Sunrise Distribution a.k.a. Sunrise Comics and Games was a Commerce, California-based

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 panel (comics), panels that represent individual scenes. ...

distributor A distributor is an enclosed rotating switch used in spark-ignition internal combustion engines that have mechanically timed ignition. The distributor's main function is to route high voltage current from the ignition coil to the spark p ...

which operated in the early-to-mid 1980s. Owned by

Scott Mitchell Rosenberg Scott Mitchell Rosenberg is an American film, television, and comic book producer. He is the chairman of Platinum Studios, an entertainment company that controls a library of comic-book characters and adapts them for film, television and other ...

, the company was intimately connected to a number of small comic book publishers from that era, including Eternity Comics and Malibu Comics, as well as three extremely short-lived publishers: Amazing, Imperial Comics, and Wonder Color.

History

Sunrise Distribution evolved from Rosenberg's mail-order comics business, Direct Comics, which he had founded when he was 13 years old.Ehrenreich, Ben
"PHENOMENON; Comic Genius?" ''New York Times'' magazine (November 11, 2007).
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Publishing ventures

Eternity Comics

In early 1986, income from Rosenberg's comics distribution business allowed him to privately finance Eternity Comics, originally based in New York City and helmed by Brian Marshall. Writer/editor David Campiti worked as a packager to supply content for Eternity.

Amazing and Wonder Color

Beginning in the summer of 1986, after disputes arose between Marshall and Campiti, Rosenberg (along with fellow investors Paula Brown, Mitch Everitt, and Jules Zimmerman) provided capital for Campiti to form two new small publishers: Amazing and Wonder Color, with business offices for both publishers based in the same location in

Long Beach, California Long Beach is a city in Los Angeles County, California. It is the 42nd-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 466,742 as of 2020. A charter city, Long Beach is the seventh-most populous city in California. Incorporate ...

. (Marshall, meanwhile, retained control of Eternity.) Amazing and Wonder Color were affiliated with another publisher with which Campiti was involved: Pied Piper Comics. The plan was that Campiti would package comics for all three publishers through his studio Campiti and Associates, with Pied Piper handling "special projects such as posters and graphic novels; black-and-white /nowiki>comics/nowiki> were Amazing's domain, and Wonder Color would product strictly color comics." Wonder Color's staff included investor Paula Brown as Publisher, editor-in-chief Campiti, and Consulting Editor Roger McKenzie. Writer David Lawrence edited a few titles.

Malibu Comics and Imperial Comics

Near the end of 1986, Rosenberg and his investors financed two new publishers: Imperial Comics, based in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. Kings County is the most populous Administrative divisions of New York (state)#County, county in the State of New York, ...

, New York, and helmed by Marshall; and Malibu Comics, based in Calabasas, California, headed by Dave Olbrich (previously an employee of Sunrise Distribution) and cartoonist Tom Mason. John Arcudi served as an editor for Imperial Comics.

Mergers

In the spring of 1987, Sunrise announced that due to

cash flow A cash flow is a real or virtual movement of money: *a cash flow in its narrow sense is a payment (in a currency), especially from one central bank account to another; the term 'cash flow' is mostly used to describe payments that are expected ...

issues, it would not be able to pay its client publishers until July. Concurrently, Rosenberg revealed his connection to Amazing, Eternity, Imperial, Malibu, and Wonder Color, and declared that he was assuming direct control of all five publishers. At this point, Rosenberg shut down Amazing, Imperial, and Wonder Color, while keeping Eternity Comics as a Malibu brand. Some Imperial titles moved to Malibu/Eternity; a few Amazing and Wonder Color titles were retained by Campiti and moved to Pied Piper Comics.

Sunrise Bankruptcy

Sunrise went bankrupt and abruptly folded in the summer of 1988, during the "black-and-white implosion." This left a number of small publishers without the cash flow to continue, and they, too, went out of business. Two of Sunrise's clients, the West Coast publishers Blackthorne Publishing and

Fantagraphics Fantagraphics (previously Fantagraphics Books) is an American publisher of alternative comics, classic comic strip anthologies, manga, magazines, graphic novels, and the erotic Eros Comix imprint. History Founding Fantagraphics was fou ...

, sued the distributor, but ultimately, neither publisher was able to recoup its losses. Rosenberg continued with Malibu, which survived into the mid-1990s, with many ups and downs, before being acquired by Marvel Comics in 1994.

Analysis

In 2015, Tom Mason, a co-founder of Malibu Comics, described Rosenberg's operations this way:

Publishers financed by Sunrise/Scott Mitchell Rosenberg

Amazing Comics titles

* ''Amazing Comics Premieres'' #1–5 (Feb.Aug. 1987) — showcase title; contributors include Roger McKenzie, Kevin VanHook, David Lawrence, Sam Kieth, Ron Lim, and David Campiti * ''Barney the Invisible Turtle'' #1 (1987) — by Rick Rodolfo * ''Blip and C.C.A.D.S'' #1–2 (1987) * ''Daemon Mask'' #1 (1987) — by Stuart Hopen and Russ Martin * ''Domino Chance: Roach Extraordinaire'' (1987) — by Kevin Lenagh * ''Ex-Mutants: The Special Edition'' (Spring 1987) — reprinting the first issue as published by Eternity * '' Ex-Mutants'' #2–5 (1987) — by David Lawrence and Ron Lim; moved to Pied Piper Comics * ''The Gajit Gang'' #1 (1987) * ''Jack Frost'' #1–2 (1987) — by Kevin VanHook * ''Phigments'' #1 (1987) — art by Evan Dorkin; later acquired by Pied Piper Comics * ''Tales of the Sun Runners'' #3 (Feb. 1987) — by Roger McKenzie and Glen Johnson; acquired from Sirius Comics * ''The Sun Runners Christmas Special'' #1 (Mar. 1987) — contributors include Roger McKenzie and Kelley Jones * '' Wabbit Wampage'' #1 (1987) — by Stephen D. Sullivan; based on a

board game Board games are tabletop games that typically use . These pieces are moved or placed on a pre-marked board (playing surface) and often include elements of table, card, role-playing, and miniatures games as well. Many board games feature a ...

he had earlier developed with Pacesetter Ltd

Wonder Color titles

* ''G.I. R.A.M.B.O.T.'' #1 (Apr. 1987) * '' Hero Alliance'' #1 (May 1987) — moved to Pied Piper Comics * ''Power Factor'' #1 (May 1987) — moved to Pied Piper Comics * ''Terraformers'' (2 issues, Apr.May 1987) — art by Kelley Jones

Imperial Comics titles

* ''Battle to the Death'' #1 (1987) — moved to Eternity Comics * ''Blackstar'' (2 issues, Dec. 1986Feb. 1987) — by Jenkins, Matthews, and Phred * ''Dark Comics'' #1 (1987) * ''Nazrat'' (4 issues, Nov. 1986Apr. 1987) — by Jerry Frazee; moved to Eternity Comics * ''Probe'' (2 issues, Feb. 1987Apr. 1987) — by Frank Turner; moved to Eternity Comics

References

Notes

Sources

* * * * * * * {{Authority control Comics industry Defunct companies based in California Defunct comics and manga publishing companies 1988 disestablishments in California