Studio Ironcat

Studio Ironcat

2003 Studio Ironcat logo
Industry	Publishing
Founded	1997
Founder	Kuni Kimura Masaomi Kanzaki Steve Bennett
Defunct	2006
Headquarters	Fredericksburg, Virginia
Products	Comics
Website	Ironcat.com (archive)

Studio Ironcat was a small publishing company based in Fredericksburg, Virginia, dedicated to publication of manga and later, Amerimanga. The company is most known for its publication of the first volume of Megatokyo, a prominent webcomic, as well as the flamboyant style of one of its founders, Steve Bennett. The company was also known for regular turmoil within its wake, primarily during the years 2001–2003. One of these led to a period where the company did business under a different name as I.C. Entertainment.

The company, commonly referred to as "Ironcat", published under the Studio Ironcat, I.C. Entertainment and Fuzzy Kitten imprints. They also had an adult imprint, Sexy Fruit. Over the course of its lifespan, Studio Ironcat published over fifty titles.

From 1993 to 1997, Antarctic Press published several translated manga series, including Vampire Miyu and several miniseries by Ippongi Bang and her studio, Studio DoDo. However, facing declining sales and a change in the company's focus, Antarctic Press decided to cancel all of their translated manga titles in late 1997, laying off several employees in the process. One of the employees let go from Antarctic Press was head translator Kumi Kimura, who took several projects that had been in the planning stages to his new company, Studio Ironcat. Studio Ironcat was founded in 1997 by manga artists Kuni Kimura, Masaomi Kanzaki and Stephen R. Bennett IV. The new company started publication in January of the following year by releasing the Vampire Princess Miyu manga by Narumi Kakinouchi, then moving on to a series of other books under its Studio Ironcat and Sexy Fruit imprints. The company signed up other well-known artists and titles, working to become a strong player in the shōnen manga genre.

For the first few years of business, things were running somewhat smoothly, but this changed in 1999, with the first major problem for Ironcat.