Speakeasy Comics was a Canadian publishing company of

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. ...

s and

graphic novel A graphic novel is a long-form, fictional work of sequential art. The term ''graphic novel'' is often applied broadly, including fiction, non-fiction, and anthologized work, though this practice is highly contested by comic scholars and industry ...

s which operated from 2004–2006. Based in

Toronto, Ontario Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

, Speakeasy published monthly comics, creator-owned independent series,

original graphic novel A graphic novel is a long-form, fictional work of sequential art. The term ''graphic novel'' is often applied broadly, including fiction, non-fiction, and anthologized work, though this practice is highly contested by comic scholars and industry ...

s, and collected out-of-print

creator-owned In the United States, creator ownership in comics is an arrangement in which the comic book creator retains full ownership of the material, regardless of whether the work is self-published or published by a corporate publisher. In some fields of ...

comics series that had originated with other companies. Its best-known titles were '' Atomika'', ''

Beowulf ''Beowulf'' (; ang, Bēowulf ) is an Old English Epic poetry, epic poem in the tradition of Germanic heroic legend consisting of 3,182 Alliterative verse, alliterative lines. It is one of the most important and List of translations of Beo ...

'', ''

The Grimoire ''The Grimoire'' was a comic book series published by Speakeasy Comics in 2005. A contemporary fantasy story, ''The Grimoire'' was created by writer Sebastien Caisse and art studio Grafiksismik. Publication history The series, went through a ...

'', and ''

Rocketo {{Infobox comic book title , image=Rocketo.jpg , caption=Art from the cover to ''Rocketo'' #1 , publisher=Speakeasy ComicsImage Comics , ongoing = Y , 1shot = , genre = Science fiction , date = ...

''. Although Speakeasy made a big public relation splash and announced a large lineup of monthly titles, it had trouble almost from the beginning in following through with its plans.

Warren Ellis Warren Girard Ellis (born 16 February 1968) is a British comic book writer, novelist, and screenwriter. He is best known as the co-creator of several original comics series, including '' Transmetropolitan'' (1997–2002), '' Global Frequency'' ...

characterized the short-lived company as "one publisher getting it wrong from start to finish: releasing too many books, without a support structure, releasing comics without a dedicated marketing plan."Spurgeon, Tom
"Speakeasy Comics Shuts Its Doors,"
''The Comics Reporter'' (Feb. 28, 2006).

History

Beginnings

Adam Fortier founded Speakeasy Comics In August 2004. (Previously, Fortier had worked for comics publishers

Dreamwave Productions Dreamwave Productions was a Canadian art design studio and comic book publisher founded in 1996. Best known for its comic book adaptations of Transformers, the company shut down on January 4, 2005. History Brothers Pat Lee and Roger Lee founde ...

— where he revived the

Transformers ''Transformers'' is a media franchise produced by American toy company Hasbro and Japanese toy company Tomy, Takara Tomy. It primarily follows the Autobots and the Decepticons, two alien robot factions at war that can transform into other forms ...

licence in comics —

Devil's Due Publishing Devil's Due Publishing (often abbreviated as DDP) is an independent comic book publisher in the United States. Based in Chicago, Illinois, DDP is best known for its wide selection of genres, including licensed and original creator-owned proper ...

UDON Udon ( or ) is a thick noodle made from wheat flour, used in Japanese cuisine. It is a comfort food for many Japanese people. There are a variety of ways it is prepared and served. Its simplest form is in a hot soup as with a mild broth called ...

, and

IDW Publishing IDW Publishing is an American publisher of comic books, graphic novels, art books, and comic strip collections. It was founded in 1999 as the publishing division of Idea and Design Works, LLC (IDW), itself formed in 1999, and is regularly re ...

.) In March 2005, the company published its first titles, the debut issues of ''Atomika'' and ''

''. In a sign of trouble to come, however, that same month,

Yoshitaka Amano is a Japanese visual artist, character designer, illustrator, a scenic designer for theatre and film, and a costume designer. He first came into prominence in the late 1960s working on the anime adaptation of ''Speed Racer''. Amano later became ...

's ''

Hero A hero (feminine: heroine) is a real person or a main fictional character who, in the face of danger, combats adversity through feats of ingenuity, courage, or strength. Like other formerly gender-specific terms (like ''actor''), ''hero ...

