Horatio Weisfeld
Encyclopedia
Horatio Weisfeld is a writer/editor/publisher who co-founded mass-market comics magazines and developed other media properties. His creation of often irreverent commercial entertainment follows in the footsteps of his father, Irwin Weisfeld, a writer and manufacturer of ubiquitous mid-late 60s counter culture buttons (Horatio Buttons) which appeared on Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In, and were referenced by San Francisco’s notorious Zodiac Killer
Zodiac Killer
The Zodiac Killer was a serial killer who operated in Northern California in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The killer's identity remains unknown. The Zodiac murdered victims in Benicia, Vallejo, Lake Berryessa and San Francisco between December 1968 and October 1969. Four men and three women...

 (who demanded his own button).

Early Years In Business/Publishing

As a teenager, Horatio Weisfeld made his living by speculating on the 1st issues of new comic books and related magazines. His ability to sniff out quality product led Weisfeld to purchase thousands of copies of new publications and resell them, shortly, at steep markups. This caught the eye of screenwriter Joel Cohen (Toy Story
Toy Story
Toy Story is a 1995 American computer-animated film released by Walt Disney Pictures. It is Pixar's first feature film as well as the first ever feature film to be made entirely with CGI. The film was directed by John Lasseter and featuring the voices of Tom Hanks and Tim Allen...

) who began shopping a script ("The Four Color Fix") based on Weisfeld's exploits. Arthur Suydam's highly regarded Cholly an' Flytrap story, "My Favorite Restaurant" (published in the last issue of Marvel's Epic Magazine), was also based on an incident in Weisfeld's life around this time (the notorious story involved a man ordering a cheap lunch special at a restaurant, and then finding a bug in his food).

In the mid 80s, Weisfeld became involved with Comico
Comicó
Comicó is a village and municipality in Río Negro Province in Argentina....

, a Pennsylvania based comic book publisher, and he was instrumental in the decision to begin Matt Wagner's Grendel
Grendel
Grendel is one of three antagonists, along with Grendel's mother and the dragon, in the Anglo-Saxon epic poem Beowulf . Grendel is usually depicted as a monster, though this is the subject of scholarly debate. In the poem, Grendel is feared by all but Beowulf.-Story:The poem Beowulf is contained in...

 as an ongoing comic book series. Grendel is the only Comico title that survives, and is presently published by Dark Horse Comics. Weisfeld was also involved with a Grendel film option (in conjunction with the William Morris Agency
William Morris Agency
WME is the largest talent agency in the world, with offices in Beverly Hills, New York City, Nashville, London, and Miami. WME represents elite artists from all facets of the entertainment industry, including motion pictures, television, music, theatre, publishing, and physical production...

). In the late 80s Weisfeld developed a short film script (with Peter Koch) which became the basis for the Ira Levin novel Splinter, which was made into a film starring Sharon Stone
Sharon Stone
Sharon Vonne Stone is an American actress, film producer, and former fashion model. She achieved international recognition for her role in the erotic thriller Basic Instinct...

.

In the early 1990s Weisfeld co-founded and financed Bullet Comics, which published one of the first Manga influenced American comics: Greg Boone's RADREX. Weisfeld was also instrumental in helping his friend, artist Mark Beachum, set up Aju-Blu Comics. Weisfeld then advised Brian Pulido in the formation of Chaos! Comics
Chaos! Comics
Chaos! Comics was a comic book publisher that operated from 1994 until 2002.-Overview:Their titles included Lady Death, Purgatori, Evil Ernie, Chastity, Jade, Omen, Bad Kitty, Cremator, Lady Demon, and Smiley The Psychotic Button.They also published licensed comics for the World Wrestling...

 (Lady Death), one of the more successful independent comic publishers of the era.

