I.P.C.
History: Through the late 1950s and early 1960s Cecil Harmsworth King, chairman of the "Mirror Group" of newspapers, oversaw the buying up of several of Britain's magazine publishers, including Amalgamated Press Ltd in 1959, which he renamed Fleetway Publications after their London headquarters, Fleetway House. In 1961 he purchased Odhams Press.
In 1963 he created a parent company, International Publishing Corporation, or IPC, under which each company continued to operate semi-autonomously.
In 1987 (after several management changes), IPC's comics rights for titles and characters created after January 1970 (such as 2000A.D. plus 26 specified characters from Buster - which predated 1970 but was still being published in 1987 with said characters actively appearing), were transferred to Fleetway, which was then sold to Pergamon Holdings, who in turn sold them on in 1991 to Egmont UK. (Egmont subsequently sold 2000AD and its spin-off title, Judge Dredd Megazine, to Rebellion, who continue to publish both title to the current day; additionally, in 2016, Egmont sold the remainder of the old Fleetway rights to Rebellion.)
Meanwhile (and returning to the 1990s) IPC sold the rights to Dan Dare and any other strips that originated in either edition of the Eagle to the Dan Dare Corporation, then, in 1997, IPC was bought out by venture capital group Cinven, who sold the company on in 2001 to Time Warner. Though IPC is today mostly a magazine publisher, through fellow Time Warner company D.C. Comics and its subsidiary Wildstorm, a number of IPC characters were revived in 2006 via the miniseries Albion, Thunderbolt Jaxon and Battler Britton. Reprint volumes were issued collecting the stories of some of the characters featured in Albion - a general volume, Albion Origins, plus solo volumes for the Spider (titled King of Crooks to avoid trademark issues with the Pulp era Spider) and Steel Claw.
Publications: 2000A.D.; Buster; Eagle; Jag, Speed, Tiger
Characters: The Amazing Three; Adam Eterno; Atlanta; Birdman; Boxatricks; Buytonic Boy; Blue Wizard; Chicken;Captain Hurricane; The Cat Girl; Cursitor Doom; Doctor Sin; Dolmann; Dan Dare; Fishboy; Galaxus; Gadget Man; Gimmick-Kid; Gargan; The Hand; Maxwell Hawke; Jason Hyde; The Indestructible Man; Janus Stark; The Jet Skaters; Johnny Alpha; Justine (The Justice); Jimmi from Jupiter; Jane's Jeannie; Kelly's Eye; Kid Chameleon; Leopard from Lime Street; Mytek the Mighty; Maroc the Mighty; Mekon; Minnie's Mixer; Maisie's Magic Eye; Oakman; Oddball Oates; The Phantom Viking; Robot Archie; Sintek; Spare Part Kit; Spellbinder; Super Dad; The Spider; Spooktacular Seven; The Steel Claw; Steel Commando; Strongman; Tanya; Thunderbolt the Avenger; Tri-Man; Typhoon Tracy; The Trickster; Toymaker; Von Hoffman; Vanessa from Venus; Volger; The Waxer; Jack Wonder; Wild Wonders; X-Ray Specs
Further details on a number of these characters can be found at the excellent Toonhound's Fleetway Street site.
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