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That savvy was evident in Oni’s second book, the first installment of its anthology series “Oni Double Feature”, which presented readers with an unlikely, inexperienced new talent who’s since been credited by some observers with single-handedly revitalizing the industry by using hispopularity to boost comic sales. Rich says filmmaker Kevin Smith (director of the new Catholic-baiting comedy “Dogma”) had been trying to break into comics for a while. It’s not surprising: Smith has always celebrated his predilection for funnybooks in his films, particularly 1997’s “Chasing Amy”. Smith met Schreck at Dark Horse; Schreck was on staff at the time, and Smith was considering joining him at the company. When Oni came together in 1997, Rich says turning to the filmmaker for help in launching a new line of books was a no-brainer.

“Oni was formed with the intention of creating a haven for creators to do whatever it was they wanted, and not worry about mainstream concerns or catering to the cliché that comics are just for kids,” Rich says. “It was a perfect thing for Kevin to bring over his characters, and tell the kind of stories he wasn’t able to tell through film”.

The Smith comics reflect the directors flair for writerly dialogue–chatty, articulate back-and-forth studded with in-jokes, pop-culture references, and smutty slang–and Smith’s eye seems particularly suited to a comic storyboard-structured narrative. Freelancers provide the books’ illustrations, with talent ranging from veterans such as Duncan Fegredo(DC’s “Enigma”) to newcomers such as Jim Mahfood, the artist behind “Grrrl Scouts”, which Rich says scored big with hard-to-reach female readers. Smith’s books include the “Jay and Silent Bob” series, featuring the adventures of two minor characters who’ve appeared in all of his films — a mouthy, id-driven stoner and a quiet, occasionally prophetic second banana (played in the films by Smith himself). in 1998, Oni published the first installment of “Clerks” miniseries, based on Smith’s 1994 low-budget breakout feature of the same name. The publisher also plans a “Dogma” tie-in later this year called “Bartleby and Loki” (name for the characters Ben Affleck and Matt Damon play in the film), and a book based on the critically panned 1995 Smith film “Mallrats”.

Smith may be strip-mining his self-made filmic mythology to the point of saturation, but his tie-ins are giving Oni a much-needed finical boost. “The first Kevin Smith book sold out immediately, and we had to do a third and fourth printings [soon after],” Rich says. “but automatically we knew we would have to sell 30,000 because Kevin’s got that many fans.” As a point of comparison, Greenholdt notes that “an indie comic is doing well if the print 10,000 copies or more.”

Mark Herr, a purchasing manager for the Timonium-based national wholesaler Diamond Comic Distributors, says Oni’s Smith titles have contributed greatly to the publishers standing in the national market. In fact, Oni’s been pulling in enough money to be counted among the top 20 publishers in the terms of market share, an honor nearly unheard of for a small, independently owned press. (The small publisher also launched Smith on a high-profile writing gig with Marvel – he was hired to revamp its “Daredevil” title for an eight-issue run).