Hermes Press

Hermes Press is an American publisher of art books, comic books, and comic book reprints. The company was founded in 2000 and is best known for their archival reprints of classic comic book and strip series and art books.

Hermes Press

Founded	2000
Headquarters location	New Castle, Pennsylvania, US
Distribution	Diamond Book Distributors[1]
Key people	Daniel Herman, Publisher, Troy Musguire, Production Manager, Eileen Herman, Managing Editor, Alissa Fisher, Graphic Designer, Moose, Office Dog
Publication types	Comics
Official website	www.hermespress.com

History

Hermes Press was formed in 2000 by Daniel Herman. It is located in New Castle, Pennsylvania. In its first years of operation it published a limited amount of special-interest books: Gil Kane: Art of the Comics, written by Herman (2001); Gil Kane: Art and Interviews" (2002); "Bill Sienkiewicz: Precursor" (2002); "Works of Art: Joe Chiodo" (2003). From there Herman focused on comic strip series reprints (Star Hawks, Buck Rogers, The Phantom, et al), and later comic book series reprints and newly commissioned comic book adaptations and other original works.

In 2009 Hermes Press entered into an agreement with Dan Curtis Productions to reprint the Gold Key comic of Dark Shadows, signifying Hermes's entrance into large-scale reprints, followed closely by their agreement with King Features Syndicate to reprint The Phantom.[2]

The company was initially known for popular culture art books such as Works of Art: Joe Chiodo (2003) and Bill Sienkiewicz: Precursor (2004), and later moved on to reprints of famous comic book strips, such as Gil Kane and Ron Goulart's Star Hawks: The Complete Series (2004).[3]

Art Books

Hermes Press has published several books on art and artists, including traditional mediums such as pin-up art to movie poster art, and including Joe Chiodo and Carl Lundgren.[4][5]

In 2016 Hermes produced a monograph of the art of Alex Raymond, the creator of Secret Agent X-9 and Rip Kirby, among many others.[6] The essay in the book was written by comics historian Ron Goulart.[7]

Series Reprints

Hermes Press has reprinted comics such as Mike Hammer, Dark Shadows, Alex Toth's Zorro, and George Wunder's Terry and the Pirates. In 2015 Hermes announced their reprint of Lee Falk's first comic creation, Mandrake the Magician, specifically the King years of the comic books.[6]

Buck Rogers

In 2008 Hermes Press began reprinting the Buck Rogers comic strip, which began syndication in 1929.[8] They also published the Murphy Anderson years independent of their sequential continuities.

Dark Shadows

Starting in 2010 Hermes Press reprinted the complete Gold Key comic book series in five volumes. [9]

Hermes also reprinted the complete run of the Ken Bald newspaper strips. [10]

In 2020 Hermes began reprinting the Paperback Library softcover novels written by Marilyn Ross.

The Phantom

In 2009 Hermes Press announced that they would begin reprinting the original comic strip continuity of The Phantom, starting with the Lee Falk's strips and continuing through the complete run of the strip.[11] Each year since Hermes has come out with at least one volume of Phantom daily strips, and has come out with two Sunday strip continuities as of 2014.[12] Each of the dailies reprints cover at least one year of continuity for the series, and the reprints are expected to continue.

In 2016 Hermes announced that they acquired the rights to reprint the Avon Phantom pocket books; they have said that it will publish bi-monthly starting in August 2016.[13]

Walt Kelly's Pogo

From 2014 to 2018 the Dell Comics comic book version of Pogo in six hardcover books. Volume's One and Two received an Eisner nomination [14]

Comics history

Besides comic reprints, Hermes Press has also published books written on comics history, such as Silver Age, which is a historical text written on the artists behind the characters created in the Silver Age of Comic Books.[15]

Hermes Press has also published a biography of Walt Kelly,[16] the creator of Pogo, a history of artist John Buscema, and other books focusing on the history of comic books.[16]

In 2007 Hermes Press published the biography of British television producer Sylvia Anderson, My FAB Years,[16] which was about her involvement in the industry. Hermes Press also published a book on Mike Trim, who created many of the models used in Thunderbirds Are GO and similar titles.[17]

In 2013 Hermes Press published a biography of artist Frank Frazetta, written by his son, which was printed in connection with Famous Monsters of Filmland.[18]

New comics

Hermes Press printed an original mini-series of The Phantom in November 2014 written by Peter David, with art by Sal Velluto, in a six-comic arc that finished in early 2016.[19]

In 2019 Hermes published an original graphic novel, Mother Goth Rhymes, which was a collection of "revisited nursery rhymes with dark, gothic twists."[20] It premiered at the San Diego Comic Con.