'', a highly anticipated

, was cancelled and postponed one year. It was resolicited in February 2006 for tentative publication in April 2006, but cancelled again in May 2006. (It is now being published by

Boom! Studios Boom! Studios (styled BOOM! Studios) is an American comic book and graphic novel publisher, headquartered in Los Angeles, California, United States. History Origins In the early 2000s, Ross Richie and Andrew Cosby had been working in Ho ...

.) In October 2005, creator

Frank Espinosa Frank Espinosa is an American citizen, American animator and cartoonist. He has worked extensively for Disney and Warner Bros., having redesigned the Looney Tunes characters in 1992, fashioned a series of Looney Tunes U.S. postage stamps, and des ...

announced the moving of his ''

'' series to

Image Comics Image Comics is an American comic book publisher and is the third largest comic book and graphic novel publisher in the industry in both unit and market share. It was founded in 1992 by several high-profile illustrators as a venue for creator-o ...

. In November 2005, Speakeasy announced it had concluded a financing deal with Los Angeles-based Ardustry Entertainment: Speakeasy would now also develop comics based on licenses brought by Ardustry, while Ardustry would represent Speakeasy's comics properties in the entertainment industry (movies, videogames, etc.)

Troubles

Also in November 2005, Speakeasy-owned titles ''

'', ''

'' and '' Spellgame'' went through several creative team changes. In that same period, only a few months after signing with the publisher, ''Atomika'' creator

Sal Abbinanti Sal, SAL, or S.A.L. may refer to: Personal name * Sal (name), a list of people and fictional characters with the given name or nickname Places * Sal, Cape Verde, an island and municipality * Sal, Iran, a village in East Azerbaijan Province * Cay ...

split from Speakeasy to self-publish future issues ''Atomika''. under his own

Mercury Comics Mercury commonly refers to: * Mercury (planet), the nearest planet to the Sun * Mercury (element), a metallic chemical element with the symbol Hg * Mercury (mythology), a Roman god Mercury or The Mercury may also refer to: Companies * Mercury ...

label. In December 2005, Speakeasy canceled orders on two months' of previously ordered comics. Creator allegations of non-payment and mismanagement of projects started circulating. Speakeasy published no titles in January 2006. That month, creator

Sal Cipriano Sal, SAL, or S.A.L. may refer to: Personal name * Sal (name), a list of people and fictional characters with the given name or nickname Places * Sal, Cape Verde, an island and municipality * Sal, Iran, a village in East Azerbaijan Province * Cay ...

announced he had cancelled his ''Bio Boy'' series, but was keeping ''The Hill'' there. Creator Matt Maxwell announced he had amicably parted with Speakeasy for his ''

Strangeways HM Prison Manchester is a Category A and B men's prison in Manchester, England, operated by His Majesty's Prison Service. It is still commonly referred to as Strangeways, which was its former official name derived from the area in which it is l ...

'' series. Four issues had been solicited but never published. Also in January,

Chimaera Studios Chimaeras are cartilaginous fish in the order Chimaeriformes , known informally as ghost sharks, rat fish, spookfish, or rabbit fish; the last three names are not to be confused with rattails, Opisthoproctidae, or Siganidae, respectively. At o ...

announced they were moving their eight series — ''Mutation'', ''Of Bitter Souls'', ''Super Crazy TNT Blast'' enamed ''Twilight Men'' ''Smoke & Mirror'', ''Lonebow'', ''Wargod'', ''Project Eon'', and ''Silent Ghost'' — from Speakeasy to the British publisher

Markosia Markosia is a British comic book publishing company. History Markosia was founded by Harry Markos in 2004. He employed Richard Emms (previously of APC) as the Editor-in-chief as well as lead designer. in 2005. Markosia had already published H ...

. Creators Jose Torres and Chris Dibari announced they were also moving their series ''The Hunger'' to Markosia. In addition, Jonathan Martin's Speakeasy Comics Archive (a blog dedicated to Speakeasy-related news) was shut down, presumably under "trademark infringement" litigation. In February 2006, creators of the series ''O.C.T. - the

Occult Crimes Taskforce ''O.C.T.: Occult Crimes Taskforce'' is an American four-issue comic book mini-series about the eponymous team of fictional police officers. It was created by actress Rosario Dawson, writer David Atchison and illustrator Tony Shasteen. Dawson al ...

'' announced their move to Image Comics.

Closure

On February 27, 2006,

Vito Delsante Vito Delsante (born 1973) is an American comic book writer, known for his work on characters such as ''Batman'', Wolverine and ''Scooby-Doo''. Early life Vito Delsante was born in 1973 in Staten Island, New York, United States. He attended high s ...

