Hermes Press is an American publisher of art books, comic books, and comic book reprints. The company was founded in 2001 and is best known for their archival reprints of classic comic book and strip series and art books. Over the last 10 years Hermes Press has published over 100 titles.
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). Hermes Press now specializes in reprinting comic books and comic strips, acquiring the rights to Dark Shadows and The Phantom, among others.
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.
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.
In late 2017 Hermes published the complete Sky Masters of the Space Force by Jack Kirby and Wallace Wood- it includes examples of original art from the strip as well as a full reprint of the strips.
In 2018 Hermes announced that they would be publishing an original Dick Tracy graphic novel with veteran artist and writer Richard Pietrzyk, who worked on the original comic strip with creator Chester Gould. It is slated to come out late Summer 2019.
Video Hermes Press
History
Hermes Press was formed in 2001 by Daniel Herman. It is located in New Castle, Pennsylvania. In its first years of operation it published a limited amount of special-interest books: Gil Kane: Art of the Comics, written by Herman (2001); Gil Kane: Art and Interviews" (2002); "Bill Sienkiewicz: Precursor" (2002); "Works of Art: Joe Chiodo" (2003). From there Herman focused on comic strip series reprints (Star Hawks, Buck Rogers, The Phantom, et al), and later comic book series reprints and newly commissioned comic book adaptations and other original works. An example of this is in The Phantom, which is into the tenth installment of the daily comic strip reprints.
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.
Maps Hermes Press
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.
In 2009, Hermes Press published Behind the Silver Screen: Hollywood Stills Photography from the 1930s to the 1950s which featured original stills from photographers such as George Hurrell, Ned Scott, and many others. The book included stills of Audrey Hepburn, Humphrey Bogart, and many other famous actors and actresses of the time.
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. The essay in the book was written by comics historian Ron Goulart.
Reprints
Hermes Press has reprinted comics such as Mike Hammer, Dark Shadows, Alex Toth's Zorro, and George Wunder's Terry and the Pirates. In 2015 Hermes announced their reprint of Lee Falk's first comic creation, Mandrake the Magician, specifically the King years of the comic books.
Buck Rogers
In 2008 Hermes Press began reprinting the Buck Rogers comic strip, which began syndication in 1929.
So far, they have published eight volumes of dailies (none since 2013), three volumes of Sundays (none since 2015), 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.
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. 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. 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.
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.
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.
As of October 2017, Hermes has printed at least eight permutations of the Phantom, including the comic strip dailies, Sundays, the Avon pocket book series, the Charlton Years, the King Years, the Gold Key Years, the Peter David comic series, and the Ron Goulart comic series.
Walt Kelly's Pogo
In 2014 Hermes began to reprint the Dell Comics comic book version of Pogo.
Volume's One and Two were nominated for an Eisner Award at the San Diego Comic-Con 2015. It will conclude publication in 2018 with six complete hardcover reprints.
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.
Hermes Press has also published a biography of Walt Kelly, the creator of Pogo, a history of artist John Buscema, and other books focusing on the history of comic books.
In 2007 Hermes Press published the biography of British television producer Sylvia Anderson, My FAB Years, 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.
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.
New comics
Recently Hermes Press has begun publishing original comic books and reboots of popular comic strips. They have printed Sparrow and Crowe: the Demoniac of Los Angeles, Scratch9, and other original comics. 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.
Hermes Press participated in Free Comic Book Day, and in 2016 contributed one comic, The Phantom with interior stories by Jim Aparo and Don Newton
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. They are continuing to publish new Phantom comic series, with a new series drawn by artist Sean Joyce to debut in late 2016.
In 2015 Hermes published Executive Outcomes, a graphic novel by Nick Bicanic based on the private military company of the same name.
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
2015 Cybils Awards "Graphic Novels Elementary/Middle": Scratch9 Cat of Nine Worlds, written by Rob Worley.
2016 Diamond Gem Awards "2016 Trade Book of the Year": The Art of Jim Davis' Garfield
2018 Eisner Awards "Best Archival Collection/Project- Comic Strip (at least 20 Years Old)": Sky Masters of the Space Force: the Complete Dailies 1958-1961, edited by Daniel Herman
References
Source of article : Wikipedia
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