Comics

Founded by veterans of Marvel, DC and Top Cow to publish creator-owned genre comics, often working with established mainstream writers. Entered bankruptcy proceedings in 2022-23 and continues at reduced scale.

Small publisher founded by former DC and Marvel editors, known for satirical and literary genre comics. Issues typically include prose short stories and poetry alongside the comics content.

One of the longest-running American independents, built around manga-influenced American work, a category sometimes called Amerimanga. Titles include Ninja High School and Gold Digger.

Began as a superhero publisher before the 1941 debut of Archie Andrews redefined the company around teen humor. Remained privately held and largely self-contained for decades. Since the 2010s it has diversified sharply, producing horror reinventions such as Afterlife with Archie and The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, and the television series Riverdale.

Founded by Ross Richie. Publishes creator-owned genre and all-ages comics, the latter through its KaBOOM! and Archaia imprints. Known for Lumberjanes, Something Is Killing the Children and Once & Future. Penguin Random House acquired a minority stake in 2020 and handles distribution.

Founded by comic-shop owner Mike Richardson. Built a dual business of original creator-owned properties (Hellboy, Sin City, Concrete) and licensed adaptations of film, television and video game franchises. Also a significant publisher of manga in English. Acquired by Swedish games conglomerate Embracer Group in 2021.

Independent publisher known for Hellboy, Sin City, and licensed comics.

Publisher of Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman and the DC Universe.

The oldest continuously operating major American comic publisher and the origin point of the superhero genre: Superman debuted in Action Comics #1 (1938), Batman in Detective Comics #27 (1939). Owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Relocated from New York to Burbank in 2015. Its Vertigo imprint (1993-2020) was influential in bringing literary and horror comics to a mainstream audience.

Founded by Chris Oliveros. Focused on literary graphic novels, autobiographical comics and translated international work, including significant English editions of Japanese gekiga and European material. Publishes a small list at high production quality and operates a bookstore in Montreal.

Specializes in pulp-heritage and licensed characters, frequently reviving properties whose rights have lapsed or become available, including Red Sonja, Vampirella, The Shadow and Flash Gordon, alongside adaptations such as The Boys.

The central publisher of American alternative comics, founded by Gary Groth and Michael Catron. Originated as publisher of The Comics Journal, a criticism magazine, before moving into books. Publishes Love and Rockets, the work of Daniel Clowes and Chris Ware, and extensive archival reprints of classic newspaper strips.

French bande dessinee publisher founded in Paris as Les Humanoides Associes by Moebius, Jean-Pierre Dionnet, Philippe Druillet and Bernard Farkas, originally around the magazine Metal Hurlant. Established a US arm in 1999 to publish English editions of European science fiction and fantasy comics, including The Incal and The Metabarons.

Grew out of the creative services studio Idea and Design Works. Its catalog is heavily weighted toward licensed properties including Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Star Trek, Transformers, Sonic the Hedgehog and Godzilla, alongside original work and archival reprint programs. Publicly traded, with several rounds of restructuring in the 2020s.

Creator-owned publisher — Saga, The Walking Dead, Invincible, Spawn and more.

Founded by seven high-profile Marvel artists, among them Todd McFarlane, Jim Lee and Rob Liefeld, who left over creator-rights disputes. Image publishes and distributes but does not own the properties it prints; each creator retains copyright. The model has made it the primary home for creator-owned work in American comics. Titles include Spawn, The Walking Dead, Saga and Invincible.

Founded by cartoonist C. Spike Trotman. Among the first publishers to build its list primarily through crowdfunding rather than direct-market preorders. Publishes anthologies and creator-owned graphic novels, with an emphasis on transparent creator contracts and paying advances.

North American arm of Kodansha, one of Japan's largest publishers, founded 1909. Publishes English editions of Attack on Titan, Akira, Sailor Moon and Vinland Saga, and absorbed the catalog of the defunct Del Rey Manga line.

Independent publisher of creator-owned genre comics that expanded rapidly in the 2020s. Acquired the all-ages graphic novel publisher Papercutz in 2024 along with the Flux and Maverick lines, broadening into younger-reader and prose categories.

Home of the Avengers, Spider-Man, the X-Men and the wider Marvel Universe.

The largest American comic book publisher by market share. Founded as Timely Comics, renamed Atlas in the 1950s and Marvel in 1961. The core Marvel Universe was established during the 1961-1970 period associated with Stan Lee, Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko. Acquired by The Walt Disney Company in 2009; its characters now function primarily as film and television properties.

Founded by Bob Schreck and Joe Nozemack. Best known for Scott Pilgrim and a catalog of creator-owned and licensed titles. Merged with Lion Forge Comics in 2019, briefly operating as Oni-Lion Forge Publishing Group.

A video game developer that acquired the 2000 AD weekly anthology and its properties in 2000, later purchasing the Fleetway/IPC archive of classic British comics. 2000 AD is the origin of Judge Dredd and served as the entry point for a generation of writers and artists, among them Alan Moore, Grant Morrison and Neil Gaiman, who moved into American comics in the 1980s.

Independent genre publisher operating on a revenue-share model with creators rather than page rates. Has been the subject of publicly reported creator payment disputes in the mid-2020s.

Independent manga and light novel publisher known for licensing niche and genre titles that larger houses pass over, including a substantial catalog of yuri, isekai and horror manga.

Publisher and retail storefront rooted in punk and zine culture, focused on independent, queer and politically engaged comics. Operates at small print runs with a strong direct-to-reader channel.

Comics division of Titan Publishing Group. Publishes licensed properties including Doctor Who and Blade Runner, English editions of European comics, and archival collections of British newspaper strips.

Historically significant for popularizing the unflipped, right-to-left small-format paperback that became the North American manga standard, and for driving the early-2000s bookstore manga boom. Its publishing operation collapsed in 2011; the company later relaunched at a much smaller scale.

Originally founded by former Marvel editor-in-chief Jim Shooter and briefly among the best-selling publishers of the early 1990s before collapsing amid the speculator-market crash. The characters were relaunched under new ownership in 2012 to strong critical reception. Owned by DMG Entertainment since 2018. Properties include Bloodshot, X-O Manowar and Harbinger.

Genre-focused independent publishing science fiction, fantasy and horror, entirely creator-owned. Notable for launching a large number of new original series relative to its size.

The dominant English-language manga publisher in North America, jointly owned by Japanese publishers Shueisha and Shogakukan and their production affiliate. Holds English rights to a large share of the best-selling Shonen Jump catalog including Naruto, One Piece, Dragon Ball and Demon Slayer. Also operates a digital Shonen Jump subscription service and an anime distribution arm.

Publishes manga, Korean manhwa and Japanese light novels in English. Originally a Hachette imprint, now owned by Kadokawa Corporation with Hachette retaining an interest. Notable for establishing light novels as a viable English-language category.

Best known for the Grimm Fairy Tales line, which reworks folklore and fairy tales as adult horror-fantasy. Business is weighted toward the direct market and convention sales, with an extensive variant-cover program.