In 1992 a former publisher of The New York Post
New York Post
The New York Post is the 13th-oldest newspaper published in the United States and is generally acknowledged as the oldest to have been published continuously as a daily, although – as is the case with most other papers – its publication has been periodically interrupted by labor actions...

 hired Weisfeld to work on the startup of Her New York, A daily newspaper published from offices of New York's Trump Tower. Weisfeld became Newsroom Manager and later, assistant to Editor-n-Chief Marsha Cohen (formally of The New York Daily News and Entertainment Editor Barbara Gordon (who wrote bestseller, I'm Dancing as Fast as I Can
I'm Dancing as Fast as I Can
I'm Dancing as Fast as I Can is a 1982 American biographical film directed by Jack Hofsiss, starring Jill Clayburgh. The screenplay by David Rabe is based on the memoir of the same title by Emmy Award-winning documentary filmmaker Barbara Gordon, whose addiction to and difficult withdrawal from...

).

Penthouse Comix

In 1993, Weisfeld was hired to help coordinate Penthouse Comix
Penthouse Comix
Penthouse Comix was initially an American mass-market, magazine-sized comic book, published by Penthouse International from its inception in spring 1994 through July 1998, and thereafter by General Media Communications, parent company of Penthouse magazine. Initially edited by writers George...

, an ongoing section that ran in Penthouse
Penthouse (magazine)
Penthouse, a men's magazine founded by Bob Guccione, combines urban lifestyle articles and softcore pornographic pictorials that, in the 1990s, evolved into hardcore. Penthouse is owned by FriendFinder Network. formerly known as General Media, Inc. whose parent company was Penthouse International...

Magazine. He was eventually named Managing Editor.

Penthouse Comix sections featured artwork by top comic book talent (Kevin Nowlan
Kevin Nowlan
Kevin Nowlan is an American comic-book artist who works as penciler, inker, colorist and letterer.He has been called "one of the few artists who can be called 'artists's artist'", a master of the various disciplines of comic production, from "design to draftsmanship to dramatics".-Biography:Kevin...

, Arthur Suydam
Arthur Suydam
Arthur Suydam is an American comic book artist and musician. He has done artwork for magazines including Heavy Metal, Epic Illustrated and National Lampoon, while his comic book work includes Batman, Conan, Tarzan, Predator, Aliens, Death Dealer, and Marvel Zombies.-Illustration:Suydam has...

, Adam Hughes
Adam Hughes
Adam Hughes is an American comic book artist who has worked for companies such as DC Comics, Marvel Comics, Dark Horse Comics, Lucasfilm, Warner Bros...

, etc.) and some characters created by Weisfeld. After the initial sections appeared, publisher Bob Guccione
Bob Guccione
Bob Guccione was the founder and publisher of the adult magazine Penthouse. He resigned from his publisher position in November 2003.-Early life:...

 requested Penthouse Comix become its own stand alone magazine. The first issue of the 96-page stand alone Penthouse Comix appeared in the spring of 1994 and was an immediate success. Issues appeared after that on a bi-monthly basis.

Penthouse Comix published through 1998, producing thirty-five issues. The magazine was licensed into many non-English markets. The Spanish edition of Penthouse Comix celebrated its 100th issue in 2010.

Bad Magazine

In 1997 rap mogul Russell Simmons
Russell Simmons
-External links:** * * * * * * from the US Holocaust Memorial Museum* *...

 struck a deal to develop an “urban” spin off of Mad Magazine with Time/Warner Publishing. Weisfeld was recruited to develop editorial for Russell Simmons Presents B.A.D Magazine
Russell Simmons Presents B.A.D Magazine
Russell Simmons Presents B.A.D Magazine was an attempt by Time/Warner to develop an “urban” oriented spin off from its Mad Magazine brand...

 and eventually became Managing Editor. Film designer Floyd Hughes
Floyd Hughes
Floyd Hughes is a Brooklyn based production designer, storyboard artist and comic book illustrator. He is also an art professor at the Pratt Institute.-Early life:Floyd Hughes was born in the East End of London to Guyanese parents...

 was named Art Director. Writers and artists on the project included Deborah Gregory
Deborah Gregory
Deborah Gregory is the author of the popular book series The Cheetah Girls. She is also the producer of the Disney Channel Original Movies The Cheetah Girls and The Cheetah Girls 2 and was an executive producer for The Cheetah Girls: One World....

