Epsilon Publishing

Epsilon Publishing, a subsidiary of Epsilon Media, is an American publisher specializing in comic books, but also releases graphic novels, art books, comic strips, among other things. The company was founded in late 1940 and began creating various superhero titles, hoping to compete with the then relatively new and, back then known as National Publications and Timely Comics, respectively. The company was founded by David Bodner and John D, the initial name for the company being Everyday Comics. Around 1956, the company renamed itself Epsilon Comics and this would be their primary name going forward until 1971, when it was decided to broaden the company to outside of comics, renaming itself Epsilon Publishing due to this.

While the company never became as iconic as its rivals, it is notable for being one of the few publishers from that era to have survived into the present day. The company is most well known for its Epsilon Universe, which is a shared superhero universe and features most of the company's biggest characters, including, but not limited to, Voltage, Dash, The Word, Paragon, The Immortal Zombie, Shade, and Spartan. Since 1998, the rights to produce other media adaptions of the universe's characters, whether they be film, television, or otherwise, has been held by the corporation.

Everyday Comics
David Bodner and John D., a pair of businessmen who made their fortune from creative writing and publishing magazines, founded Everyday Comics in June of 1940. The actual foundation story of the company is debated, as Bodner, D, and various employees have told the story differently throughout the years, though the consistent themes are that either Bodner or D bought a copy of the first Action Comics in 1938 when it was still new and was so inspired by the work that they showed it to the other. Despite who bought the comic varying, the story always claims that Bodner was the one who came up with the idea of creating a comic company with both of them using their money to set up office, which was located in the same building as their previous employer. Who this employer was has differed, but Bodner has claimed repeatedly that it was Victor S. Fox, founder of Fox Feature Syndicate, who would stomp on the floors above for them leaving the company. According to Bodner, the tension between the two eventually led to them moving to their own building located in Puttsburgh. D worked as the publisher of the company while Bodner was the editor-in-chief, though it's generally agreed both men contributed in equal amounts to the company.

The first ever comic book published by Everyday Comics was an anthology book titled Big Time Comics, which sold for a total of 600,000 copies and featured the first appearance of the characters The Human Rocket, Manhunter, and Captain Tomorrow, all three of whom would go on to become some of Everyday Comics's most popular characters at the time. Manhunter is also notable for both being one of the first Jewish superheroes and for his stories featuring him fighting Nazis before America officially entered the war. This turned out to be a controversial move, as there were many Nazi supporters in America at the time and one white supremacist organization even sent death threats in to the company. Famously, in response to this, an issue of the comic All-Pulp Comics featured the hero Hourglass hunting down members of an American Nazi association. Another famous story published at this time in the same vein featured Manhunter meeting and shooting Nazi leader Heinrich Himmler in the chest, wounding but not killing him. These comics, which were controversial at the time, would be praised in the months to follow and shipped to soldiers serving the American military for entertainment.

Everyday Comics was notable for its tendency to lean towards violence and titillation. The company's primary romance comic, Love Love Comics, frequently featured scantily clad women and barely dressed men, with the characters often commenting on how attractive their love interests were. This caught many reader's attention, both good and bad, with many believing it made the comics feel more mature while others felt that it was exploitative. One issue of the horror comic Suspense & Dread which featured a ritualistic massacre was claimed to have been so graphic that it caused a mother to faint. However, this only increased Everyday Comics's standing in the world, drawing more and more eyes to its products from readers who wanted to see if the rumors were true. Everyday Comics played into their status as a more rebellious publisher compared to Marvel and DC, to the point that they famously insulted the latter of the two in their first ever superhero solo comic Captain Tomorrow, the cover of the first issue proclaiming that it "made Superman look like old news".

The term Epsilon Universe was also used for the first time in March of 1942, referenced in a Cosmic Crusader story from the book Tales Beyond the Stars as the name of the dimension that the characters resided in. Later authors would expand on this concept. Around this time, the aformentioned horror comic Suspense & Dread also introduced the segment Tales of The Immortal Zombie which introduced the titular Immortal Zombie who would later go on to be one of the company's most popular characters. They would also make their first venture into other media around this time, with the release of Captain Tomorrow, the Man of The Future, a radio show airing on a now lost radio station which adapted stories from the Captain Tomorrow comic but also featured original works. During this point in Everyday Comics's history, their most popular characters were likely Captain Tomorrow, Hourglass, and the Immortal Zombie, although there were many more characters created by Everyday Comics, though most of them did not survive to the current day.

Everyday Comics's rebellious and often times overly sexual and violent nature would eventually come back to haunt them, as they were one of the primary targets of Frederic Wertham and his book Seduction of the Innocent. Famously, Everyday was referred to as "a group of antisocial sociopaths and Godless heathens", a quote often attributed to Wertham but actually said by an anonymous critic on the radio. Both Marvel and DC would tone back their comics during this time, which some employees at Everyday at the time claimed was a deliberate move to try to turn Everyday into a scapegoat. Due to Everyday's bad reputation affecting their sales, they were forced to pull back on the themes that had made them famous and they were forced to cancel most of their books. Going into the 1950s, people were more interested in western, humor, sci-fi, and romance stories, so Everyday began relying on those. They would also officially change their name to Epsilon Comics, named after the term coined in the Tales Beyond the Stars issue previously mentioned, in hopes of distancing themselves from the way people previously viewed them.

Active

 * Epsilon Next (2006–2015; 2020-present)
 * Heroic Comics (2016-present)
 * Epsilon Legendary (2018-present)
 * Epsilon Original Graphic Novels (2006-present)
 * Epsilon Joyride (2001-present)

Defunct

 * Gargoyle (1995-1998; replaced by Epsilon Joyride)
 * Downpour Press (1987-1992)
 * Epsilon Bytes (2012-2015)
 * Epsilon East (2006-2015; merged with the main Epsilon line)