Alternative comics cover a range of American comics that have appeared since the 1980s, following the underground comix movement of the late 1960s and early 1970s. Alternative comics present an alternative to mainstream superhero comics which in the past have dominated the American comic book industry. Alternative comic books span a wide range of genres, artistic styles, and subjects.
First Comics was an American comic book publisher that was active from 1983 to 1991, known for titles like American Flagg!, Grimjack, Nexus, Badger, Dreadstar, and Jon Sable. Along with competitors like Pacific Comics and Eclipse Comics, First took early advantage of the growing direct market, attracting a number of writers and artists from DC and Marvel to produce creator-owned titles, which, as they were not subject to the Comics Code, were free to feature more mature content.
Richard Veitch is an American comics artist and writer who has worked in mainstream, underground, and alternative comics.
Kevin Brooks Eastman is an American comic book artist and writer best known for co-creating Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles with Peter Laird. Eastman was also formerly the editor and publisher of the magazine Heavy Metal.
Philip Craig Russell is an American comics artist, writer, and illustrator. His work has won multiple Harvey and Eisner Awards. Russell was the first mainstream comic book creator to come out as openly gay.
Stephen R. Bissette is an American comics artist, editor, and publisher with a focus on the horror genre. He is known for working with writer Alan Moore and inker John Totleben on the DC Comics series Swamp Thing in the 1980s.
Jamie Delano is a British comics writer. He was part of the first post-Alan Moore "British Invasion" of writers which started to feature in American comics in the 1980s. Best known as the first writer of the comic book series Hellblazer, featuring John Constantine.
An ashcan comic is a form of the American comic book originally created solely to establish trademarks on potential titles and not intended for sale. The practice was common in the 1930s and 1940s when the comic book industry was in its infancy, but was phased out after updates to US trademark law. The term was revived in the 1980s by Bob Burden, who applied it to prototypes of his self-published comic book. Since the 1990s, the term has been used to describe promotional materials produced in large print runs and made available for mass consumption. In the film and television industries, the term 'ashcan copy' has been adopted for low-grade material created to preserve a claim to licensed property rights.
Avatar Press is an independent American comic book publisher founded in 1996 by William A. Christensen, and based in Rantoul, Illinois. Avatar Press is most notable for publishing Bad Girl comics, such as Faust, Pandora, Hellina, Lookers, The Ravening, and Brian Pulido's Lady Death. Such comics are currently published under the "Boundless Comics" imprint.
John Thomas Totleben is an American illustrator working mostly in comic books.
Notable events of 1984 in comics. See also List of years in comics.
Thomas Yeates is an American comic strip and comic book artist best known for illustrating the comic strips Prince Valiant and Zorro and for working on characters created by Edgar Rice Burroughs.
Barbara Randall Kesel is an American writer and editor of comic books. Her bibliography includes work for Crossgen, Dark Horse Comics, DC Comics, IDW Publishing, Image Comics, and Marvel Comics.
The popularity of the A Nightmare on Elm Street film series has led to several comic book series published by Marvel Comics, Innovation Publishing, Trident Comics, Avatar Press and WildStorm Productions. After the success of Freddy vs. Jason and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre remake film in 2003, New Line Cinema created their House of Horror licensing division which licensed the A Nightmare on Elm Street franchise to Avatar Press for use in new comic book stories, the first of which was published in 2005. In 2006, Avatar Press lost the license to DC Comics imprint, WildStorm Productions which then published several new stories based on the franchise before their license expired as well.
By Bizarre Hands is the first collection of short stories by American writer Joe R. Lansdale, published in 1989. The collection was nominated for a Bram Stoker Award for best fiction collection, and contains two stories which won Stokers. It has an introduction by Lewis Shiner. This book was re-issued as By Bizarre Hands Rides Again in 2010. The re-issue contains a new introduction by Joe R. Lansdale and new artwork by Alex McVey. This book is limited to 300 copies and is signed by both writer and artist. It also contains two stories not in the original issue.
Alan Moore's Yuggoth Cultures and Other Growths is a three-issue comic book miniseries presenting work written by influential comics writer Alan Moore, based on the writings of horror writer H. P. Lovecraft. It was published by Avatar Press in 2003.
The Masters of the Universe media franchise has appeared in several comic book series. Most were small publications, which were included as bonuses with action figures. Standalone comic-book series were also published by DC, Marvel Comics, London Edition Magazines and Image Comics.
The Avatar: The Last Airbender comics are an official continuation of the original Nickelodeon animated television series, Avatar: The Last Airbender, created by Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko. The series includes The Lost Adventures, published from 2005 to 2011 and set between episodes of the original series, and the graphic novel trilogies, published since 2012 and set a few years after the original series. A related comic continuation, taking place seven decades later, The Legend of Korra, began publication in 2017.
James Cameron's Avatar franchise is a planned series of science fiction films produced by Cameron's Lightstorm Entertainment and distributed by 20th Century Studios, as well as associated computer games and theme park rides.
Avatar: The Last Airbender is an American multimedia franchise consisting of two animated television series, a live-action film, comics, books, video games, home media, and soundtracks. The franchise began with the animated television series Avatar: The Last Airbender, which aired on Nickelodeon from 2005 to 2008. The series is set in an Asian-inspired fantasy world in which some people can telekinetically manipulate one of the four classical elements: air, water, earth or fire. Only the titular "Avatar" can bend all four elements and is responsible for maintaining balance in the world.
