. The first year's output saw Maverick "consolidate... [Dark Horse's] creator-owned, creator-produced titles under one roof — such diverse titles as Mike MignolaMike Mignola
Michael Joseph "Mike" Mignola is an American comic book artist and writer who created the comic book series Hellboy for Dark Horse Comics. He has worked for animation projects such as Atlantis: The Lost Empire and the adaptation of his one shot comic book, The Amazing Screw-On Head.-Career:Mignola...
's Hellboy
Hellboy
Hellboy is a comic book superhero created by writer-artist Mike Mignola. The character first appeared in San Diego Comic-Con Comics #2 , and has since appeared in various eponymous miniseries, one-shots and intercompany crossovers...
, Stan Sakai
Stan Sakai
is a third-generation Japanese American Cartoonist comic book creator. He is best known as the creator of the comic series Usagi Yojimbo. -Biography:...
's Usagi Yojimbo
Usagi Yojimbo
is a comic book series created by Stan Sakai in 1987. In 2011 IGN ranked Miyamoto Usagi 92nd in the top 100 comic books heroes.-Concept:Set primarily at the beginning of Edo period of Japan , with anthropomorphic animals replacing humans, the series features a rabbit ronin, Miyamoto Usagi, whom...
, Paul Chadwick
Paul Chadwick
Paul Chadwick is an American comic book creator best known for his series Concrete about a normal man trapped in a rock-hard body....
's The World Below, Matt Wagner
Matt Wagner
Matt Wagner is an American comic book writer and artist, best known as the creator of the series Mage and Grendel.-Career:...
's Grendel
Grendel (comics)
Grendel is a long-running series of comic books originally created by American author Matt Wagner. First published by Comico, Wagner has now moved his character to Dark Horse. Originally a noir comic in the style of European titles such as Diabolik, it has evolved into, in Wagner's words, a study...
, and Sergio Aragonés
Sergio Aragonés
Sergio Aragonés Domenech is a cartoonist and writer best known for his contributions to Mad Magazine and creator of the comic book Groo the Wanderer....
' (and Mark Evanier
Mark Evanier
Mark Stephen Evanier is an American comic book and television writer, particularly known for his humor work. He is also known for his columns and blogs, and for his work as a historian and biographer of the comics industry, in particular his award-winning Jack Kirby biography, Kirby: King of...
's) Groo
Groo
Groo may refer to:* Groo the Wanderer, a comic book series.* The Groosalugg, a character in the television show Angel.- See also :* Grue * GRU* Grew * Grewe...
, to mention just a few," bringing in new titles such as Rich Tommaso's The Horror of Collier County and providing a home for such projects as P. Craig Russell
P. Craig Russell
Philip Craig Russell , also known as P. Craig Russell, is an American comic book writer, artist, and illustrator. His work has won multiple Harvey and Eisner Awards...
's adaptation of The Ring of the Nibelung.
The eclectic titles had one thing in common according to Schutz: "It has a lot to do with the particular project being a labor of love for the individual creator," despite the logical oddity of "attempting to unite the unique visions of each individual creator," which she termed "a paradoxical enterprise at best." The titles featured design work by Cary Grazzini, and each featured an individual variation of the distinctive Dark Horse "horse head", an idea of Mike Richardson's to "truly reflect... the spirit of independence that is Dark Horse Maverick."
Editorial staff
Although Schutz initiated the line, she did not edit all titles (indeed, some titles such as HellboyHellboy
Hellboy is a comic book superhero created by writer-artist Mike Mignola. The character first appeared in San Diego Comic-Con Comics #2 , and has since appeared in various eponymous miniseries, one-shots and intercompany crossovers...
simply changed imprint without any changes in the editorial team working on them), instead she "over[saw] the whole line," as she "couldn't possibly handle editing every single book published under the imprint." Ultimate control over which titles best fit the imprint, however, did lay with Schutz and Dark Horse owner-publisher Mike Richardson
Mike Richardson (publisher)
Mike Richardson is an American writer, film producer and the founder of Dark Horse Comics, a comic book publication company based in Milwaukie, Oregon.-Career:...
