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George Caragonne (1965 — July 20, 1995) was a writer of comic books, primarily for Marvel Comics and their subsidiary Star Comics, throughout the 1980s. Titles he wrote included Masters of the Universe, Planet Terry, and Star Brand.

In 1988, after hearing former Marvel Editor In Chief Jim Shooter was creating a new comic book company (Valiant Comics), Caragonne drove from California to New York and, unannounced, knocked on Shooter's door to offer his services.

Caragonne agreed to all the grunt work needed for Valiant to be launched, while holding a full time job. After the company was on its feet, Caragonne wrote such titles as Captain N, The Legend of Zelda, and Punch Out.

After leaving Valiant, Caragonne optioned the rights to produce new comics based on the 60s characters T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents. An acquaintance then introduced Carrogonne to Penthouse publisher Bob Guccione whom Carrogonne tried to interest in publishing T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents. Guccione asked Carrogonne if he could instead create comic sections for Penthouse Magazine. Carragonne agreed and was given an office inside Penthouse's production building and recruited writer/editor Horatio Weisfeld to assist him. After several sections of comics had been produced for regular Penthouse Magazine, Guccione directed that a stand alone magazine of comics be created for his company- and so the first issue of Penthouse Comix appeared in spring 1994.

Penthouse Comix was an immediate international success and spawned a full line that included the seven-issue Men's Adventure Comix (cover-titled Penthouse Men's Adventure Comix) (April/May 1995 - April/May 1996), and the three-issue (March/April 1995 - Oct./Nov. 1995) Omni Comix, the latter a companion to the science magazine Omni Magazine.

After the third issue of Penthouse Comix Managing Editor Horatio Weisfeld left the project and Carrogonne (under Guccione's direction) began to change the material from soft-core erotica to hardcore pornography. Guccione also directed that Carrogonne produce two additional magazines that would feature sexually explicit material and a fourth magazine that would be spun off from OMNI Magazine, which was owned by Penthouse.

In July 1995 Caragonne was dismissed from Penthouse Comix for financial impropriety. On July 20, Caragonne, who lived on West 100th Street in Manhattan, committed suicide by leaping 500 feet to his death from the 45th floor of the Marriott Marquis Hotel, landing in an atrium.

This author page uses material from the Wikipedia article "George Caragonne", which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0