Hermes Press

Hermes Press
Parent company Hermes Press
Founded 2001
Headquarters location New Castle, Pennsylvania, US
Key people Daniel Herman, Publisher, Louise Geer, VP, Troy Musguire, Production Manager, Eileen Herman, Managing Editor, Alissa Fisher, Graphic Designer, Moose, Office Dog[1]
Publication types Comics
Official website www.hermespress.com

Hermes Press is an American publisher of art books, comic books, and comic book reprints. The company was founded in 2001 and in the past published the re-imagining of the comic book Buck Rogers, drawn by Howard Chaykin.[2] Over the last 10 years Hermes Press has published over 100 titles.[1]

The company was initially known for popular culture art books such as Works of Art: Joe Chiodo (2003) and Bill Sienkiewicz: Precursor (2004), and later moved on to reprints of famous comic book strips, such as Gil Kane and Ron Goulart's Star Hawks: The Complete Series (2004).[3] Hermes Press now specializes in reprinting comic books and comic strips, acquiring the rights to Buck Rogers and The Phantom, among others.[2][4][5]

On February 20, 2015, publisher Dan Herman appeared on the official Hermes Press YouTube channel to discuss the second issue of the original Phantom comic series that came out in March 2015.[6]

In January 2016, Hermes Press announced via their blog that they would begin reprinting Walt Kelly's Peter Wheat.[7]

In May 2016 Hermes Press announced, via their Free Comic Book Day back cover and a separate press release, that veteran artist Sean Joyce and writer Ron Goulart would be teaming up to create a new Phantom mini-series. [8]

For the San Diego Comic Convention in July 2016 Hermes Press premiered advance copies of The Art of Jim Davis' Garfield at the show, and also hosted Jim Davis at their booth and at a panel.[9]

History

Hermes Press was formed in 2001 by Daniel Herman. It is located in New Castle, Pennsylvania. Its first published title was Gil Kane: Art of the Comics, written by Herman. He then decided to take Hermes Press in an art book direction, publishing both Joe Chiodo and Bill Sienkiewicz's art books. From there Herman focused on comic book reprints and new comic book adaptations and original works.[5] An example of this is in The Phantom, which is into the ninth installment of the daily comic strip reprints.[5]

In 2009 Hermes Press entered into an agreement with Dan Curtis Productions to reprint the Gold Key comic of Dark Shadows, signifying Hermes's entrance into large-scale reprints, followed closely by their agreement with King Features Syndicate to reprint The Phantom.[10]

Art Books

Hermes Press has published several books on art and artists, including traditional mediums such as pin-up art to movie poster art, and including Joe Chiodo and Carl Lundgren.[11][12]

One of the earlier art books published by Hermes Press was titled Behind the Silver Screen: Hollywood Stills Photography from the 1930s to the 1950s and featured original stills from photographers such as George Hurrell, Ned Scott, and many others.[13] The book included stills of Audrey Hepburn, Humphrey Bogart, and many other famous actors and actresses of the time.[13]

In 2016 Hermes produced a monograph of the art of Alex Raymond, the creator of Secret Agent X-9 and Rip Kirby, among many others.[14] The essay in the book was written by comics historian Ron Goulart.[15]

Reprints

Hermes Press has reprinted comics such as Mike Hammer, Dark Shadows, Alex Toth's Zorro, and George Wunder's Terry and the Pirates.[1] In 2015 Hermes announced their reprint of Lee Falk's first comic creation, Mandrake the Magician, specifically the King years of the comic books.[14]

Buck Rogers

In 2008 Hermes Press began reprinting the Buck Rogers comic strip, which began syndication in 1929.[16]

As of 2015, they have produced eight volumes of dailies, three volumes of Sundays, and a television comic book tie-in titled the Buck Rogers Western Publishing Years.

Hermes Press also produced a reboot of the Buck Rogers series as a four-part comic book series, written and drawn by Howard Chaykin in 2013.[17]

The Phantom

In 2009 Hermes Press announced that they would begin reprinting the original comic strip continuity of The Phantom, starting with the Lee Falk's strips and continuing through the complete run of the strip.[18] Each year since Hermes has come out with at least one volume of Phantom daily strips, and has come out with two Sunday strip continuities as of 2014.[19] Each of the dailies reprints cover at least one year of continuity for the series, and the reprints are expected to continue.

