Dark Horse Comics

Founded in 1986 by a comic shop owner named Mike Richardson, Dark Horse is one of the most versatile comics companies out there.

Dark Horse publishes a little bit of everything; Indie art comics, a number of "creator-owned" series such as Hellboy and Sin City, and even licensed comics like Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season 8 (which was their idea) and Star Wars Expanded Universe. In addition, they were one of the major early publishers of English-translated Manga in the West before the Tokyo Pop boom, bringing over titles like Akira, Ah My Goddess, Gunsmith Cats, Hellsing and Ghost in The Shell.

They even had an original universe for a short time in its Comics' Greatest World imprint,, though it was eventually dropped due to poor sales/lack of interest. They also recently gained a subset (Dark Horse Books) dedicated to non-comics and the word-based sort of book. They've also printed all sorts of other things (including a collection of Playboy interviews and even health books). It doesn't matter what it is, Dark Horse will publish it.

This open policy has been the key to Dark Horse's success, allowing them to survive the comic crash.

One of the big five comic companies of the Modern Age, alongside DC Comics, Marvel Comics, Image Comics, and Archie Comics.

Licensed comics:

 * Angel comics (license moves from IDW Publishing to Dark Horse in 2011)
 * Aliens comics
 * Avatar: The Last Airbender (The Art of the Animated Series, The Lost Adventures, and Interquel trilogy Avatar: The Last Airbender The Promise)
 * Buffy the Vampire Slayer comics
 * Godzilla comics (during the 90s, license has since been picked up by IDW Publishing)
 * Indiana Jones comics
 * Mass Effect comics (however many that ends up being)
 * Predator comics
 * Robo Cop comics
 * Robocop vs. Terminator
 * Serenity comics (not Firefly comics, for trademark reasons)
 * Star Wars
 * A storyline that featured Tarzan and Predator fighting at the center of the earth.
 * Terminator comics
 * Valve Presents: The Sacrifice and Other Steam-Powered Stories An upcoming omnibus of all the digital comics Valve Software has put out, including The Sacrifice, Lab Rat, and some of the Team Fortress 2 comics.

Manga and Amerimanga:

 * Ah My Goddess
 * Akira
 * Appleseed
 * Berserk
 * Blade of the Immortal
 * Bubblegum Crisis (Adam Warren's "Grand Mal" miniseries)
 * Cardcaptor Sakura
 * The Chobits Omnibus
 * Dirty Pair (Adam Warren's Amerimanga miniseries; translations of the first two light novels.)
 * Dominion
 * Empowered
 * Gantz
 * Ghost in The Shell
 * Gunsmith Cats
 * Hellsing
 * Neon Genesis Evangelion Gakuen Datenroku
 * Neon Genesis Evangelion Ikari Shinji Raising Project
 * Outlanders
 * Trigun
 * Venus Wars
 * You're Under Arrest

Former Gold Key Comics characters most famous for being used by Valiant Comics:

 * Solar Man of the Atom
 * Magnus Robot Fighter
 * Turok

Other series:

 * Age of Reptiles
 * American Splendor (1993-2002)
 * Axe Cop
 * Barb Wire (part of the short-lived Comics' Greatest World/Dark Horse Heroes imprint and inspiration for the movie of the same name)
 * Beasts of Burden
 * The Big Guy and Rusty The Boy Robot (The original comic)
 * BPRD
 * Blacksad
 * Boris the Bear
 * Dark Horse Presents
 * Finder
 * The Goon
 * Grandville
 * Groo the Wanderer
 * Hellboy
 * Heart Breakers
 * Kings In Disguise
 * Madman
 * The Mask (also briefly part of the Dark Horse Heroes imprint towards the end)
 * Mesmo Delivery
 * Sin City
 * Spy Boy
 * Time Cop
 * The Umbrella Academy
 * Usagi Yojimbo