Cliffhanger was an imprint of Wildstorm, [1] publishing creator-owned comic books. It was founded in 1998 by Joe Madureira, J. Scott Campbell and Humberto Ramos, [2] when Wildstorm was still part of Image Comics (the studio has since been sold to DC Comics). [3]
The imprint ended in summer of 2004 when it was merged with the Homage Comics line to form the Wildstorm Signature Series.
The imprint's first release was Campbell's spy series Danger Girl in March 1998, followed by the first issue of Madureira's fantasy series Battle Chasers a month later and Ramos' teen-vampire series Crimson in May.
Ramos' Crimson became the longest running series of the line, going on for 24 issues before its conclusion in February 2001.
In spring 2000, Chris Bachalo and author Joe Kelly created the imprint's fourth title, Steampunk . It was followed by Ramos' second Cliffhanger title, Out There , in May 2001.
While several new miniseries were published by the line through 2002 and 2003, like High Roads by writer Scott Lobdell and artist Leinil Francis Yu, Arrowsmith by Kurt Busiek and Carlos Pacheco, The Possessed by Geoff Johns and Kris Grimminger with art by Liam Sharp and Kamikaze , written by Olallo Rubio with art by Francisco Herrera, the imprint lost most of its initial charm and star-power when its founders stopped their titles.
In late 2003, the imprint was also used to publish Epicurus the Sage and The Maxx trade paperbacks with material previously published by Image Comics, before it was finally merged with Homage Comics in 2004 to form the Wildstorm Signature Series.
Image Comics is an American comic book publisher and is the third largest direct market comic book and graphic novel publisher in the industry by market share. Its best-known publications include Spawn, The Walking Dead, Kick-Ass, Invincible, Jupiter's Legacy, Witchblade, The Maxx, Savage Dragon, Bone, Saga, Radiant Black and Stray Dogs.
Wildstorm Productions is an American comic book imprint. Originally founded as an independent company established by Jim Lee under the name "Aegis Entertainment" and expanded in subsequent years by other creators, Wildstorm became a publishing imprint of DC Comics in 1998. Until it was shut down in 2010, the Wildstorm imprint remained editorially separate from DC Comics, with its main studio located in California. The imprint took its name from a portmanteau of the titles of the Jim Lee comic series WildC.A.T.S. and Stormwatch.
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Joe Madureira, often called Joe Mad, is an American comic book artist and game developer, best known for his work on Darksiders, Marvel Comics' Uncanny X-Men and his creator-owned comic book Battle Chasers. He is the founder of video game development companies Vigil Games and Airship Syndicate.
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Jeffery Scott Campbell is an American comic book artist. He was initially known professionally as Jeffery Scott, but is best known as J. Scott Campbell. He rose to fame as an artist for Wildstorm Comics, though he has since done work for Marvel Comics, and the video game industry.
Battle Chasers is an American fantasy comic book series by Joe Madureira, launched in April 1998. It was characterized by scheduling problems, with an average of about six months between issues, including a delay of 16 months for issue #7. Madureira produced a total of nine issues in four years, a pace for which he was criticized, before leaving the comic industry to pursue a career as a video game designer. The cliffhanger ending of issue #9 was not resolved for over 20 years; issue #10 was originally scheduled for November 2001, put on indefinite hiatus with Madureira's exit from the industry, and returned only as abstract plans and concept drawings from 2017 to early 2023. Issue #10 was published in June 2023 and continued the plot after a two-page recap.
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