Odyssey Comics

Odyssey Comics was a major comic book publishing company formed in 1959, by Bill Baxter and Jeff Davis. The company hired many of the artists and writers from the defunct Saber Comics, which had been around in different forms since the early 1890‘s. Both Baxter and Davis were war veterans; Davis of WW2, Baxter from both world wars. They had a twenty-five year age difference, and brought vastly different experience to the table. Baxter was a dedicated fan of the works of Lovecraft; Davis embraced the likes of Superman and Captain America.

Bill Baxter had been an artist/writer for Saber Comics from 1925-1934. He was one of the developers of the iconic Saber Man character, and is, arguably, responsible for the final design. Denied a promotion in late ‘34, Baxter left Saber and formed B.B. Comics, which did moderately well until the outbreak of World War 2. Baxter re-enlisted in 1941, and saw action in the Philippines. He met Jeff Davis here; Baxter was a Staff Sergeant, Davis a Private in his Company. They connected over a shared love of fantasy-fiction, became good friends, and following the war’s end they remained so.

In 1952, Davis suggested the idea of forming a publishing company together. Baxter advised that they conceive of a flagship series before they do so. And they did. Sergeant Savior was born. They developed the story for several issues before founding First Kind Comics in 1954. Sergeant Savior saw mild success, mainly in it’s stories concerning his fight with the Soviet Super Villain, Vlad the Ruinous(the likes of which was left mostly unobstructed by the CCA)Unfortunately, sales weren’t high enough, and in 1958 First Kind went under.

Bill and Jeff were resilient, and bounced back in 1959 with Odyssey Comics and the iconic Outlaw character(who made the cover of WORLD magazine in 1964). With the demise of Saber Comics in early ’56, many of the writers and artists flocked to Odyssey. In 1962 the company acquired the rights to Saber Man. He was given new life, which continued for decades in various incarnations, opening up a vast comic universe with a pantheon of characters. Between ‘62-’69 Odyssey released eight original titles: Teddy the Cosmonaut, The Great Stone Fist, Mighty Logan and the Planet of Exotic Beasts, The Archer, Blue Rascal(based on an early-'50's sketch by Davis),Tales of the Abyss, G.O.L.D. Justice and Captain Mercer and The World Alliance. For Odyssey, the seventies seemed to be all about Saber Man and his subsequent ‘Saber’-verse: The revelation of his identity to Director Samson, the death of his wife at the hands of his villainous younger brother, Deranged, as well as the arrival of Galactic Over Lord Arcanos and the pantheon of galactic mobs -which greatly changed the story universe and set the stage for the Saber Man comics of the eighties.

Bill Baxter died in 1981, leaving Odyssey to Jeff, who had taken an interest in the rise of video games in the late seventies. Convinced they were the future, he made several large company investments in small-time software companies to make games for Odyssey. When the industry crashed in 1983, the companies tanked, and Odyssey lost too much to recover. Forced to sell most of the major franchises, Odyssey declared bankruptcy in May of 1985. Many of the company's former artists and writers contributed their talents to titles for Ink Bath Comics, which formed in early ‘86.