In the late 1980s and early 1990s, the company published about 100 superhero comics issues across several series – the most prolific of which featured the League of Champions and other titles associated with the Championsrole-playing game. Heroic Publishing returned to the marketplace in 2005, and currently publishes via print-on-demand, distributing both physical copies and electronic editions.
Founding Hero Comics, Mallonee struck out on his own. Hero Comics' first titles were a new ongoing Champions series, Eternity Smith (continuing the numbering from Renegade), and Captain Thunder and Blue Bolt, written by Marvel Comics veteran Roy Thomas. All three titles debuted with September 1987 cover dates. Other early titles published by Hero Comics included The Marksman and Flare,[2] both featuring characters also licensed from the Champions role-playing game.[a]
After taking a short break from publishing, Mallonee re-entered the marketplace in 1990 as Hero Graphics, co-publishing a handful of issues with David Campiti's Innovation Comics,[b] which also served as the company's distributor.
Mallonee rebranded the company again in 1991, as Heroic Publishing. As Mallonee's company evolved, it became more centered on depicting attractive pinupss.[1]Hero Games, the original licensor of Champions, became increasingly uncomfortable with these changes in tone, and some of the characters' owners pulled Mallonee's licensing rights. For instance, Bruce Harlick's Marksman became Huntsman, and Harlick's Foxbat became The Flying Fox.[7][1]
Icestar and Flare's rights' owners, Gleen Thain and Stacy Lawrence, respectively, allowed Heroic to continue using their characters.[1] Over the years, Mallonee developed many original characters as well, slowly pushing his comics further from Hero Games' Champions universe.[1] (To avoid confusion, Hero Games removed creator-owned characters that were still being used by Mallonee from new editions of their products.)[1]
By late 1992, however, Heroic Publishing was in the red, offering retailers deep discounts on their titles.[8] The company effectively suspended publishing in late 1993/early 1994.
Heroic returned to publishing again in 2005; in addition to new titles, it continued a number of series from its earlier incarnation, including Captain Thunder and Blue Bolt, Champions,[9]Murcielaga She-Bat, and The Tigress.
The company currently publishes print-on-demand, distributing both physical copies and electronic editions.
Alter Ego: The Graphic Novel (2005) — collecting the limited series of the same name by Roy Thomas and Ron Harris and originally published by First Comics (ISBN978-0929729022)
Champions [Second Edition] (18 issues, 2011–2016)
Champions vol. 2 (34 issues, Aug 2005–Aug 2018)
Champions Adventures (16 issues, Mar 2011–July 2018)
Flare Adventures (19 issues, July 2005–Mar 2012)
Flare vol. 2 (23 issues, June 2005–Feb 2018) — contributors include Dennis Mallonee and Gordon Purcell
Flare [Second Edition] (19 issues, Jan 2016–present) — reprint series
Heroic Spotlight (26 issues, Mar 2010–Feb 2017) — reprint series
League of Champions [Color Edition] (12 issues, Apr 2017-?) — reprint series
Liberty Comics (9 issues, June 2007–July 2015)
Roy Thomas' Anthem #1–5 (2006–2009) — by Roy Thomas; contributions from Daniel Acuña and Dennis Mallonee
Witchgirls Inc. (13 issues, Sep 2005–present) — contributors include Dennis Mallonee
^Marvel Comics had published a Champions comic book series from 1975 to 1978. Hero Games' use of the name for its RPG initiated a dispute with Marvel. In 1988, The United States Patent and Trademark Office ruled that Marvel had abandoned its trademark of the name and could no longer use "The Champions" as the name of a comic book series — thus also paving the way for Mallonee to publish his Champions comic books.[3][4][5] Marvel later re-acquired rights to the trademark, publishing a new The Champions series in 2016.[6]
^For example, Flare First Edition, with each issue produced in multiple versions, each one containing one reprint issue of Flare and one of The League of Champions.
^Cronin, Brian (January 28, 2010). "Comic Book Legends Revealed #245". Comic Book Resources. Archived from the original on March 20, 2013. Retrieved January 20, 2013. Marvel did seek and was granted registration of the trademark it was using for that title. That registration, however, was not granted until several months after the title had ceased publication. In the mid-80s, on the basis of that registration, Marvel contested registration of the mark Hero Games was using at that time for its Champions role-playing game. The trademark board took notice of Marvel's abandonment of their earlier mark, and cancelled that registration.
^Griepp, Milton (August 16, 2016). "ICV2 Interview: Marvel's David Gabriel – Part 3". ICv2. Archived from the original on August 21, 2016. Retrieved August 20, 2016. I think I probably said to Tom Brevoort, I think this book should be called The Champions. And he, of course, got a tear in his 40-something year-old eye, and said, 'it'll never happen.' And I said, 'someone told me I would never get a million unit sales of Star Wars, so we're going to make this happen.' I badgered our legal guys and we got everybody who needed to be involved in getting the name back, and we got it back.
^"Publishers Can't Use Certain Characters". NewsWatch. The Comics Journal. No. 154. Nov 1992. pp. 20, 22.
^"Heroic Offers 'Deep Discount'". NewsWatch. The Comics Journal. No. 154. Nov 1992. p. 24.