A look at the history of Eclipse Comics

[@daveintner4479]

I worked in Eclipse’s “warehouse” for a few years as a teenager in the late ‘80s, fulfilling mail orders. They were amazingly prolific at the time, doing things no other publisher was, and really pushing boundaries and opening up opportunities for creators. I agree that many of their titles and their contributions to the industry as a whole go very much under-appreciated.

[@alfredMonty]

Eclipse published a Hobbit adaptation. The art in that thing is so great.

[@ashikmd.rashid6284]

By Chuck Dixon.

[@joechlystun7979]

yeah...... i think i still got that to

[@eireronin]

Airboy was an absolute gem.

[@jabezcreed]

I wasn't born until 1989, but I buy Eclipse titles whenever I see them in back issue bins. To me, they represent 80s action as much as Image and Valiant represent the 90s. Always fun covers, cool art, and a very independent vibe. I've got every issue of their Airboy run and related titles.

[@TheSnapdad]

I bought MiracleMan, DNAgents, Airboy, Skywolf, New Wave, Reid Fleming World's Toughest Milkman. I played Villains & Vigilantes for a long time. I grabbed most titles my dealer has related to Airboy. He was probably my favorite from Eclipse. I loved when they went to the 25 cent titles. I also have an assortment of the 3D comics Eclipse published.

[@richardhuppertz3487]

I remember Eclipse fondly. I came across them in the early 80's along with Pacific and First comics. I bought a large cross section of books from all 3 companies.

[@drewtheunspoken3988]

So many great independent publishers in the 70s and 80s: Eclipse, Innovation, First, Aircel, Now, Malibu, Antarctic, etc.

[@carloscrecelius9597]

I loved Comico.

[@johnm.withersiv4352]

I have grabbed a lot of Eclipse comics in back issues bins randomly over the years.

[@wtk6069]

Eclipse also published "Wilderness" by Tim Truman, which was a graphical biography of the infamous "white renegade" Simon Girty. It may be the only comic book ever to have legitimate academic value for adding to scholarship on its subject matter. It's also one of the best comics ever done.

[@mrdigit3353]

i agree i have a tattered and torn copy here, wellread,....would be a good movie. how many stories and characters like his that have been lost to time....i wonder.

[@keng.2468]

I bought a lot of their titles back in the day. What I loved the most was the vast talented group of artists and writers to create some great comics.

[@Billy.Bacsko]

Without Eclipse I would not have found Appleseed and Ghost in the Shell by Shirow. I owe that company much of my childhood.

[@StephenAnderson98403]

I only knew Zot through the Kitchen Sink reprints but I've got the Sky Wolf miniseries, and I'd love to read Airboy.

[@trevorashfield7389]

Perch, thanks for the cool cover gallery! :) Eclipse (and Pacific and others) came along when comics shops need more material to sell! I have a very fond memory of one of their first publications, Eclipse magazine #1, which featured stories by P. Craig Russell and Harvey Pekar, and the debut of the character Ms. Tree! That was 1980 or '81. You touched on quite a few of my favourites. I agree with your assessment that Eclipse pioneered better deals for creators and should be remembered today.

[@toddblackwood129]

Wild guess when folks think Alan Moore at Eclipse they think Miracleman, but he also did a graphic novel with Bill Siemkewicz called Brought To Light and in my mind it’s an under appreciated masterpiece. To me, regardless of where one lands politically, this GN is a prime example of how comics can best be used as its own storytelling art form, and it is unique as a long form political cartoon. Plus it’s a grim but damn fine read! Cheers to Eclipse! :)

[@donschamun273]

I knew you were headed here when you subtly mentioned the ridiculousness of putting your publishing offices in New York and burning capital on office space. I'm from California and I barely knew where Guerneville was! They literally got flooded out of business, something especially rough on paper inventory and recordkeeping. A river runs right through town.

[@jeffsnyder2981]

Thanks for this. Great overview of a prolific 80s publisher that I loved. Big fan of Scout, Rocketeer and DNAgents

[@ComicKelsey]

I LOVED Eclipse! Some of the first Manga I ever bought was published by Eclipse. Namely Appleseed. Also The Rocketeer when they published that. Good times.

