Michael Catron (born October 9, 1954)^[2] is an American comic book editor and publisher. He is former publisher of Apple Comics and co-founder of Fantagraphics.

Biography

Catron met Gary Groth while they were both enrolled at the University of Maryland. In 1974, Catron and Groth put on a Washington, DC-area rock and roll convention that ended in financial failure. Nonetheless, he and Groth dabbled in music publishing with the short-lived magazine Sounds Fine,^[3] which they co-published until 1979. During this period, Catron also worked as a public relations assistant for Mike Gold, at the time employed by DC Comics.^[4]

In 1976, Catron and Groth co-founded Fantagraphics Books, at that point located in College Park, Maryland. They took over an adzine named The Nostalgia Journal, quickly renaming it The Comics Journal.^[5] Catron acted as Fantagraphics' co-publisher until 1985, also handling advertising and circulation for The Comics Journal from 1982 to 1985, when he left the company.^[4]

In 1986, Catron established Apple Comics, which began as a packager for Wendy & Richard Pini's WaRP Graphics but with its own financing structure.^[6]

From 2000 to 2008, Catron served as a board member for the Grand Comics Database.^[7]

Catron has been the agent for the estate of Superman co-creator Joe Shuster.^[8]

In early 2012, Catron relocated to Seattle and returned to Fantagraphics as editor with the publishing company he co-founded 36 years earlier.^[9][10]