Semic Press is a Swedish comic book publishing company that operated from 1963 to 1997. Known for original comics as well as translated American and European titles, Semic was for a long time the country's largest comic book publisher. For many years, Semic published the official translations of American (mostly) superhero comics produced by DC Comics and Marvel Comics. The Semic Group had divisions in a number of European countries — mostly to distribute translated American comics — including Spain, Finland, the Netherlands, Norway, France, Poland, the Czech Republic, and Hungary.
Original titles published by Semic included Bobo, Bamse, FF med Bert, and Swedish treatments of James Bond and The Phantom.
In 1997 Semic was sold to the Danish media house Egmont.Egmont Gruppen, Store norske leksikon
History Semic Press was the comics division of the Swedish publisher Åhlén & Åkerlunds, which was founded in 1906 by Johan Petter Åhlén (1879–1939) and Erik Åkerlund (1877–1940). published such long-running titles as Vecko-Journalen ('Weekly Record'), ('Everything for everyone'), ('Everything for everyone this week'), Året Runt ('Year-round'), ('Living life'), ('Our home'), and Veckorevyn. Although many of these periodicals published comics, they usually made up less than 50% of the total pages.
Semic Press was preceded by three prior comics imprints: Alga (1942–1950), (1950–1955), and Youth Magazines (1955–1962).
began publishing comics in earnest in 1942 with ('Weekly series'), a weekly anthology of comic strips published under the imprint. also published the quarterly anthology ('Alga's comic book') (1947–1950), which often featured Buffalo Bill on the cover.
Under its own name, started publishing Lee Falk's The Phantom (as ) beginning with an annual album series in 1944 that is still being published as of 2025.
From 1950 to 1955, the Alga imprint was followed by ('Comics publisher'), which launched as a comic book series as well as launching Blondie, Tarzan, and Buffalo Bill.
Beginning in 1955, was succeeded by Youth Magazines, which lasted until 1962. 91:an launched in 1956, while and Blondie remained popular. , based on a character from a Swedish radio series which was broadcast in the mid-1950s, joined the lineup in 1960.
Semic Press – its name being a contraction of Serier (the Swedish word for comics) and Comics – was founded in 1963, taking over publication of most of ' comics titles.
Semic acquired rival comics publisher Centerförlaget in 1970, right around when itself ceased publishing.. With the acquisition of , Semic took over the publication of such long-running titles as , , Buster, and ('Woody Woodpecker').
In 1973, Semic was acquired by the Bonnier Group.
In 1974, Semic partnered with the Swedish publisher Allers to continue publishing the Western comics series ('The Silver Arrow')..
Semic expanded its comics market share in 1975 with the purchase of competing publisher Williams Förlag (the Swedish comics and magazines publishing division of Warner Communications). A number of Williams' titles, featuring DC Comics characters Superman, Batman, Superboy, and Tomahawk – at that point owned by Warner – had been taken over from Centerförlaget in 1969, and were continued by Semic. (Meanwhile, former employees immediately formed Atlantic Förlags AB in 1975. was ultimately acquired by Egmont Serieforlaget in 2000.).
In July 1986, Semic absorbed the Danish publishers Interpresse (also owned by Bonnier) and Carlsen Comics to form SEMIC Forlagene A/S, with all three publishers continuing to use their prior names. (In January 1991, Interpresse and Carlsen separated into two companies again, with the former becoming Semic Interpresse.)
In 1988, the company formed , which handled superhero reprint translations from Marvel Comics and DC Comics..
From July 2, 1997, all comics releases were taken over by Egmont Serieforlaget; the long-running titles , , , and Agent X9 are still being published.
Semic continues to exist as Semic, but generally does not publish comics. The publication of graphic novels is done through the imprint Kartago Förlag, a company that Bonnier bought from the Norwegian publisher Schibsted and placed as an entity within Semic in January 2010."Bonnierförlagen köper Kartago" , Seriefrämjandet, 23 Dec 2009.
