Founded | 2003 |
---|---|
Founder | Michael Turner |
Country of origin | United States |
Headquarters location | Santa Monica, California |
Distribution | Diamond Book Distributors (books) [1] |
Key people | Michael Turner |
Publication types | Comics |
Owner(s) | Mythos Studios (50%) [2] |
Official website | www |
Aspen Comics (Aspen MLT Inc.) is a California entertainment company founded in 2003 by artist Michael Turner. It has locations in Santa Monica and Marina Del Rey. The company is best known for producing comic books and figurines.
The company was founded by comic book artist Michael Turner in January 2003. The name "Aspen" comes from the main character in Turner's comic series, Fathom . Aspen Comics released the fantasy adventure Soulfire in 2004, its first ongoing series. 2005 marked the return of Fathom (originally published by Image Comics), with comic artist Koi Turnbull taking over the illustration of the title. Ekos , a collaboration between Turner and Geoff Johns was scheduled to follow shortly after Soulfire, but was still unreleased prior to Turner's death in 2008.
In 2001, Top Cow Productions announced a live-action Fathom feature film and supposedly entered into an agreement with James Cameron's Lightstorm Entertainment to co-produce the film. [3]
Aspen MLT has worked together with both DC Comics and Marvel Comics on major cross-company collaborations. The most well-known are DC's Superman: Godfall and Superman/Batman: Supergirl , where creators of Aspen MLT worked together with DC to create art and story for these comics. Following this, both DC and Marvel contracted Michael Turner to produce covers for their series.
Gary Frank is a British comics artist, notable for pencilling on Midnight Nation and Supreme Power, both written by J. Michael Straczynski. He has also worked with author Peter David on The Incredible Hulk and Supergirl. He had a creator-owned series, Kin, which he wrote himself, published by Top Cow Productions in 2000.
Michael Layne Turner was an American comics artist known for his work on Witchblade, Fathom, Superman/Batman, Soulfire, and various covers for DC Comics and Marvel Comics. He was also the president of the entertainment company Aspen MLT.
Amalgam Comics was a collaborative publishing imprint shared by DC Comics and Marvel Comics, in which the two comic book publishers merged their characters into new ones. These characters first appeared in a series of 12 comic books which were published in April 1996, between Marvel vs. DC #3 and DC vs. Marvel #4, the last two issues of the DC vs. Marvel crossover event. A second set of 12 comic books followed one year later in June 1997, but without the crossover event as a background. All 24 of these issues occurred between the aforementioned issues of DC vs. Marvel.
Superman/Batman is a monthly comic book series published by DC Comics that features the publisher's two most popular characters: Superman and Batman. Superman/Batman premiered in August 2003, an update of the previous series, World's Finest Comics, in which Superman and Batman regularly joined forces.
Mark Simpson, known by the pen name Jock, is a Scottish cartoonist, best known for his work in 2000 AD, The Losers, and more recently Batman and Wolverine. He is also known for Wytches by Image Comics.
Adam Kubert is an American comics artist known for his work for publishers such as Marvel Comics and DC Comics, including work on Action Comics, Astonishing Spider-Man & Wolverine, The Incredible Hulk, Ultimate Fantastic Four, Ultimate X-Men, and Wolverine.
Joe Benitez is an American comic book artist. He is co-creator and penciller of Weapon Zero, published by Top Cow Productions.
Soulfire is a comic book produced by Aspen MLT that is one in a line of titles created by Michael Turner. The original characters were created between 2000 and 2002 with Soulfire set to be produced under Top Cow, although that never came to be. Only when Michael Turner started his company, Aspen MLT, did the comic begin production in April 2003.
Kevin Nowlan is an American comics artist who works as a penciler, inker, colorist, and letterer. He has been called "one of the few artists who can be called 'artists's artist'", a master of the various disciplines of comic production, from "design to draftsmanship to dramatics".
Talent Caldwell is a comic book artist best known for his work on the Top Cow Productions character Fathom. He has also drawn for DC Comics' Superman and Marvel Comics' Spider-Man characters.
Christina Strain is an American comic book colorist, writer and screenwriter. Strain formerly worked for Marvel Comics as a colorist before pursuing a career as a writer. Strain's notable works include; the award-winning Marvel series Runaways, Marvel's Generation-X, the Syfy TV show, The Magicians, and the Netflix series Shadow and Bone.
Peter Steigerwald is an American comic book artist primarily known for his work as a colorist and his work at Aspen Comics. He has also worked in inking, writing, and graphic design.
Koi Turnbull is an American comic book artist, known for his work with DC Comics, Marvel, Aspen MLT's Fathom.
Jeffrey T. Krul is an American comic book writer, best known for his work on Aspen MLT's Fathom comic series.
Shrugged is a comic series published by Aspen MLT, publishers of Soulfire and Fathom. It was written by Aspen founder Michael Turner. It was also contributed by then vice president Frank Mastromauro and drawn by Aspen artist Micah Gunnell.
Marcus To is a Canadian comic book artist who currently works for Marvel Comics as the artist for Excalibur. He is best known for his work on Red Robin, Huntress and Soulfire. On July 9, 2012, it was announced that To is the artist for the North American adaptation of Cyborg 009, due to be released in July 2013. To drew The Multiversity: Guidebook, the sixth issue of Grant Morrison's The Multiversity project.
Francis Manapul is a Filipino Canadian comic book artist and writer.
Edward McGuinness is an American comic book artist and penciller, best known for his work on books such as Superman, Superman/Batman, Deadpool, and Hulk. His pencil work is frequently inked by Dexter Vines, and as such, their cover work is known to carry the stylized signature "EdEx". McGuinness frequent collaborator, writer Jeph Loeb, had characterized McGuinness' art style as incorporating elements of artists Jack Kirby and Arthur Adams.
Beth Sotelo is an American comic book colorist working with Aspen MLT. Having started at Top Cow Productions in 2001, she has since worked at both DC Comics and Marvel Comics, two of the largest American comic publishers.
Kenneth Rocafort is a Puerto Rican illustrator of comic books, known for his work on titles including Superman, Red Hood and the Outlaws, Astonishing Tales: Wolverine/Punisher, Teen Titans, The Ultimates, and his most recent graphic novel GROKEN.