Dark Horse Comics

**Dark Horse Comics** is an American company that creates comic books and manga. It is one of the largest "independent" comic book publishers. The company was founded by Mike Richardson.

Richardson is the owner of several comic book shops in the Portland, Oregon metropolitan area. In 1986, he began to publish an anthology series called _Dark Horse Presents_ using money from his stores. The company is based in Milwaukie, Oregon.

## Overview

Dark Horse creates many comics based on other peoples characters and settings. These include comics based on _Star Wars_, _Buffy the Vampire Slayer_, _Aliens_, and _Who Wants to be a Superhero?_ Dark Horse also publishes comics by artists who own their own settings. These include Frank Miller's _Sin City_ and _300_, Mike Mignola's _Hellboy_, Stan Sakai's _Usagi Yojimbo_, Katsuhiro Otomo's _Akira_ and Michael Chabon's _The Escapist_. From 1993-1996, Dark Horse published a line of superhero comics under the name Comics Greatest World. This was later renamed Dark Horse Heroes. After 1996, publication in this line slowed greatly. They stopped making any books about the characters in the early 2000's. Today, the company does very well even though they do not have their own universe of superpowered characters.

Dark Horse's movie company, Dark Horse Entertainment, creates movies based on Dark Horse Comics. These including _The Mask_ and _Hellboy_.

The company also produces novels based on some of their more popular comic book titles, including _Aliens_ and _Predator_.

### Original titles

- _300_
- _The American_
- _Age of Reptiles_
- _Agents of Law_
- _ArchEnemies_
- _Badger_
- _Barb Wire_
- _Battle Gods: Warriors of the Chaak_
- _Big Guy and Rusty the Boy Robot_
- _Billy the Kid's Old Timey Oddities_
- _The Blackburne Covenant_
- _Boris the Bear_
- _BPRD_
- _Catalyst: Agents of Change_
- _Cheval Noir_
- _Concrete_
- _Cravan_
- _Criminal Macabre_
- _Cut_
- _Damn Nation_
- _The Dark Horse Book Of_

- _Dark Horse Presents_
- _The Deadlander_
- _Dr. Giggles_
- _El Zombo Fantasma_
- _Freaks of the Heartland_
- _Gary Gianni's The MonsterMen_
- _Ghost_
- _Girl Crazy_
- _Give Me Liberty_
- _The Goon_
- _Grendel_
- _The Hammer, Kelley Jones_'
- _Hard Boiled_
- _Haunted Man_
- _Heartbreakers_
- _Hellboy_
- _Hero Zero_
- _HyperSonic_
- _Kingdom of the Wicked_
- _Living With The Dead_
- _Lords of Misrule_

- _Marshal Law_
- _The Mask_
- _Maxwell Strangewell_
- _Motorhead_
- _Milkman Murders_
- _Out of the Vortex_
- _The Perhapanauts_
- _Red Rocket 7_
- _Rex Mundi_
- _Samurai: Heaven and Earth_
- _Scarlet Traces_
- _The Secret_
- _Sin City_
- _SpyBoy_
- _The Thirteenth Son_
- _The Umbrella Academy_
- _Usagi Yojimbo_
- _H.G. Wells' The War of the Worlds_
- _Will to Power_
- _X_

### Licensed properties

- _Æon Flux_
- _Aliens_
- _Aliens vs. Predator_
- _Army of Darkness_
- _Conan the Barbarian_
- _The Dirty Pair_
- _Disney's Gremlins_
- _Digimon_
- _Doctor Solar_
- _Emily the Strange_
- _The Escapist_
- _The Fog_
- _Godzilla_
- _Hard Looks_
- _Harlan Ellison's Dream Corridor_

- _Hellgate: London_
- _The Hire_
- _The Incredibles_
- _Indiana Jones_
- _King Kong_
- _Little Lulu_
- _Magnus, Robot Fighter_
- _Man with the Screaming Brain_
- _Megatokyo_ - Vols. 1-3 only
- _Pathfinder_
- _Penny Arcade_
- _Planet of the Apes_
- _Predator_
- _Red String_
- _Serenity: Those Left Behind (Firefly)_

