BY PATRICIA BREAKEY
DELHI NEWS BUREAU
A biography about a comic
book artist and his characters
won a Unadilla publisher grand
prize at the 2009 New England
Book Festival.
Robb Horan, 45, owner of Sirius
Entertainment in Unadilla,
said “Deathreats: The Life and
Times of a Comic Book Rock
Star/Drew Hayes” won the annual
competition honoring the
best books of the holiday season.
“This is the first book we have
published that wasn’t technically
a comic book,” Horan said
Tuesday.
Horan went to
Boston on Sunday
to receive
the award.
“This award
was certainly
a shot in the
arm,” Horan
said. “All
through last
year this book was the sole focus
of the company.”
Horan said Mark C.
Bellis edited the book,
which is a collection of
essays taken from the
work of Hayes. Hayes
was the late creator of
“Poison Elves,” an underground
comics sensation.
It uses the opening
and closing sections of
“Poison Elves” to create
a book that “runs as a coherent
biography.”
Horan said Hayes’
characters are tall elves
with large ears and big
guns. Hayes’ inspiration
evolved out of classic
role playing, Horan
added.
Bellis brought a scholarly
quality to the book,
Horan said. “It almost
comes off as a textbook,”
Horan said.
According to a description
of the book on www.siriusentertainment.com, “‘Starting Notes’
were Hayes’ deeply personal
editorials in which
he spoke his mind on everything
from the state of
the comic book industry
to the state of his love
life, with an occasional
diatribe on music, movies,
modern art, and anything
else that intrigued
him.” Hayes wrote more
than 100 issues of “Poison
Elves.”
“The ... writing, stunning
in its brutal honesty,
serves as a fitting tribute
to an under-recognized
artist and all publishers
who struggle to make
their voices heard,” according
to a media release from the New England
Book Festival.
Hayes died in 2007 at the
age of 37. “Deathreats” was
published posthumously
by Sirius, which celebrated
15 years of publishing
in 2009. Sirius has released
more than 300 comics and
graphic novels since 1994,
selling more than 1 million
copies.
Horan said he relocated
the company to Unadilla
in 2005 for economic
reasons and because he
wanted to raise his two
children there.