, Speakeasy's "unofficial" public relations director, announced via email the immediate closure of Speakeasy, with all March-solicited books still shipping, April and May's being tentative, and June's being cancelled. The company, however, didn't file for bankruptcy, officially in order to try to pay its outstanding bills. Comics reporter

Tom Spurgeon Thomas Martin Spurgeon (December 16, 1968 – November 13, 2019) was an American writer, historian, critic, and editor in the field of comics, notable for his five-year run as editor of ''The Comics Journal'' and his blog ''The Comics Reporter'' ...

charactered the company's demise this way: "... right now you have to have sustainable capital, publishing skill, marketing ability, something some people want, and enough perspective to let those factors and not personal ambition define the enterprise. I didn't see any of that with Speakeasy...." It was later revealed (according to Ardustry Entertainment's business affairs manager, Wayne Williams) that the November 2005 deal between Speakeasy and Ardustry had only been an option to buy Speakeasy, which expired without materialization. Cash-flow problems led to Speakeasy's demise before they could materialize various lucrative licensing deals, such as with HBO (''

The Sopranos ''The Sopranos'' is an American Crime film#Crime drama, crime drama television series created by David Chase. The story revolves around Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini), a New Jersey-based American Mafia, Italian-American mobster, portraying h ...

'' and ''

Deadwood Deadwood may refer to: Places Canada * Deadwood, Alberta * Deadwood, British Columbia * Deadwood River, a tributary of the Dease River in northern British Columbia United States * Deadwood, California (disambiguation), several communiti ...

''). Speakeasy intended to collect some series in trade paperbacks (such as ''Atomika'', ''Grimoire'', and ''Beowulf''), but all solicited TPBs were eventually cancelled. In March 2006, only ''

#7'' was published. In May 2006, Diamond Comic Distributors's monthly list of cancelled comics listed all the remaining unpublished Speakeasy comics, with the terminal cancel code 10 ("Supplier Out of Business").

Publications

Monthly titles

* ''Athena Voltaire: Flight of the Falcon'' #1 * ''Beowulf'' #1–7 *
Butternutsquash
' #1 (Nov. 2005) — webcomic planned for quarterly publication; only issue published as part of a plan to publish quarterly * ''

Elk's Run ''Elk's Run'' is a comic book limited series created by writer Joshua Hale Fialkov, artist Noel Tuazon, and colorist Scott A. Keating. It was published in book form on March 27, 2007, by Villard. It was nominated in the categories of Best Writer, B ...

'' #4 — creator-owned series * ''

Gatesville Company ''Gatesville Company'' was an ongoing comic book series created by writer Marc Bryant and artist Patrick McEvoy. A supernatural drama composed of self-contained issues, it started publication in July, 2005 from Speakeasy Comics Speakeasy Comics ...

'' #1-2 * ''

'' #1-7 * ''

Helios In ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, Helios (; grc, , , Sun; Homeric Greek: ) is the deity, god and personification of the Sun (Solar deity). His name is also Latinized as Helius, and he is often given the epithets Hyper ...

: In With the New'' #1-2 * ''Hero At Large'' #1-2 * ''

Phantom Jack ''Phantom Jack'' is the eponymous character of a comic book series created by writer Michael San Giacomo. Its publication started in early 2004 as a monthly series at Image Comics, completing its first five-issues story-arc. After a creative team ...

: The Nowhere Man Agenda'' #1 — creator-owned series * ''Spellgame'' #1-3

Cancelled/debuted with other publishers

* ''O.C.T. — the Occult Crimes Taskforce'' * ''Project Eon'' * ''Silent Ghost'' * ''Superunknown'' * ''

Moved to other publishers

* ''Adventures of Bio Boy'' #1-2 — series continued with another publisher * '' Atomika'' #1-4 — moved to

* ''The Hunger'' #1-5 — moved to Markosia * ''Lonebow'' #1 — moved to Markosia * ''Mutation'' #1-3 — moved to Markosia * ''Of Bitter Souls'' #1-3 — moved to Markosia * ''

'' #1-6 — moved to Image Comics * ''Smoke & Mirror'' #1-2 — moved to Markosia * ''Super Crazy TNT Blast'' #1 — moved to Markosia * ''Wargod'' #1 — moved to Markosia

Graphic novels/graphic novellas

* '' The Flying Friar'' by

Rich Johnston Richard Johnston is a British comics creator, columnist, and founder of the comics news site ''Bleeding Cool''. ''The Comics Journal'' described Johnston as having claimed to be "the oldest extant comics news reporter on the Internet." His pa ...

