has multiple issues . please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page . learn how and when to remove these template messages this article contains content that is written like an advertisement . please help improve it by removing promotional content and inappropriate external links and by adding encyclopedic content written from a neutral point of view . august 2011 learn how and when to remove this template message this article s tone or style may not reflect the encyclopedic tone used on wikipedia . see wikipedia s guide to writing better articles for suggestions . august 2011 learn how and when to remove this template message the topic of this article may not meet wikipedia s notability guidelines for companies and organizations . please help to establish notability by citing reliable secondary sources that are independent of the topic and provide significant coverage of it beyond its mere trivial mention . if notability can not be established the article is likely to be merged redirected or deleted . find sources checker book publishing group news newspapers books scholar jstor free images december 2012 learn how and when to remove this template message this article relies too much on references to primary sources . please improve this by adding secondary or tertiary sources . december 2012 learn how and when to remove this template message some of this article s listed sources may not be reliable . please help this article by looking for better more reliable sources . unreliable citations may be challenged or deleted . december 2012 learn how and when to remove this template message learn how and when to remove this template message checker book publishing group type private industry publishers of comics reprints founded 2000 by mark thompson ben rangel & paul dubuc headquarters 217 byers rd. miamisburg ohio 45342 key people mark thompson publisher jason drury art director sylvia maye associate editor publicity dir . website checkerbpg.com checker book publishing group was an independent publisher of comics reprints from newspaper strips to modern out of print titles and collections from defunct publishers . however as of 2012 update checker bpg itself seems to be defunct . contents 1 history 1.1 checker comics 1.2 checkerbpg inc. 1.3 reprints & rights 1.4 checkerbpg s role 1.5 reproduction 1.6 worldwide distribution 2 published works 2.1 newspaper reprints 2.1.1 dick tracy 2.1.2 flash gordon 2.1.3 little nemo in slumberland 2.2 other collections 2.3 newspaper strips 2.3.1 winsor mccay 2.3.2 flash gordon 2.3.3 format 2.4 supreme 3 further reviews and criticism 4 customer complaints 5 coming soon 5.1 crossgen 6 notes 7 references 8 external links history edit based in miamisburg near dayton ohio checkerbpg was established in 2000 by mark thompson paul dubuc and ben rangel in order to bring back into print dormant unpublished and under published serial comics and cartooning . 1 2 checker comics edit checkerbpg s publisher mark thompson b. 1967 68 graduated from miami university with a business degree and worked for a newspaper before starting his first comics company checker comics in 1997 . 2 based in the oregon district checker comics published original works including danger ranger and mutator before becoming one of many victim of the collapse of the comics speculator bubble in the late 1990s . he is also a right wing extremist who routinely spews hate filled ignorant lies at people on facebook who disagree with his warped view of the world . checkerbpg inc. edit checker book publishing was incorporated in 2001 and set to work collecting individual comics content into single collections which are printed at an outside press but shipped in house after difficulties with outside distribution . over the next five years checker published 43 titles . sales between 2003 and 2004 doubled as checker s output increased . between 2004 and 2005 two of checker s co founders departed the company and in 2010 thompson decided to team up with josh blaylock of devils due publishing to create devil s due digital inc. reprints & rights edit while thompson was setting up checkerbpg he compiled a wish list of 900 comic books and strips and began contacting people who owned the rights . 2 investigating the works of winsor mccay at the cincinnati public library where mccay worked as well as in new york thompson expected to obtain hard to reprint microfilm artwork but instead discovered that the library owned bound original print copies . 2 where original artwork is unavailable as is the case with much of checkerbpgs output print copies are the next best thing and thompson and his employees were and are able to scan the artwork and spend on average a month removing signs of aging before taking around three months to actually compile and print each of their volumes . 2 as well as publishing over a dozen volumes showcasing the works of little nemo in slumberland creator winsor mccay thompson was also able to negotiate with ohio native milton caniff s nephew and executor harry guyton for the rights to caniff s steve canyon . typically checker is able to negotiate based on a cash advance and a percentage of sales approaching the industry standard of 5 percent . 2 other reprint rights of older material secured by checker include dick tracy alex raymond s flash gordon the gold key star trek comics and johnny hart s b.c. as well as works by theodor seuss geisel . ultimately thompson hopes to branch out from straight reprints to again form imprints to publish original works possibly catering to the christian and alternative comic markets . 2 checkerbpg s role edit star trek vol . 3 checkerbpg was set up to fill a perceived gap in the market since thompson felt that t he large book publishing houses do not completely understand comics and the majority of comics publishers are not well versed in the complexities of the book trade . he therefore set out to bring comics back into print with high production standards and worldwide distribution to better appeal to a wider audience . 