FantaCo Enterprises began in 1978 as a mail order company and comic book store located at 21 Central Avenue in Albany. The company made its mark in the early 1980s with
The Hembeck Series, seven volumes of comics by
Fred Hembeck. These magazine-sized black-and-white books poked loving fun at the mainstream comics industry, with Hembeck himself appearing as a cartoon interlocutor with the
superheroes he interviewed. During this period, FantaCo also published
The Fantaco Chronicles Series, edited by Mitch Cohn and Roger Green, which exhaustively documented popular
Marvel Comics titles such as the
X-Men,
Fantastic Four,
Daredevil,
Avengers, and
Spider-Man. A two-issue series was published during this period,
Gates of Eden, which featured comics about the 1960s by an impressive array of talent, including
John Byrne,
Steve Leialoha,
Michael T. Gilbert,
Trina Robbins, Hembeck,
Foolbert Sturgeon,
P. Craig Russell,
Rick Geary and
Spain Rodriguez. 1986 saw the debut of the horror anthology
Gore Shriek, initially edited by Skulan, and later issues by
Stephen R. Bissette, who also contributed stories to each issue. Besides Skulan and Bissette, other
Gore Shriek creators of note included
Greg Capullo,
Bruce Spaulding Fuller,
Eric Stanway and
Gurchain Singh.
Gore Shriek Volume 1 ran for three years, and is still fondly remembered by horror fans as one of the top comics in that genre.
Gore Shriek Delectus (1989) collects much of the best material from the first volume. FantaCo revived
Gore Shriek in 1990 and started a new line of horror and zombie-related titles and one-shots. This period was noteworthy for the career jump-starts it gave to young creators like
Chynna Clugston (
Bloodletting),
Steve Niles (
Night of the Living Dead: London), and
Jim Whiting (
King of the Dead,
Kill Me Slowly,
Scab, and
Uptown Zombies). From about 1995, the company's titles shifted to the
good girl art of
Tom Simonton's
Amazon Woman comics, and titillating titles like
Babes & Biomechanics,
Lady Dracula, and
Dead Chicks in Lace: Bloodletting Lingerie Special.
FantaCo/Tundra From 1991 to 1994, the company co-published a number of
Kevin Eastman projects with Eastman's company
Tundra Press. Books under the FantaCo/Tundra imprint included
Infectious,
No Guts or Glory, and
Zombie War. These projects petered out once Tundra folded in 1993. (Eastman and Skulan revived
Zombie War in full color under the
IDW Publishing imprint, with a graphic novel released in the summer of 2014.)
Books and magazines FantaCo published books and magazines in addition to comics. Their first book being
Mug Shots in 1980, a book of cartoons by
John Caldwell. Later on, FantaCo published more trade books on the subjects of horror films;
splatter films;
exploitation films; an early guide to horror, science fiction, and fantasy films on videocassette; and even a straight-ahead horror novel,
Ninth and Hell Street. John McCarty authored three books published by FantaCo, and
Chas Balun wrote four. In a similar horror vein, they put out the
FantaCo Horror Yearbook and Price Guide every year from 1978 until 1996; magazines like
Barbara Steele: An Angel for Satan,
Demonique 4, and the
Comics Enquirer; twelve issues of
Dread: The Official Clive Barker Newsletter in 1992–1993; and Clive Barker and
Zombie War commemorative card sets. The book
Amazon Women: The Art of Tom Simonton, edited by
Tim D'Allaird, was FantaCo's final publication in the 1990s, right on the eve of their storefront closure in 1998. Mr. Skulan went into semi-retirement and FantaCo Enterprises remained dormant until 2013.
FantaCon FantaCo owner Thomas Skulan also hosted
FantaCon, a popular Albany-area
horror convention and
comic book convention that was preferred by many to the "over-crowded
Fangoria events." FantaCons lasted from 1979 to 1990, skipping only the years 1982 and 1984–1987. After a 23-year hiatus, Skulan launched FantaCon's revival, which took place on September 14 and 15, 2013, at the Marriott Hotel in Albany. The City of Albany, including Mayor
Jerry Jennings, wholeheartedly embraced and promoted the event with two additional days of events on September 12 and 13. Mayor Jennings kicked off the event at The Palace Theatre, followed by the official 45th-anniversary showing of the original 1968 cult classic film
Night of the Living Dead. Following the film, some of the original cast members (Russ Streiner,
Judith O'Dea, George Kosana,
Judith Ridley,
John A. Russo and Kyra Schon) came on stage for an intimate Q&A session.
Storefront closure With the mid-1990s bursting of the
speculation bubble, combined with the decline in demand for comic books, in general, in conjunction with an untenable situation with a large corporate distributor, Skulan decided to close the storefront. FantaCo's mail order operations continued. In 2016 FantaCo Publishing was revived with the publication of ''Smilin' Ed Comics'', in honor of FantaCo co-founder Raoul Vezina. The company currently publishes about one title per month. ==Comic book titles (chronologically)==