Red Giant Entertainment, Inc. is a Florida-headquartered comic book publisher and "transmedia" entertainment company established in 2005. Red Giant was founded by Benny R. Powell, former marketing writer for Priceline.com.[2] Other key players included David Campiti, director and COO; and Chris Crosby, CTO and the CEO of Keenspot Entertainment.[3] Mark "Markiplier" Fischbach joined the board in November 2014.[4]
History
The company was incorporated June 27, 2005, in Nevada under the name Castmor Resources, Ltd. Red Giant Entertainment, Inc., meanwhile, was established in Clermont, Florida, in 2010. Castmore acquired Red Giant Entertainment on June 11, 2012; changing its name to Red Giant Entertainment, Inc. on June 26, 2012.
On March 4, 2013, Red Giant acquired ComicGenesis, LLC ("ComicGenesis"), a Nevada limited liability company that operated a user-generated comics site that hosted over 10,000 independent webcomics.[5]
David Campiti of Glass House Graphics joined Red Giant's board of directors in 2013,[6] as board director and COO; he left the company in 2018.[citation needed]
Works
Comics
Webcomics
Red Giant published webcomics with partner Keenspot. Titles included Wayward Sons: Legends, Exposure, Jade Warriors, Buzzboy, Medusa's Daughter, Katrina, and Porcelain.[7][8][non-primary source needed]
As of 2019, Red Giant began crowdfunding projects under the Absolute Comics imprint.[12] Comics falling under this label are all set within one shared universe, with cross-over events happening frequently. Some of the series in the Absolute Comics Universe are White Widow, Dual Identity, and Wayward Sons.[13]
Red Giant became embroiled in controversy related to a benefit comic it sponsored in response to the March 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami. In April 2011 the company announced it was spearheading Japan Needs Heroes, a Kickstarter crowd-funded anthology project which was intended to benefit "victims of Japan's tragedies." Including a foreword by Stan Lee, and contributions from, among others, Larry Hama, Mike Deodato, and Peter David,[27] the project was described this way:
Japan Needs Heroes is a comic book anthology project that will be released early summer 2011, with creators from across every genre and representing nearly every major comic book publisher. It will focus on stories of inspiration with messages of hope and promises of a better tomorrow by working with the heroes in each of us. It is expected to be between 200 to 300 pages and will be published in full color with its printing being provided at cost by the printer.[28]
The project was fully funded in May 2011, and a second round of funding took place in 2013.[27][29] By January 2014, however, nothing had been delivered to project backers.[30] Finally, in January 2015, digital downloads were sent to the Kickstarter backers.[31]
In regardings to the printed hardcover and paperback books, however, although Red Giant claimed the project had gone to the printer,[32] as of at least February 2015 nothing had not been mailed to project backers.[27] In the summer of 2015, at San Diego Comic-Con, Lee and Campiti displayed printed copies of Japan Needs Heroes[33] (although still no hard copies had been delivered).
Finally, after many years of silence, Powell of Red Giant claimed that the books (and associated merchandise) had been held by the warehouse company and not released.[34] Ultimately, Red Giant issued refunds and released the donations to the Japan Society.[citation needed]
