Oktomica Comics

{{Short description|American publishing company}} '''Oktomica Comics''' was a short-lived comic publisher which published three series between 1998 and 1999: ''Virtex'', ''The Wonderlanders'' and ''Wisp''. All three series were created by Casey Lau and Jeff Kwan with scripting assistance from such comic professionals as Mike Baron, Pat Mills and Tom and Mary Bierbaum.<ref>[http://www.legiononline.net/volume5/creators.html Profiles of Tom and Mary Bierbaum]</ref>

==Titles== The first book to be released was the 12-page ''Virtex'' #0 and the company's final releases were ''Virtex'' #3, ''The Wonderlanders'' #2 and ''Wisp'' #1.

*''Virtex'' was the story of a cybernetic cowboy that chased outlaws through a time-amalgamated wasteland. An interesting gimmick was played out in the 3rd issue of the 3-part story "Divine Intervention" where the issue shipped with 3 versions: #3A, #3B, #3C, each with a different ending. *''The Wonderlanders'' proclaimed "What Happens When Fairy Tales Grow Up?" Merging the worlds of C. S. Lewis, L. Frank Baum and Lewis Carroll with Capcom and Saturday Morning cartoons. King Layoran and his team of Wonderlanders come to Earth to stop the evil Fenris and his team of evil Wonderlanders. The first story arc has gone uncompleted. *''Wisp'' was Oktomica's "horror" book - a team of specialists protect our reality from a rip in dimensions that has allowed an evil race into our world. Wisp leads the team against villains that enter our bodies physically through our mouths. Wisp only had one issue release but #1 had a variant cover by Kevin Nowlan.

==Creators== Oktomica is notable for its high-production values in coloring, printing, and graphic design. All 3 artists went on to bigger projects.

*Kano, artist on ''Virtex'', worked for DC Comics drawing ''Action Comics'' and ''H.E.R.O.''. *Kaare Andrews, artist on ''The Wonderlanders'', wrote and drew ''Spider-Man: Reign'' for Marvel Comics, among other projects. *Ruben Martinez, artist on ''Wisp'', went to Stan Lee Media where he drew ''Backstreet Project'', a comic chronicling the adventures of the Backstreet Boys as cyber-crusaders. He has also worked at Mattel Toys designing the art for Batman action figures.

==After Oktomica==

''Virtex'' evolved into a flash-animated series at also now defunct <ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.actionace.com/Actionace.com | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010302050638/http://www.actionace.com/Actionace.com | archive-date=2001-03-02 | title=XO(TM) Web Site Hosting }}</ref> An action figure was planned as well. It has since been reappeared in ''Digital Webbing Presents''.<ref>[http://www.comicscontinuum.com/stories/0310/09/index.htm Comics Continuum]</ref>

==References== *[http://comicbookdb.com/publisher.php?ID=1633 Oktomica] at the Comic Book Database

===Footnotes=== {{Reflist}}

==External links== *[http://www.hyperchildwow.com/virtex/comics.html the.virtex.depository]

Category:Defunct comics and manga publishing companies Category:Comic book publishing companies of the United States