136 DARK HORSE COMICS
Selected Bibliography: Sanderson, Peter. “Th e Frank Miller/ Klaus Janson Interview.”
Th e Daredevil Chronicles (1982): 9–27; Young, Eric. Th e Men Without Fear: Creating
Daredevil. DVD. Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment, 2003.
Marc-Oliver Frisch
DARK HORSE COMICS. As one of the major independent comic publishers in the
United States, Dark Horse Comics, Inc. was established in 1986 by Mike Richardson.
Richardson’s company evolved from his previous venture as owner of Pegasus Books,
a comic book store in Portland, Oregon. Over the years, the company’s strategy has
been both profi table and provocative, establishing trends, talent, and styles that would
be emulated by other companies, including the larger publishers, Marvel Comics and
DC Comics.
While Paul Chadwick’s Concrete (1988) proved to be the fi rst critical success
for the company within its fi rst year, Dark Horse Comics’ impact on market share
emerged by the end of the 1980s and throughout the 1990s as it picked up several
popular intellectual property licenses from previously established science fi ction and
fantasy franchises. Th ese included Aliens, Predator, Star Wars, Terminator, Conan and
many others. Each newly-launched series developed the franchise’s mythology, telling
more stories and creating new characters and plotlines that often picked up where
the movies or books ended. Dark Horse was able to widen interest among readers
as it pulled several crossovers including the popular Aliens vs. Predator series, which
would later spawn two movies. Just as often, these comics work to bridge gaps within
the narrative universes of franchises. For example, Joss Whedon has relied on Dark
Horse to expand the universes created in his television series Buff y the Vampire Slayer
and Firefl y.
In tandem with these celebrated series, Dark Horse has also produced numerous
new series that have proved popular among readers, including Grendel (1992), Hellboy
(1994), Oh My Goddess! (1994) and Th e Goon (2003). Along the way, Dark Horse also
began translating and reprinting several popular manga series including Ghost in the
Shell (1995), Lone Wolf and Cub (2000), and Akira (2000). Th e company has been
a breeding ground for creators’ new and dynamic ideas. Frank Miller (Daredevil,
Batman: Dark Knight Returns) published his Sin City series starting in Dark Horse
Presents #51 (1991) and also teamed up with Dave Gibbons (Watchmen) for a minise-
ries called Martha Washington: Give me Liberty (1991), which spawned several sequels
over the next decade.
By 1992, Dark Horse Comics expanded its company into other realms of enter-
tainment, including several subsidiaries such as Dark Horse Entertainment (1992) to
deal with its fi lm and television properties, DarkHorse.com (1995) to provide a pres-
ence on the web, M Press and DH Press (2004) for non-comic book publications, and
Dark Horse Indie (2005) to produce independent fi lms. During this time, Dark Horse
released several movie adaptations including Th e Mask (1994), Timecop (1994), Mys-
tery Men (1999), Hellboy (2004), Sin City (2005), and several others. In July, 2007,
