Schanes explained, "My abilities have always been to sell and promote, and I needed to have a job to pay my debts and to maintain a minimum life-style with my family.

Blackthorne immediately bought the rights for 60 different newspaper strips, even though they knew they wouldn't be able to produce most of them for years at best, to lock out any competition in the field.

[1] In 1987, however, with the company losing money on its color line, it canceled those titles to focus on its 3-D books and black-and-white licensed products.

[10][11] In early 1989, the company was still the fifth-largest U.S. comics publisher, bringing in about $1 million in sales and boasting a staff of eight full-time editorial and production employees.

[3] The company made a fatal error, however, when they signed on to adapt the Michael Jackson film Moonwalker to a 3-D comic book.