A line is a concept in western comic books which denotes a specific group of publications by a publisher. Sometimes taking place in a separate continuity or more loose continuity (such as

Vertigo Vertigo is a condition where a person has the sensation of movement or of surrounding objects moving when they are not. Often it feels like a spinning or swaying movement. This may be associated with nausea, vomiting, sweating, or difficulties w ...

DC Comics DC Comics, Inc. ( doing business as DC) is an American comic book publisher and the flagship unit of DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC Comics is one of the largest and oldest American comic book companies, with the ...

) or exploring a kind of subject matter and or genre which the publisher does not want to involve in their main franchise or so called "universe". Often lines which explore more "realistic" or "dark" subject matters are published under a companies sub

imprint Imprint or imprinting may refer to: Entertainment * ''Imprint'' (TV series), Canadian television series * "Imprint" (''Masters of Horror''), episode of TV show ''Masters of Horror'' * ''Imprint'' (film), a 2007 independent drama/thriller film ...

s (such as

Ultimate Marvel Ultimate Marvel, later known as Ultimate Comics, was an imprint of comic books published by Marvel Comics, featuring re-imagined and modernized versions of the company's superhero characters from the Ultimate Marvel Universe. Those characters ...

or MAX by

Marvel Comics Marvel Comics is an American comic book publisher and the flagship property of Marvel Entertainment, a divsion of The Walt Disney Company since September 1, 2009. Evolving from Timely Comics in 1939, ''Magazine Management/Atlas Comics'' in ...

) to distinguish it from their main superhero lines. Sometimes a line can be published under an imprint but not always be part of a larger continuity within their imprint (such as ''The Punisher'' MAX line which is not in continuity with most other Marvel Max titles). A line can consist of several different titles, ongoing series, limited series, one-shots, annuals, specials or trades and be by many different artists but are

advertised Advertising is the practice and techniques employed to bring attention to a product or service. Advertising aims to put a product or service in the spotlight in hopes of drawing it attention from consumers. It is typically used to promote a ...

and

marketed Marketing is the process of exploring, creating, and delivering value to meet the needs of a target market in terms of goods and services; potentially including selection of a target audience; selection of certain attributes or themes to emph ...

as part of the line. So called crossover events are often followed by a line of tie-in comics to the event miniseries from other unrelated titles to connect them.

Dark Horse Comics Dark Horse Comics is an American comic book, graphic novel, and manga publisher founded in Milwaukie, Oregon by Mike Richardson in 1986. The company was created using funds earned from Richardson's chain of Portland, Oregon comic book shops know ...

has several lines which focuses on their licensed film properties such as ''

Alien Alien primarily refers to: * Alien (law), a person in a country who is not a national of that country ** Enemy alien, the above in times of war * Extraterrestrial life, life which does not originate from Earth ** Specifically, intelligent extrater ...

'', ''

Predator Predation is a biological interaction where one organism, the predator, kills and eats another organism, its prey. It is one of a family of common feeding behaviours that includes parasitism and micropredation (which usually do not kill t ...

'' and ''

Star Wars ''Star Wars'' is an American epic space opera multimedia franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the eponymous 1977 film and quickly became a worldwide pop-culture phenomenon. The franchise has been expanded into various film ...

''. The ''Aliens'' line consists only of limited series, one-shots and graphic novels due to the publishers wish to allow artistic freedom. Dark Horse's ''Star Wars'' line was ended in 2014 due to Disney moving their ''Star Wars'' comics to Marvel. Dark Horse also publishes a line of comics which are creator owned but are connected through common oversight by editor Karen Berger. Most companies have several simultaneously running lines.

References

{{Reflist Comics terminology