- _Shrek_
- _Star Wars: Crimson Empire_
- _Star Wars: Crimson Empire II_
- _Star Wars: Empire_
- _Star Wars: Rebellion_
- _Star Wars Tales_
- _Star Wars: Legacy_
- _Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic_
- _Superman vs. The Terminator_
- _Tarzan_
- _Terminator_
- _The Thing_
- _Vampire Hunter D_
- _Xena: Warrior Princess_

### _Buffy: The Vampire Slayer_ titles

- _Spike & Dru_
- _The Origin_
- _Viva Las Buffy_
- _Slayer Interrupted_
- _A Stake to the Heart_
- _Dust Waltz_
- _Ring of Fire_
- _Remaining Sunlight_
- _Uninvited Guests_
- _The Final Cut_
- _Bad Blood_

- _Crash Test Demons_
- _Pale Reflections_
- _Angel: The Hollower_
- _Food Chain_
- _Blood of Carthage_
- _Oz_
- _Giles_
- _Jonathan_
- _Buffy_/_Angel_ crossover: _Past Lives_
- _Out of the Woodwork_
- _Haunted_

- _False Memories_
- _Willow & Tara_
- _Autumnal_
- _Ugly Little Monsters_
- _Chaos Bleeds_ comic prequel
- _Death of Buffy_
- _Reunion_
- _Note from the Underground_
- _Creatures of Habit_
- _Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight_
- _Fray_ (Set 200 years+ in the future)

### Manga

- _3x3 Eyes_
- _Akira_
- _Appleseed_
- _Astro Boy_
- _Banya: The Explosive Delivery Man_
- _Berserk_
- _Black Magic M-66_
- _Blade of the Immortal_
- _Blood+_
- _Bride of the Water God_
- _Bubblegum Crisis_ (aka Bubblegum Crisis: Grand Mal)
- _Cannon God Exaxxion_
- _Caravan Kidd_
- _Club 9_
- _Crying Freeman_
- _Dominion: Tank Police_
- _Domu_
- _Drakuun_
- _Eden_

- _Gantz_
- _Ghost in the Shell_
- _Gunsmith Cats_
- _Gunsmith Cats BURST_
- _Hellsing_
- _Hipira_
- _Intron Depot_
- _Ju-on_
- _King of Wolves_
- _Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service_
- _Lady Snowblood_
- _Legend of Mother Sarah_
- _Lone Wolf and Cub_
- _Lost World_
- _Mail_
- _Metropolis_
- _MPD Psycho_
- _Nextworld_
- _Oh My Goddess!_
- _Oldboy_

- _Orion_
- _Outlanders_
- _Octopus Girl_
- _Path of the Assassin_
- _Reiko the Zombie Shop_
- _Satsuma Gishiden_
- _Katsuya Terada's The Monkey King_
- _The Ring_
- _Samurai Executioner_
- _Seraphic Feather_
- _Masakuzu Katsura's Shadow Lady: Sudden Death_
- _Shadow Star_ (_Narutaru_)
- _Spirit of Wonder_
- _Tomie (Museum of Terror)_
- _Trigun_
- _Translucent_
- _Venus Wars_
- _What's Michael?_
- _You're Under Arrest_

## References

- _Dark Horse Comics: The First Twenty Years_ (by Mike Richardson, Frank Miller and others, 384 pages, Dark Horse, March 2008, )

## Other websites

- Dark Horse Comics  -  Official Site
- Things From Another World  - Online retailer of comics and collectibles, sister company of Dark Horse Comics

## Infobox (company)

- **company name**: Dark Horse Comics
- **company type**: Comic book, Comic publisher
- **foundation**: 1986
- **founder**: Mike Richardson (publisher), Mike Richardson
- **key people**: Mike Richardson (publisher), Mike Richardson
- **location**: Milwaukie, Oregon, Milwaukie, Oregon
- **industry**: Comics
- **homepage**: [http://www.darkhorse.com/ DarkHorse.com]