In 2011 Hermes Press started to reprint the Gold Key comics of the Phantom, and so far has printed three volumes.[20]

In 2012 Hermes began to reprint the Charlton Years of the Phantom, and around the same time also began reprinting the King years of the comic book series.[21]

In 2016 Hermes announced that they acquired the rights to reprint the Avon Phantom pocket books; they have said that it will publish bi-monthly starting in August 2016. [22]

As of October 2014, Hermes has printed six permutations of the Phantom, including the comic strip dailies, Sundays, the Charlton Years, the King Years, the Gold Key Years, and the new comic book series.

Comics history

Besides comic reprints, Hermes Press has also published books written on comics history, such as Silver Age, which is a historical text written on the artists behind the characters created in the Silver Age of Comic Books.[23]

Hermes Press has also published a biography of Walt Kelly,[24] the creator of Pogo, a history of artist John Buscema, and other books focusing on the history of comic books.[24]

In 2007 Hermes Press published the biography of British television producer Sylvia Anderson, My FAB Years,[24] which was about her involvement in the industry. Hermes Press also published a book on Mike Trim, who created many of the models used in Thunderbirds Are GO and similar titles.[25]

In 2013 Hermes Press published a biography of artist Frank Frazetta, written by his son, which was printed in connection with Famous Monsters of Filmland.[26]

New comics

Recently Hermes Press has begun publishing original comic books and reboots of popular comic strips.[2] They have printed Sparrow and Crowe: the Demoniac of Los Angeles, Scratch9, and other original comics.[27][28] Hermes Press also published Howard Chaykin's Buck Rogers comic book, which was a re-imagining of the history of the character Buck Rogers. Chaykin wrote and drew a four-comic story-arc, focusing on reimagining Buck Rogers' origins.[1][29]

Hermes Press participates in Free Comic Book Day, and in 2016 contributed one comic, The Phantom with interior stories by Jim Aparo and Don Newton[30]

Continuing with their publishing new materials based on comics they have reprinted, Hermes Press printed an original mini-series of The Phantom in November 2014 written by Peter David, with art by Sal Velluto, in a six-comic arc that finished in early 2016.[31] They are continuing to publish new Phantom comic series, with a new series drawn by artist Sean Joyce to debut in late 2016.[32]

In 2015 Hermes published Executive Outcomes, a graphic novel by Nick Bicanic based on the private military company of the same name.[33]

Publications

Award Nominations

2015 Eisner Awards "Best Archival Collection/Project—Comic Books (at least 20 Years Old)": Walt Kelly’s Pogo: The Complete Dell Comics, vols. 1–2, edited by Daniel Herman[34]

