The Library of American Comics
| Parent company | IDW Publishing |
|---|---|
| Status | Active |
| Founded | 2007 |
| Founder | Dean Mullaney Bruce Canwell |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Headquarters location | San Diego, California |
| Distribution | Diamond Book Distributors[1][2] |
| Key people | Dean Mullaney (Creative Director) Lorraine Turner (Art Director) Bruce Canwell (Associate Director) Kurtis Findlay (Online Communications Coordinator) |
| Publication types | Books |
| Fiction genres | American comic strips |
| Imprints | EuroComics |
| Official website | loac |
The Library of American Comics (abbreviated as LoAC) is an American publisher of classic American comic strips collections and comic history books, founded by Dean Mullaney and Bruce Canwell in 2007. The company is an imprint of IDW Publishing.
History
Background
Dean Mullaney, the to be founder of The Library of American Comics, developped his interest for comics in his early youth and by the 1970s he was a so called letterhack, regularly sending in letters of comment to the Marvel comic books' reader pages. His career in comics began in 1977 when he together with his brother Jan Mullaney[3], as well as Don McGregor and Paul Gulacy launched the publishing company Eclipse Comics,[4] famous for publishing the graphic novel, Sabre. After some time at Eclipse Comics, Mullaney left the comics industry as a whole.
Time passed and it got until 2006 when Mullaney began thinking in terms of making a return to the comics industry. A day while he browsed the Web that year searching for "Eclipse Comics" hits at search engines he came across an article on the subject of Sabre written by Bruce Canwell, a former worker at DC Comics as well as at Marvel comics. Mullaney read the article and found out that the author aside from knowing Mullaney from his Eclipse Publishing days, Canwell actually also remembered him as a frequent letter writer to the reader pages of the Marvel comics books he grow up with, this was very to Mullaney's liking and therefore he decided to e-mail Canwell to discuss his future plans. After some e-mail correspondence between the two, they were convinced that their visions and ideas were pretty well aligned with each other. This led in turn to them discussing going into business together, and the most attractive idea and main goal of theirs' was the bringing of a complete hardcover collection of Milton Caniff's comic strip Terry and the Pirates to the public.[5]
Launch
![[icon]](/wiki/File:Wiki_letter_w_cropped.svg){kind=small} | This section needs expansion with: Launch. You can help by adding to it. (October 2018) |
The Library of American Comics was launched in the summer of 2007, after being founded by Dean Mullaney and Bruce Canwell shortly before, as a means to reprint and publish a complete collection of Caniff's newspaper comic strip, Terry and the Pirates, in a definitive edition and the book series titled The Complete Terry and the Pirates began to be published. Mullaney had long had the vision of one day creating a whole line of classic newspaper comic strips.[6]
Publications
The goal of all The Library of American Comics collections is to preserve classic American newspaper comics, in definitive archival editions. By framing each comic strip series with informative essays to present the series next to its historical context, both in relation to other comic strips and to the historical events of their time.[4]
In April of 2018 the number of titles published by The Library of American Comics was above 180.
Format
All the books The Library of American Comics publish are of the hardcover kind with sewn binding, the large majority also comes with a dust jacket and sewn linen bookmark. Book size and reproduction color depend on each series.
