Speakeasy Comics

Speakeasy Comics was a Canadian publishing company of comic books and graphic novels. It was founded in August 2004 by Adam Fortier, and ceased operations on February 27, 2006. During their run they published numerous monthly comics, creator-owned independent series, original graphic novels, and collected out-of-print creator-owned comics series which had originated with other companies.

History
In August 2004, Speakeasy Comics (based in Toronto) was founded by Adam Fortier. Previously, Fortier had worked for comics publishers Dreamwave Productions (where he revived the Transformers licence in comics), Devil's Due Publishing, UDON, and IDW Publishing.

In March 2005, the company published its first titles, the debut issues of Atomika and The Grimoire.

In November 2005, it was announced that Speakeasy had concluded a financing deal with Los Angeles-based Ardustry Entertainment, for a stated two-way purpose: Speakeasy would now also develop comics based on licenses brought by Ardustry, while Ardustry would represent Speakeasy's comics properties in the entertainment industry (movies, videogames, etc.) It was later learned, however (according to Ardustry's Wayne Williams, who handles Business Affairs for the company) that the deal was only an option to buy Speakeasy, which expired without materialization. Cash-flow problems led to Speakeasy's demise before they could materialize various lucrative licensing deals, such as with HBO (The Sopranos or Deadwood).

At 3:30pm EST February 27, 2006 Vito Delsante (who had been handling public relations for Speakeasy) announced via email the immediate closure of Speakeasy, with all March-solicited books still shipping, April and May's being tentative, and June's being cancelled. The company, however, didn't file for bankruptcy, officially in order to try to pay people owed money.

Speakeasy intended to collect some series in trade paperbacks (such as Atomika, Grimoire, and Beowulf), but all solicited TPBs were eventually cancelled. In March 2006, only Beowulf #7 was published. In May 2006, Diamond Comic Distributors's monthly list of cancelled comics listed all the remaining unpublished Speakeasy comics, with the terminal cancel code 10 ("Supplier Out of Business").

Controversies

 * A few months after signing with the publisher, Atomika creator Sal Abbinanti split from Speakeasy to self-publish issues #5+ of his series under his own Mercury Comics label.
 * During the same period, Speakeasy-owned titles Beowulf, The Grimoire and Spellgame went through several creative team changes.
 * Speakeasy usually didn't reprint sold-out monthly issues, except for Atomika #1.
 * Yoshitaka Amano's Hero, a highly anticipated graphic novel slated to debut in March 2005, was cancelled and postponed one year. It was resolicited in February 2006 for tentative publication in April 2006, but cancelled again in May 2006. It is now being published by Boom! Studios.
 * In October 2005, creator Frank Espinosa announced the moving of his Rocketo series to Image Comics.
 * In December 2005:
 * Speakeasy canceled orders on two months of previously ordered comics.
 * Creators allegations of non-payment and mismanagement of projects started circulating.


 * In January 2006:
 * Creator Sal Cipriano announced he cancelled his Bio Boy series at Speakeasy, but was keeping The Hill there.
 * Creator Matt Maxwell announced he had amicably parted with Speakeasy for his Strangeways series. Four issues had been solicited but still not published.
 * Chimaera Studios announced moving their 8 series (Mutation, Of Bitter Souls, Super Crazy TNT Blast renamed Twilight Men, Smoke & Mirror, Lonebow, Wargod, Project Eon, and Silent Ghost) from Speakeasy to Markosia.
 * Jonathan Martin's "Speakeasy Comics Archive" (a blog dedicated to Speakeasy-related news) was shut down, presumably under "trademark infringement" litigation.
 * Creators Jose Torres and Chris Dibari announced moving their series The Hunger to Markosia.
 * No comic was published by Speakeasy this month.


 * In February 2006, creators of the series O.C.T. - the Occult Crimes Taskforce announced their move to Image Comics.