[@annedrieck7316]

Appleseed😨

[@PubeStache]

Captain Harlock too

[@richmcgee434]

Oooh, nostalgia. Some of the first manga I ever read, before manga was, well, what it is now - Adam Warren's early Dirty Pair work, Appleseed, Mai, Area 88. Loads of other stuff too - Destroyer Duck, Reid Fleming, Zot, Coyote, Beanworld, and weirdly the comics based on both the big superhero RPGs back then, Villains & Vigilantes and Champions (which I was playing throughout the era). Never thought about it before but they were really influential on my comic tastes, along with First Comics and Dark Horse. Huh. I thought they did Ironwood as well, but no, it was Eros. Which makes sense...

[@DrLynch2009]

That Airboy cover looks awesome. Also 7:22 WTF?!

[@rolandbush8463]

A comic book company that catered to readers that wanted more in a comic book. Loved damn near everything they put out. The eighties was a flowering of creative talent to visualize on paper, speaking of paper anybody remember the words mando and baxter. Comico and Capital should be put to video.

[@vinko3284]

I was a huge fan of Mr. Monster, Air Boy and Scout. Still am.

[@dbbrinlee1969]

I loved Dave Stevens The Rocketeer and The Hobbit. They also introduced me to the works of Masamune Shirow with Appleseed. The editor Cat Yronwode was one of the first people to ever review my comic art portfolio. She gave a great critique.

[@joelgreenlee9421]

Chuck Dixon did this cool mini series called Winter World that I liked. I haven't read it since it came out and I'm curious how it reads now. My favorite is probably Reid Fleming, World's Toughest Milkman. That is a very funny comic

[@saiberunato]

As a kid/teen, I really appreciated Eclipse bringing over English translated manga (Mai, Xenon, Area 88, Appleseed, Dominion, etc.). They were among the first in the English-language publishing world to do so. That tiny trickle of English translated manga has now become a huge tsunami today. All thanks to Eclipse (partnering with Viz and Studio Proteus) for blazing the trail in the 80's. Even their original American produced adaptation of Japanese anime like Dirty Pair (written and drawn by Adam Warren) was amazing. My main gripe was the early translated manga had the art mirror flipped (to read from left to right instead of original right to left) along with other art alterations (original Japanese sound effects removed and replaced English ones, signs on walls changed from Japanese to English). All this kind of messed up the authenticity of the manga art IMHO. Of course, Eclipse was not the only one guilty of this. Epic did the same thing. Their Akira translations were beautifully computer colored from the original B&W, but everything else was changed (art mirror flipped, retouched, etc.). Nowadays translated manga keep the art authentic, so things have evolved for the better.

[@31altair]

"For immature readers only" It's calling my name. Great video!👍

[@schlockthropus]

Love the channel Perch!!! I love the content and I am going through all your videos. I love Eclipse Comics but I believe that more underrated than them and that deserve (probably) more credit for creator owned comics is Pacific Comics. Eclipse actually picked up some of Pacific's titles when they folded. A video on Pacific Perch? Keep up the great work.

[@greatstoneplanet]

I became aware of Eclipse 5 years ago when I took another run at the Champions Online MMORPG. I started looking for sourcebooks from the original tabletop Champions RPG to dig more into the lore and write some stories about my own characters. I started seeing the Dennis Mallonee-written Champions comic pop up on Ebay. That series started off in Eclipse and was eventually published under Mallonee's own imprint. Shopping for those six Eclipse floppies, which are interesting but not important 80s team comics fare, and later on for more of Mallonee's Champions titles, which became more and more cheesecake-based, is actually what got me back into the weekly comics habit. I'd only been buying TPBs since college because, honestly, buying floppies at cover price is a stupid waste of money. But while's there's a certain joy that comes from hunting old comics, being able to discuss current comics with other readers is also fun.

[@Deephouse_Gent66]

I also enjoy when you do these comic publishers' history segments. Great research! McGregor and Gulacy on Sabra was cool as hell! And Miracle Man! I totally missed out on Destroyer Duck b/c when I was younger, I had no idea that Jack Kirby was the artist on the series the first 4 or 5 issues. When I learned several years ago that he was, it took me forever to finally track down some of those issues. Now I have issues 1, 2 and 4, and I paid $8 to $20 for each.