 (who later created Disney's Cheetah Girls), Arthur Suydam
Arthur Suydam
Arthur Suydam is an American comic book artist and musician. He has done artwork for magazines including Heavy Metal, Epic Illustrated and National Lampoon, while his comic book work includes Batman, Conan, Tarzan, Predator, Aliens, Death Dealer, and Marvel Zombies.-Illustration:Suydam has...

 (who went to later fame with Marvel Zombies
Marvel Zombies
Marvel Zombies is a five-issue limited series published from December 2005 to April 2006 by Marvel Comics. The series was written by Robert Kirkman with art by Sean Phillips and covers by Arthur Suydam. It was the first series in the Marvel Zombies series of related stories...

), Walter Moore, and others. The project was developed with the consistent involvement of DC Comics President and Mad Magazine Publisher Jenette Kahn
Jenette Kahn
Jenette Kahn is an American comic book editor and executive. She joined DC Comics in 1976 as publisher, and five years later was promoted to President. In 1989, she stepped down as publisher and assumed the title of Editor-in-Chief while retaining the office of president...

. Warner publishing eventually decided that BAD was too edgy for America’s newsstands and The project was re-conceived as an animation project for HBO and then disappeared into development hell. During the period in which Bad was developed, members of the team also worked on the initial development of Warner's Green Lantern (film). Bad partner and co-editor, Danny Simmons
Danny Simmons
Daniel " Simmons, Jr. is an abstract expressionist painter. Older brother of hip-hop impressario Russell Simmons and rapper Joseph Simmons , he is the co-founder and Chairman of Rush Philanthropic Arts Foundation which provides disadvantaged urban youth with arts access and education...

, was eventually appointed by The New York Art's Council as chief budget liaison to The New York State Governor's Office.

Forbidden Zone Magazine

In 1999 Weisfeld was named Managing Editor of another glossy comics magazine, Forbidden Zone. The publication was designed to present new trademark characters and compete with Heavy Metal Magazine on the newsstand. Forbidden Zone published only one issue but this was packed with top comic book and fantasy art talent: Simon Bisley
Simon Bisley
Simon Bisley is a British comics artist best known for his 1990s work on ABC Warriors, Lobo and Sláine. His style, reliant on paints, acrylics, inks and multiple-mediums, is strongly influenced by Frank Frazetta, Bill Sienkiewicz, Gustav Klimt, Salvador Dalí, Egon Schiele, and Richard Corben...

, Richard Corben
Richard Corben
Richard Corben is an American illustrator and comic book artist best known for his comics featured in Heavy Metal magazine...

, Arthur Suydam
Arthur Suydam
Arthur Suydam is an American comic book artist and musician. He has done artwork for magazines including Heavy Metal, Epic Illustrated and National Lampoon, while his comic book work includes Batman, Conan, Tarzan, Predator, Aliens, Death Dealer, and Marvel Zombies.-Illustration:Suydam has...

, Joe Linsner, Larry Stroman
Larry Stroman
Larry Stroman is an American comic book artist and writer. After first gaining attention illustrating the Epic Comics series Alien Legion , he went on to illustrate various Marvel Comics books such as The Uncanny X-Men, X-Factor, Ghost Rider Larry Stroman is an American comic book artist and...

, John Cebollero and others. Before publication of the first issue, Forbidden Zone Magazine parent Galaxy Entertainment sank into (tech-bubble) fatal financial trouble.

Industry Of War

In 2004, Industry Of War, a comic book property co-created by Jordan Raskin and Horatio Weisfeld (back in 1993), was optioned for film by Alien
Alien (film)
Alien is a 1979 science fiction horror film directed by Ridley Scott and starring Tom Skerritt, Sigourney Weaver, Veronica Cartwright, Harry Dean Stanton, John Hurt, Ian Holm and Yaphet Kotto. The film's title refers to its primary antagonist: a highly aggressive extraterrestrial creature which...

