references to primary sources . please improve this by adding secondary or tertiary sources . february 2008 learn how and when to remove this template message caliber comics type comic publisher industry comics founded 1989 founder gary reed headquarters wayne county michigan key people gary reed jim pruett parent stabur corporation subsidiaries gauntlet iconografix new worlds tapestry comics website official website caliber comics or caliber press is an american comic book publisher founded in 1989 by gary reed . featuring primarily creator owned comics in the next decade caliber published over 1300 comics and ranked as one of the america s leading independent publishers . after ceasing publishing in 2000 caliber resumed publishing in 2014 focusing primarily on original graphic novels and collections of previously released material . 1 contents 1 history 1.1 beginnings 1.2 expansion 1.3 stabur merger and further expansion 1.4 decline and demise 1.5 attempted relaunch 2 selected titles 3 imprints titles selected 3.1 tome press 3.2 new worlds 3.3 gauntlet 3.4 iconografix 3.5 tapestry press 4 references 5 external links history edit beginnings edit gary reed who previously owned a chain of bookstores began publishing with the release of two titles acquired from arrow comics deadworld and the realm . other initial launches included caliber presents featuring the work of vince locke mark bloodworth tim vigil james o barr and guy davis ; the first issue of baker street co created by reed and guy davis ; and the initial appearance of o barr s the crow . expansion edit reed arranged with pocket classics a series of illustrated books similar in design to classics illustrated to be released to the direct market via caliber press . over forty titles were distributed . the interest in literary works continued for caliber when in 1991 the new imprint tome press was launched . tome featured historical and biographical material in addition to literature . over 65 different tome press titles would be released on subjects as diverse as the russian revolution the alamo amelia earhart el cid jack london stories reprints of classic art print series and dozens of others . after its initial launch caliber expanded by bringing in new creators and projects . jim calafiore was first published with his graphic novella progeny . in grafik muzik mike allred introduced his madman character kevin vanhook s frost series which was the storyline for the film released in 2002 ted slampyak s jazz age chronicles philip hester s fringe stuart immonen s playground john bergin s ashes and other titles such as go man northguard varcel s vixens and more . in the early 1990s caliber launched three new imprints gauntlet and iconografix . gauntlet was an action based line whose leading titles were u.n. force berzerker featuring work from rob liefeld and angel medina patrick zircher s samurai seven and serpent rising based on the stage play . iconografix dealt with more obscure and cutting edge material that included humor comics as well as comics often referred to as the slice of life . included here were the first issues of ed brubaker s lowlife meatcake from dame darcy bound & gagged from michael aushenker and a number of projects from dave cooper jason lutes and matt howarth . caliber had ventured into licensed comics with their early release of moontrap the science fiction film starring star trek s walter koenig and the production of a comic for troma films called frostbiter wrath of the wendigo ; but it was the full color adaptation of the rocky horror picture show written and drawn by kevin vanhook that proved the most successful . another licensed property was mechanoid invasion a 1981 rpg from palladium books made into a 3 book comic called the mechanoids beginning in spring 1991 . 2 another comic property affiliated with caliber called justice machine had also been adapted into a heroes unlimited sourcebook by palladium . this was based on the original noble comics version by gustovich in 1981 while caliber distributed the new justice machine sequel by ellis from 1989 . 3 the expansion of caliber continued with projects including michael lark s airwaves silencers from mark askwith and r. g. taylor and negative burn the anthology title that would run for 50 issues and was picked up by desperado publishing . stabur merger and further expansion edit in late 1993 caliber merged with the stabur corporation . 4 reed became president of stabur as well as staying on with caliber . caliber began to produce special comics for wal mart including the series big bang comics which later would have a long run at image comics stormquest and a number of literary adaptations including a version of frankenstein . caliber also produced some records and a specialty magazine arc for distribution outside of comics . in 1993 the principles of stabur were involved in starting up a new toy company with spawn creator todd mcfarlane . reed was named vice president of mcfarlane toys while still running stabur and caliber . jim pruett was hired to take over some of the editorial duties of caliber . reed would stay with mcfarlane toys until may 1996 . caliber expanded in the mid 1990s with titles such as david mack s kabuki brian bendis a.k.a. goldfish and jinx mark ricketts nowheresville mike carey and michael gaydos on inferno and in 1995 caliber launched the sub imprint of new worlds . new worlds titles were loosely connected and included raven chronicles helsing seeker saint germaine red diaries black mist and others . although not an actual shared universe the settings and characters could cross over with each other and often did . as caliber expanded more editorial staff was hired to handle the growing line of comics . moebius comics launched and fan favorites mr. monster and maze agency returned . caliber handled the distribution of amazing comics which featured the work of mike deodato . brian lumley s necroscope and whitley strieber s communion series were signed on for comic releases . jon sable from mike grell was announced 5 but never came out . caliber also started a new imprint in 1997 tapestry comics that featured an all ages approach . decline and demise edit as the overall comic market declined with the