[@Chalwa]

Thanks for this. I loved the output of Eclipse in the 80s when I was a teen.

[@IndigoPheniX]

LOVED Eclipse!!! Zot! was the best and Miracleman was right up there with him. So many good titles. Airboy is worth a mention as well, and we can't forget DNAgents.

[@ReallyCoolSite]

Finally! Perch talks about CHAMPIONS! Oh... but seriously folks, besides the bigger titles (Miracle Man and Airboy), I loved their Prowler comic and the Total Eclipse crossover (written by Marv Wolfman!). I saw them a lot when I lived in Maryland in the mid-late '80s and had access to one of Steve Geppi's shops. By the 90's, and a move to Pennsylvania, I couldn't find them any more. I really missed them. It's good to revisit these memories and hopefully I can find some of these issues on Comixology (besides the Airboy trade).

[@mattlinkous4356]

I must have missed this video when it was posted. Eclipse and First Comics was my introduction to there being publishers besides Marvel and DC as well as being my introduction to manga with titles like Area 88, Dagger Of Kamui, and my favorite Heavy Metal Warrior Xenon which I was able to find a trade collection of a few years ago but it's in more of the standard manga size. I actually enjoyed that they would publish manga at full American comics dimensions.

[@Peecamarke]

GREAT video, highly informative. I love learning about this type of stuff

[@agent_meister477]

Some of those covers look great.

[@jimdetry9420]

I remember Eclipse Comics. I didn't buy many of them. The best artists they hired only did covers. Most of them were the B Team. Grell did 2nd rate Neal Adams imitations and Gulacy did 2nd rate Jim Steranko imitations.

Eclipse comics were licensed in Spain I think the year after the company published the Total Eclipse mini-series. I read Miracleman, obviously, but also liked Scout and Zot! They also published Airbay, Liberty Project, maybe some more that I do not remember. They did not last, though. Two years at most, I’d say. I guess the fact that MacFarlane bought the rights but never used them did a lot for people not to remember Eclipse, for there have been no relaunches, no trade paperbacks, etc.

[@spencerwelchii573]

I have a dozen or so Eclipse books in my collection, Destroyer Duck 1-6, some Airboys and some of the Total Eclipse books. Please do a video each for Caliber, Comico, First, and Parody Press.

[@nolino8292]

I write a lot about Eclipse Comics in my book (A History of the Graphic Novels - only available in French for the time being) They were a big part in the developpement of the Graphic Novels. (And they Had tons of great titles)

[@MathewDRhys]

Chuck Dixon did a great video about a month ago relating his experiences with eclipse. Highly recommend.

[@jabezcreed]

Thanks for the heads up!

[@OlafLesniak]

I would love to hear you talk about manga in the West historically and scratch the surface on the two industry crashes. I think it would make an interesting video. Eclipse sounds pretty cool. Looks like I might have to look into them a bit, their covers are stunning.

[@1ChomperChain]

Thanks Perch, really appreciate the history lesson! Ever since I found the "Dishman" comic, it began my journey into comics.

[@SanctuaryofReality]

The cover of Airboy at 4:50 is from the "It's Alive" publications revival of the Eclipse Airboy run. Not that it matters, just wanted to point that out. Great video! Eclipse was always something I heard about, never got to read when it was around.

[@KalleVilenius]

I wonder how Eclipse went about choosing what manga to bring to the west. I have no idea what was going on in America at the time when it comes to people's perceptions on that stuff. Gotta love Zot!

[@adamgrace932]

Love Eclipse! Ms Tree, The Masked Man def some of my all time favorites. I like their short lived anthologies too.

