Epsilon Publishing

Epsilon Publishing is an American publisher specializing in comic books, but also releases graphic novels, art books, and comic strips. The company was founded in late 1991 and began creating various superhero titles, hoping to become an alternative to the works of and. Since then, the company has become one of the biggest comic book publishers in the United States, behind but above. 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.

History
The company was formed by disgruntled employees of DC and Marvel Comics and was the brainchild of Kirsten Swore, former member of DC's editorial staff and publisher/first editor-in-chief of the company. Various members of the two companies had come to believe that they were intentionally being overlooked for pay raises and promotions, which caused them to decide to create their own company which they hoped to run more ethically than the ones before them. Various editors and writers, such as Rob Lowan, B.M Ryan, and Seymore O'Reilly, who had either supported the idea or were also losing faith in their companies went with them, which led to the formation of what would become Epsilon Publishing (then known as Epsilon Comics). Hoping to become direct competitors to DC and Marvel, the various creators came up with the characters Voltage, Dash, The Word, Zombie, and more, setting them all in the same universe akin to the works of their former employers.

Because they didn't follow trends of the time, Epsilon stood out in a way others before them hadn't. Rather than cashing the trends of the time, Epsilon published what they saw as "throwbacks", which were told more akin to Bronze and Silver Age stories rather than their contemporary Dark Age comics. Epsilon's creators also tried to make it seem like their new universe had actually existed for decades, with supposed past heroes being referenced in the books and the hero The Word being introduced as having already been active and gone on several adventures before the comic's first issue, which was a major selling point of their stories, Epsilon Comics marketing themselves as "The Ever-Changing World". After two (almost three) years of publishing, in May 1993 Epsilon published its first official crossover event with Invasion, which saw Epsilon's biggest heroes, Voltage, The Word, Zombie, Dash, Shade, Spartan, and Paragon fight off an alien invasion by the attacking Ch'tt. In the aftermath of Invasion, The Shield, Epsilon's first official superhero team, began publishing, though in a further attempt to stand out, The Shield was made up of mostly new characters with the exception of Paragon to differentiate it from the Justice League and Avengers.

It became clear their company was formed at the most inopportune time, as just a few years after their formation the comic crash of 1996 occurred, which greatly decreased interest in comics and their overall net worth. While Epsilon wasn't affected as much, having survived the crash unlike some others, their overall income decreased by a staggering 40%, which forced them to expand outward and begin publishing other comic adjacent properties, changing their name to Epsilon Publishing to reflect this. An unknown percentage of stocks was also sold to, who also bought the rights to any adaptions made of original works created by Epsilon, which also helped them keep afloat during this time.

Though Epsilon had all but slipped into obscurity following the 90s, they would attempt to keep themselves relevant by making good on their deal with Sony, which eventually led to the creation of the game Jersey Devils for the PlayStation 2 which featured The Word as the protagonist, though the game itself differentiated from the source material greatly. This successfully increased sales of at The Word's comic, helped by the fact 's giant-sized guest story for the book Sycamore, in which The Word deals with his newfound addiction to a fictional drug, was nominated for an for Best Single Issue/One-Shot (losing to 's Sex, Stars and Serpents). Epsilon continued to step into other media as a year later in 2002, an animated series based on the character Voltage began airing on which, unlike the Jersey Devils game, was much more faithful to the comics it was adapting. Epsilon also created the subsidiary Epsilon Media to produce the show.

A year prior to the release of the animated series, Epsilon celebrated their ten-year anniversary by releasing hardcover special editions omnibuses of their most popular comics as well as releasing an art book that featured concept designs of characters and interviews with their original creators.

Again bucking the trends of the time, Epsilon writers were given the freedom to finish their stories whenever they felt necessary rather than "writing for the trade", with all story arcs lasting 4-6 issues. Epsilon also began having their comics placed at the doors of supermarkets hoping to lure in the general masses as oppose to selling at comic shops where only people within the comic community would buy their products, which was a great success, increasing Epsilon's overall following and sales. Around 2006, a game based on Voltage was also meant to be produced but things fell threw. Rumors say that the game was eventually turned into, hence its surface-level similarities to Voltage. Famously, Epsilon celebrated its 20th anniversary in 2011 and hosted a meet-and-greet convention/party to celebrate, which was hosted by epsilon editorial and was referred by the simplistic name Epsilon 20th.

After the release of, Sony decided to capitalize on the now highly profitable concept of a shared superhero universe, working with Epsilon to develop a film based on the character The Word to kick-start their prospective universe. The Word's solo film was released to cinemas on February 14, 2014, beginning what was eventually dubbed Epsilon Universe. Around 2016, Epsilon, noticing the rising trend of people getting into comics but not knowing where to start, launched the Epsilon Global app, which featured every original comic ever published by Epsilon in an easy to access space, as well as a handful of graphic novels and mini-series exclusive to the app. In 2021, Epsilon celebrated their 30th anniversary with the release of their Epsilon Next imprint, which was set in a possible future where the characters had actually aged 30 years, following their children and descendants.

Imprints

 * Epsilon X: An imprint founded in 1999 meant for mature audiences. Comics published under the X imprint are allowed to have uncensored swearing, full-frontal nudity, sexual topics, etc.
 * Epsilon Next: Taking place 30 years in the future and created to celebrate Epsilon's 30th anniversary, the imprint publishes comics that follow the children, successors, and sometimes grandchildren of Epsilon characters.

Subsidiaries

 * Epsilon Media: Formed after the creation of the Voltage animated series meant to handle adaptions of Epsilon properties, in recent years it has mainly become associated with Sony Pictures's Epsilon movies. It is currently headed by movie producer Hannibal Coles.
 * Epsilon Web: Originally meant to publish web comics, the subsidiary lasted from 2006 to 2009 when it was shut down due to the web comics not pulling in enough readers. Ideas from this subsidiary where eventually transferred to Epsilon's Global app. The company was headed by then Epsilon Head of Creativity, Doug P. Todd.
 * Epsilon East: A publisher of manga, manhwa, and other media related to China, Japan, and Korea. It is also responsible for attempting to get Eastern audiences into Western comics, which has been notoriously hard for the industry. It is currently headed by Jake Yoon, a Korean member of Epsilon editorial.

Note

 * Please do not view this as an actual company or something that is meant to exist in the real world but rather a "what if" taking place in a universe where this company existed.
 * No people listed as employees of Epsilon Publishing are real.