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.

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.)

However, it was learned later (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 Comics) announced by 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 and pay people owed money.

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 In May 2006, Diamond Comic Distributors's monthly list of cancelled comics listed all the remaining unpublished Speakeasy comics, with the terminal cancel code 10 ("Supplier Out of Business").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.
 * 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, however this has not been verified.
 * 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.

Publications
During its operation, Speakeasy Comics:


 * Published numerous comics series in monthly magazines (such as The Grimoire #1-7, a modernization of Beowulf #1-7, Gatesville Company #1-2, Spellgame #1-3, Hero At Large #1-2, Helios: In With the New #1-2, Athena Voltaire: Flight of the Falcon #1, etc.).
 * Had published comics series which later went to other venues before Speakeasy's demise (such as Atomika #1-4, Rocketo #1-6, Of Bitter Souls #1-3, Mutation #1-3, Smoke & Mirror #1-2, Super Crazy TNT Blast #1, Lonebow #1, Wargod #1, Adventures of Bio Boy #1-2, The Hunger #1-5).
 * Had published the web comic Butternutsquash.net as a quarterly title. Butternutsquash #1 was published in November 2005 but the second issue was never solicited due to the company closure.
 * Had announced or solicited comics series which went to other venues before publication (such as Strangeways, Project Eon, Silent Ghost, O.C.T. - the Occult Crimes Taskforce).
 * Intended to collect some series in trade paperbacks when sufficient material had been created, however all solicited TPBs were eventually cancelled (such as Atomika Volume 1, Grimoire Volume 1, Beowulf Volume 1). Usually didn't reprint sold-out monthly issues, except for Atomika #1.

Also, on a business model not unlike that of Image Comics, they:


 * Collected out-of-print creator-owned comics series (such as 2020 Visions #1-12 previously serialized at DC/Vertigo, the first miniseries of Phantom Jack #1-5 previously serialized at Image Comics, or Elk's Run #1-3 Collected Edition previously self-published).
 * Had started publishing creator-owned independent series (such as hosting the previously self-published Elk's Run (for #4 only), or the second miniseries of Phantom Jack: The Nowhere Man Agenda (for #1 only), etc.).
 * Published original graphic novels (such as Parting Ways: the Near Life Experiences of Peter Orbach by Andrew Foley, or The Living And The Dead) and graphic novellas (such as Rich Johnston's The Flying Friar).

Circulation
Speakeasy titles had sales judged disappointing by some. 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