Semic International Group foreign divisions Czechoslovakia/Czech Republic/Slovakia: Semic-Slovart (1991) – defunct by 1994. Czech Republic: Semic Media Finland: Semic (1966) – operated the imprints Semic Press Oy and Kustannus Oy Semic. Kustannus Oy Williams (1976) – originally the Finnish division of Williams Publishing. France: Semic S.A. / Semic Comics (1989) – formed from the acquisition of Éditions Lug Hungary: Semic Interprint (1988). – incorporated the older publisher Interprint; later renamed Adoc-Semic Netherlands: Semic Press (1967) – eventually became completely independent of the parent company. Juniorpress (1973) – originally a branch of the Dutch Semic Press. Norway: Semic (1976) – became Bonnier Publications/Semic AS in 1995 when it was merged with another Bonnier-owned publisher, Nordisk Forlag ASFra Serie-Samler'n # 8 (1995). Poland: TM-Semic (1990). – changed name to Fun Media in 2002. Russia: Семиф (Semif). Spain: Semic Española de Ediciones, S. A. (1963) – defunct by 1969.
Titles published (selected) Title Issues Pub. dates Original publisher, debut Later publisher, cancellation Notes Source(s) 91:an 800 1965–1997 Åhlén & Åkerlund, 1956 — "91:an (Åhlén & Åkerlunds, 1956 Series)," Grand Comics Database. Retrieved July 1, 2021. Acke 327 1969–1997 — Egmont, 2002 "Acke (Egmont, 1997 Series)," Grand Comics Database. Retrieved July 1, 2021. Blondie 272 1963–1985 Serieförlaget, 1951 — "Blondie (Åhlén & Åkerlunds, 1956 Series)," Grand Comics Database. Retrieved July 1, 2021. Buffalo Bill / Buffalo 358 1965–1984 — — Western comics Buster 583 1970–1997 Centerförlaget, 1967 Egmont, 2005 Sporting comics anthology with translations of British strips like Roy of the Rovers "Buster (Centerförlaget, 1967 Series)," Grand Comics Database. Retrieved July 1, 2021."Buster (Egmont, 1997 Series)," Grand Comics Database. Retrieved July 1, 2021. Dennis 270 1969–1984 — — Fantomen 962 1963–1997 Åhlén & Åkerlund, 1944 Egmont Still being published "Fantomen (Åhlén & Åkerlunds, 1956 Series)," Grand Comics Database. Retrieved July 1, 2021."Fantomen (Egmont, 1997 Series)," Grand Comics Database. Retrieved July 1, 2021. 248 1971–1985 Centerförlaget, 1954 — Woody Woodpecker "Hacke Hackspett (Centerförlaget, 1954 Series)," Grand Comics Database. Retrieved July 1, 2021. 227 1966–1985 — — The Saint comics James Bond 203 1965–1996 — — ('The Crunch') 549 1970–1997 — Egmont Beetle Bailey comics; still being published "Knasen (Egmont, 1997 Series)," Grand Comics Database. Retrieved July 1, 2021. 699 1963–1996 Åhlén & Åkerlund, 1960 Egmont, 2006 "91:an (Åhlén & Åkerlunds, 1960 Series)," Grand Comics Database. Retrieved July 1, 2021."91:an (Egmont, 1997 Series)," Grand Comics Database. Retrieved July 1, 2021. ('My Horse') 514 1976–1997 Williams Förlags AB, 1972 — "Min häst (Williams Förlags AB, 1972 Series)," Grand Comics Database. Retrieved July 1, 2021. 246 1970–1983 Centerförlaget, 1968 — Adventure anthology "Serie-nytt (Centerförlaget, 1968 Series)," Grand Comics Database. Retrieved July 1, 2021. 597 1970–1997 Centerförlaget, 1948 Egmont, 2001 Translated and collected comic strips "Seriemagasinet (Centerförlaget, 1948 Series)," Grand Comics Database. Retrieved July 1, 2021."Seriemagasinet (Egmont, 1997 Series)," Grand Comics Database. Retrieved July 1, 2021. Starlet 710 1976–1994 — — Girls' romance comic Tom & Jerry [] 208 1979–1997 — Egmont Translations selected from Tom & Jerry Comics published by Dell/Western from 1949 to 1984 "Tom och Jerry / Tom & Jerry (Egmont, 1997 Series)," Grand Comics Database. Retrieved July 1, 2021. 203 1976–1993 — — Western comics anthology X9 / Agent X9 333 1971–1997 — Egmont Still being published "X9 (Semic, 1969 Series)," Grand Comics Database. Retrieved July 1, 2021."Agent X9 (Egmont, 1997 Series)," Grand Comics Database. Retrieved July 1, 2021.
References Notes
Sources
External links
Semic Press on Phantomwiki Semic on Seriewikin Semic on ComicWiki.dk