Dark Horse Comics Voluntarily Recognizes Employees Union
Komas stated that voluntary recognition is an "unusual step for employers," but in doing so the company intends to reaffirm its commitment that its new leadership wants to do things differently and "enter into good-faith bargaining."
Employees from Dark Horse Comics and its retail store Things From Another World formed the Dark Horse Workers United union, affiliated with the Communications Workers of America (CWA), on May 27. The union is seeking "equitable pay, workplace democracy, and a continued commitment to creator-owned comics."
The union was then seeking voluntary recognition from Dark Horse Comics and Komas by June 3. If the company did not recognize the union by then, the union would have petitioned to the National Labor Relations Board for an election.
The union cites "looming uncertainty from recent layoffs, wage/hiring freeze, change in leadership power, emergence of artificial intelligence, and return-to-office policies (despite their economic impact on employees)" as the reasons for its collective organization.
Publishing company Seven Seas Entertainment voluntarily recognized the United Workers of Seven Seas (UW7S), a union for its employees, in 2022. Like Dark Horse Workers United, UW7S is affiliated with the CWA.
With Dark Horse Workers United being voluntarily recognized, it is the third U.S. comic publisher to form a union affiliated with the CWA (with the first being Workers at Image Comics, and the second being UW7S). Employees at Abrams Books and its manga- and comic book-focused division Abrams ComicArts also recently formed a union in 2025, but part of UAW Local 2110.
Dark Horse Media's parent company Embracer Group announced on May 20 that it plans to split the group into two publicly listed companies, through the spinoff of Fellowship Entertainment. The board plans to list Fellowship Entertainment, which will include Dark Horse Media, on the Nasdaq Stockholm stock exchange in 2027. Fellowship Entertainment aims to become an IP (intellectual property)-led entertainment company built around game development, publishing, and licensing. The company will include Dark Horse Media and several other companies. Its IPs include The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, and Tomb Raider.
Dark Horse Comics announced on May 21 that it would shutter all three of its Things From Another World retail locations from June to September later this year.
Embracer Group began acquiring Dark Horse Comics in December 2021, and completed the acquisition in March 2022. The acquisition was part of the company's spree of acquisitions of media and game companies beginning in 2019. After a planned US$2 billion investment from Savvy Games Group (a company owned by Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund) did not go through as planned in May 2023, the company found itself in debt, with the company soon planning restructuring, leading to mass layoffs, the sale of properties and subsidiary companies, and the three-company split from April 2024. Dark Horse Comics founder and CEO Mike Richardson departed the company earlier this year in March, after 40 years with the company. Jay Komas — General Manager of Dark Horse's owners within Embracer Group, Middle-earth Enterprises — is serving as Interim CEO.
Richardson founded Dark Horse Comics in 1986 as an offshoot of his comic book store chain Things From Another World. The company published its first manga, Godzilla, King of the Monsters, in 1987.
Dark Horse confirmed in February 2025 it had begun laying off staff positions. Dark Horse stated at the time it was responding to "increasing overhead, changing market conditions, and external economic factors."
Source: Dark Horse Comics
