Newsarama reports that Vampirella, the scantily-clad but long-running horror fixture, has been acquired by Fangoria’s fledgling comics line.
At the Fangoria Weekend of Horrors convention held this past weekend in San Jose, CA, Fangoria Comics Editor-in-Chief Scott Licina announced that the fledgling comic company had acquired the character of Vampirella, which had previously been at Harris Comics.
When asked if this was a licensing deal through Harris, Licina reiterated that it was an out and out acquisition of the character, and all future Vampirella comics would be coming out under the Fangoria Comics banner.
Vampirella was, of course, previously published by Harris Comics. Does this mean that Harris is out of the comics business entirely? What about the Vampirella archives, which go back to 1969? The character was created by Forrest J. Ackerman (with costume design by a young Trina Robbins) and was published as part of Warren’s early 70s B&W horror line before going to Harris in the 80s. Vampi hit paydirt with the variant-cover boom of the early 90s before settling in to more of a “guest appearance” spot at Harris. So, the character has a lot of history and staying power if nothing else.
Developing.
UPDATE: Hm. We contacted Harris Executive Publisher Jonathan Rheingold for comment and he said the story is “Not factual.”
Well, when we said developing, we meant…DEVELOPING.
Nothing on Fango’s website, which is updated daily. It would make sense for Fangoria to try to acquire Vampirella outright, as they are developing their own DVD line, as well, but I’d be surprised if Starlog Group et al. had pockets deep enough to attempt that move. Adrienne Barbeau was at the con, right? Maybe someone got confused.
“Developing”? Vampirella already looks pretty, um, developed to me…
…I’ll get my coat.
Has anybody talked to Jim Warren about this? I seem to recall he had some dispute over what Harris did and didn’t own in terms of Vampirella.
According to the newsarama source, Fangoria has had new owners for the past couple of years, hence the new Sirius Radio station, the TV stuff, the Chainsaw awards on Fuse last year, the comics, new films, ect.
Looks like money isn’t the issue. Except maybe for Harris.
The Head Editor at Fango still claims they own Vampi. Hear it for yourself at :
http://stunpodcast.wordpress.com/licina-scott-21207-new/
This was made on 2/12/07.
I was googling and found your blog looking for 80s Music Video Dvd, I thought that this post, Vampi to Fangoria — UPDATE, was right in line with my own thoughts on the matter.