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 an American comic book publishing, 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 Co ...

and

Valiant Comics Valiant Comics is an American comic book publisher. The company 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 sold to Acclaim Entertainment ...

editor-in-chief

Jim Shooter James Shooter (born September 27, 1951) is an American writer, editor and publisher for various comic books. He started professionally in the medium at the age of 14, and he is most notable for his successful and controversial run as 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 of Marvel Comics formed in 1972 to reprint US-produced stories for the British weekly comic market. Marvel UK later produced original material by British creators such as Alan Moore, John Wagner, Dave Gibbons, Steve Dill ...

trademark for their book/character

Plasmer ''Plasmer'' was a short-lived 1993 comic book series from Marvel UK, created by Glenn Dakin and Pascual Ferry. Biography Plasmer was about a shapeshifting, artificial lifeform created by Doctor Oonagh Mullarkey. Dr. Mullarkey used both science ...

. Though Defiant changed the title to ''

Warriors of Plasm ''Warriors of Plasm'' was the flagship title of Jim Shooter's Defiant Comics comic book company. Besides the original first issue (#1) of the comic (1993), there was also a zero issue (#0) of ''Warriors of Plasm'' which was released as an insert i ...

'', 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

capital Capital may refer to: Common uses * Capital city, a municipality of primary status ** List of national capital cities * Capital letter, an upper-case letter Economics and social sciences * Capital (economics), the durable produced goods used f ...

, having cost over $300,000 in

legal fees Attorney's fee is a chiefly United States term for compensation for legal services performed by an attorney ( lawyer or law firm) for a client, in or out of court. It may be an hourly, flat-rate or contingent fee. Recent studies suggest that when ...

.Jim Shooter Interview: Part 2

Comic Book Resources ''Comic Book Resources'', also known by the initialism CBR, is a website dedicated to the coverage of comic book–related news and discussion. History Comic Book Resources was founded by Jonah Weiland in 1995 as a development of the Kingdom Co ...

, 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'' for short, is a twelve-issue American comic book Fictional crossover, crossover limited series published from May 1984 to April 1985 by Marvel Comics. The series was written ...

'' crossover

miniseries A miniseries or mini-series is a television series that tells a story in a predetermined, limited number of episodes. "Limited series" is another more recent US term which is sometimes used interchangeably. , the popularity of miniseries format h ...

he had done at Marvel and the

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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
ShooterWorks

Titles

Initial

* ''

Dark Dominion ''Dark Dominion'' is an American comic book series that was published monthly by Defiant Comics from October of 1993 until July of 1994. It spanned a total of 10 issues until Defiant ceased publication. There was one #0 issue published as a tra ...

'' * '' The Good Guys'' * ''

'' (originally ''Plasm'')

Second wave

* ''

Charlemagne Charlemagne ( , ) or Charles the Great ( la, Carolus Magnus; german: Karl der Große; 2 April 747 – 28 January 814), a member of the Carolingian dynasty, was King of the Franks from 768, King of the Lombards from 774, and the first Holy ...

'' * '' 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 useful ...

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