Mike Richardson Opens His Museum Underneath Dark Horse Comics

Posted in: Comics, Dark Horse Comics | Tagged: mike richardson, milwaukee, museum, oregon, portland

Mike Richardson Opens His Museum Underneath Dark Horse Comics

Mike Richardson opens his museum underneath the publisher Dark Horse Comics that fired him after forty years, as he still owns the building

Published Sun, 14 Jun 2026 06:57:10 -0500
by Rich Johnston
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Article Summary

• Mike Richardson is opening a Milwaukie pop culture museum beneath Dark Horse Comics, in a building he still owns.
• The Mike Richardson museum will showcase pieces from his collection, including the giant Alien Queen from Aliens.
• Mike Richardson helped make Portland a comics hub, drawing publishers, creators, conventions and comics groups.
• The new space will host art, writing and film classes while also highlighting Dark Horse Comics history and impact.

Oregon, particularly the Portland metro area, including Milwaukie, has one of the strongest concentrations of comic book and graphic novel publishers in the United States. And that's because Mike Richardson lived there, studied art at Portland State University, founded Pegasus Fantasy Books, later renamed Things From Another World, and set up Dark Horse Comics as a publisher in 1986 with the proceeds. And over the years, publishers moved – or were founded – there, and creators joined too. "We had a huge effect on the industry. We changed the way things were done. I've moved over a hundred people over the years – artists, writers. I raided Marvel. I raided San Diego Comic-Con," said Mike Richardson to The Oregonian over his latest venture.

Oni Press was founded in Portland in 1997 by former Dark Horse Comics employees. Image Comics moved to Portland in 2017; IDW had a Portland branch; Top Shelf Comix was founded in Portland; and Denpa was founded in Portland in 2018. Floating World Comics is a comic book store that also publishes comics. Creators who have located themselves there include Brian Michael Bendis, Kelly Sue DeConnick, Matt Fraction, Steve Lieber, Greg Rucka, Colleen Coover, Paul Tobin, Joe Sacco, Patric Reynolds, Tony Shasteen, Natalie Nourigat, Jonathan Case, Nicole J. Georges, David F. Walker, Leila del Duca, Erika Moen, Paul Guinan, David Hahn, Ron Randall, Karl Kesel and more. Helioscope Studio, formerly Periscope Studio, is a large group of freelance comic artists and creators based there, as are the Comic Book Legal Defence Fund and Rose City Comic Con. And so much of this is because Mike Richardson happened to live there forty years ago.

As we know, Mike Richardson was fired by the current owners of Dark Horse Comics, the company he founded 40 years ago. But he's not going anywhere. For a start, he still owns the building that Dark Horse Comics occupies. And now he is opening a Milwaukie Pop Culture Museum, which will include items from his own collection, including the 30-foot Alien Queen from Aliens, which he received as a settlement from Fox over a $30,000 marketing bill while publishing the Aliens comic book.

Much of the collection has been stored in a warehouse, but a significant portion will move into the 14,000-square-foot space at 10818 Main Street, formerly the home of the online operations for Mike Richardson's Things From Another World, which the new Dark Horse Comics owners also closed, but a building which Mike also owns. The venue will also host classes in art, writing, and film, along with guest speakers and workshops leveraging Mike Richardson's extensive industry network."I've done, I think, forty-two films and series and made a lot of friends over the years," and he wants to demonstrate that careers in the arts are possible. And a dedicated section will explore Dark Horse's history and impact. I would suggest stopping at the exact moment they fired Mike. Dark Horse Comics still leases the top floor of this building. Which must make for some fun meets by the lift… he hopes to open the museum by the end of the year.

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