Aspen Comics

Website: aspencomics.com

Style Classification: Creator Owned Content; (soon to be) Shared Universe

Notable Works: Fathom; Soulfire

Story:

Founded in 2003 by Michael Turner, Aspen Comics focuses on an Image Comics-styled Creator Owned Content. It looks like this summer, 2016, the two most prominent properties of the company will combine in a crossover, uniting Turner's Fathom and Soulfire universes into one shared and cohesive so-called "Aspen Universe."

I had no idea of the backstory.

Michael Turner came to LA from Tennessee in 1993, and by 1994 was a rising star in the Image Comics stable. By 1995 his work on Witchblade made him front and center in the public tastes, and in 1996 his first solo property for Image, Fathom, was an instant success. He continued working for Image into the early aughts until he struck out on his own, founding Aspen Comics. (Aspen Matthews is the name of the main character in Fathom.)

The company over the years has continued to publish new and unique voices in the industry, and titles like Bubblegun and Executive Assistant: Iris got attention and brought readers closer to some of the other offers, like the horror-title Dead Man's Run or the fantasy-title Damsels in Excess.

Michael Turner passed away in 2008 after a long battle with cancer. Bummer. Pour some out for the homies...