2015 Cybils Awards "Graphic Novels Elementary/Middle": Scratch9 Cat of Nine Worlds, written by Rob Worley.[35]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Squirek, Mark. "Hermes Press: Opening the Archives". Scoop: Famous Advisory Network. Retrieved 9 September 2013.
  2. 1 2 3 Cecchini, Mike. "Howard Chaykin to Revive Buck Rogers for Hermes Press!". Den of Geek!. Retrieved 9 September 2013.
  3. ↑ Herman, Daniel. "Hermes Press". Hermes Press. Retrieved 9 September 2013.
  4. ↑ MacDonald, Heidi. "Neil the Horse to be reprinted by Hermes Press". Comics Beat. Retrieved 9 September 2013.
  5. 1 2 3 "BBC News – Phantom Comics Reissue Keeps Early Masked Hero Alive". Chronicle Chamber. Retrieved 9 September 2013.
  6. ↑ "Hermes Press Phantom #2 Information". youtube.com. YouTube. Retrieved 21 February 2015.
  7. ↑ "Announcement: Thomas Andrae Joins Hermes Press as Special Projects Editor: his first book to be an archival reprint of Walt Kelly's Peter Wheat". Hermes Press.
  8. ↑ Parker, Jermayn. "New Hermes Artist Named – Sean Joyce". Chronicle Chamber. Retrieved 8 June 2016.
  9. ↑ "SDCC '16 Garfield headed to San Diego Comic-Con with Hermes Press". Major Spoilers. Major Spoilers. Retrieved 16 August 2016.
  10. ↑ Katz, Scott. "US Townhall RealStories presents Dan Herman of HERMES PRESS". US Town Hall. Retrieved 9 September 2013.
  11. ↑ "JOE CHIODO: GIRLS, GIRLS, GIRLS! SC". PREVIEWS. Diamond Comic Distributors. Retrieved 29 May 2015.
  12. ↑ "'THE PSYCHEDELIC ROCK ART OF CARL LUNDGREN' Rock 'n' Roll Poster Collection From Hermes Press". ICv2. ICv2. Retrieved 29 May 2015. |first1= missing |last1= in Authors list (help)
  13. 1 2 Herman, Daniel (2009). Behind the Silver Screen. Hermes Press. ISBN 9781932563160.
  14. 1 2 Griepp, Milton. "ALEX RAYMOND, MANDRAKE, AND WWII WOMEN IN COMICS BY TRINA ROBBINS". ICv2. ICv2. Retrieved 11 November 2015.
  15. ↑ Spurgeon, Tom. "Bundled, Tossed, Untied And Stacked: Publishing News". The Comics Reporter. Retrieved 11 November 2015.
  16. ↑ "Buck Rogers in the 25th Century Dailies". Comic Vine. Retrieved 19 May 2015.
  17. ↑ PS, Hayes. "Buck Is Back! Hermes Press & Howard Chaykin To Reboot 'Buck Rogers' Comic". Geeks of Doom. Geeks of Doom. Retrieved 19 May 2015.
  18. ↑ "Books: The Phantom". Hermes Press. 1936-02-17. Retrieved 2011-02-28.
  19. ↑ "The Phantom: The Complete Newspaper Dailies". ComicVine. ComicVine. Retrieved 27 October 2014.
  20. ↑ Helton, Christopher. "Hermes Press' Gold Key Comics The Phantom Reprints". Dorkland!. Dorkland!. Retrieved 19 May 2015.
  21. ↑ "Review: 'The Phantom: The Complete Series: The Charlton Years: Volume One'". The Comics Roundtable. Captain Comics. Retrieved 27 October 2014.
  22. ↑ Overlord, Robot. "[BOOKS] HERMES PRESS TO RELEASE THE PHANTOM THE COMPLETE AVON POCKET BOOKS". Major Spoilers. Major Spoilers. Retrieved 8 June 2016.
  23. ↑ Knowles, Chris (2007). Our Gods Wear Spandex: The Secret History of Comic Book Heroes. Weiser Books. pp. 137–138. ISBN 1578634067.
  24. 1 2 3 "Hermes Press". Hermes Press. Retrieved 15 October 2013.
  25. ↑ "The Future Was FAB". Hermes Press. Retrieved 15 October 2013.
  26. ↑ "SDCC'13: Hermes Press announces ultimate Frazetta book". Major Spoilers. Retrieved 9 September 2013.
  27. ↑ "Hermes Press to publish Sparrow and Crowe: The Demoniac of Los Angeles". Comics Beat. Retrieved 9 September 2013.
  28. ↑ "Preview: Scratch9: Cat Tails #2". Comic Book Resources. Retrieved 9 September 2013.
  29. ↑ "Atomic Books". Retrieved 18 October 2013.
  30. ↑ "PREVIEW: THE PHANTOM: 80TH ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL FCBD #2016". Comic Book Resources. Retrieved 8 June 2016.
  31. ↑ Herman, Daniel. "Hermes Press- The Phantom Issue 1". YouTube. Retrieved 27 October 2014.
  32. ↑ Parker, Jermayn. "New Hermes Artist Named – Sean Joyce". Chronicle Chamber. Retrieved 8 June 2016.
  33. ↑ Leaf, Steve. "Staff Picks (May): Executive Outcomes OGN". Previews World. Diamond Comics. Retrieved 22 February 2016.
  34. ↑ "2015 Eisner Award Nominations". Comic-Con.org. Retrieved 22 April 2015.
  35. ↑ "2015 Nominations: Graphic Novels". Cybils. Retrieved 3 December 2015.
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