Publishers

  • The Comics Journal -- I think this is the best comics-related magazine around, and it has been for over 25 years. Gary Groth's in-depth interviews are definitive, and they provide the most insightful coverage of independent and European comics and their creators of any English language magazine, and are increasing their manga coverage as well, apparently. They've also recently expanded their page count and improved their production quality.
  • Wizard Magazine -- Wizard Magazine - This gets a bad rap for being sophomoric, too focused on superhero comics, and for its inflated price guide, and some of the criticism is justified. However, superhero comics sell better than anything but manga, and Wizard is apparently giving a good deal of the superhero audience what they want , as the magazine sells well. Not something I read with regularity, but it's breezy and mostly harmless.
  • Fantagraphics Books -- The biggest and probably the most important "indie", Fanta has been home to many of the most important American cartoonists of the past 30 years, including Robert Crumb, Chris Ware, Daniel Clowes, Los Bros. Hernandez, Joe Sacco and Peter Bagge, and has also published quality archival work such as Prince Valiant , Walt Kelly's POGO, George Herriman's KRAZY & IGNATZ, and as of 2004, the COMPLETE PEANUTS by Charles Schulz, which will take over twelve years to complete and should ensure the company's future. They also publish The Comics Journal, and through their EROS imprint, loads of erotica.
  • Drawn and Quarterly -- They publish some of the other great cartoonists, many of them Canadian, including Chester Brown, Seth, Joe Matt, Adrian Tomine and David Collier. They've also published European cartoonists like Baru, and works by Ware, Crumb and Sacco. Their production quality is second to none.
  • Top Shelf Productions -- Home to one of my favorite cartoonists (and a fine musician), James (MONKEY VS. ROBOT) Kochalka, as well as Craig (BLANKETS) Thompson and the upcoming Alan Moore/Melinda Gebbie opus LOST GIRLS, as well as the English language home for the Stripburger collective, Top Shelf is always doing something interesting, and the principals, Chris Staros and Brett Warnock, are two of the nicest guys I've met in comics.
  • Alternative Comics -- eff Mason runs this whole enterprise pretty much on his own, and it's a labor of love, featuring works either light-hearted, formal experiments, or both. Some of their talent includes the hilarious Sam (MAGIC WHISTLE) Henderson, Asaf & Tomer (BIPOLAR) Tenuka, Matt (A FINE MESS) Madden, Nick ( RUBBER NECKER) Bertozzi, Josh (A FEW PERFECT HOURS) Neufeld, Dean Haspiel, Thomas Herpich and Dave Lasky. Kochalka also publishes his wonderful PEANUT BUTTER & JEREMY stories here, among other works.
  • AdHouse Books -- Another labor of love, with chief Chris Pitzer bringing immense design skill to make his books beautiful in and of themselves, regardless of whether they're good or not. Fortunately, they usually are, such as Paul Hornschemeier's RETURN OF THE ELEPHANT and Joel Priddy's PULPATOON PILGRAMAGE. The upcoming PROJECT: SUPERIOR anthology sounds amazing.
  • IDW -- Very savvy and high quality publisher known largely for horror hits like Steve Niles and Ben Templesmith's 30 DAYS OF NIGHT and its sequels and spinoffs, its licensed titles like CSI, THE SHIELD, METAL GEAR SOLID and 24, and the distinctive styles of the talented and prolific Templesmith and Ashley Wood, though they've expanded that stylistic template as they've grown.
  • Dark Horse Comics -- They began by giving people like Paul Chadwick, Eddie Campbell and Matt Wagner a place to grow their own creations, as well as providing a home for the darker works by superstars Frank Miller and John Byrne such as SIN CITY and NEXT MEN. They were fortunate to secure licenses to produce comics based on ALIEN, PREDATOR and STAR WARS, and created their own short-lived hit THE MASK, which became a successful film for then-rising star Jim Carrey, as well as Mike Mignola's HELLBOY. Since then, the company has continued both licensed and creator-owned work, added superhero books, focused heavily on high-quality manga such as LONE WOLF & CUB, GHOST IN THE SHELL, and BLADE OF THE IMMORTAL, and honored comics past with reprints of everything from LITTLE LULU to CONAN to MAGNUS: ROBOT FIGHTER. They also have one of the most extensive lines of comics-related merchandise such as shot glasses, lighters, journals, lunchboxes and toys.
  • Slave Labor Graphics -- A quirky company that's hard to pin down, though defined largely by the cult success of cartoonist Jhonen Vasquez and his many books like JOHNNY THE HOMICIDAL MANIAC and the similar works of "Gothic humor" by other sLG creators. Whatever they publish is usually offbeat, from Tiki culture-inspired drink recipe books to Evan Dorkin's hilarious DORK and MILK & CHEESE collections to the excellent, original takes on superheroics, STREET ANGEL and TUPELO.
  • Image Comics -- Though in business just a little over a decade, Image has changed quite a bit from its beginning as the home for hot Marvel artist emigres-turned-studio heads Jim Lee, Todd MacFarlane, Erik Larsen, Rob Liefeld, Marc Silvestri and Jim Valentino. Today only Larsen--now publisher--and MacFarlane and Silvestri remain, and none of their books particularly big sellers anymore. Image struggles to find a hit book and clear identity, but to their credit, they have taken a chance on a number of new books and untested creators, chief among them Robert Kirkman with his excellent series THE WALKING DEAD and INVINCIBLE.
  • AiT/Planetlar -- Begun by former retailer Larry Young to self-publish his acclaimed ASTRONAUTS IN TROUBLE, AiT has gone on to publish a diverse range of mostly graphic novels based on either Larry's or wife Mimi Rosenheim's tastes, resulting in sweet romantic comedies like Tom Beland's TRUE STORY, SWEAR TO GOD, charming fantasies like Todd Nicholson's COLONIA, and the many sides of Brian Wood, including DEMO and THE COURIERS. They have also reprinted seminal works like Steven Grant's BADLANDS and Warren Ellis' COME IN ALONE essays.
  • DC Comics -- The largest comics publisher, and the most secure, as they are backed by parent Time Warner/AOL. DC's stock in trade is iconic superheroes like Superman and Batman, but much of their most interesting work comes from the Vertigo, America's Best Comics and Wildstorm imprints, featuring such talents as Alan Moore, Grant Morrison and Ed Brubaker.
  • Marvel Comics -- The feet-of-clay superheroes Marvel has specialized in for forty-plus years have mutated into the ironic spectacles of Mark Millar's and Bryan Hitch's THE ULTIMATES and the dialogue-heavy, character-based work of Brian Michael Bendis on ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN, DAREDEVIL, POWERS and now NEW AVENGERS.
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