* ''The Living And The Dead'' by

Todd Livingston Todd Livingston is a filmmaker and author. Biography Livingston began his career as a comedian in the critically acclaimed quintette (later trio) 'Open Season'. The group toured the U.S. and Canada, headlining clubs and colleges and becoming reg ...

and

Robert Tinnell Robert Tinnell is an American writer, film director and producer. Robert directed such films as '' Feast of the Seven Fishes'' (2019), ''Frankenstein and Me'' (1996), and '' Kids of the Round Table'' (1995). His producer credits include ''Back ...

* ''Parting Ways: the Near Life Experiences of Peter Orbach'' by Andrew Foley * ''Ravenous'' by Dawn Brown

Collections

* ''

2020 Visions ''2020 Visions'' (sometimes called ''20/20 Visions'') is a science fiction comic book written by Jamie Delano and drawn by four artists. Originally serialized as a twelve-issue full-color limited series from 1997 to 1998 at the Vertigo imprint of ...

'' #1-12 — previously serialized at

DC/Vertigo Vertigo Comics, also known as DC Vertigo or simply Vertigo, was an imprint of American comic book publisher DC Comics started by editor Karen Berger in 1993. Vertigo's purpose was to publish comics with adult content, such as nudity, drug us ...

* ''

'' #1-3 Collected Edition — previously self-published * ''

'' (first miniseries) #1-5 — previously serialized at Image Comics

Circulation

Based on pre-order sales through Diamond Comic Distributors reported by industry resource site ICv2, Speakeasy's top-selling monthly comics during its period of operation were: * (2005.03) 7,756 copies (rank 190) for ''Atomika #1'' * (2005.04) 6,116 copies (rank 187) for ''Atomika #2'' * (2005.05) 3,305 copies (rank 213) for ''Grimoire #3'' * (2005.06) 5,726 copies (rank 231) for ''Atomika #3'' * (2005.07) 3,717 copies (rank 208) for ''Beowulf #3'' * (2005.08) 6,381 copies (rank 203) for ''Atomika #4'' * (2005.09) 2,019 copies (rank 251) for ''Smoke & Mirror #1'' * (2005.10) 2,946 copies (rank 250) for ''The Grimoire #6'' * (2005.11) 3,130 copies (rank 248) for ''Beowulf #5'' * (2005.12) 2,463 copies (rank 273) for ''The Grimoire #7'' * (2006.01) -- no comics published this month * (2006.02) 2,718 copies (rank 246) for ''Beowulf #6'' * (2006.03) -- one issue published but not ranked in Top 300 (i.e. less than 2,632 copies) * (2006.04) -- no comics published this month * (2006.05) -- no comics published this monthICv2 News - Top 300 Comics Actual-May 2006
/ref>

References

Sources consulted

* Ellis, Jonathan

''PopImage'' (Jan. 2005). * Lander, Randy
"Spotlight on Speakeasy Comics"
''The Fourth Rail'' (Dec. 5, 2005) — overview of Speakeasy's output at the end of 2005 * Gonzalez, Guy LeCharles
"Speakeasy Shakes Things Up,"
''Buzzscope'' (Dec. 2005). * MacDonald, Heidi

''Publishers Weekly'' (Jan. 2006) — look at

Alias Alias may refer to: * Pseudonym * Pen name * Nickname Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''Alias'' (2013 film), a 2013 Canadian documentary film * ''Alias'' (TV series), an American action thriller series 2001–2006 * ''Alias the J ...

' and Speakeasy's problems * Weiland, Jonah
"Speakeasy Comics Shuts Its Doors, Fortier Speaks"
''Comic Book Resources'' (Feb. 27, 2006). * Doane, Alan David

''Comics Book Galaxy'' (Feb. 28, 2006)
"Speakeasy Closes Its Doors"
February–March 2006 discussion between comics pros (at

' forum The Engine) * MacDonald, Heidi
"Speakeasy Comics Shuts Down,"
''Publishers Weekly'' (Mar. 7, 2006)

Footnotes

External links

Speakeasy Comics.com
(cached, from April 2005) * {{gcdb publisher, id=2556, title=Speakeasy Comics Defunct comics and manga publishing companies Comic book publishing companies of Canada Companies established in 2004