Defunct comic book publishers.

[PaulBullion]

Has no one mentioned Tower? In additon to publishing T.H.U.N.D.E.R. AGENTS, they also did Tippy Teen.

The T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents' rights moved to JC Comics, which only published 2 decent issues and some reprints. Around the same time, Deluxe Comics pretended to own the rights, hired (but allegedly never paid) some of the greatest talents in the industry and published 5 awesome issues. They had George Perez, Dave Cockrum, Jerry Ordway, Steve Ditko, Keith Giffen (along with his Legion partner in crime, the Bierbaums), Steve Englehart, Murphy Anderson... such great comics came out of that ugly chapter.

The DC tried a different twist to abysmal sales, and IDW did a mini series featuring the classic agents which was quite good.

[Jim Kelly]

Meanwhile, Martin Goodman bought the rights to Tippy Teen from Tower and reprinted those comics as VICKI, for four issues under Atlas (Seaboard). Tippy was arguably the most successful creation from Tower, in that she and her friends (Go-Go and Animal) had a longer run than the Tower super-heroes--teen humour comics were quite the rage in the late 1960s.

[K7P5V]

I'm a big Shooter fan. I wish we could see more of Defiant and Broadway Comics' characters. Might be nostalgia but I thought their comics were great.

Agreed. I would love to see a continuation of Desiree Hopewell's Fatale.

Future and Virtual Comics were fun too. I know Triumphant Comics has a bad rap but I enjoyed all their titles.

Also, don't forget Neil Gaiman's Tekno/Big Entertainment:

[Fromper]

I did like Mark Waid's Sherlockian "Ruse" that he did for CrossGen. May have those issues laying around somewhere.

CrossGen put out some beautiful art, but they were among the first publishers to give up on single issue stories and write everything for trade paperback publication. So their stories were good, if you waited long enough to read 6+ issues at once, but following them month to month was kinda slow enough to be a little frustrating. And I liked that they hit pretty much every genre available, except superheroes. I actually collected most of their stuff at the time.

[Surf]

Anytime I see any of the old Comico line out in the wild I grab them.

I've owned this TMNT Karate Manuel for about 20 years and I'm always looking for an opportunity to dig through a long box at a flea market or sale. I've NEVER seen any more of the Solson Publications in person outside of Instagram. They must have been a super low print run but they put out several titles.

[Gaastra]

Don't forget Gladstone who did Disney and ec comics stories. (what a odd mix)

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Then there was gemstone as well!

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[dancj]

Are their X-Files comics any good?

They were pretty good. The only real problem was that some of the issues had all of the art done (and done well) by Charlie Adlard, except for Mulder and Scully's faces which were drawn by a completely different artist. It was very jarring.

[shooshoomanjoe]

First Comics had a unique shared universe. Most of their titles were set in their own universes but were all connected through Cynosure from their Grimjack series.

[Jim Kelly]

The brief popularity of camp comics produced a mini-boom of fly-by-night companies in the 1960s--not as many as in the 1940s--but enough. One was M.F. Enterprises who published CAPTAIN MARVEL.



And another was Lightning Comics who published FATMAN, THE HUMAN FLYING SAUCER, by Otto Binder and C.C. Beck.

[Electricmastro]

The brief popularity of camp comics produced a mini-boom of fly-by-night companies in the 1960s--not as many as in the 1940s--but enough. One was M.F. Enterprises who published CAPTAIN MARVEL.

Ah yes, M.F. attempting to take the Captain Marvel name before Marvel did.

[Electricmastro]

Centaur Comics, one of the earliest comic book companies who focused on costumed crimefighting heroes:

[Chintzy Beatnik]

Crossgen. Always Crossgen.

[Jim Kelly]

Comic Magazines Company wasn't Centaur Comics yet when it published the Clock in FUNNY PAGES No. 6 and FUNNY PICTURE STORIES No. 1. That company got off the ground thanks to Busy Arnold, who went on to start up Quality Comics. Their next angel was Harry "A" Chesler but he was bought out by Ultern Publications, before they in turn were bought out by Centaur Publications. Chesler then went on to package comics for other publishers including for his own imprints.

The Clock meanwhile was sold off by Ultern to Quality Comics, which published new stories in FEATURE FUNNIES (aka FEATURE COMICS), before moving to CRACK COMICS. But when Centaur took over from Ultern, they also reprinted the old Clock stories from their inventory.

[Gaastra]

Don't forget red circle who did some archie hero comics.

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Archie would take over the line after red circle died keeping the comic line going.

Comet was super violent with comet killing bad guys in really bad ways then dies in his first issue! Hangman takes over for issue 2 then that title ends after 2 issues! Hangman was a really bad hero who got his butt kicked every second!

[Zero Hunter]

Crossgen. Always Crossgen.

I loved Crossgen so much and it broke my heart when it all fell apart. It had something for everyone no matter what your tastes. Sword and Sorcery, space opera, gods, detective stories, horror, and so much more.
I wish Marvel would do something with it since they own it now, bu the few times they did do anything it was just so different it might as well have been a new thing.