Bill Marks
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| Comic publisher | |
| Industry | Comics |
| Founded | 1982 |
| Founder | Bill Marks |
| Defunct | 1994 |
| Headquarters | Toronto, Ontario, Canada |
Vortex Comics was a Canadian independent comic book publisher that operated during the years 1982 to 1994. Under the supervision of president, publisher, and editor Bill Marks, Vortex was known for such titles as Dean Motter's Mister X, Howard Chaykin's Black Kiss, and Chester Brown's Yummy Fur, the last of which was a pioneer of alternative comics. Vortex also earned a reputation for publishing Canadian comic book creators such as Brown, Ty Templeton, Ken Steacy, and Jeffrey Morgan.
Vortex was founded by 20-year-old high school dropout William P. "Bill" Marks of Toronto in 1982, with its first title being an anthology comic of the same name. Marks recalled, "[Comic books] had a lot of potential for growth that I could see. I could see a revolution happening. By this time Cerebus was doing extremely well. Elfquest was a runaway success in the bookstores and on the best-seller lists. Eclipse was just starting up and shortly thereafter Pacific Comics started to get quite big." Vortex received good distribution in both the U.S. and Canada, and the company proved to be a major force in Canadian comics publishing throughout the 1980s.
Early issues of Vortex were edited by Marks himself (who later described them as "quite primitive") and received limited exposure. In 1983 Vortex redesigned their approach, employed Ken Steacy as editor, and added new titles like Mister X and Templeton's Stig's Inferno, as well as Templeton & Klaus Schoenefeld's Kelvin Mace and Matt Howarth's Those Annoying Post Bros. The first four issues of Mister X featured work by the Los Bros Jaime and Gilbert Hernandez.
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