Defiant Comics was a comic book publishing imprint of Enlightened Entertainment Partners, LP. Defiant was established in 1993 by former

Marvel Comics Marvel Comics is a New York City–based comic book publishing, publisher, a property of the Walt Disney Company since December 31, 2009, and a subsidiary of Disney Publishing Worldwide since March 2023. Marvel was founded in 1939 by Martin G ...

and

Valiant Comics Valiant Comics is an American comic books, comic book publisher, the first incarnation of which was founded in 1989 by former Marvel Comics editor-in-chief Jim Shooter along with lawyer and businessman Steven Massarsky. In 1994, the company was ...

editor-in-chief

Jim Shooter James Shooter (born September 27, 1951) is an American writer, editor, and publisher in the comics industry. Beginning his career writing for DC Comics at the age of 14, he had a successful but controversial run as editor-in-chief at Marvel Comic ...

Publication history

Defiant was founded in the wake of Jim Shooter's departure from Valiant. After attempting unsuccessfully to retain his partial ownership of Voyager Communications (Valiant's parent company) Shooter founded a new company that included some Valiant artists and writers on its staff. He formed a business venture with The River Group to help finance Defiant. In early 1993, Defiant announced that its first title, ''Plasm'', would be released as a series of trading cards that could be put together in an album to form "issue #0". Upon hearing the news,

threatened a lawsuit against Defiant, claiming the new title violated a

Marvel UK Marvel UK was an imprint (trade name), imprint of Marvel Comics formed in 1972 to reprint United States of America, US-produced stories for the United Kingdom, British weekly comic market. Marvel UK later produced original material by British cr ...

trademark for their book/character Plasmer. Though Defiant changed the title to '' Warriors of Plasm'', Marvel continued its lawsuit. While the court eventually ruled in favor of Defiant,"Legal News: Defiant Wins Judgement on Plasm," ''The Comics Journal'' #163 (November 1993), p. 14. the legal process depleted the company's

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, having cost over $300,000 in legal fees.Jim Shooter Interview: Part 2

Comic Book Resources ''CBR'', formerly ''Comic Book Resources'', is a news website primarily covering comic book news, comic book reviews, and comic book–related topics involving movies, television, anime, and video games. It is owned by Valnet, parent of publicat ...

, October 10, 2000 Defiant ceased publication in Summer 1995.

Announced plans

Shooter had originally planned to publish an intracompany "crossover" featuring all the characters and titles in the self-contained Defiant universe, similar to the ''

Secret Wars ''Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars'', commonly known as ''Secret Wars'', is a 12-issue American comic book Fictional crossover, crossover limited series published from May 1984 to April 1985 by Marvel Comics. The series was written by Jim Shooter ...

'' crossover

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he had done at Marvel and the Unity crossover

he had also completed before his dismissal at Valiant. To have been titled "Schism", the crossover was intended to take place in a four-issue miniseries, with the regular ongoing titles retelling the parts relevant to the respective characters of each. Only two crossover-related issues (''Dogs of War'' No. 5 and ''Warriors of Plasm'' #13) were published before the company went out of business. The plots for the miniseries were eventually posted online.Defiant Timeline
Shooterswork

Titles

Initial

* '' Dark Dominion'' * '' The Good Guys'' * '' Warriors of Plasm'' (originally ''Plasm'')

Second wave

* ''

Charlemagne Charlemagne ( ; 2 April 748 – 28 January 814) was List of Frankish kings, King of the Franks from 768, List of kings of the Lombards, King of the Lombards from 774, and Holy Roman Emperor, Emperor of what is now known as the Carolingian ...

'' * '' Dogs of War'' * '' Prudence & Caution'' * '' War Dancer''

One-shots

* ''The Birth of The Defiant Universe'' * ''Glory'' * ''Great Grimmax'' * ''The Origin of The Defiant Universe'' aka ''Defiant Genesis'' * ''Splatterball''

Graphic novels

* ''Warriors of Plasm – Home For the Holidays'' (officially titled as ''Warriors of Plasm Graphic Novel'' # 1 in the comic's legal indicia)

Trade paperback

* ''Warriors of Plasm: The Collected Edition'' (Feb. 1994) (reprints ''Warriors of Plasm'' #0–4 and ''Splatterball'')

Notes

References

*
Defiant Comics
at the

Grand Comics Database The Grand Comics Database (GCD) is an Internet-based project to build a database of comic book information through user contributions. The GCD project catalogues information on creator credits, story details, reprints, and other information use ...

World Talk Radio: Interview with Jim Shooter
{{Authority control Defunct comics and manga publishing companies Comic book publishing companies of the United States 1993 establishments in New York City Publishing companies established in 1993