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| Industry | Comics |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1995 |
| Founder | Jim Shooter |
| Defunct | 1996 |
| Headquarters | New York City |
Key people | Steve Schanes, editor[1] |
Broadway Comics was a short-livedcomic book publishing company started byJim Shooter in 1995, after his former company,Defiant Comics, had folded.[2] The company was a division ofBroadway Video Entertainment with Shooter as co-owner of the characters.
Broadway Comics debuted with the preview comicPowers That Be, followed by the seriesStar Seed,Fatale, andShadow State. Other series were to follow, though onlyKnights on Broadway was launched before the company abruptly closed, leaving unfinished story arcs in all series butFatale.[3]
The Broadwaycontinuity, like Shooter's two previous attempts, took place in real time and the characters rarely wore superhero uniforms.Shadow State included a comic-within-a-comic calledBlood S.C.R.E.A.M.
In 1996, Broadway Video Entertainment was sold toGolden Books, which then promptly went bankrupt. Broadway Comics didn't have the infrastructure or the means to continue.
Shadow State was acomic book published by short-lived Broadway Comics. The issues generally had two stories, one of which featured the character Fatale. It was written byJim Shooter. Only five issues were published before the abrupt demise of Broadway Comics, leaving the storyarc unfinished.
Fatale was published by Broadway Comics in 1996. It was a spin-off of Broadway's flagship seriesPowers That Be, in which the lead character had first appeared in 1995.
Created by formerMarvel Comics editorJim Shooter,Fatale follows the adventures ofDesirée Hopewell, a woman who has the ability to leech memories and energy from people by kissing them, and her battles with an evil organization called The Brotherhood.
The series ran for six issues, published between January and October 1996 (with an "ashcan" preview issue published in September 1995). The title's end coincided with the demise of Shooter's Broadway Comics venture.
According toThe Standard Catalog of Comic Books (Krause, 2002), the comic was promoted in a distributor's catalog with a "life-size" image of Fatale's clothed bust, which the book labelled "one of the biggest advertising missteps in recent memory."
Babes of Broadway was a pin ups book featuring Fatale and other female Broadway characters. It was written byJim Shooter with art work byJ. G. Jones and many others. The only issue published was issue #1.