NBM Publishing
Encyclopedia
NBM Publishing is an American
publisher of graphic novels. The company specializes in non-superhero
comic genres and has translated and published over 150 graphic novels from Europe
and Canada
, as well as several works by Americans. It publishes materials for all ages, and also publishes erotic
materials under its Eurotica and Amerotica lines.
division of Syracuse University
. In 1976, while still a Newhouse student, he founded Flying Buttress Publications, later to incorporate as Nantier, Beall, Minoustchine (NBM Publishing).
The company was among the first to introduce the concept of the European graphic novel
to American audiences. Among their first titles was Racket Rumba, a 50-page spoof of the noir
-detective
genre, written and drawn by the French artist Loro. NBM followed this with Enki Bilal
's The Call of the Stars. The company marketed these works as "graphic albums".
It took until the mid-1980s for the company to find success with such series as Vicente Segrelles
's The Mercenary and Hugo Pratt
's Corto Maltese
. NBM also became known for its reprints of classic newspaper comic strip
s. All through the 1990s NBM published translations of Franco-Belgian comics
. It was not until 1997 that NBM published their first actual comic books—in a magazine format—when they reprinted issues of Pratt's Corto Maltese in a seven-issue limited series.
In 1986, NBM created the Flying Buttress Classics Library imprint to reprint classic newspaper comic strips in both hardcover and paperback, beginning with Milton Caniff
's Terry and the Pirates
, followed by Tarzan
strips by Hal Foster and Burne Hogarth
. Wash Tubbs and Captain Easy
reprinted the entire 1924-43 run of Roy Crane
’s strip in an 18-volume series with biographical and historical commentary by Bill Blackbeard
. This series was published by NBM on a quarterly schedule from 1987 to 1992.
In 1991, NBM created the Eurotica erotic comics imprint, following that in 1995 with the Amerotica line. Leading off the Amerotica titles were "Skin Tight Orbit, Volumes 1 and 2", erotic Science Fiction anthologies written by Elaine Lee
(Starstruck). In 1994, NBM created ComicsLit, its showcase literary imprint; in 1995, they introduced ComicsLit Magazine.
NBM's website offered an outline of its approach:
's graphic novels distributor. In 1994, they officially joined the Association of Comic Store Suppliers.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
publisher of graphic novels. The company specializes in non-superhero
Superhero
A superhero is a type of stock character, possessing "extraordinary or superhuman powers", dedicated to protecting the public. Since the debut of the prototypical superhero Superman in 1938, stories of superheroes — ranging from brief episodic adventures to continuing years-long sagas —...
comic genres and has translated and published over 150 graphic novels from Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
and Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, as well as several works by Americans. It publishes materials for all ages, and also publishes erotic
Adult comics
Adult comics are comic books intended for adults. They may contain material that might be considered disturbing, horrifying, obscene, profane, immoral, and even pornographic, in contrast to the traditionally considered kid-friendly mainstream world of comics. Many adult comics, however, such as The...
materials under its Eurotica and Amerotica lines.
History
Terry Nantier (born 1957) spent his teenage years living in Paris, developing an interest in European comics. Returning to the U.S., Nantier attended the Newhouse School of CommunicationsS. I. Newhouse School of Public Communications
The S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications is the communications school at Syracuse University. It has programs in print and broadcast journalism; advertising; public relations; and television and film....
division of Syracuse University
Syracuse University
Syracuse University is a private research university located in Syracuse, New York, United States. Its roots can be traced back to Genesee Wesleyan Seminary, founded by the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1832, which also later founded Genesee College...
. In 1976, while still a Newhouse student, he founded Flying Buttress Publications, later to incorporate as Nantier, Beall, Minoustchine (NBM Publishing).
The company was among the first to introduce the concept of the European graphic novel
Graphic novel
A graphic novel is a narrative work in which the story is conveyed to the reader using sequential art in either an experimental design or in a traditional comics format...
to American audiences. Among their first titles was Racket Rumba, a 50-page spoof of the noir
Hardboiled
Hardboiled crime fiction is a literary style, most commonly associated with detective stories, distinguished by the unsentimental portrayal of violence and sex. The style was pioneered by Carroll John Daly in the mid-1920s, popularized by Dashiell Hammett over the course of the decade, and refined...
-detective
Detective
A detective is an investigator, either a member of a police agency or a private person. The latter may be known as private investigators or "private eyes"...
genre, written and drawn by the French artist Loro. NBM followed this with Enki Bilal
Enki Bilal
Enes Bilal is a French comic book creator, comics artist and film director.-Biography:Born in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, to a Slovak mother and a Bosnian father who had been Josip Broz Tito's tailor, he moved to Paris at the age of 9. At age 14, he met René Goscinny and with his encouragement applied...
's The Call of the Stars. The company marketed these works as "graphic albums".
It took until the mid-1980s for the company to find success with such series as Vicente Segrelles
Vicente Segrelles
Vicente Segrelles is a Catalan-Spanish comic book artist and writer.He was born in Barcelona.Segrelles gained popularity in Europe for his painted comic epos The Mercenary , started in 1980. Set in a medieval fantasy world, El Mercenario follows the adventures of a mercenary in his fight against...