[@pulsarstargrave256]

I LOVED ECLIPSE so I remember how infuriating it was to read their books-- they had horribly LATE books! A book advertised as "bi monthly" came out.....whenever! Some of the other Indies had the same problem, but I didn't buy as many of theirs! My memory is foggy on this but I think I was reading KAMUI (a Manga title), MIRACLE MAN, SABRE, SOMERSET HOLMES and Ms.TREE! It was like Marvel in the 70s but WORSE! How was IMAGE able to survive chronic lateness but Eclipse perished? Simply put, most Eclipse books just weren't commercial enough! Eclipse seemed to court older readers who they believed outgrew super hero comics. While this may be somewhat true, older readers like myself don't have the time or patience to wait around for a comic several weeks late! On top of this, they hesitated to embrace the new Trade paperback format which would later become so successful for Vertigo, Fantagraphics iand other publishers! Ec,ipse was just too "artsy smartsy" for its own good!

[@kurserod]

Eclipse was my favorite indy publisher in the 80s. Airboy, Miracleman and Liberty Project were all great.

[@moonjellykevin]

I wasn't there for when it was new coming out, but when I was just getting random comics in the 90's from the swap meet, Eclipse (along with Valiant) was one of the publishers I got a lot from. It was where I first got introduced to Masamune Shirow in the form of Dominion Tank Police. I had a few Airboys and Xenons. I can't remember if they put out Mai the Psychic Girl or if that was Viz. I got into Zot much later, and it was fantastic.

[@richmcgee434]

Was Dominion them? I thought it was Dark Horse...or maybe it was both?

[@moonjellykevin]

@@richmcgee434 I believe it was both. I had single issues Dominion from Eclipse, but I distinctly remember there being a trade paperback from Dark Horse. I know they got the rights to a lot of Masamune Shirow's stuff.

[@kenmeyerjr57]

Loooved em ! My first pro comics work was there (the hamsters)! So many great creators.

[@HonduranHoneymoonhon]

woah the audio on this video is way better than the 2 rain car videos i just watched

[@gingegingerton]

I’m definitely gonna check out some Eclipse! See if you can get one of the brothers on to talk about where they went wrong?

[@darthken815]

Things first started going bad for Eclipse in Feb. of 1986 when a massive flood ruined most of their back issue stock.

[@BitingComics]

Miracleman was actually my favorite Alan Moore work.

[@danee9647]

Recently read the 3 issue mini-series Luger from Eclipse. Should of been an ongoing. It's one of the best things Bruce Jones ever wrote.

[@flashrayvideos298]

I have a good chunk maybe a short box of a bunch of eclipse books from the 80s almost full runs of Sabre, scout, and a few others great video thanks for the information!

[@LRM23936]

Proud to say I own a full run of Airboy. And most of the spinoff titles. Still working on Sabre.

[@barrybend7189]

I see thumbnail include Dirty Pair comic adaptation i click.

[@richmcgee434]

Hell yeah. I'd call it Adam Warren's best work, but then there's Empowered.

[@annedrieck7316]

Dirty pair😨

[@barrybend7189]

@@annedrieck7316 despite the name its a good series.

[@joechlystun7979]

i've bought a bunch of eclipse in the day and still pick up some i see in the discount bins. i've been passin on strike and crossfire but maybe i should give them a shot? Seen alot of higher number DNagents to

[@mangamegs]

I'll need to look into the 2 previous manga crashes in the U.S.. I think I remember hearing about one. I remember back when my favorite shops stopped selling anime also.

[@spidervik100]

I remember Eclipse. I bought every comic that had art work by Dave Stevens!

[@AL-ws5yi]

I only vaguely remember Eclipse. The only title I knew about was the Champions and Miracle Man.

[@comicbookninja5268]

It's true Eclipse didn't produce much that speculators clamored for. They just produced a lot of stuff that was great to read.

[@mattrex8599]

Was that Chuck Dixon's Airboy run?

[@raydillon]

That was really interesting. They went out just as I was getting into comics so I didn't know of their impact. So, does McFarlane own all their character IPs then?

[@InfamyOrDeath-__-]

So can you not get any comics in regular shops in the U.S.? Only through comicbook shops?

[@ComicsPerch]

Correct. (Mostly)

[@yaywhewclips242]

I liked Dnagents, crossfire, miracle man, liberty project

[@77blacktrip]

Great trading cards too!

