Tundra Press

Tundra Publishing was a Northampton, Massachusetts-based comic book publisher founded by Kevin Eastman in 1990. The company was founded to provide a venue for adventurous, creator-owned work by talented cartoonists and illustrators. Its publications were noted in the trade for their high production values, including glossy paper stock, full-color printing, and square binding. Tundra was one of the earlier creator-owned companies, before the formation of Image Comics and Dark Horse Comics' Legends imprint.

Creators and projects involved with Tundra included Alan Moore and Bill Sienkiewicz's '' Big Numbers'', Moore & Eddie Campbell's ''From Hell'', Moore & Melinda Gebbie's ''Lost Girls'' (these last two original serialised in Stephen R. Bissette's ''Taboo'' anthology, which was also part-published by Tundra), ''The Crow,'' Mike Allred's ''Madman'' and Dave McKean's '' Cages''."Talking to Kevin Eastman 1: Turtle Days, Turtle Nights" by Benjamin Ong Pang Kean, August 31, 2007
Accessed September 25, 2013

Despite its ambitious start, Tundra never became a profitable enterprise. It closed its doors in 1993 after burning through $14 million in three years. Kitchen Sink Press acquired its holdings; it reprinted popular Tundra publications such as ''Understanding Comics'' and continued to publish some Tundra series such as ''Taboo''.

History

While co-managing Mirage Studios, Eastman and his partner Peter Laird often spoke of the difficulties in maintaining creative control of their work. Eastman decided to address this problem by using his own personal knowledge and connections to help other creators. With Laird's blessing, Eastman started Tundra Publishing in 1990,Wiater, Stanley & Bissette, Stephen R. (ed.s) ''Comic Book Rebels: Conversations with the Creators of the New Comics'' (Donald I. Fine, Inc. 1993) to realize personal and other projects.

Rick Veitch has written that:

Moreover, as Eastman said in a 2007 interview with Benjamin Ong Pang Kean, Tundra provided a forum for Marvel and DC creators to work on projects that they could not otherwise realize:

As part of Eastman's designs for Tundra were to produce personal projects of an adult nature, this saw Tundra fitting in the dubious middle-ground, as their intended product sat somewhat awkwardly between the comic shop and the book shop. Eastman says that he originally "thought that the audience was a lot larger than it actually was," citing his personal assumption that readers would "grow up through ''X-Men'' and discover '' The Sandman'' and then '' Dark Knight'' and ''Watchmen'' and beyond." The relatively new inroads of comics and graphic novels into bookshops worked against Tundra at the time. Tundra dealt in new properties, which required "building from the ground up," and was "a lot more work" than Eastman had anticipated, growing far too quickly for comfort, and requiring considerable injections of time and money, rather than being profitable. Tundra received multiple award nominations during its first and second years, including Harvey Awards and Eisner Awards, but despite critical acclaim the company was not making money on its titles.

Speaking in 1992/93, Eastman was optimistic that the company had "finally reached the point where t hadslowed up enough . . . to be giving individual projects the time and attention they require " Shortly thereafter, in the spring of 1993, Tundra was bought out by Kitchen Sink Press, closing its (solo) doors after just three years, losing Eastman between $9 and $14 million.

Titles published

Notable works released by Tundra include:
*'' Cages'' by Dave McKean, issues #1–7 (Dec. 1990 – June 1993) – issues #8–10 (Aug. 1993 – May 1996) published by Kitchen Sink Press
* ''Cobalt 60'' by Mark Bodé and Larry Todd (1992) – continuation of Vaughn Bodé's series from the 1960s
* ''ComicsTrips: A Journal of Travels through Africa and Southeast Asia'' by Peter Kuper (1992)
* '' Doghead'' by Al Columbia (1992) – Columbia's first solo comic book
* ''Graffiti Kitchen'' by Eddie Campbell (1993)
* '' The Jam: Urban Adventure'' by Bernie Mireault (Jan.–May 1992)
* '' Madman Adventures'' by Mike Allred (1992–1993)
* ''The Maximortal'' by Rick Veitch (1992–1993) – published under his own King Hell imprint
* ''Rain'' by Rolf Stark and Marlene Stevens (1993–1994)
*''Taboo'', edited by Steve Bissette – horror anthology where portions of Alan Moore's ''From Hell'' (with Eddie Campbell) and ''Lost Girls'' (with Melinda Gebbie), as well as Neil Gaiman's unfinished ''Sweeney Todd'' (with Michael Zulli), were first serialized; Tundra also released the first ''From Hell'' collections
* ''Tantalizing Stories'' by Mark Martin and Jim Woodring (Oct. 1992 – July 1993) – children's comic where most of Woodring's early '' Frank'' stories appeared
* ''Trailer Trash'' by Roy Tompkins (1992–1993)
* ''Understanding Comics'' by Scott McCloud (1993)

Tundra had been prepared to take over publication of Alan Moore's troubled '' Big Numbers'' series (originally self-published by Moore) before it was aborted.

Tundra UK

In 1991 a British arm of the company, Tundra UK, opened in London."Newswatch: A Reverse British Invasion," ''The Comics Journal'' #145 (Oct. 1991), pp. 19. Led by Dave Elliott, an editor at ''Deadline'' and a founder of Atomeka Press, the UK branch worked with creators already on board with Tundra in the US as well as developing new projects. Tundra UK published comics from 1992–1993; titles they published included:

* ''The Bogie Man'' by John Wagner & Alan Grant and Robin Smith (1992–1993)
* ''Greenhouse Warriors'' by Glenn Dakin and Phil Elliott (1992)
* ''Lazarus Churchyard'' by Warren Ellis and D'Israeli (1992)
* ''Skidmarks'' by Ed Hillyer (1992)
* ''Skin'' by Peter Milligan and Brendan McCarthy (1992)
* ''Strange Embrace'' by David Hine (1993) – collected and colored in 2007–2008 by Image Comics
* ''White Trash'' by Gordon Rennie and Martin Emond (1992)

A number of projects were originally slated to be published by Tundra UK but ended up with other publishers after Tundra's demise. These include:
* ''Hotwire'' by Steve Pugh and Warren Ellis — eventually published beginning in 2010 by Dave Elliott for Radical Comics
* ''Kingdom of the Wicked'' by Ian Edginton and D'Israeli — published by Caliber Comics in black-and-white in 1996–1997 and then in color in 2004 by Dark Horse
* '' Mister Monster: Worlds War Two'' by Michael T. Gilbert — published by Dave Elliott for Penthouse Comix and again at Atomeka Press in 2004
* ''Pale Horses'' by Dan Abnett, Steve White and Gary Erskine — published in 1997 by Dark Horse Comics as ''Hypersonic''

Notes

References

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Comic book publishing companies of the United States
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American companies established in 1990
Publishing companies established in 1990
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1990 establishments in Massachusetts
1993 disestablishments in Massachusetts