"Reagan's Raiders" comic...anyone have this?

[shadroch]

Gary Brodsky had a comic press that he kept going 18 or more hours a day. He'd print anything that someone would give him,for a deposit and a peice of the gross. As there were about 6,000 stores at the time,if you came up with a catchy title and a half way decent promo flyer,you had a good chance of getting advance orders that would net you a small profit.Every store didn't want to miss out on the next Ninja Turtles.A book sold for $1.50,netted you 60 cents and after printing cost left a small publisher about 35 cents a book. Since artists were just about working for free just to get exposure,sales of 5,000 copies gave the "publisher" a tidy profit.Drek like GI Jackrabbits,Crackbusters,Ants fom Antares Attack America,Threshold of Reality and others were decent profit-makers for a year or so. For the publishers,not the unfortunite store owner that fell for the promo flyer. I should know,not only did I own two stores at the time,but I also helped 'publish' several of those books. One book I remember selling 150 copies to a store that told me he had sold a total of 3 in two months.

[Weird]

Gary Brodsky had a comic press that he kept going 18 or more hours a day. He'd print anything that someone would give him,for a deposit and a peice of the gross. As there were about 6,000 stores at the time,if you came up with a catchy title and a half way decent promo flyer,you had a good chance of getting advance orders that would net you a small profit.Every store didn't want to miss out on the next Ninja Turtles.A book sold for $1.50,netted you 60 cents and after printing cost left a small publisher about 35 cents a book. Since artists were just about working for free just to get exposure,sales of 5,000 copies gave the "publisher" a tidy profit.Drek like GI Jackrabbits,Crackbusters,Ants fom Antares Attack America,Threshold of Reality and others were decent profit-makers for a year or so. For the publishers,not the unfortunite store owner that fell for the promo flyer. I should know,not only did I own two stores at the time,but I also helped 'publish' several of those books. One book I remember selling 150 copies to a store that told me he had sold a total of 3 in two months.

 

GI Jackrabbits was truly horrendous - probably the worst art I have ever seen in comic book form. How about: Wabbit Wampage, Renegade Rabbit, DareRat, GnatRat, the Mighty Mites, Stormbringer, Samurai Penguin, the Fat Ninja, Cyborg Gerbils, The Naive Inter-Dimensional Commando Koalas, The Pre-Teen Dirty Gene Kung Fu Kangaroos, Laffin' Gas and Space Beaver. Those are only some of the ones I actually remember owning. Ugh.

[That Ron Dude]

No one has written a history of the black and white boom. It is far enough behind us that someone could.

 

I entered comic fandom with tales of Jim Warren and what a sleazeball he had been. Once at a convention panel, a popular artist said, "Let's forget the topic to be discussed and just tell Jim Warren stories". It got a big laugh. Well the publishers in the 1980's made Warren look like Joseph Pulitzer. I would love to know what happened to Steve Milo, Andrew Rev (the worst of them all), Gerry Giovinco (I have no reason to believe that he was in any way sleazy), Bill Marx, the insulation installer who owned Aircel, and many of the other fascinating characters that I met back then. What a world.

 

Rich Buckler was a gifted artist. Things change. Fate shifts. I have no idea how he ended up working for/with Gary Brodsky. I wish Mr. Buckler all the best. Comics is a tough business.

[shadroch]

It was a strange time.Looking at the first book or two from Comico,who'd have ever guessed they would have evoved into the company that brought the world Mage,Grendal,Evangaline,and The Elementals,as well as introducing Space Fortress Macross to America.

 

The art of GI Jackrabbits- a quick story.

If you notice the cover and spash page of this book,you'll see they are servicable.Nothing great but not all bad.

These two pages were done months ahead of time so that they could be distributed to stores to solict sales. Based on them,and the fact that the "publisher" was local to Long Island,I ordered a fair amount of copies.When the book came out,it was such [#@$%!!!] that I called the publisher,quite pissed that he'd switched artist. His explanation was so sad,it was funny. It seems the original artist broke his

arm and drew the issue with his non-drawing hand.Then the "editor"inked it,even though he'd never drawn a thing in his life.As this was their first release ad they had many many projects in the pipeline,they didn't want to get a reputation of putting books out late.Incredibly,they did put out several more books before folding their tents.

It just reached a point where no store would carry anything with a Solson connection.

I really don't blame Rich Buckler.He was an artist producing work for whmever paid him.

BTW- Gary Brodsky was the man behind Modern Comics Voltron line,a truly first class operation,so it's not as if he ddn't realize what garbage he was printing.

[That Ron Dude]

I never met Gary Brodsky not do I know anyone who has had a personal relationship with him. Gary Brodsky may be a very nice man or he may be a complete creep. He, like many others, realized that there was a certain point in the eighties, shortly after TMNT made it big as a comic book, that anyone with a couple thousand dollars to pay the printer and an idea, could make money as a publisher.

 

Quality and integrity just weren't factors. Most of these people were amateurs in every sense of the word. Almost all of them were learning as they go, and at the start of the learning curve at that. They often did things that seemed unscrupulous, but at times these actions (I have many examples) were just mistakes. These publishers had no idea how to do what they were trying to do. Other publishers were completely unscrupulous individuals who realized that many young cartoonists and illustrators who had no chance in the business only months before, would now work under virtually any conditions for the honour of being part of the industry. As I said, "Where are they now". Most of them are probably in related industries, using the tricks they had learned in comics, to make their living. I forgot to mention, in my last rant, Tony Caputo of "Now". A dear friend was never paid by him. I remember when he got the writing job with "Now", warning him of Caputo's reputation from the pages of "The Comics Journal". My friend discounted the complainers and felt that he wouldn't have any problems.

