This article includes a list ofgeneral references, butit lacks sufficient correspondinginline citations. Please help toimprove this article byintroducing more precise citations.(July 2011) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

NOW Comics was acomic book publisher founded in late 1985 byTony C. Caputo as a sole-proprietorship. During the four years after its founding, NOW grew from a one-man operation to operating in 12 countries, and published almost 1,000 comic books.

The company was headquartered in theChicago Loop inChicago,Illinois.^[1] Most NOW titles were the results of licensing arrangements with such companies asColumbia (Sony) Pictures,Broadway Video,ELP Communications,CBS Entertainment, Inc.,Speed Racer Enterprises, andLeisure Concepts, resulting in titles likeVector,Mr. T & The T-Force,^[2]Speed Racer,The Original Astro Boy,Alias,Terminator: The Burning Earth,The Real Ghostbusters andGhostbusters II,Fright Night,Married... with Children, andThe Green Hornet.

NOW Comics started in late 1985 as a sole-proprietorship, with the first publications shipping in May 1986. It becameCaputo Publishing, Inc. in 1987.

In a four-year period, CPI grew from a one-man operation with annual sales of $110,000 to an international multimillion-dollar corporation, with close to 100 full-time employees and freelancers, and the #3 position in comic book market share.^[3] During this period, CPI created such cross-promotional ventures asThe Real Ghostbusters cereal (withRalston Purina) and Slimer's Ecto-Cooler Hi-C drink (withCoca-Cola Foods).

In 1989, the comics division began to lose steam, suffering from lack of focus and internal dissension.^[4][5] In 1990, NOW was forced to file Chapter 7 bankruptcy byQuebecor Printing and theGeneral Learning Corporation.^[6] After being bought by General Learning, NOW Comics relaunched in 1991 as theNOW Entertainment Corporation^[7] This new infusion of over $2 million in capital catapulted the company to number five in market share within its first quarter of business, and NOW Entertainment was nominated as best new publisher of 1991.^{[citation needed]}

In 1993, NOW andMalibu/Eternity co-published thecrossover seriesNinja High School featuringSpeed Racer.^[8]

In 1994, the company ceased publishing after its "January 1995" releases, six months after founder Caputo left.^{[citation needed]}

In 2003, Caputo returned, reviving the publisher asNOW Media Group, Inc. The new company, dubbed "NOW Comics 3.0" by Caputo, was re-launched as a graphic novel "self-publisher", giving creators a partnership role in the business. Books published by this iteration of NOW Comics includedVespers (an original graphic novel written and illustrated by Caputo),Vinny, the Bug Man (a 3D animated graphic novel by Chet Spiewak, including a CD-ROM), and black and white collected editions of Marc Hansen'sRalph Snart,Doctor Gorpon, andWeird Melvin series. Planned but unreleased wereMirrorwalker (collecting the originally intended two issues of the Barry Daniel Peterson andMarv Wolfman 1990 series) andSyphons (collecting volume two of the series), which was later published byImage Comics. The business plan didn't pan out and the company folded in 2005, with the corporation fully dissolved in February 2006.

In 1988, CPI purchased to rights to release the originalSpeed Racer anime on home video, eventually releasing 22 volumes ofSpeed Racer on VHS under the banner "NOW Video". In addition, there were two special gift sets: theSpeed Racer Collector's Edition (1989), which included a 90-minute VHS copy of the three-part episode "The Most Dangerous Race", aSpeed Racer bumper sticker, aSlimer! Hi-C Ecto Cooler coupon, and copies ofSpeed Racer Special #1,Speed Racer Classics v1 & v2, andNow What?! #4; and theSpeed Racer Silver Anniversary Edition (1992), which included a 55-minute VHS copy of the two-part episode "Challenge of the Masked Racer" as well as copies ofSpeed Racer Classics v2, and the "Speed Racer 5th Anniversary Collector's Edition" ofSpeed Racer v2 #1.^[9] In 1989, City Video Productions and NOW Comics co-producedThe What NOW Caper, a sixty-minute comedy-documentary on comic book production starring Jim Vincent as detective "Mel Mudd".^[10]

During its operation, NOW acquired the talents of such industry veterans asHarlan Ellison,Neal Adams,Jim Steranko,Bill Sienkiewicz,Mike Baron,Jeff Butler,Dave Dorman, andChuck Dixon.Alex Ross did his first professional comics work with the company (inTerminator: The Burning Earth), andClint McElroy wrote several comics with NOW in the early 1990s.^[11] NOW also collaborated with entertainers likeMr. T,Van Williams, andTerry Gilliam.

