Penthouse Comix

Penthouse Comix
Penthouse Comix #1 (1994)
Publication information
Publisher	Penthouse International/General Media Communications
Format	Ongoing series
Publication date	May/June 1994–July 1998
Number of issues	32
Creative team
Writer(s)	George Caragonne, Horatio Weisfeld
Artist(s)	Adam Hughes, Garry Leach, Kevin Nowlan, Mike Harris, Arthur Suydam, Jordan Raskin, Horacio Altuna, Milo Manara, Richard Corben, Tony Salmons, Bart Sears, Gray Morrow
Editor(s)	George Caragonne, Horatio Weisfeld Dave Elliott

Penthouse Comix was an American mass-market, magazine-sized comic book, published by Penthouse International/General Media Communications from spring 1994 through July 1998. Founded and initially edited by George Caragonne and Horatio Weisfeld, it ran 32 issues plus one special edition. Foreign versions of Penthouse Comix continue to be published.

Penthouse Comix began after publisher Bob Guccione agreed to a budget that was designed to cherry pick top art talent from competitors. This resulted in Penthouse Comix offering a per-page art rate to freelancers of $800, the largest ever established as a standard for comic book line art.

After a three-issue installment trial run as an insert feature in Penthouse Magazine, Penthouse Comix was expanded into a stand-alone magazine. The first issue, a 96-page, color, glossy magazine, appeared in spring 1994. It featured work by Adam Hughes, Garry Leach, Kevin Nowlan, Mike Harris, Arthur Suydam, Jordan Raskin, Horacio Altuna, and Milo Manara. Subsequent issues contained work by comic book artists such as Richard Corben, Tony Salmons, Bart Sears and Gray Morrow. Early issues eschewed hardcore sex in favor of soft-core nudity and satiric humor.

Sold on newsstands, the periodical debuted in a squarebound magazine format 27.5 centimeters high and 20.7 cm wide. With issue #11, the size was reduced to 26.7 cm high and 20.4 cm wide. From issue #26 to the end of its run, Penthouse Comix was published at standard modern comic-book size, with saddle-stitching, card-stock covers, and glossy interior pages. Issues #6-7 were published in both a magazine-size newsstand edition and a comic-book sized direct-market edition for sale in comic-book stores.