 

I suppost that one of the sad lessons of life is that people with the most charm often have little behind it, in terms of character. They use their charm to get what they want with little care for the harm they do to others.

 

I went to the San Diego convention about 18 years ago, just as the black and white market was about to collapse. I remember watching all these publishers and creators running around, trying to make deals, knowing that their futures would be very different. They had caught the "comics bug". Many had quit their day jobs, enjoyed the money from comics, and had enjoyed going to the conventions and having tables in artists alley and being celebrated. Most of them are long gone now. Some have gotten into the mainstream of comics. I think it would be fascinating to interview someone like "DAK" whose full name I am unaware of. He seems to have hung on doing small press black and white comics for many, many years. Does he live on what he makes? Does his wife have a good job? Does he have a day job and draw at nights? Does he live off an inheritance?

 

Where is Studs Terkel when you need him?

[shadroch]

Not sure if this is whom you are reffering to,but David Kraft used to use DAK as a signature line in the mid/late 70s.

[That Ron Dude]

YOU'RE RIGHT! It's NOT DAK it's RAK!!! He had sort of a barbarian comic. Maybe it was about a wandering nomad in another universe. The character had a big hat. My apologies to David Anthoy Kraft.

[That Ron Dude]

And as a free service I searched Gary Brodsky of Solson (Sol's son-- get it) and found that he is a noted authority on how to pick up women, perhaps the only comic's fan ever to be such an authority. You can find him at: www.getgirls.com/fast.htm . Start picking up women fast.

[Ogami]

And as a free service I searched Gary Brodsky of Solson (Sol's son-- get it) and found that he is a noted authority on how to pick up women, perhaps the only comic's fan ever to be such an authority. You can find him at: www.getgirls.com/fast.htm . Start picking up women fast.

 

I have so much fondness for the B&W explosion because it was around when I started collecting. Man, Turtles was incredible, and I thought comparable to the mainstream stuff of the time. Reading Rich Buckler in Spectacular Spider-Man, Death of Jean DeWolf 107-110, then seeing him in Reagan's Raider's and How To Turtles Manuals, I didn't make the distinction between high and low. I still have some of that stuff and remember it fondly. Samurai Penguin is actually a pretty good read (Slave Labor?)

 

And of course, I now have a complete collection of TMNT, so in some ways, I'm still caught up in the 1984 explosion. I also pick up odd and obscure stuff as I see it.

[shadroch]

There were some good books put out in the BW explosion. Fish Police,Hamster Vice,and a team book by Chuck Austin whose title escapes me just now. Samuri Penquin was an entertaining book,as was Secret Doors and GnatRat.Books like Albedo and Usabi Yojimbo were great. Its just that too much [#@$%!!!] came out and even some of the better books were really just one-shot jokes that petered out. Lets not forget that Dark Horse Comics,featuring Concrete and Black Cross was a BW from an unknown company when it was published. And that it was the acceptance of these BW books that allowed books like Lone Wolf and Cub,Area 88 and the rest of the manga invasion to be first published in America.

[Bonds25]

Let's not forget Empire Lanes!

[Ogami]

On the pros and the cons, preaching to the choir, bro.

 

Preach on.

[Dmac538]

Gary Brodsky had a comic press that he kept going 18 or more hours a day. He'd print anything that someone would give him,for a deposit and a peice of the gross. As there were about 6,000 stores at the time,if you came up with a catchy title and a half way decent promo flyer,you had a good chance of getting advance orders that would net you a small profit.Every store didn't want to miss out on the next Ninja Turtles.A book sold for $1.50,netted you 60 cents and after printing cost left a small publisher about 35 cents a book. Since artists were just about working for free just to get exposure,sales of 5,000 copies gave the "publisher" a tidy profit.Drek like GI Jackrabbits,Crackbusters,Ants fom Antares Attack America,Threshold of Reality and others were decent profit-makers for a year or so. For the publishers,not the unfortunite store owner that fell for the promo flyer. I should know,not only did I own two stores at the time,but I also helped 'publish' several of those books. One book I remember selling 150 copies to a store that told me he had sold a total of 3 in two months.

 

GI Jackrabbits was truly horrendous - probably the worst art I have ever seen in comic book form. How about: Wabbit Wampage, Renegade Rabbit, DareRat, GnatRat, the Mighty Mites, Stormbringer, Samurai Penguin, the Fat Ninja, Cyborg Gerbils, The Naive Inter-Dimensional Commando Koalas, The Pre-Teen Dirty Gene Kung Fu Kangaroos, Laffin' Gas and Space Beaver. Those are only some of the ones I actually remember owning. Ugh.

 

 

Believe it or not i was cleaning my storage books this morning , and actually found most of these titles, including the one that started this thread.

[That Ron Dude]

I can't leave this thread alone. I was listening to Howard Stern today and I couldn't believe it. Brodsky had several ads promoting his books. He had more ads on the Don and Mike show on the drive home.