[@seannyhan2254]

I really enjoyed Scout, by Tim Truman. Chuck Dixon's Airboy was a close second. Scout is pretty much out of print. There were 2 series and a couple spin-offs, but, to my knowledge, only the first 18 issues of the first series were collected. Airboy trades are available on comixology.

[@richardhuppertz3487]

Truman did a KS for the start of the 3rd series, Marauder around 2 years ago. I'm waiting for him to get finished.

[@richmcgee434]

@@richardhuppertz3487 Huh. I missed that. Will add that to my list of things to keep an eye out for.

[@seannyhan2254]

@@richardhuppertz3487 Yeah, Marauder. I missed the KS, but pre-ordered on his website. Looking forward to it, but not holding my breath.

[@DemienC.]

Hey, I've seen their Dirty Pair. Good stuff.

[@richmcgee434]

Adam Warren went on to do more Dirty Pair stuff at Dark Horse afterward, including some wholly original stuff. Good stuff.

[@DemienC.]

@@richmcgee434 Seen his Dark Horse works much later, but very familiar with his Gen 13 work.

[@richmcgee434]

@@DemienC. I think that might have been the title most superhero comic readers first remember him from. Gen 13 was one of the few Image books I can honestly say I enjoyed reading, at least most of the time.

[@totalkarenscambaiter]

Cat Yronwood was an SJW before they were invented.

[@LarryKingUndead]

I do think Todd did use "The Heap" for a bit in Spawn, but that's it. Eclipse and First really did help bring in manga, as first had Lone Wolf and Cub. I think Eclipse had a strong amount of comics they put out, ones worth looking into, save for the ones trying to ape the success of TMNT, all that is garbage, from them and everyone else who did it.

[@richmcgee434]

Dear gods, Adolescent Black Belt Ninja Hamsters, wasn't it? Such crap.

[@miltonfarmer1139]

Awesome

[@mitchellcoleman8634]

I will say if you get a chance read Steve Niles I am Legend adaption one of the last good things to come out of Eclipse from I think 93 I do know idw did a reprint from around the time of the 07 film

[@Coolness_Inc]

Nice overview. One minor correction. The Rocketeer was published by Pacific and Comico. Not Eclipse. Do Comico next!

[@Coolness_Inc]

Actually my bad. Maybe it was published by all 3....

[@ComicsPerch]

I think it was; Eclipse absolutely had it at one point, but not for long.

[@agent_meister477]

Will there be a Friday Chat this week or will I be drinking in front of my computer alone again?

[@ComicsPerch]

There will.

[@captaincomedian6320]

"De... STROOOOYYYY!!!"

[@AL-ws5yi]

I don’t remember Manga from Eclipse. The Manga I remember were from Tokyo Pop and Viz.

[@richardhuppertz3487]

Viz first started under Eclipse. Mai the Psychic Girl, Kamui and Area 88 were the first titles.

[@AL-ws5yi]

@@richardhuppertz3487 Hmm, I don’t remember that at all. I remember the first manga I read being Dragonball and Ranma1/2 from Viz.

[@richmcgee434]

@@AL-ws5yi Eclipse was gone by that point IIRC. Their most noteworthy manga was probably the stuff by Masamune Shirow - Appleseed, Dominion: Tank Police.

[@PubeStache]

@@richmcgee434 Captain Harlock as well

[@fredcolon2341]

Independent comics companies back in the day were ahead of it's time for new ideas and heroes, because marvel and DC are getting steal with there stuff then and today...

[@blastedquinn98]

Eclipse published 2 part comic books true love.

[@mitchellcoleman8634]

I kind wish Chuck and Truman would come back together to do airboy again the ones just with chuck recently have been....A bit shit in my opinion.

[@sketchasaurrex4087]

Never heard of Eclipse

[@southpawgrammer448]

You’re doing Eclipse and you haven’t done Valiant yet? 🤷🏻‍♂️

[@richmcgee434]

Only fair, Eclipse was around for more than a decade before Valiant started up.

[@southpawgrammer448]

@@richmcgee434 yeah but it didn’t hit the height of Valiant plus Valiant is still around today and has a more interesting history in terms of takeovers and introducing ‘woke’ culture..let’s see how that effected sales?

[@InfamyOrDeath-__-]

Never even heard of the company haha.