3 citing a combined experience of 15 years of book publicity and promotional experience in the fields of marketing and pr checker aims to consistently maintain a high profile in print and online advertising running adverts in such noted comics and book sources as wizard comics buyer s guide comics retailer library journal publishers weekly and previews . 4 reproduction edit checker claims to be able to produce high quality work from a variety of source materials integral when trying to put together hundred year old newspaper strips but also important when such recent comics as supreme the return turned out to missing computer files and negatives . 5 checker prides itself on being able to work from older digital files film and even printed material building digital files and in many cases restoring the original artwork for quality reproduction . 6 checker also promises to provide copies of the digital files they create to the original rights holders for the sake of posterity . 7 worldwide distribution edit checkerbpg is represented in the us be distributor midpoint trade books who also deal with warp graphics elfquest collections which deals on their behalf with bookstores such as barnes & noble borders and books a million while diamond book distributors fm international and cold cut distribution deal with comicshop distribution and some independent booksellers and libraries . 8 in great britain europe and the former british empire including australasia checker is represented by turnaround publisher services while canada is stocked with checker titles by hushion house publishing who also represent graphic novel publisher nbm . 9 10 checker s in house distribution network sells to amazon.com buy.com and the science fiction book club and also withholds foreign language rights to its licensed titles . recently italian rights to clive barker s hellraiser were awarded to lexy production of terni italy . 11 published works edit checkerbpg launched with its november 2001 release of chuck dixon s alien legion force nomad which thompson called the perfect title to launch with highlighting checker s intentions to go back and rescue worthy comic book properties which lived and died in the era before the graphic novel format had taken hold and to keep them available to the public in a durable good looking complete format . 12 other early titles included clive barker s hellraiser and his eisner award nominated anthology tapping the vein . thompson also managed to negotiate the reprint rights to topps comics x files comics as well as a couple of volumes of alan moore s awesome comics work two volumes of his supreme as well as the ultimately aborted universe relaunching mini series judgment day . newspaper reprints edit checkerbpg s status in reprinting archive and long out of print material began in november 2003 with their first collection of winsor mccay s early works max allan collins dick tracy work and the first volume of milton caniff s steve canyon 1947 . by summer 2007 eight volumes of each were in print . 13 further volumes of mccay s works including dream of the rarebit fiend and his editorial works have also seen print alongside the first of two collection of his little nemo in slumberland strips . see below . dick tracy edit when chester gould retired from writing and drawing the dick tracy newspaper strip in late 1977 it fell to crime writer max allan collins to take up the writing reins with gould s assistant rick fletcher on art until his death in 1983 when dick locher took over until 1993 . 14 checkerbpg released their first of several volume of collins tracy works in november 2003 as dick tracy the collins casefiles volume 1 and a second and third volume followed within a year . reprinted in the regular trade paperback format checker s volumes print three daily strips per page with the sunday strips in the first volume chopped up losing the logo and rogues gallery headers some of these were subsequently included as separate extras in volume 2 . 15 volume 1 nov 2003 collects max allan collin s tracy writing debut covering the rough period of january december 1978 . volume 2 may 2004 collects the dick tracy strips originally published during 1979 . volume 3 nov 2004 collects the strips from january 6 1980 to january 17 1981 . checker s press release announcing volume 3 claimed that the first two volumes had met with across the board positive response from critics to consumers quoting favourable reviews from suspended animation and booklist . 16 although re stating their intention that strips from 1978 1989 are to see reprint in multiple volumes 16 no further volumes have been solicited or released . this could simply mean that subsequent volumes are on indefinite hold while checker focuses its efforts elsewhere . flash gordon edit between june 2004 and january 2007 checker reprinted in seven volumes the complete flash gordon sunday strips of alex raymond . these strips had been previously collected in colour by kitchen sink press but had been out of print for several years . volume 1 jun 2004 collects raymond s earliest sunday strips starting from the first printed on january 7 1934 . volume 2 aug 2004 collects strips from 1935 and 1936 . volume 3 mar 2005 collects the pages printed between october 25 1936 and august 1 1937 . volume 4 oct 2005 collects strips printed between 1938 and 1940 . volume 5 nov 2005 collects the ice kingdom of mongo power men of mongo and the fall of ming ; 1940 to 1941 . volume 6 dec 2006 collects the pages printed from august 1941 to may 1943 . volume 7 jan 2007 collects the final strips from mid 1943 until the final raymond issue from february 1945 . little nemo in slumberland edit