, Total Recall
Total Recall
Total Recall is a 1990 American science fiction action film. The film stars Arnold Schwarzenegger, Rachel Ticotin, Sharon Stone, Michael Ironside, Ronny Cox & Mel Johnson, Jr.. It is based on the Philip K. Dick story “We Can Remember It for You Wholesale”...

, Minority Report producer Ronald Shusett
Ronald Shusett
Ronald Shusett is a motion picture screenwriter and producer, usually in the science fiction genre.He wrote the original story for Alien with Dan O'Bannon....

. The Deal received major coverage in Variety
Variety (magazine)
Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...

and Hollywood Reporter, among other media outlets. In the Variety article, Industry Of War was referred to as "… a high-concept Jerry Bruckheimer
Jerry Bruckheimer
Jerome Leon "Jerry" Bruckheimer is an American film and television producer. He has achieved great success in the genres of action, drama, and science fiction. His best known television series are CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, CSI: Miami, CSI: NY, Eleventh Hour, Without a Trace, Cold Case, The...

 action-thriller, but with a sci-fi twist." Image Comics
Image Comics
Image Comics is a United States comic book publisher. It was founded in 1992 by high-profile illustrators as a venue where creators could publish their material without giving up the copyrights to the characters they created, as creator-owned properties. It was immediately successful, and remains...

 later published a comic book series based on the property.

Weisfeld / Simmons Entertainment

In 2005, Weisfeld and Danny Simmons
Danny Simmons
Daniel " Simmons, Jr. is an abstract expressionist painter. Older brother of hip-hop impressario Russell Simmons and rapper Joseph Simmons , he is the co-founder and Chairman of Rush Philanthropic Arts Foundation which provides disadvantaged urban youth with arts access and education...

 (Producer of HBO's Def Poetry Jam and Brother of mogul Russell Simmons
Russell Simmons
-External links:** * * * * * * from the US Holocaust Memorial Museum* *...

) formed Weisfeld/Simmons Entertainment. The company acquired media properties for live action and animation. In 2006, Weisfeld and Simmons developed a historical action drama to which Russell Simmons
Russell Simmons
-External links:** * * * * * * from the US Holocaust Memorial Museum* *...

 become attached as executive producer.

Heavy Metal Magazine

Starting in 2000 Weisfeld began a long term relationship with Heavy metal
Heavy Metal (magazine)
Heavy Metal is an American science fiction and fantasy comics magazine, known primarily for its blend of dark fantasy/science fiction and erotica. In the mid-1970s, while publisher Leonard Mogel was in Paris to jump-start the French edition of National Lampoon, he discovered the French...

 Magazine, for whom he developed, wrote and packaged several character driven properties and HM spin-off brands. This began with the first installment of Joe In The Future
Joe In The Future
Joe In The Future is an ongoing short story comic strip that appears in Heavy Metal. The strip is co-written by Horatio Weisfeld and Peter Koch....

, an ongoing series of short comic bbok stories, written by Weisfeld (with Peter Koch) and illustrated by Trevor Von Eeden
Trevor Von Eeden
Trevor Von Eeden is a comic book writer/artist who, known for his work on such DC Comics books as Black Lightning, Batman, and Green Arrow, as well as Marvel Comics books such as Power Man and Iron Fist, and the biographical series The Original Johnson.-Early life:According to Von Eeden, he...

. The title character, Joe, wonders through a hostile futuristic environment while doggedly searching for cigarettes (which are very hard to acquire in the future) and loose women, and often comes into violent difficulty with a variety of deranged humans, robots, mutants, etc., who seek to disrupt Joe’s notably narrow agenda. The series' intimate, day in the life concerns amount to a parody/dig at the "world at stake pretentiousness" of other loner-in-the future type stories, such as Blade Runner -while providing the expected hard hitting scenes of violence and sex with (the expected) detective style first person narration. The series has received good reviews and (despite an infrequent schedule) developed a cult following. Heavy Metal ran the first Joe In The Future story in 2001, and the most recent episode in mid 2010.

http://www.metaltv.com/images/channels/magazine/0107/05.html
http://www.heavymetal.com/shm/images/channels/magazine/0910/images/08.jpg

In 2007, Weisfeld began developing an illustrated text format for Heavy Metal magazine. Painted artwork for the initial segment (Slaughter of the Exterminators) was completed by film production designer, Rafael Kayanan
Rafael Kayanan
Rafael Kayanan is a Filipino-born naturalised American comic book artist and Filipino Martial Arts master in the Sayoc Kali system.-Biography:...

