Avatar Press

Avatar Press
Founded	1996
Founder	William A. Christensen
Country of origin	United States
Headquarters location	Rantoul, Illinois
Key people	William A. Christensen
Publication types	Comics
Official website	www.avatarpress.com

Avatar Press is an independent American publisher of comic books, founded in 1996 by William A. Christensen, and based in Rantoul, Illinois. Avatar Press is most notable for publishing "Bad Girl" comics such as Pandora, Hellina, Lookers, The Ravening, and Brian Pulido's Lady Death.

Currently, Avatar publishes several ongoing series. They have a strong web presence, anchored by Warren Ellis' FreakAngels webcomic, as well as the comics news site Bleeding Cool, helmed by Rich Johnston.

History

Founder and editor-in-chief William A. Christensen.

Publisher Christensen had been a freelance contributor to Wizard magazine before founding Avatar. The company initially published only mini-series. They subsequently expanded to other formats.

As part of an effort to expand beyond their reputation as a bad girl publisher, it offered a number of noted creators an opportunity to publish creator-owned books with no content restrictions whatsoever. Among the creators to take them up on their offer were Frank Miller, Warren Ellis, Alan Moore, and Garth Ennis.

Lately, the company has taken to licensed comic book adaptations of famous sci-fi and horror shows from movies and television, such as RoboCop, Night of the Living Dead, and Friday the 13th.

Titles

Titles that Avatar publishes fall into three general areas: "bad girl" comics, adaptations (including licensed properties), and original titles.^{[citation needed]}

Bad Girl

Notable Bad Girl comics (often written by William A. Christensen and Mark Seifert) are:

Pandora (Avatar's flagship character)
Hellina
Nira-X Cyberangel (Bill Maus)
William Tucci's Shi
The Ravening
Lookers
Mike Deodato's Jade Warriors
Rob Liefeld's Avengelyne, Glory, and The Coven
Marat Mychael's Demonslayer
Tim Vigil's Webwitch
Brian Pulido's Lady Death (of Chaos Comics fame), Belladonna, War Angel, Unholy, and Gypsy
Medieval Lady Death
Everette Hartsoe's Razor
Jungle Fantasy, starring Fauna from the Threshold series' "Fauna, Jungle Girl"
Twilight, which, along with Twilight: Live Wire, was reprinted in Twilight: Raw
Mike Wolfer's Widow

Adaptations

Licensed properties

Notable adaptations of licensed properties include was Alternate Universe of Bad

Science fiction series, such as:

Frank Miller's RoboCop, based on his unused scripts for RoboCop 2 and RoboCop 3
Stargate, both Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis
Species

Horror series, such as:

Other media

Adaptations from other media (and reprints):

Alan Moore:
- Another Suburban Romance
- The Courtyard
- The Courtyard Companion
- Glory
- Hypothetical Lizard
- Light of Thy Countenance^[1]
- Magic Words
- Nightjar
- A Small Killing
- Writing for Comics
- Yuggoth Cultures and Other Growths
- Fashion Beast
Max Brooks:
- The Extinction Parade
Joe R. Lansdale:
- The Drive-in
- By Bizarre Hands
- On the Far Side With Dead Folks
George R. R. Martin:
- Fevre Dream
- The Skin Trade

Original works

Avatar also publishes original works by comic creators:

Jamie Delano:
- Narcopolis^[2]^[3]
- Rawbone
Warren Ellis:
- Aetheric Mechanics
- Anna Mercury
- Apparat
- Atmospherics
- Bad Signal
- Bad World
- Blackgas
- Black Summer
- Captain Swing and the Electrical Pirates of Cindery Island
- Crécy
- Dark Blue
- Doktor Sleepless
- Frankenstein's Womb
- FreakAngels
- Gravel
- ilium
- Ignition City
- No Hero
- Scars
- Supergod
- Wolfskin
Garth Ennis:
- 303
- Chronicles of Wormwood
- Crossed^[4]
- Dicks
- Red Rover Charlie
- Stitched
- Streets of Glory
Christos Gage:
- Absolution^[5]
Kieron Gillen:
- The Heat^[6]
- Über
Steven Grant:
- My Flesh is Cool
- Mortal Souls
Jenni Gregory:
- Dreamwalker
Rich Johnston:
- Rich Johnston's Holed Up
David Lapham:
- Caligula
- Dan the Unharmable
- Ferals
Mark Millar:
- The Unfunnies
Alan Moore:
- Neonomicon
- Providence
Eric Powell:
- The Goon
Zak Penn:
- Hero Worship
John A. Russo:^[7]
- Escape of the Living Dead^[8]
Tim Vigil:
- Faust
- Cuda: An Age of Metal and Magic
- Webwitch
Jonathan Hickman
- God Is Dead

References

^ "WW Philly: The Avatar Panel". Newsarama. June 1, 2008.
^ "Future Imperfect: Jamie Delano talks Narcopolis". Comic Book Resources. November 7, 2007.
^ "Entering Narcopolis I: Jamie Delano". Newsarama. March 1, 2008.
^ "Double-Crossed: Ennis & Burrows talk Crossed". Comic Book Resources. June 12, 2008.
^ "CCI: Christos Gage discusses Absolution". Comic Book Resources. July 23, 2008.
^ Leader, Michael (November 3, 2009). "Kieron Gillen and Jamie McKelvie Interview". Den of Geek. Archived from the original on 6 November 2009. Retrieved 2009-11-03. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
^ "WWC XTRA: Picking the Brains of a 'Living Dead' Legend with Avatar Press". Comic Book Resources. August 13, 2007.
^ "Escape of the Living Dead". Avatar Press.

External links

Avatar Press at the Grand Comics Database
Avatar Press at the Comic Book DB (archived from the original)
Avatar Press at Flickr

[philly-1] "WW Philly: The Avatar Panel". Newsarama. June 1, 2008.

[2] "Future Imperfect: Jamie Delano talks Narcopolis". Comic Book Resources. November 7, 2007.

[3] "Entering Narcopolis I: Jamie Delano". Newsarama. March 1, 2008.

[4] "Double-Crossed: Ennis & Burrows talk Crossed". Comic Book Resources. June 12, 2008.

[5] "CCI: Christos Gage discusses Absolution". Comic Book Resources. July 23, 2008.

[denofgeek-6] Leader, Michael (November 3, 2009). "Kieron Gillen and Jamie McKelvie Interview". Den of Geek. Archived from the original on 6 November 2009. Retrieved 2009-11-03. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)

[7] "WWC XTRA: Picking the Brains of a 'Living Dead' Legend with Avatar Press". Comic Book Resources. August 13, 2007.

[8] "Escape of the Living Dead". Avatar Press.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]