Caliber pt. 10- Busy, Busy, Busy

I have to admit that the three years I was with McFarlane Toys is a bit of a blur when I look back. It was an incredibly hectic time. I was Executive VP at McFarlane and handled much of the advertising, TV ads, a lot of the office, and many other duties. The response to the toy line was unbelievable and exploded at a level that was not only unexpected but pretty much unimaginable. The toy line completely revolutionized the entire action figure market. At the same time, I still had my comic shops, my wife and I had our third child at the beginning and our fourth at the end of my time with McFarlane Toys. And of course, I still had Caliber and Stabur. With Stabur, it involved a number of trips to New York and with Caliber and McFarlane, there were a lot of Hollywood discussion ongoing...

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Caliber pt. 9- Playing with Toys

By the fourth year of Caliber, we were considered by many a proven company.  We had launched with both critical picks and commercial hits---but often, one title was not both---and had built up a good following and outside of some scheduling problems (an accompaniment to creator owned comics), had provided a reliable product.   But a huge change, one that was totally unpredicted was about to occur. In 1993, Caliber merged with Stabur Publishing.  Stabur was owned by Paul Burke who lived in the same area as I did and who I first met at conventions.  We became friends and discussed business often.  Stabur at that time was releasing the Stan Lee How to Videos which had Stan interviewing many of the top creators in comics.  Paul was also the force behind a...

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