| June 27, 2003 | History of Empire |
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From EMPIRE #0 (Aug 03)
A POTTED HISTORY OF EMPIRE
written by Barry Kitson
(excerpt)
EMPIRE #1 (Gorilla)
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The idea of placing EMPIRE with an independent publisher seemed a natural step in 1999, since our story couldn't take place in any established comic company's universe. We were honored to throw in our lot with a very talented bunch of comic creators- including Kurt Busiek, Mike Wieringo, George Pérez, Stuart Immonen, Karl Kesel, Todd Dezago, and Tom Grummette - in creating the Gorilla Comics imprint. Again, it all seemed so straightforward.
We assembled our dream team to work on EMPIRE, with the addition of James Pascoe as inker, Chris Sotomayor as colorist and Comicraft's Jason Levine as letterer. Everything looked rosy, but…
To cut a long story very short, Gorilla produced some very good comics and got a lot of critical acclaimed, but as businessmen we made great comic creators!
We managed to publish two issue of Empire to wonderful reviews and extremely good sales (those issues are the very stories reprinted here to make EMPIRE #0). What we didn't have was the funds to finance the creation of any more issues. Talk about frustrating!
| April 23, 2003 | Empire to DC |
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From Comic Book Resources
LYING IN THE GUTTERS
Monday April 21, 2003
written by Rich Johnston
EMPIRE BUILDING
Mark Waid's "Empire," formerly published at Bulldog… sorry, Gorilla Comics, has long had a promised home at DC. Basically, it's a comic book about what if a "Doctor Doom" type figure had... won. In July, DC will publish a new "Empire" 1, but in June, they're rush-publishing "Empire" 0 which collects the previously published Empire 1 and 2. Waid's first issue of his 12 issue series "Birthright" with Leinel Yu also comes out in July. What a happy man!
Talking of Gorilla partners, look forward to Kurt Busiek and Carlos Pacheco's "Arrowsmith," from Cliffhanger. This new magic/World War 1 series also begins in July.
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