 (The Hunted
The Hunted
The Hunted may refer to:* The Hunted , film noir featuring a woman just out of prison after a jail heist* The Hunted , directed by J. F...

, Confessions of a Dangerous Mind
Confessions of a Dangerous Mind
Confessions of a Dangerous Mind is a 2002 biographical spy film depicting the life of popular game show host and producer Chuck Barris, who claimed to have also been an assassin for the Central Intelligence Agency...

, John Carter of Mars
John Carter of Mars (film)
John Carter is a 2012 American epic science fiction film featuring John Carter, the heroic protagonist of Edgar Rice Burroughs' 11-volume Barsoom series. In the film, former Confederate captain John Carter is transported to Mars...

). The finished story appeared in Jan. 2009 issue of HM. During this period Kayanan was also involved in the design of Julie Taymor
Julie Taymor
Julie Taymor is an American director of theater, opera and film. Taymor's work has received many accolades from critics, and she has earned two Tony Awards out of four nominations, the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Costume Design, an Emmy Award and an Academy Award nomination for Original Song...

's Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark
Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark
Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark is a rock musical with music and lyrics by U2's Bono and The Edge and a book by Julie Taymor, Glen Berger, and Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa. The musical is based on the Spider-Man comics created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko, published by Marvel Comics, as well as the 2002...

. The Slaughter artwork is high-end digital artwork grounded in master painting technique.

http://www.heavymetal.com/shm/images/channels/magazine/0109/10.html
http://www.imagecoast.com/images/joe2/oe8.jpg

The Heavy Metal Magazine illustrated text format become the model for a spin off project, Heavy Metal Pulp, a line of illustrated science fiction novels published by Tor books
Tor Books
Tor Books is one of two imprints of Tom Doherty Associates LLC, based in New York City. It is noted for its science fiction and fantasy titles. Tom Doherty Associates also publishes mainstream fiction, mystery, and occasional military history titles under its Forge imprint. The company was founded...

, beginning in 2010.

Weisfeld's later "illustrated text" stories in Heavy Metal Magazine included the concluding chapter for the long running Joe In The Future series (this installment with painted art by The Pratt Institute
Pratt Institute
Pratt Institute is a private art college in New York City located in Brooklyn, New York, with satellite campuses in Manhattan and Utica. Pratt is one of the leading undergraduate art schools in the United States and offers programs in Architecture, Graphic Design, History of Art and Design,...

's head of illustration, Floyd Hughes) and a black comedy, The Holo-Marketeer, about the grim and frightening world of a futuristic salesman (with artwork by Trevor Von Eeden
Trevor Von Eeden
Trevor Von Eeden is a comic book writer/artist who, known for his work on such DC Comics books as Black Lightning, Batman, and Green Arrow, as well as Marvel Comics books such as Power Man and Iron Fist, and the biographical series The Original Johnson.-Early life:According to Von Eeden, he...

). http://www.heavymetal.com/shm/images/channels/magazine/0111/06.html
The stories show different views of a near future descending into violence and apocalyptic disorder.

In 2011 Weisfeld developed another addition to the Heavy Metal Magazine brand with the creation of Metal Media, a news and personality section featuring unseen film pre-production art, profiles, movie design reviews and other material related to science fiction and fantasy entertainment. The initial section spotlighted the work of film pre-production artist Rafael Kayanan
Rafael Kayanan
Rafael Kayanan is a Filipino-born naturalised American comic book artist and Filipino Martial Arts master in the Sayoc Kali system.-Biography:...

 and discussed Kayanan's character designs for director Tarsem's Immortals (2011 film)
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