• The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1989), #1–4
• 3 Ninjas Kick Back (1994), #1
• A Boy and His 'Bot (1987), #1
• Alias (1990), #1–5
• Bats, Cats, & Cadillacs (1990), #1–2
• Dai Kamikaze! (1987–1988), #1–12
• Doctor Gorpon (2004), B&W, collectsDoctor Gorpon (1991), #1–3 fromEternity.
• Eb'nn (June 1986 – January 1987), #3–6 [from #1–2 (1985–1986) published by Crowquill Comics]^[12]
• FanGraphiX (1984–1986), #1–4 [as Tony Caputo Publishing]
• Freejack (1992), #1–3
• Fright Night Part II (1988),TPB adapting theFright Night Part 2 film
• Fright Night
  • v1 (1988–1990), #1–22
  • 3-D Special (1992)
  • 3-D Fall Special (1992)
  • Halloween Annual (1993)
  • 3-D Winter Special (1993)
• Ghostbusters II (1989), #1–3
• Graves Inc. Derides Again (1988), collectsGraves Inc. newspaper strips [as Caputo Publishing/NOW Library]
• The Green Hornet
  • v1 (1989–1990), #1–14
  • v2 (1991–1995), #1–40
  • Tales of, v1 (1990), #1–2
  • Tales of, v2 (1992), #1–4
  • Tales of, v3 (1992), #1–3
  • Sting of (1992), #1–4
  • 1992 Annual (1992), #1
  • 1994 Annual (1994), #1
  • Solitary Sentinel (1992–1993) #1–3
  • Dark Tomorrow (1993), #1–3
• Kato
  • v1 (1991), #1–4 (indicia readsKato of the Green Hornet, v1)
  • v2 (1992), #1–2 (indicia readsKato of the Green Hornet II, v1)
• Little Monsters (1990), #1–4
• Married... with Children
  • v1 (1991), #1–7
  • v2 (1991–1992), #1–7
  • Collector's Special (1992), #1
  • Kelly Bundy Special (1992), #1–3
  • Flashback (1993), #1–3
  • 3-D Special (1993), #1
  • Off Broadway (1993), #1
  • 2099 (1993), #1–3
  • Quantum Quartet (1993–1994), #1–4 (#3 & 4 are combined as a flip-book)
  • 1994 Annual (1994), #1
  • Buck's Tale (1994), #1
  • Bud Bundy, Fanboy in Paradise (1994), #1
  • Kelly Goes to Kollege (1994), #1–3
  • Lotto Fever! (1995), #1 (#2 & 3 were never released)
• MirrorWalker (1990), #1 (#2 unpublished)
• Mr. Lizard
  • Color Special (1993), #1 (with "Instant Ralph Snart" capsule)
  • 3-D Special (1993), #1 (with "Instant Mr. Lizard" capsule)
• Mr. T & The T-Force (1993–1994), #1–10
• NOW What?! (1989), #1–13 (NOW Comics news magazine)
• Prime Slime Tales (), #3–4 [fromMirage Comics]
• The Original Astro Boy (September 1987 – June 1989)
• Racer X
  • v1 (1988–1989), #1–11
  • v2 (1989–1990), #1–10
• Ralph Snart Adventures
  • v1 (1986), #1–3
  • v2 (1986–1987), #1–9
  • v3 (1988–1990), #1–26
  • v4 (1992), #1–3
  • 3-D Special (1992)
  • v5 (1993), #1–4
  • The Lost Issues (1993), #1–3
  • Comic Collection #1 (2003), B&W, collects v1 #1–3 & v3 #1–16
  • Comic Collection #2 (2004), B&W, collects v3 #17–23, v4 #1–3, & v5 #1–5
• The Real Ghostbusters
  • v1 (1988–1990), #1–27
  • v2 (1991–1992), #1–4
  • Spectacular 3-D Special (1991)
  • Annual (1992)
  • 3-D Annual (1993)
  • 3-D Slimer Special (1993)
• Rust (1989)
  • v1 (1987–1988), #1–13
  • v2 (1989), #1–7
• Silverwing (1987), #1, collects the back-up feature fromEb'nn #2–3
• Slimer!
  • v1 (1989-1990), #1–19
  • The Big Comic Book (1991), collectsSlimer! #1–3
• Speed Racer
  • v1 (1987–1990), #1–38
  • Mach V Special (1988), #1
  • Classics v1 (1988), collects selected chapters of the originalMach GoGoGo manga [as Caputo Publishing/NOW Library] (225 pages)
  • Classics v2 (1989), collects selected chapters of the originalMach GoGoGo manga (100 pages)
  • v2 (1992), #1–3
  • featuringNinja High School (1993), #1–2 — co-published withMalibu/Eternity
  • The New Adventures of (1993–1994), #0–5
  • Return of the GRX (1994), #1–2
• Supercops (1990–1991), #1–4
• Syphons
  • v1 (1986–1987), #1–7
  • v2 (1994), #1–3, collected asSyphons (2004) byImage Comics
  • v3 The Sygate Strategem (1994–1995), #1–3
• The Terminator (1988–1990), #1–17
• Terminator: All My Futures Past (1990), #1–2
• Terminator: The Burning Earth (1990), #1–5; collected asTerminator: The Burning Earth (1990) [as Caputo Publishing/NOW Library]
• The Twilight Zone
  • v1 (1990), #1 [reprinted asTwilight Zone Premiere (1991)]
  • v2 (1991–1992), #1–11 (#1 was a separate issue fromTwilight Zone Premiere)
  • v3 (1993), #1–4
  • Annual (1993), #1
  • 3-D Special (1993), #1
• Universal Soldier (1992), #1–3
• Valor Thunderstar and His Fireflies (1986), #1
• Vector (1986), #1–4
• Vespers (2004),TPB
• Vinny, the Bug Man (2004),TPB (includesCD-ROM)
• Weird Melvin
  • The Comic Book Collection (2004), B&W, collectsWeird Melvin #1–5 (1995) from Marc Hansen Stuff
  • The Comic Strip Collection (2004), B&W, collects strips from theComics Buyer's Guide (B&W)

• Official website
• Vinny, the Bug Man

• NOW Comics
• 1985 establishments in the United States
• Comic book publishing companies of the United States
• Defunct comics and manga publishing companies
• Publishing companies established in 1985
• American companies established in 1985

• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata
• Articles lacking in-text citations from July 2011
• All articles lacking in-text citations
• Use American English from January 2023
• All Wikipedia articles written in American English
• Use mdy dates from January 2023
• Official website different in Wikidata and Wikipedia
• All articles with unsourced statements
• Articles with unsourced statements from November 2009
• Articles with unsourced statements from August 2008