consolidation of the distribution system caliber slowly cut back on the number of titles . caliber found some success of producing comics that appealed outside of the usual comics market with some of the tome press titles including the sherlock holmes reader which had the majority of its sales outside of the traditional comic stores . the demise of caliber can be attributed primarily to the problems associated with the spawn powercardz game . caliber had invested heavily in time and money to launch the collectible card game and had great potential with purchase orders . however the printer of the card game was running behind in production and outsourced the collation of the game to another printer who didn t understand the random assortment of the cards . when the game appeared with improper collation the purchase orders which exceeded over two million dollars were cancelled . although a lawsuit was filed and caliber won by the time the judgment came it was too late . in addition the printer declared bankruptcy and caliber was left only with portions of the unusable product . citation needed in 2000 caliber released the last of its titles and gary reed moved on to concentrate on teaching college biology and freelance writing . many of caliber s top titles continued on with new publishers including baker street deadworld saint germaine kilroy is here negative burn raven chronicles and red diaries . reed had been reviving many of the caliber titles with reprints of collections and all new series initially from image comics then from desperado publishing and transfuzion publishing . 6 deadworld continues to be printed in new volumes via desperado but now under the idw banner . attempted relaunch edit in 2015 gary reed undertook to relaunch caliber and solicited orders in the summer of 2016 for several new and reprint publications . however he died suddenly in october 2016 . 7 selected titles edit a.k.a. goldfish alan moore s songbook ashes baker street beck & caul big bang comics black mist boston bombers brian lumley s necroscope caliber presents cavewoman rain the crow deadworld dicks disciples fire golgothika helsing inferno jinx kabuki kaos moon kilroy is here kingdom of the wicked legendlore lori lovecraft the lost magus the marquis maze agency mike deodato comics moebius comics mr. monster nature of the beast negative burn new worlds anthology nowheresville oz pakkin s land raven chronicles red diaries renfield the realm the rocky horror picture show saint germaine seeker the searchers sherlock holmes ship of fools sinergy a journey through hell spawn powercardz sudden gravity technopolis u.n. force untouchables war of the worlds whitley streiber s beyond communion world of h.p. lovecraft imprints titles selected edit tome press edit erewhon jack london s koolau the leper medieval tales murder of thomas becket pre raphaelite persuasion siege of the alamo song of the cid suppressed true spy zulunation new worlds edit black mist helsing raven chronicles the red diaries saint germaine seeker gauntlet edit berzerker samurai seven serpent rising u.n. force iconografix edit bound & gagged lowlife meatcake tapestry press edit dreamwalker explorers pakkins land patty cake references edit caliber comics announces its return comic book resources february 18 2014 history of caliber justice machine on calibercomics.info caliber merges with stabur the comics journal 163 november 1993 p. 30 . butler don august 1997 . grell resurrects jon sable . wizard 72 . p. 26 . home page for transfuzion publishing gary reed founder of caliber dies aged 60 . bleeding cool comic book movie tv news . 2016 10 03 . retrieved 2016 10 03 . external links edit official website caliber comics at the grand comics database caliber comics at the comic book db caliber comics at the big comic book database archival caliber comics official websites . v t e comic book publishers in north america active major boom studios dark horse comics dc comics dynamite entertainment idw publishing image comics marvel comics active minor aardvark vanaheim ac comics action lab comics ait planet lar alias enterprises alternative comics another rainbow publishing antarctic press arcade comics archaia entertainment archie comics aspen mlt avatar press azteca productions beyond comics black mask studios bluewater productions bongo comics group creative impulse entertainment conundrum press darby pop publishing devil s due publishing drawn and quarterly eureka productions fantagraphics books first second books hermes press kodansha usa last gasp legendary comics milestone media mirage studios nbm publishing oni press papercutz platinum studios radical comics radio comix rip off press seven seas entertainment shadowline sirius entertainment slave labor graphics tokyopop top cow productions top shelf productions udon entertainment valiant comics vertical viper comics viz media warp graphics zenescope entertainment former aircel comics all american publications american comics group atlas comics atlas seaboard comics awesome comics blackthorne publishing caliber comics catalan communications centaur publications chaos comics charlton comics harry a chesler comico comicsone continuity comics crossgen defiant comics dell comics del rey manga disney comics ec comics eclipse comics eternity comics fantaco enterprises fawcett comics fiction house first comics fox feature syndicate gladstone publishing gemstone publishing gilberton gold key comics harvey comics highwater books holyoke publishing hyperwerks innovation publishing kitchen sink press mainline publications malibu comics millennium publications nedor publishing now comics pacific comics print mint crestwood publications quality comics renegade press revolutionary comics skywald publications standard comics timely comics topps comics tundra publishing vortex comics warren publishing wildstorm retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title caliber comics & oldid 743433607 categories caliber comicsdefunct comics and manga publishing companiescomic book publishing companies of the united stateslists of comics by publisherhidden categories articles lacking reliable references from february 2008all articles lacking reliable referencesall articles with