WildStorm

WildStorm Productions
Company typeSubsidiary
IndustryComic books
Founded1992; 32 years ago (1992) (original)
February 16, 2017; 7 years ago (2017-02-16) (revival)
FounderJim Lee
DefunctDecember 2010; 13 years ago (2010-12) (original)
HeadquartersLa Jolla, California, U.S.
Key people
ParentImage Comics (1992–1998)
DC Comics (1998–present)

Wildstorm Productions (stylized as WildStorm) 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.[1] 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.[2]

Its main fictional universe, the Wildstorm Universe, featured costumed heroes. Wildstorm maintained a number of its core titles from its early period, and continued to publish material expanding its core universe. Its main titles included WildC.A.T.S, Stormwatch, Gen13, Wetworks, and The Authority; it also produced single-character-oriented series like Deathblow and Midnighter, and published secondary titles like Welcome to Tranquility.

Wildstorm also published creator-owned material, and licensed properties from other companies, covering a wide variety of genres. Its creator-owned titles included Red Menace, A God Somewhere, and Ex Machina, while its licensed titles included Friday the 13th, A Nightmare on Elm Street, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, StarCraft, the Dante's Inferno game, The X-Files, and the God of War video game series.

DC shut down the Wildstorm imprint in December 2010.[3] In September 2011, the company relaunched its entire superhero line with a rebooted continuity in an initiative known as The New 52, which included Wildstorm characters incorporated into that continuity with its long-standing DC characters.

In February 2017 Wildstorm was revived as a standalone universe with The Wild Storm, by writer Warren Ellis. However, the characters were reintroduced to DC continuity in 2021.[4]

  1. ^ Tantimedh, Adi (February 25, 2006). "New York Comic Con, Day One: Jim Lee Spotlight". Comic Book Resources. Archived from the original on December 27, 2013.
  2. ^ Overstreet, Robert M. (1996). The Overstreet comic book price guide : books from 1897-present included : catalogue & evaluation guide-- illustrated (26th ed.). New York: Avon Books. pp. A-52. ISBN 0-380-78778-4. OCLC 34703954.
  3. ^ Ching, Albert (September 21, 2010). "DC Co-Publishers Announce End of WILDSTORM Imprint, Zuda". Newsarama.
  4. ^ Mollo, Drew (July 26, 2021). "Wildstorm's Wildcats Officially Return to DC Continuity". Screenrant. Retrieved May 25, 2023.