1984 (magazine)

"1984" was a black and white science-fiction comic magazine published by Warren Publishing from 1978 to 1983. "1984" was edited by Bill Dubay. The title of the magazine was changed to "1994" starting with issue 11 in February, 1980 based on a request by the estate of George Orwell.cite book | year=2001 | title=The Warren Companion|pages=189|publisher=Two Morrows Publishing| language=English ] The magazine ceased publication with issue 29 in February, 1983 due to the bankruptcy of Warren Publishing.

Contributors

Artists who contributed stories to "1984"/"1994" included Alex Nino, Richard Corben, Jose Gonzalez, Jose Ortiz, Frank Thorne, Esteban Maroto, Rudy Nebres, Abel Laxamana, Wally Wood, Luis Bermejo, Alfredo Alcala and Vic Catan. Cover artists included Nino, Corben, Patrick Woodroffe, Jim Laurier, Manuel Sanjulian, Jordi Penalva, H.R. Giger, Steve Fastner, Rich Larsen, Lloyd Garrison, Terry Oates and John Berkey. Writers included Dubay, Thorne, Jim Stenstrum, Jan Strnad, Rich Margopoulos, Nicola Cuti and Gerry Boudreau.

Recurring Characters and Series

Similar to its sister publications "Eerie" and "Vampirella", "1984" featured numerous recurring series and characters. This included the following:
*Mutant World (Artist: Richard Corben; Writer; Jan Strnad)
*Ghita of Alizarr (Drawn and written by Frank Thorne)
*Idi Amin (Artist: Esteban Maroto; Writer: Bill Dubay)
*Rex Havoc (Artist: Abel Laxamana; Writer: Jim Stenstrum)
*The Starfire Saga (Artist: Rudy Nebres; Writer: Bill Dubay)
*Young Sigmond Pavlov (Artist: Alex Nino; Writer: Bill Dubay)

Controversies

One of the most notable incidents that occurred regarding the magazine was an unauthorized adaption of Harlan Ellison's story, "A Boy and His Dog", which has been rumored as one of the major factors in the bankruptcy of Warren Publishing. As discussed in the book "The Warren Companion", editor Bill Dubay approached writers Gerry Boudreau and Jim Stenstrum about adapting science fiction stories for the magazine. Boudreau requested he adapt Ellison's story, and Dubay gave the go ahead, before getting permission. When permission was not granted by Ellison, Dubay had artist Alex Nino draw the story anyway and provided the art to Stenstrum to rewrite the story. The story would be published in issue 4, under the title 'Mondo Megillah'. Despite Stenstrum's revisions to the script, the story was still obvious plagiarism and Ellison filed a lawsuit, which he eventually won.cite book | year=2001 | title=The Warren Companion|pages=156-7|publisher=Two Morrows Publishing| language=English ]

Advertised as an adult fantasy magazine, "1984" contained very mature subject matter and contained many stories featuring heavily on sex and other controversial subjects. As discussed by comics historian Richard Arndt, editor Bill Dubay edited stories within the magazine to focus more on this subject matter, such as this incident that occurred with artist Wally Wood regarding stories that appeared in the first two issues of the magazine:

Some of the more notable controversial stories included issue 3's "The Harvest" which featured a future where white people hunted black people for sport and ate them, and issue 13's "The Crop" where babies are sliced up and processed through factories to provide food for the starving populace. Both stories were written by editor Dubay.

Despite its controversies, the magazine has been praised for the high quality of art contained within it. The serials "Young Sigmond Pavlov" and "Ghita of Alizarr" were both singled out as high quality stories by David A. Roach in "The Warren Companion".cite book | year=2001 | title=The Warren Companion|pages=254-5|publisher=Two Morrows Publishing| language=English ]

References