Paramount Comics was a

comic book A comic book, comic-magazine, or simply comic is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panel (comics), panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are often accompanied by descriptive prose and wri ...

imprint of

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 ...

that was active for about two years beginning in 1996, the banner was named in honor of the namesake studio

Paramount Pictures Paramount Pictures Corporation, commonly known as Paramount Pictures or simply Paramount, is an American film production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the flagship namesake subsidiary of Paramount ...

History

The imprint was the result of a deal between Marvel and Paramount to produce licensed comic book series based upon the entertainment company's franchises: '' Mission: Impossible'' and ''

Star Trek ''Star Trek'' is an American science fiction media franchise created by Gene Roddenberry, which began with the Star Trek: The Original Series, series of the same name and became a worldwide Popular culture, pop-culture Cultural influence of ...

''. The agreement resulted in

DC Comics DC Comics (originally DC Comics, Inc., and also known simply as DC) is an American comic book publisher owned by DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC is an initialism for "Detective Comics", an American comic book seri ...

and

Malibu Comics Malibu Comics Entertainment, Inc. (launched as Malibu Graphics) was an American comic book publisher active in the late 1980s and early 1990s, best known for its Ultraverse line of superhero titles. Notable titles published by Malibu included ''Th ...

abruptly losing the rights to publish their own ''Star Trek'' comic series.

Notable series and titles

The first title published under the Paramount Comics banner was a

prequel A prequel is a literary, dramatic or cinematic work whose story precedes that of a previous work, by focusing on events that occur before the original narrative. A prequel is a work that forms part of a backstory to the preceding work. The term ...

to the first ''Mission: Impossible'' film. This was followed soon after by a one-shot crossover between the original ''Star Trek'' series and Marvel's superhero team, the

X-Men The X-Men are a superhero team in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer/editor Stan Lee and artist/co-plotter Jack Kirby, the team first appeared in Uncanny X-Men, ''The X-Men'' #1 (September 1963). Although initial ...

. After that, Marvel launched comic series respectively based upon all four ''Trek'' series produced to that time, including '' Star Trek: Voyager'', a title Malibu had been scheduled to produce but was unable due to the change of license. Marvel also launched an original series, '' Star Trek: Starfleet Academy'', as well as '' Star Trek: Early Voyages'' which featured the adventures of Captain Christopher Pike and his crew. The agreement between Paramount and Marvel hit some major snags after about a year, resulting in Paramount withdrawing support for non-series based characters and storylines. As a result, both ''Early Voyages'' and ''Starfleet Academy'' were abruptly cancelled in the midst of their respective

story arcs A story arc (also narrative arc) is the chronological construction of a plot in a novel or story. It can also mean an extended or continuing storyline in episodic storytelling media such as television, comic books, comic strips, board games, v ...

. Marvel phased out the Paramount Comics banner and their remaining ''Star Trek'' titles lasted for about another year before ending in 1998. The ''Star Trek'' license was subsequently picked up by DC's

WildStorm Productions Wildstorm Productions (stylized as WildStorm) is an American comic book imprint. Originally founded as an independent company established by Jim Lee and Brandon Choi to publish through Image Comics, Wildstorm became a publishing imprint of DC ...

imprint. The Paramount Comics logo continued to be used in WildStorm's ''Trek'' comics, although it was only featured on the interior title page, not on the cover as it was with Marvel. Besides ''Trek'', ''Mission: Impossible'' and a one-shot starring

Snake Plissken S. D. Bob "Snake" Plissken is a fictional character who served as the protagonist of the films ''Escape from New York'' (1981) and '' Escape from L.A.'' (1996). Portrayed by Kurt Russell, the character was created by John Carpenter and Nick Cast ...

, Paramount also published a one-shot based on the

Terrytoons Terrytoons, Inc. was an American animation studio headquartered in New Rochelle, New York, which was active from 1929 until its closure in December 1972 (and briefly returned between 1987 and 1996 for television in-name only). Founded by Paul Te ...

animated series ''

The Mighty Heroes ''The Mighty Heroes'' is an American Saturday morning animated television series created by Ralph Bakshi for the Terrytoons company. The original show debuted on CBS, on October 29, 1966, and ran for one season with 21 episodes.

''. An ongoing ''Mission: Impossible'' series had been announced, but only the one-shot was ever published.

Aftermath

Years after the demise of Paramount Comics, Marvel again made a deal with the studio; this time, Paramount would be the distributor for a number of

feature films A feature film or feature-length film (often abbreviated to feature), also called a theatrical film, is a film ( motion picture, "movie" or simply “picture”) with a running time long enough to be considered the principal or sole presentation ...

in the

Marvel Cinematic Universe The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) is an American media franchise and shared universe centered on List of Marvel Cinematic Universe films, a series of superhero films produced by Marvel Studios. The films are based on characters that appe ...

produced by Marvel's film production unit,

Marvel Studios Marvel Studios, LLC, formerly known as Marvel Films, is an American film and television production company. Marvel Studios is the creator of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), a media franchise and shared universe of films and television ser ...

, until

The Walt Disney Company The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was founded on October 16 ...

took over distribution from Paramount, following the acquisition of Marvel by Disney.

Publications

* ''Mission: Impossible'' #1 (May 1996) * '' Star Trek: Deep Space Nine'' #1–15 (November 1996–March 1998) * '' Star Trek: Early Voyages'' #1–17 (February 1997–June 1998) * ''Star Trek: First Contact'' #1 (November 1996) * '' Star Trek: Starfleet Academy'' #1–19 (December 1996–June 1998) * ''Star Trek: Untold Voyages'' #1–5 (March–July 1998) * ''Star Trek: Voyager'' #1–15 (November 1996–March 1998) * ''Star Trek Unlimited'' #1–10 (November 1996–July 1998) * '' Star Trek/X-Men'' #1 (December 1996) * ''Star Trek: The Next Generation/X-Men: Second Contact'' #1 (May 1998) * '' The Adventures of Snake Plissken'' #1 (January 1997) * ''

'' #1 (January 1998)

Notes

References

External links

Paramount Comics
on

Wayback Machine The Wayback Machine is a digital archive of the World Wide Web founded by Internet Archive, an American nonprofit organization based in San Francisco, California. Launched for public access in 2001, the service allows users to go "back in ...

Marvel Comics imprints Paramount Pictures Publishing companies established in 1996 Mass media companies disestablished in 1998 {{Marvel-Comics-stub