, with input from others including Phil Amara (who "signed up Eric Drooker to do a reprinting of his seminal graphic novel Flood," and worked with Scott Allie
Scott Allie
Scott Allie is an American comics writer and editor, currently the Senior Managing Editor for Dark Horse Comics.-Career:Scott Allie is the author of The Devil's Footprints and the editor of the Hellboy, Conan, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and Serenity comics, as well as the founding editor of Dark...
on Scatterbrain).
Year two
During its second year, Schutz highlighted Maverick's "trades program" as standing out, both for collecting previously published materials, including Neil GaimanNeil Gaiman
Neil Richard Gaiman born 10 November 1960)is an English author of short fiction, novels, comic books, graphic novels, audio theatre and films. His notable works include the comic book series The Sandman and novels Stardust, American Gods, Coraline, and The Graveyard Book...
and Alice Cooper
Alice Cooper
Alice Cooper is an American rock singer, songwriter and musician whose career spans more than four decades...
's The Last Temptation (initially released in 1994
1994 in comics
-Year overall:* Huge changes in the marketplace force many retailers and small publishers out of business...
by Marvel Music
Marvel Comics
Marvel Worldwide, Inc., commonly referred to as Marvel Comics and formerly Marvel Publishing, Inc. and Marvel Comics Group, is an American company that publishes comic books and related media...
), and debuting new work. New works included titles by entirely new creators as well as such legendary individuals as Will Eisner
Will Eisner
William Erwin "Will" Eisner was an American comics writer, artist and entrepreneur. He is considered one of the most important contributors to the development of the medium and is known for the cartooning studio he founded; for his highly influential series The Spirit; for his use of comics as an...
. Somewhat ahead of its time, the imprint would contend with the "financial obstacles" that go hand-in-hand, said Schutz in 2001, with the then-declining numbers of people reading comics, but she maintained that:
Delays
Format changes delayed the release of Neil GaimanNeil Gaiman
Neil Richard Gaiman born 10 November 1960)is an English author of short fiction, novels, comic books, graphic novels, audio theatre and films. His notable works include the comic book series The Sandman and novels Stardust, American Gods, Coraline, and The Graveyard Book...
and John Bolton's Harlequin Valentine, which Schutz had originally "planned to [publish] as a 32-page comic book with no ads," but, after seeing the artwork, decided that she wanted:
Anthologies
The Maverick Annual anthologies not only featured established and new names, but managed to entice work from semi-retired individuals such as Will EisnerWill Eisner
William Erwin "Will" Eisner was an American comics writer, artist and entrepreneur. He is considered one of the most important contributors to the development of the medium and is known for the cartooning studio he founded; for his highly influential series The Spirit; for his use of comics as an...
, J.R. Williams, and Denis Kitchen
Denis Kitchen
Denis Kitchen is an American underground cartoonist, publisher, author, and agent from Wisconsin, and the founder of the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund.-Early life:...
. Kitchen is perhaps better known as a publisher, but as Schutz notes, she is "old enough to remember a time when Denis was not merely a publisher but was also an artist and was one of the early crew of underground cartoonists. And he was a fabulous cartoonist, but simply has been pursuing other interests." Kitchen agreed, during a CBDLF cruise in 2000, to contribute a story to Dark Horse Maverick 2001 called "My Five Minutes With God". Schutz also wanted to spotlight then-lesser known French individuals Philippe Dupuy and Charles Berberian, beyond their normal Drawn and Quarterly
Drawn and Quarterly
Drawn and Quarterly is a Canadian comic book publishing company, headed by Chris Oliveros, and based in Montreal, Quebec. Its focus is on graphic novels and underground or alternative comics. Drawn and Quarterly was also the title of the company's flagship quarterly anthology during the 1990s...
audience.