In the twenty one years that HIGHBURN STUDIOS has been around, we have always been a publisher first and foremost. I started this label as a means to push my creation GUARDIANS out to stores and conventions. The industry at that time was hot to the “indie” market trends and the advantages of a creator-owned title were really the talk of the times. In the early years as I traveled to conventions I was able to meet talents like Lyle Pollard, and John Anderson bringing on two additional titles TRIBULATIONS and DRESSED TO KILL. Along with my colleague Kenny Keen from my hometown, I added in his label MIDNIGHT HORIZON COMICS and we added 3 more titles. SLAYER, EXPULSE, and RUTHLESS.
As time has went on, we’ve all worked within the industry for other publishers, one of the tricks to this business is to try and work on larger named titles to improve your name and credits. But, in the back of my mind, still burning was the drive to return to publishing our house titles. I had originally planned for 2020, the 20th anniversary of HIGHBURN STUDIOS to be the year to start back up, but the world had other plans for 2020. That being said, 2021 I’ve been working with the other freelance creators at HIGHBURN to return to our core roots and books. We’ve added Mike”Mez” Phillips to the roster and he’s brought two titles with him as well. Attached images you show you the cover for Lyle Pollard’s TRIBULATIONS Issue #3 and Mez’s book NO MORE Issue #1, both coming soonI I personally can’t wait to show you what we have in store and look forward to bringing you some of the best creator-owned stories and characters. Let’s just say 2021 is going to be “lit”.
-Michael Watkins