Joe's Comics was a short lived American comic book

American comic book

An American comic book is a small magazine originating in the United States and containing a narrative in the form of comics. Since 1975 the dimensions have standardized at 6 5/8" x 10 ¼" , down from 6 ¾" x 10 ¼" in the Silver Age, although larger formats appeared in the past...

 imprint

Imprint

In the publishing industry, an imprint can mean several different things:* As a piece of bibliographic information about a book, it refers to the name and address of the book's publisher and its date of publication as given at the foot or on the verso of its title page.* It can mean a trade name...

 of Top Cow Productions

Top Cow Productions

Top Cow Productions is an American comics publisher, a partner studio of Image Comics founded by Marc Silvestri in 1992.-History:...

 created specifically for J. Michael Straczynski

J. Michael Straczynski

Joseph Michael Straczynski , known professionally as J. Michael Straczynski and informally as Joe Straczynski or JMS, is an American writer and television producer. He works in films, television series, novels, short stories, comic books, and radio dramas. He is a playwright, a former journalist,...

. Top Cow offered JMS his own imprint after the impressive sales of Rising Stars

Rising Stars

Rising Stars is a 24-issue comic book limited series by J. Michael Straczynski about 113 people born with special abilities following the appearance of a mysterious light in the sky above Pederson, Illinois. The series explores how society may react to the advent of superpowers, and how those who...

. He accepted and named it Joe's Comics. In his own words:
Rising Stars was moved to the new imprint. JMS's next projects, the critically lauded Midnight Nation

Midnight Nation

Midnight Nation is a religious-themed twelve-issue American comic book limited series, created by J. Michael Straczynski and published from 2000 to 2002 by Top Cow Productions under their now defunct Joe's Comics imprint...

, and Delicate Creatures, an illustrated fantasy parable, were published there as well.

There were plans to publish an anthology comic, with the first issue being Dream Police

Dream Police (comics)

Dream Police is an American comic book one-shot created by writer J. Michael Straczynski with artwork by Mike Deodato.It was published by Marvel Comics, on June 22, 2005, under their Icon imprint for creator-owned titles.-Story:...

, which was described as "Dragnet in the dreamscape." JMS's plans were to write two comics a month for Joe's Comics.

JMS had a falling-out with Top Cow over movie scripts for Rising Stars, and after communication broke down their relationship came to a stand-still, with JMS holding back the final (pre-written) issues of Rising Stars. JMS and Top Cow finally came to an agreement after a nearly two-year hiatus where JMS retained the rights to Dream Police (which has now been published via the Icon-imprint by Marvel Comics

Marvel Comics

Marvel Worldwide, Inc., commonly referred to as Marvel Comics and formerly Marvel Publishing, Inc. and Marvel Comics Group, is an American company that publishes comic books and related media...

), and to the name and logo for Joe's Comics. Although the last three issues of Rising Stars were published under Joe's Comics at the end of 2004, for all intents and purposes the imprint is currently defunct.

External links

• Lying in the Gutters column for 23 June 2003: scroll down to "RISE AND FALL" for a history of how relationships broke down between JMS and Top Cow