's The Mercenary and Hugo Pratt
Hugo Pratt
Hugo Eugenio Pratt was an Italian comic book creator who was known for combining strong storytelling with extensive historical research on works such as Corto Maltese...
's Corto Maltese
Corto Maltese
Corto Maltese is a comics series featuring an eponymous character, a complex sailor-adventurer. It was created by Italian comic book creator Hugo Pratt in 1967...
. NBM also became known for its reprints of classic newspaper comic strip
Comic strip
A comic strip is a sequence of drawings arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions....
s. All through the 1990s NBM published translations of Franco-Belgian comics
Franco-Belgian comics
Franco-Belgian comics are comics that are created in Belgium and France. These countries have a long tradition in comics and comic books, where they are known as BDs, an abbreviation of bande dessinée in French and stripverhalen in Dutch...
. It was not until 1997 that NBM published their first actual comic books—in a magazine format—when they reprinted issues of Pratt's Corto Maltese in a seven-issue limited series.
In 1986, NBM created the Flying Buttress Classics Library imprint to reprint classic newspaper comic strips in both hardcover and paperback, beginning with Milton Caniff
Milton Caniff
Milton Arthur Paul Caniff was an American cartoonist famous for the Terry and the Pirates and Steve Canyon comic strips.-Biography:...
's Terry and the Pirates
Terry and the Pirates (comic strip)
Terry and the Pirates was an action-adventure comic strip created by cartoonist Milton Caniff. Captain Joseph Patterson, editor for the Chicago Tribune New York News Syndicate, had admired Caniff’s work on the children's adventure strip Dickie Dare and hired him to create the new adventure strip,...
, followed by Tarzan
Tarzan
Tarzan is a fictional character, an archetypal feral child raised in the African jungles by the Mangani "great apes"; he later experiences civilization only to largely reject it and return to the wild as a heroic adventurer...
strips by Hal Foster and Burne Hogarth
Burne Hogarth
Burne Hogarth was an American cartoonist, illustrator, educator, author and theoretician, best known for his pioneering work on the Tarzan newspaper comic strip and his series of anatomy books.-Biography:...
. Wash Tubbs and Captain Easy
Wash Tubbs
Wash Tubbs was a comic strip created by Roy Crane that ran from April 14, 1924 to January 10, 1988.Initially titled Washington Tubbs II, it originally was a gag-a-day strip which focused on the mundane misadventures of the title character, a bespectacled bumbler who ran a store. However, Crane soon...
reprinted the entire 1924-43 run of Roy Crane
Roy Crane
Royston Campbell Crane , who signed his work Roy Crane, was an influential American cartoonist who created the comic strip characters Wash Tubbs, Captain Easy and Buz Sawyer. He pioneered the adventure comic strip, establishing the conventions and artistic approach of that genre. Comics historian...
’s strip in an 18-volume series with biographical and historical commentary by Bill Blackbeard
Bill Blackbeard
William Elsworth Blackbeard , better known as Bill Blackbeard, was a writer-editor and the founder-director of the San Francisco Academy of Comic Art, a comprehensive collection of comic strips and cartoon art from American newspapers...
. This series was published by NBM on a quarterly schedule from 1987 to 1992.
In 1991, NBM created the Eurotica erotic comics imprint, following that in 1995 with the Amerotica line. Leading off the Amerotica titles were "Skin Tight Orbit, Volumes 1 and 2", erotic Science Fiction anthologies written by Elaine Lee
Elaine Lee
Elaine Lee is an American actor, playwright, comic book colorist and comic book writer.-Theatre:She received a 1980 Daytime EMMY nomination for her role on NBC-TV’s The Doctors and was a founding member and artistic director of Manhattan-based theatre company, Wild Hair Productions.Wild Hair began...
(Starstruck). In 1994, NBM created ComicsLit, its showcase literary imprint; in 1995, they introduced ComicsLit Magazine.
NBM's website offered an outline of its approach:
Distribution
NBM pioneered general bookstore distribution as early as 1980. In 1986, it was the first comics publisher to get a book distributor when it signed with Publishers Group West. In 1988, NMB took over its own distribution, along the way becoming Dark Horse ComicsDark Horse Comics
Dark Horse Comics is the largest independent American comic book and manga publisher.Dark Horse Comics was founded in 1986 by Mike Richardson in Milwaukie, Oregon, with the concept of establishing an ideal atmosphere for creative professionals. Richardson started out by opening his first comic book...
's graphic novels distributor. In 1994, they officially joined the Association of Comic Store Suppliers.
