View source for Hepcats

{{Short description|American comic by Martin Wagner}}
{{Other uses|Hepcat (disambiguation){{!}}Hepcat}}
{{Primary source|date=July 2020}}
{{Infobox comic book title
<!--Wikipedia:WikiProject Comics-->

| image               = Hepcats issue 1.jpg
| image_size          = 250
| alt                 = 
| caption             = Original cover of Issue #1.
| schedule            = Irregular
| format              = Standard black-and-white
| limited             =
| ongoing             = y
| 1shot               = 
| genre               = [[Furry comics|Furry]]
| publisher           = Double Diamond Press
| date                = 
| startmo             = May 26
| startyr             = 1989
| endmo               = September
| endyr               = 1994
| issues              = 12
| main_char_team      =
| issn                = 
| writers             = 
| artists             = 
| pencillers          = 
| inkers              = 
| letterers           = 
| colorists           = 
| editors             = 
| creative_team_month = 
| creative_team_year  = 
| creators            = [[Martin Wagner (artist)|Martin Wagner]]
| CEheader            = 
| TPB                 = The Collegiate Hepcats
| ISBN                = 978-0963666017
| TPB1 = Snowblind, Part One
| ISBN1 = 9780963666024 
|TPB2 = 
|ISBN2 = 
| subcat              = 
| altcat              = 
| sort                = Hepcats
| addpubcat#          = 
| nonUS               = 
}}
'''''Hepcats''''' is a [[comic book]] series [[self-publishing|self-published]] in the 1990s by cartoonist [[Martin Wagner (artist)|Martin Wagner]]. It deals with the lives of four college students, rendered as [[anthropomorphic]] animals (humanoid bodies, but animal heads), and is inspired by Wagner's own [[college]] experiences.

== Publication history ==
The series began as a comic strip in ''[[The Daily Texan]]'', the student newspaper of the [[University of Texas at Austin]], in 1987. Each installment was typically four panels (but with frequent variation), usually with a comedic gag at the end, but with ongoing storylines.

In 1989, inspired by cartoonists such as [[Dave Sim]] who were successfully self-publishing their comics, Wagner began publishing ''Hepcats'' as a black-and-white comic book series, under his own Double Diamond Press imprint. In this format, the series took on the highly detailed pen-and-ink artwork that would become one of its distinguishing features. Wagner immediately began experimenting with page layouts, including turning the pages sideways, using a double-page spread for each layout for Issue #2. Issue #3 began what was intended to be an 18-part [[graphic novel]] entitled ''Snowblind''. Critics have frequently cited Sim's ''[[Cerebus the Aardvark]]'' as an artistic influence on this material.

Though critically acclaimed, with a cult following, the series was not a financial success, and this led to an erratic publishing schedule that frustrated readers. In comments written later, in the summer of 1996, Wagner cited poor sales, his weak business skills, and his 1991 divorce as the causes of a financial "hole" he was struggling to get out of. Despite Wagner's increasing prominence as one of several acclaimed self-publishers of the period - along with [[Jeff Smith (cartoonist)|Jeff Smith]] (''[[Bone (comics)|Bone]]''), [[Colleen Doran]] (''[[A Distant Soil]]''), [[James A. Owen]] (''[[Starchild (comics)|Starchild]]''), and Sim (''Cerebus'') - the series stalled after Issue #12 in 1994. Collections of the ''Daily Texan'' strips and of the first volume of ''Snowblind'' were released, but Wagner said those sales were not enough to make continuation of the series financially viable.

In 1996 Wagner signed a deal with [[Antarctic Press]] to republish the series to date, along with new issues.<ref>"Newswatch: Antarctic Press to Publish Hepcats", ''The Comics Journal'' #187 (May 1996), p. 28.</ref> Antarctic republished the original 12 issues from 1996 to 1998; a color "#0" issue was released to launch this reprint series, but it was the last new material published. Wagner claimed to have finished Issue #13, but in a 1999 interview in Beau Yarbrough's "Comics Wire" at [[Comic Book Resources]], he stated that the "pitiful" advance orders for that issue had led him to look for another way to make a living. Shortly after the cancellation of these orders, however, Antarctic employee Matthew High stated that these orders were in line with the publisher's expectations and that Wagner had never turned in any art for #13.{{cn|date=November 2019}} Wagner left the comics industry in 1998.

In 2006, Wagner announced that he would be finishing the ''Snowblind'' storyline as a webcomic. By the end of 2010 he admitted to regretting that announcement, as he was busy with paying work and the series was not high on his leisure-time priorities list.<ref group="‡">{{cite web|url=http://hepcats.wordpress.com/2010/12/20/and-here-we-are-a-year-later/ |title=And here we are, a year later! &#124; Martin Wagner's Hepcats |publisher=Hepcats.wordpress.com |date=2010-12-20 |accessdate=2014-03-30}}</ref> In 2008, to tide fans over while waiting for ''Snowblind'' to appear, he began work on an 8-page mini-comic unrelated to the ''Snowblind'' storyline.<ref group="‡">{{cite web|url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/28515612@N06/sets/72157606115446377/ |title=Hepcats Minicomic 2008 #1 – a set on Flickr |publisher=Flickr.com |date=2008-07-11 |accessdate=2014-03-30}}</ref><ref group="‡">{{cite web|url=http://hepcats.wordpress.com/2008/07/12/posting-the-new-hepcats-minicomic/ |title=Posting the new Hepcats minicomic! &#124; Martin Wagner's Hepcats |publisher=Hepcats.wordpress.com |date=2008-07-12 |accessdate=2014-03-30}}</ref> The minicomic was also not completed, updates ceasing after page 5, also because of work commitments.<ref group="‡">{{cite web|url=http://hepcats.wordpress.com/2009/03/02/no-news-is-no-news/ |title=No news is no news &#124; Martin Wagner's Hepcats |publisher=Hepcats.wordpress.com |date=2009-03-02 |accessdate=2014-03-30}}</ref>

==Collected volumes==
*''Yo: The First Hepcats Book'' (1988; collection of ''Daily Texan'' strips—cover spoofs sleeve of [[Peter Gabriel]]'s album ''[[So (album)|So]]'')
*''The Collegiate Hepcats'' (1993; complete collection of all ''Daily Texan'' strips, plus ''Hepcats'' #1 and some pre-Hepcats work from the University of Houston paper)
*''Snowblind, Part One'' (1995; collecting ''Hepcats'' #3–10, first half of unfinished ''Snowblind'' graphic novel)

Not reprinted in any of these collections are #2 (the sideways issue, reprinted in a "Special Edition" in 1994), and Issues #11 (a 42-page story with a black on dark-gray cover, a dramatic turning point in the story) and #12 (the final issue to see print).

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{Primary sources references section}}

==External links==
*[http://hepcats.wordpress.com Official site]
* {{gcdb series|id= 3937 |title=Hepcats}} (Double Diamond)
* {{gcdb series|id= 7914 |title=Hepcats}} (Antarctic Press)
*[http://hepcats.comicgenesis.com Fan site by Stephanie Krus posting entire original series run]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20080511185642/http://www.flowerfire.com/seized/comics/hepcats/ Review on flowerfire.com]

{{italic title}}

[[Category:Antarctic Press titles]]
[[Category:University of Texas at Austin]]