Imprints
EuroComics
 | This article is missing information about EuroComics. (October 2018) |
Publications of EuroComics
| Release date | Title | Original title | Genre(s) | Creator(s) | Period | Number of vol. | Reproduction color | Book type & size |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015-01 | Corto Maltese | Corto Maltese | Adventure | Hugo Pratt | 1970–1989 | 12 | Black-and-white | Softcover 9.25 × 11.63 inches (235 × 295 mm) |
| 2017-10 – | Jerome K. Jerome Bloche | Jerome K. Jerome Bloche | Mystery | Alain Dodier, Pierre Makyo, Serge Le Tendre | 1982–? | ? | Full color | Hardcover 8.5 × 11 inches (216 × 280 mm) |
| 2017-05 – 2018-05 | Alack Sinner | Alack Sinner | Crime | José Muñoz, Carlos Sampayo | 1975-200? | 2 | ? | Softcover with french flaps 8 × 11 inches (203 × 280 mm) |
| 2018-05 – | Four Sisters | ? | Drama, Adventure | Cati Bauer, Malika Ferdjoukh | 4 | ? | Full color | Hardcover 8.5 × 11 inches (216 × 280 mm) |
| 200? – | Rose | ? | Mystery | Valérie Vernay, Denis Lapiere, Emilie Albert | ? | ? | Full color | Hardcover 8.5 × 11 inches (216 × 280 mm) |
| 2018-09 | The Quest of Ewilan | ? | Fantasy | Lylian, Loic Chevallier, Pierre Bottero, Laurence Baldetti | ? | ? | Full color | Hardcover 8.5 × 11 inches (216 × 280 mm) |
| 2018-03 – | Violette Around the World | ? | Adventure | Teresa Radice, Stefano Turconi | ? | ? | Full color | Hardcover 8.5 × 11 inches (216 × 280 mm) |
| 2018-10 – | Enola Holmes | ? | Mystery | Serena Blasco | ? | ? | Full color | Hardcover 8.5 × 11 inches (216 × 280 mm) |
| Release date | Title | Original title | Genre(s) | Creator(s) | Period | Reproduction color | Book type & size | ISBN |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016-07-19 | The Adventures of Dieter Lumpen | Dieter Lumpen | Adventure | Jorge Zentner, Rubén Pellejero | 1985-1994 | Full color | Softcover 8.5 × 11 inches (216 × 280 mm) |
978-1-631406-065 |
| 2017-02-28 | Flight of the Raven | Le Vol du corbeau | Historical fiction | Jean-Pierre Gibrat | ? | Full color | Softcover 8.5 × 11 inches (216 × 280 mm) |
978-1-631407-987 |
| 2017-12-12 | Lights of the Amalou | ? | Fantasy, Science fiction | Christophe Gibelin, Claire Wendling | ? | Full color | Softcover 8.5 × 11 inches (216 × 280 mm) |
978-1-631409-165 |
| 2017-11-21 | The Man from the Great North | ? | Adventure | Hugo Pratt | ? | Full color | Hardcover 8.9 × 11.3 inches (226 × 287 mm) |
978-1-684050-581 |
| 2016-03-22 | Paracuellos | Paracuellos | Memoir | Carlos Giménez | 1975 | Full color | Softcover 8.5 × 10.9 inches (216 × 277 mm) |
978-1-631404-689 |
| 2018-07-24 | The Silence of Malka | ? | Historical fiction | Jorge Zentner, Rubén Pellejero | ? | Full color | Hardcover 8.5 × 11 inches (216 × 280 mm) |
978-1-684052-875 |
| 2018-01-23 | Tales from the Age of the Cobra | ? | Adventure, Fantasy | Enrique Fernández | ? | Full color | Softcover 8.5 × 11 inches (216 × 280 mm) |
978-1-684050-635 |
| 2018-04-24 | The Reprieve | ? | Historical fiction | Jean-Pierre Gibrat | ? | Full color | Softcover 8.5 × 11 inches (216 × 280 mm) |
978-1-684051-915 |
Recognition
| This section needs expansion with: Recognition. You can help by adding to it. (October 2018) |
Nominations
Awards
- 2008 – "Best Archival Collection" – The Complete Terry and the Pirates Vol. 1
- 2010 – "Best Archival Collection" – Bloom County: The Complete Library Vol. 1
- 2011 – "Best Archival Collection" – Archie Dailies Vol. 1
- 2014 – "Best Archival Collection" – Tarzan: The Complete Russ Manning Newspaper Strips Vol. 1
- 2014 – "Best comics related book" – Genius, Illustrated: The Life and Art of Alex Toth
- 2014 – "Best publication design" – Genius, Illustrated: The Life and Art of Alex Toth
- 2015 – "Best comics related book" – Genius, Animated: The Cartoon Art of Alex Toth
Harvey Awards[9]
- 2012 – "Best biographical, historical or journalistic presentation" – Genius, Isolated: The Life and Art of Alex Toth
See also
References
- ^ [1] [dead link]
- ^ [2] [dead link]
- ^ Mullaney, Jan; Mullaney, Dean (August 1978). "A Word from the Publisher". Sabre: Slow Fade of an Endangered Species. Eclipse Enterprises. p. 1 (unnumbered).
- ^ a b "Compelling and Timeless: An Interview With Dean Mullaney". Diamondcomics.com. Retrieved 5 October 2018.
- ^ "Bruce Canwell on the Library of American Comics". Bleedingcool.com. 16 April 2018. Retrieved 5 October 2018.
- ^ "Dean Mullaney on IDW's Library of American Comics". Newsarama.com. Retrieved 5 October 2018.
- ^ "2000s". Comic-Con International: San Diego. 2 December 2012.
- ^ "2010-Present". Comic-Con International: San Diego. 2 December 2012.
- ^ "Previous Winners". Harvey Awards. 5 October 2018.
External links
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