Cliffhanger was an imprint of

Wildstorm 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, Wilds ...

, publishing

creator-owned In the United States, creator ownership in comics is an arrangement in which the comic book creator retains full ownership of the material, regardless of whether the work is self-published or published by a corporate publisher. In some fields of ...

comic books A comic book, also called comicbook, comic magazine or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) simply comic, is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are of ...

. It was founded in 1998 by

Joe Madureira Joe Madureira (born December 1974), often called Joe Mad,Smith, Andrew (May 3, 2002). "Canceled Comics Cavalcade Catch-up". ''Comics Buyer's Guide'' #1485. p. 38 is an American comic book artist and game developer, best known for his work on '' Da ...

, J. Scott Campbell and

Humberto Ramos Humberto Ramos (born 27 November 1970) is a Mexican comic book penciller, best known for his work on American comic books such as ''Impulse (comics), Impulse'', ''Runaways (comics), Runaways'', ''The Spectacular Spider-Man'', ''The Amazing Spider ...

, when Wildstorm was still part of

Image Comics Image Comics is an American comic book publisher and is the third largest comic book and graphic novel publisher in the industry in both unit and market share. It was founded in 1992 by several high-profile illustrators as a venue for creator-o ...

(the studio has since been sold to

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 their f ...

). The imprint ended in summer of 2004 when it was merged with

Homage Comics 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, Wilds ...

line to form the Wildstorm Signature Series.

History

The imprint's first release was Campbell's spy series '' Danger Girl'' in March 1998, followed by the first issue of Madureira's fantasy series '' Battle Chasers'' a month later and Ramos' teen-vampire series ''

Crimson Crimson is a rich, deep red color, inclining to purple. It originally meant the color of the kermes dye produced from a scale insect, '' Kermes vermilio'', but the name is now sometimes also used as a generic term for slightly bluish-red c ...

'' in May. On the other hand, the third Cliffhanger title, Ramos' ''Crimson'', became the longest running series of the line, going on for 24 issues before its conclusion in February 2001. In spring 2000,

Chris Bachalo Chris Bachalo (born August 23, 1965) is a Canadian comic book illustrator known for his quirky, cartoon-like style. He became well known for stints on DC Comics' ''Shade, the Changing Man'' and Neil Gaiman's two Death series. Chris has also illus ...

and author Joe Kelly created the imprint's fourth title, ''

Steampunk Steampunk is a subgenre of science fiction that incorporates retrofuturistic technology and aesthetics inspired by 19th-century industrial steam-powered machinery. Steampunk works are often set in an alternative history of the Victorian era ...

''. It was followed by Ramos' second Cliffhanger title, '' Out There'', in May 2001. While there were several new miniseries published by the line through 2002 and 2003, like '' High Roads'' by writer

Scott Lobdell Scott Lobdell (; born 1960) is an American comic book writer and screenwriter known for his work on numerous ''X-Men'' series for Marvel Comics in the 1990s, various work for DC Comics in the 2010s, namely '' Red Hood and the Outlaws, Teen Tit ...

and artist

Leinil Francis Yu Leinil Francis Yu (born 1977) is a Filipino comic book artist, who began working for the American market through Wildstorm Productions. Career Leinil Francis Yu was first recognized after winning the '' Wizard''s Drawing Board Contest, his fi ...

, '' Arrowsmith'' by

Kurt Busiek Kurt Busiek ( ) (born September 16, 1960) is an American comic book writer. His work includes the '' Marvels'' limited series, his own series titled ''Astro City'', a four-year run on ''The Avengers, Thunderbolts'' and '' Superman.'' Early life ...

and Carlos Pacheco, '' The Possessed'' by

Geoff Johns Geoffrey Johns (born January 25, 1973) is an American comic book writer, screenwriter, and film and television producer. Johns's work on the DC Comics characters Green Lantern, Aquaman, Flash and Superman, has drawn critical acclaim. He se ...

and

Kris Grimminger The kris, or ''keris'' in the Indonesian language, is an asymmetrical dagger with distinctive blade-patterning achieved through alternating laminations of iron and nickelous iron (''pamor''). Of Javanese origin, the kris is famous for its disti ...

with art by Liam Sharp and ''

Kamikaze , officially , were a part of the Japanese Special Attack Units of military aviators who flew suicide attacks for the Empire of Japan against Allied naval vessels in the closing stages of the Pacific campaign of World War II, intending to ...

'', written by Olallo Rubio with art by Francisco Herrera, the imprint had lost most of its initial charm and star-power when the original founders stopped their titles. In late 2003, the imprint was also used to publish '' Epicurus the Sage'' and ''

The Maxx ''The Maxx'' is an American comic book series created by Sam Kieth in 1993 and originally published monthly until 1998 by Image Comics for 35 issues, before being collected in trade paperback by DC Comics' Wildstorm imprint. The first appearance ...

'' trade paperbacks with material that was previously published by Image Comics, before it was finally merged with Homage Comics in 2004 to form the Wildstorm Signature Series.

Publications

References

WildStorm imprints Defunct comics and manga publishing companies Companies established in 1998 {{comics-company-stub