I hadn’t planned to write this article today. Or ever, really. But in light of the announcement of DC Comics shuttering WildStorm and Zuda Comics yesterday, it seems only fair to push my previously scheduled (and always amazing) content to another day to take a look back at one of the most important publishers/imprints in the last 20 years. To some younger folk out there, WildStorm may be the face of video game tie-ins for Gears of War, World of Warcraft, and Resident Evil, but before all of that, they gave us so much more.
When a bunch of high profile creators left Marvel Comics in the early 1990s over issues of copyright for characters they created while under contract, they formed Image Comics -- one of the largest comic book companies in the world today -- as a means to give talent a place to publish creator-owned work. The partners of Image Comics eventually formed their own subdivision imprints, some of which still exist today, like Top Cow and Shadowline. One of these was Jim Lee’s WildStorm Productions.
Jim Lee was hot back then from drawing books like the X-Men relaunch of the early 1990’s, and is even hotter today after becoming one of the most recognizable artistic talents in comics, not to mention rising to the top of the ladder as co-publisher (along with Dan Didio) of DC Comics. When Lee started WildStorm, it was a place to breed new talent and new concepts. Born in the early days of the company was Lee’s WildC.A.T.S., a title that would eventually see respected talents like Alan Moore, James Robinson, Grant Morrison, and Christos Gage work on the series throughout its many years. Under Image Comics, WildStorm also saw the birth of DV8, Gen 13, Stormwatch and Wetworks.
In 1995, WIldStorm created its own imprint of Homage Comics, which was the birthplace of many books that would eventually be lauded as some of the most loved of all time, including Kurt Busiek’s Astro City, Terry Moore’s Strangers in Paradise and Sam Kieth’s The Maxx. In comic books it can be difficult to trace publication history, but it’s shocking to recall how many series had their start at Jim Lee’s little division of Image.
In late 1998, WildStorm was purchased by DC Comics in an attempt to diversify DC’s lineup. DC should consider themselves lucky, as with the purchase of WildStorm, they gained America’s Best Comics, an imprint that had just been created prior to the DC purchase by Jim Lee and Alan Moore, and would ultimately feature some of Moore’s best work, including League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Tom Strong, and Promethea.