Titles
- The three volumes in the Attitude: The New Subversive CartoonistsAttitude: The New Subversive CartoonistsThe Attitude series of books is a series of anthologies of alternative comics, photos and artists' interviews edited by Universal Press Syndicate editorial cartoonist Ted Rall. The books were designed by J. P. Trostle, news editor of EditorialCartoonists.com. Two sequels and three spin-off titles...
series and other works by Ted RallTed RallTed Rall is an American columnist, syndicated editorial cartoonist, and author. His political cartoons often appear in a multi-panel comic-strip format and frequently blend comic-strip and editorial-cartoon conventions. The cartoons appear in approximately 100 newspapers around the United States... - Les Aventures extraordinaires d'Adèle Blanc-Sec, five volumes translated into English (1990–1992)
- Boneyard by Richard Moore
- Cities of the FantasticLes Cités ObscuresLes Cités obscures is a graphic novel series set on a Counter-Earth, started by the Belgian comics artist François Schuiten and his friend, writer Benoît Peeters in the early 1980s...
by François SchuitenFrançois SchuitenBaron François Schuiten is a Belgian comic book artist. He is best known for drawing the series Les Cités Obscures.-Biography:François Schuiten was born in Brussels, Belgium in 1956....
and Benoît PeetersBenoît PeetersBenoît Peeters is a comics writer, novelist, and critic. He has lived in Belgium since 1978.His best-known work is Les Cités Obscures, an imaginary world which mingles a Borgesian metaphysical surrealism with the detailed architectural vistas of the series' artist, François Schuiten... - Click and other works by Milo ManaraMilo ManaraMaurilio Manara – known professionally as Milo Manara – is an Italian comic book writer and artist, best known for his erotic approach to the medium.-Career:...
- Corto MalteseCorto MalteseCorto Maltese is a comics series featuring an eponymous character, a complex sailor-adventurer. It was created by Italian comic book creator Hugo Pratt in 1967...
by Hugo PrattHugo PrattHugo Eugenio Pratt was an Italian comic book creator who was known for combining strong storytelling with extensive historical research on works such as Corto Maltese...
(7 issues; 1997–1998) - Cryptozoo Crew (recently optioned for a film)
- DungeonDungeon (comics)Dungeon is a series of satirical fantasy comic books created by Joann Sfar and Lewis Trondheim, with contributions from numerous other artists and writers...
and other works by Lewis TrondheimLewis TrondheimLewis Trondheim , born 11 December 1964, is an extremely prolific French cartoonist and one of the founders of the independent publisher L'Association. Both his silent comic La Mouche and Kaput and Zösky have been made into animated cartoons... - Fantastic Art and other books of illustration by Luis RoyoLuis RoyoLuis Royo is a Spanish artist, known for his sensual and dark paintings, its apocalyptic imagery, his fantasy worlds and mechanical life forms...
- The Forever War
- Lone SloaneLone SloaneLone Sloane is a science fiction comics character created in 1966 by the French cartoonist Philippe Druillet.-Publication history:Lone Sloane's first episode was that of Druillet's very debut, Mystère des Abîmes, published in 1966. The following stories were published on the French magazine Pilote...
- Sizzle - erotic comics magazine (includes new Omaha the Cat DancerOmaha the Cat Dancer"Omaha" the Cat Dancer is an erotic comic strip created by artist Reed Waller and writer Kate Worley. Set in the fictional Mipple City, Minnesota in a universe populated by anthropomorphic funny animal characters, the strip is a soap opera which focuses on Omaha, a feline exotic dancer, and her...
) - Skin Tight Orbit, Volume 1 -erotic sci-fi by Elaine LeeElaine LeeElaine Lee is an American actor, playwright, comic book colorist and comic book writer.-Theatre:She received a 1980 Daytime EMMY nomination for her role on NBC-TV’s The Doctors and was a founding member and artistic director of Manhattan-based theatre company, Wild Hair Productions.Wild Hair began...
, with Michael Kaluta, Phil WinsladePhil Winslade-Biography:Winslade was born in Surrey in 1965 and spent a lot of time indoors as a child because of a heart murmur. His main source of entertainment were Marvel like Howard the Duck and Deathlok. However, it wasn't until he attended Birmingham Polytechnic, to study art, that the idea of working in...
, Will Simpson, others - Skin Tight Orbit, Volume 2 -erotic sci-fi by Elaine LeeElaine LeeElaine Lee is an American actor, playwright, comic book colorist and comic book writer.-Theatre:She received a 1980 Daytime EMMY nomination for her role on NBC-TV’s The Doctors and was a founding member and artistic director of Manhattan-based theatre company, Wild Hair Productions.Wild Hair began...
, with Ray Lago, Jim ShermanJames Sherman (comics)James Sherman is an artist known for his work in American comic books, movies and logos.-Career:In comics he is known for his pencil work on Legion of Super-Heroes in the late 1970s, when he took over as regular artist following Mike Grell. His run, which ended halfway during the multiple issue...
, others - A Treasury of Victorian Murder by Rick GearyRick GearyRick Geary is an American cartoonist and illustrator.-Biography:Rick Geary was born on February 25, 1946 in Kansas City, Missouri. Geary was initially introduced to comics readers with his contributions to the Heavy Metal and National Lampoon magazines...
- Wake