Monthly titles

 * Adventures of Bio Boy #1-2 — series continued with another publisher
 * Athena Voltaire: Flight of the Falcon #1
 * Atomika #1-4 — series continued with Mercury Comics
 * Butternutsquash #1 (Nov. 2005) — webcomic planned for quarterly publication; only issue published as part of a plan to publish quarterly
 * Elk's Run #4 — creator-owned series
 * Gatesville Company #1-2
 * The Grimoire #1-7 — a modernization of Beowulf
 * Helios: In With the New #1-2
 * Hero At Large #1-2
 * The Hunger #1-5 — series continued with another publisher
 * Lonebow #1 — series continued with another publisher
 * Mutation #1-3 — series continued with another publisher
 * Of Bitter Souls #1-3 — series continued with another publisher
 * Phantom Jack: The Nowhere Man Agenda #1 — creator-owned series
 * Rocketo #1-6 — series continued with Image Comics
 * Smoke & Mirror #1-2 — series continued with another publisher
 * Spellgame #1-3
 * Super Crazy TNT Blast #1 — series continued with another publisher
 * Wargod #1 — series continued with another publisher

Cancelled/debuted with other publishers

 * O.C.T. — the Occult Crimes Taskforce
 * Project Eon
 * Silent Ghost
 * Strangeways

Graphic novels/graphic novellas

 * The Flying Friar by Rich Johnston
 * The Living And The Dead
 * Parting Ways: the Near Life Experiences of Peter Orbach by Andrew Foley

Collections

 * 2020 Visions #1-12 — previously serialized at DC/Vertigo
 * Elk's Run #1-3 Collected Edition — previously self-published
 * Phantom Jack (first miniseries) #1-5 — previously serialized at Image Comics

Circulation
Based on pre-order sales through Diamond Comic Distributors reported by industry resource site ICv2, Speakeasy's top-selling monthly comics during its year of operation were:


 * (2005.03) 7,756 copies (rank 190) for Atomika #1
 * (2005.04) 6,116 copies (rank 187) for Atomika #2
 * (2005.05) 3,305 copies (rank 213) for Grimoire #3
 * (2005.06) 5,726 copies (rank 231) for Atomika #3
 * (2005.07) 3,717 copies (rank 208) for Beowulf #3
 * (2005.08) 6,381 copies (rank 203) for Atomika #4
 * (2005.09) 2,019 copies (rank 251) for Smoke & Mirror #1
 * (2005.10) 2,946 copies (rank 250) for The Grimoire #6
 * (2005.11) 3,130 copies (rank 248) for Beowulf #5
 * (2005.12) 2,463 copies (rank 273) for The Grimoire #7
 * (2006.01) -- no comics published this month
 * (2006.02) 2,718 copies (rank 246) for Beowulf #6
 * (2006.03) -- one issue published but not ranked in Top 300 (i.e. less than 2,632 copies)
 * (2006.04) -- no comics published this month
 * (2006.05) -- no comics published this month

Sources consulted

 * "Speaking Easy with Adam Fortier" - January 2005 interview at the launch of Speakeasy (by Jonathan Ellis at PopImage)
 * "Spotlight on Speakeasy Comics" - Overview of Speakeasy's output at the end of 2005 (by Randy Lander at The Fourth Rail)
 * "Speakeasy Shakes Things Up" - December 2005 investigation into Speakeasy's new policies (by Guy LeCharles Gonzalez at Buzzscope)
 * "The Class of 2005: A Tough Year for Comics Start-Ups" - January 2006 look at Alias' and Speakeasy's problems (by Heidi MacDonald at Publishers Weekly)
 * "Speakeasy Comics Shuts Its Doors, Fortier Speaks" - February 27, 2006 wrapup (by Jonah Weiland at CBR)
 * "The Rise and Inevitable Fall of Speakeasy Comics" - February 28, 2006 editorial (by Alan David Doane at CBG)
 * "Speakeasy Comics Shuts Its Doors" - February 28, 2006 editorial and links report (by Tom Spurgeon at The Comics Reporter)
 * "Speakeasy Closes Its Doors" February–March 2006 discussion between comics pros (at Warren Ellis' forum The Engine)
 * "Speakeasy Comics Shuts Down" - March 7, 2006 analysis of the crisis and future of the various comics (by Heidi MacDonald at Publishers Weekly)