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Joe Dunn (left) and Ben Dunn of Antarctic Press had a dealers' room
booth and an artists' row table at A-Kon 9. The brothers' company, which
is moving into the top ten on the list of American comics publishers, was
best known as the house that made Ninja High School and Gold Digger from
Fred Perry. Then came the smash hit of Warrior Nun Areala, and the company
changed. The manga lines carried by Antarctic were dropped, according to
Ben Dunn, because it "...was costing us too much and we had to re-evaluate
it. I don't know how the other guys do it." |
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Antarctic announced two major changes in their comics line. Warrior
Nun, Ben Dunn's creation which he started, then farmed out to other artists,
will go on a 4-5 month hiatus after the next issue. Then it will be re-launched
at the end of the year, with Ben Dunn re-taking full control of the art
and storylines. Rather than have others draw Warrior Nun, Dunn will again
draw Warrior Nun - as he had in the beginning of the series. Look for a
lighter touch when the Nun series restarts. "I've decided to take a new
approach. I don't think I was doing it in a style I was comfortable with,"
he said. |
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Antarctic's other major change is unusual, to say the least. Joe Dunn
said the company has licensed the old Alley Oop series. The characters
of a caveman and his pet dinosaur were among the most popular newspaper
strips before World War II, but most anime and manga fans may not have
heard of Alley Oop. Antarctic isn't aiming at hard-core fans with Alley
Oop, but at children, which Joe Dunn said are being ignored by most comics
companies. "When the opportunity came up to publish Alley Oop, we decided
to see if we can get kids to buy comics," said Joe Dunn. "I started collecting
comics when I started buying Richie Rich," which was a big children's comics
series of the 1960's. |
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Antarctic's core titles remain Luftwaffe 1946, Gold Digger, Warrior
Nun Areala and Ninja High School. The Gold Digger wedding story is due
out soon, and humor is promised. A new Fred Perry full-color series called
Legacy ("It's not Gold Digger II," Ben Dunn said) is on the way. A Mospeada
side story from the Robotech line will follow, and the Hepcats and Box
Office Poison series will continue. |
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The Dunns still dream of animating their comics series. Already, a
demo of Warrior Nun has been animated by Sunrise in Japan, and the Dunns
say other Japanese studios are interested in a full series of shows. The
Dunns take heart from the success of Spawn, the Todd McFarlane series animated
in Japan and shown on Home Box Office. "We hope fully that will open up
the door and show that people will accept that kind of animation if it's
not kiddified," Ben Dunn said. McFarlane kept control of his characters
and story lines, and Antarctic wants to run an animated Warrior Nun their
way. "A lot of anime doesn't come across to a mainstream audience. Anime
fans don't mind but a national audience doesn't get it," said Ben Dunn.
"What we're trying to do is stuff that will reach an American audience,
that has that polished, really excited anime look." |
