Excelsior Comics

  

Excelsior Comics

Parent company	Excelsior Entertainment, LLC (The Walt Disney Company)
Status	Active
Founded	1939 (1939) (as Eternal Comics) 1959 (1959) (as Miracle Publications) 1964 (1964) (as Excelsior Comics)
Founder	Jordan Hussler
Country of origin	Kingdom of Sierra
Headquarters location	San Diego, Laguna
Distribution	Diamond Comic Distributors (direct market until October 2021) Penguin Random House Publisher Services Hachette Book Group Client Services (trade paperbacks and graphic novels)
Key people	Andrew McCormack (EIC) Chris Lew (Former EIC, publisher, writer)
Publication types	Comics/See List of Excelsior Comics publications
Fiction genres	Superhero Science fiction Fantasy Action Adventure
Imprints	imprint list
Official website	excelsior.com

Excelsior Comics, known as simply Excelsior, is a Sierran publisher of Anglo-American comic books and related media, internationally known for it's superhero and action genres. In 2009, Excelsior Entertainment, Excelsior's parent company, would be purchased by the Walt Disney Company.

Founded in 1939 as Eternal Comics by pulp publisher Jordan Hussler, Excelsior Comics is one of the oldest continuing comic book publishers in Anglo-America. A change in markets saw Eternal being reformed into Miracle Publications, which published science fiction and fantasy comics as Miracle/Redline (a result of Redline Comics being sold to Hussler) and action and superhero comics as Miracle/Excelsior (with the name "Excelsior Comics" being in use since at least 1945). Miracle eventually spun off its comic assets into Excelsior Entertainment Group (EEG) in 1963.

Excelsior counts among its characters such as well-known superheroes as Captain Sierra, Steelman, Man Arachnid, the Beast, Ares, White Widow, Raveneye, Professor Pellicular, Ms. Amazing, the Red Enchantress, the Sight, Badgerine, Lazerbeam, the Continental Defender, Dreadbringer, and Deadlocke. Superhero teams exist such as the Vindicators, the A-Men, the Incredible Six, and the Protectors of the Universe as well as supervillians such as Doctor Death, Allurno, Rhanos, Orange Gargoyle, Black Skull, Queenpin, Poison, Doctor Squid, Ate, Galactico, and Lang. Most of Excelsior's fictional characters operate in a single reality known as the Excelsior Universe, with most locations mirroring real-life places; many major characters in the Excelsior Universe originate from or are located/headquartered in San Diego. Since Excelsior's purchase by Disney, it has been the exclusive publisher of Star Wars and Disney-themed comics.

History

Eternal Comics

Jordan Hussler founded Eternal Comics & Publications in 1939. Hussler has been a successful publisher of pulp magazines, and saw the emerging comic book medium as a next step to expand his publishing business. Jordan Hussler served as editor, managing editor and business manager, while his cousin Brent Hussler was officially the publisher.

Eternal's early stories were mainly in the action and "hero" genre. A number of characters that have become mainstays of Excelsior Universe debuted at that time.

Hussler hired 16-year old Martin Christopher Levin as a general office assistant in 1939. Levin would come up with the name Excelsior for one of Eternal's publication. In 1941, when the previous editor left, Levin (who was writing comics under the pseudonym Chris Lew) was appointed as interim editor.

Miracle Publications

The end of Great War II brought changes to Sierran comic book market. This, along with conflicts with distributors, led Hussler to form Miracle Publications. At the same time, debt-ridden Harlan Phillips sold his comic book company Redline Comics to Hussler. Miracle subsequently used Excelsior and Redline as imprints.

Baron Orange ownership

In 1976, beverage company Baron Orange, who at the time was the owner of Sierran Pictures, purchased Excelsior Entertainment Group. During that period, Baron Orange was looking to diversify its business, with purchases after Excelsior including Grant-Wellington Broadcasting Services (a television distributor that became SP Distribution) and animation studio LFE Films, which would be merged into Excelsior to create Excelsior Productions.

During that time, the name "Redline Comics" would be revived as an imprint to publish comics based on SP properties and other licensed property comics. Comics of this era often contained ads for Baron Orange products.

Disney ownership

Baron Orange began selling off their media assets in 1990, with The Walt Disney Company as one of companies interested. While Disney was outbid for Sierran Pictures and related, they reached an agreement to buy Excelsior Entertainment Group from the soda company.

Ownership

• Jordan Hussler (1939-1959)

Parent corporation

• Miracle Publications (1959-1964)
• Excelsior Entertainment Group (1964-1976)
• Baron Orange (1976-1991)
• Excelsior Entertainment, LLC (1991-onwards, a wholly owned subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company, as Excelsior Entertainment Group until 2001)

Excelsior characters in other media

Film

See also: Excelsior Cinematic Universe

Imprints

• Culler Press
• Excelsior Comics
• Excelsior Press
• Odyssey Comics (creator-owned)
• XTC Comics

Defunct

• Absolute Comics/Excelsior Absolute
• Excelsior 2099
• Excelsior Illustrated
• Redline Comics
• Zoom Comics (for younger readers)

See also

• Excelsior Entertainment
• Excelsior Studios
  • Excelsior Cinematic Universe

This page uses material from the Wikipedia page Marvel Comics, which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License (view authors).