Publications

Main article: List of Hermes Press publications

Award Nominations

2015 Eisner Awards "Best Archival Collection/Project—Comic Books (at least 20 Years Old)": Walt Kelly’s Pogo: The Complete Dell Comics, vols. 1–2, edited by Daniel Herman[21]

2015 Cybils Awards "Graphic Novels Elementary/Middle": Scratch9 Cat of Nine Worlds, written by Rob Worley.[22]

2016 Diamond Gem Awards "2016 Trade Book of the Year": The Art of Jim Davis' Garfield [23]

2018 Eisner Awards "Best Archival Collection/Project– Comic Strip (at least 20 Years Old)": Sky Masters of the Space Force: the Complete Dailies 1958-1961, edited by Daniel Herman [24]

References

1. Our Publishers
2. Katz, Scott. "US Townhall RealStories presents Dan Herman of HERMES PRESS". US Town Hall. Retrieved 9 September 2013.
3. Herman, Daniel. "Hermes Press". Hermes Press. Retrieved 9 September 2013.
4. "JOE CHIODO: GIRLS, GIRLS, GIRLS! SC". PREVIEWS. Diamond Comic Distributors. Retrieved 29 May 2015.
5. "'THE PSYCHEDELIC ROCK ART OF CARL LUNDGREN' Rock 'n' Roll Poster Collection From Hermes Press". ICv2. ICv2. Retrieved 29 May 2015.
6. Griepp, Milton. "ALEX RAYMOND, MANDRAKE, AND WWII WOMEN IN COMICS BY TRINA ROBBINS". ICv2. ICv2. Retrieved 11 November 2015.
7. Spurgeon, Tom. "Bundled, Tossed, Untied And Stacked: Publishing News". The Comics Reporter. Retrieved 11 November 2015.
8. "Buck Rogers in the 25th Century Dailies". Comic Vine. Retrieved 19 May 2015.
9. "Hermes Press Reprints The Complete "Dark Shadows" Series". Comic Book Resources. CBR. Retrieved 6 March 2020.
10. "Lara Parker signed Dark Shadows hardcover announced". The Collinsport Historical Society. The Collinsport Historical Society. Retrieved 6 March 2020.
11. "Books: The Phantom". Hermes Press. 1936-02-17. Archived from the original on 2011-07-11. Retrieved 2011-02-28.
12. "The Phantom: The Complete Newspaper Dailies". ComicVine. ComicVine. Retrieved 27 October 2014.
13. Overlord, Robot. "[BOOKS] HERMES PRESS TO RELEASE THE PHANTOM THE COMPLETE AVON POCKET BOOKS". Major Spoilers. Major Spoilers. Retrieved 8 June 2016.
14. ASSELIN, JANELLE. "2015 EISNER AWARD NOMINATIONS ANNOUNCED". Comics Alliance. Comics Alliance. Retrieved 12 May 2020.
15. Knowles, Chris (2007). Our Gods Wear Spandex: The Secret History of Comic Book Heroes. Weiser Books. pp. 137–138. ISBN 1578634067.
16. "Hermes Press". Hermes Press. Retrieved 15 October 2013.
17. "The Future Was FAB". Hermes Press. Retrieved 15 October 2013.
18. "SDCC'13: Hermes Press announces ultimate Frazetta book". Major Spoilers. Retrieved 9 September 2013.
19. Herman, Daniel. "Hermes Press- The Phantom Issue 1". YouTube. Retrieved 27 October 2014.
20. Windness, Kaz. "Mother Goth". Mother Goth Rhymes. Hermes Press. Retrieved 23 October 2018.
21. "2015 Eisner Award Nominations". Comic-Con.org. Archived from the original on 13 June 2015. Retrieved 22 April 2015.
22. "2015 Nominations: Graphic Novels". Cybils. Retrieved 3 December 2015.
23. "Diamond Comics Publishers Of The Year – The 2016 Gem Awards Results (UPDATE)". Bleeding Coolaccessdate=7 May 2017.
24. "2018 Eisner Award Nominations". Comic-Con.org. Retrieved 27 April 2018.