By MATTHEW LAZORWITZ, WMQ Comics contributor

For people who don’t spend their Wednesdays in comic shops, or who know comics mostly through the lens of the pop culture it influences, it wouldn’t be surprising if they could only name three comic companies: Marvel, DC and Image, and the latter simply because of the high profile of “The Walking Dead.”

But those of us who honor the Geek Sabbath and keep it holy know there are far more options than just those three. Whether it’s the Hellboy books from Dark Horse, the all-ages Boom Box imprint from Boom Studios, or the modern-day pulp heroes from Dynamite, there are a lot of options when it comes to comic publishers.

This week sees the launch of a new publisher, AHOY Comics (check out our advance review of their first title, “The Wrong Earth,” here), so we’re spotlighting four other independent publishers that I really enjoy.

Action Lab Entertainment

Action Lab is an interesting company. Almost out of the gate, their titles felt split down two very different lines. Many of their books are YA and all ages, but they also publish a fair number of mature readers titles, under their Danger Zone line. While that split is now more common (Heck, even Archie has its mature readers Archie Horror line), appealing both to a youth audience and an adult audience specifically isn’t something I see in a lot of publishers.

Most notable from Action Lab is “Princeless,” Jeremy Whitley’s modern fairy tale about Adrienne, a princess who decides to escape the tower her father put her in, don armor and save her sisters, each imprisoned in their own tower. It’s a story about a young woman who takes on the world and learns about herself, and is perfect for that same age group that loves Harry Potter. But if you have a slightly younger crowd, you might want to try out “Hero Cats of Stellar City,” about a group of cats who are the secret defenders of their city, or “Gronk: A Monster’s Story,” about a sweet little monster and the family she makes for herself when she starts to live with a human and a big dog.

RELATED: Listen to “Raven: The Pirate Princess” artists Ro Stein and Ted Brandt on WMQ&A”

AfterShock Comics

AfterShock launched in 2015 and quickly became a strong contender. Its editorial team featured industry veterans, and through this they were able to get major creators to work on their titles. With high production values, an AfterShock book looks like something published out of the Big Two. But with a wide variety of genres, from superhero to horror to sci-fi, there’s a title for pretty much anyone.

Among the ones I’d recommend are “InSexts,” by Marguerite Bennett and Ariela Kristantina, a gorgeously drawn Victorian body horror comic with strong feminist themes and a beautiful queer love story at its core; “Jimmy’s Bastards,” Garth Ennis and Russ Braun’s send-up of James Bond; and “Eleanor and the Egret,” a book from John Layman of “Chew” and Sam Kieth of “The Maxx,” about art thieves and birds that could only come from two minds who embrace seriously trippy and awesome comics. Also worth looking for is “Shock,” a European album-sized hardcover anthology of shorts by many of today’s best-known creators.

(Grote’s note: Don’t forget about “Hot Lunch Special,” Eliot Rahal and Jorge Fornes’ family crime drama by way of “Fargo.” Read our review of issue #1 here.)

Black Mask Studios

Black Mask describes itself as taking the “punk rock ethic” to comics, and I see completely what they mean. This is a company that produces edgy, forward-thinking and relevant comics. Not every book takes on social issues and society as a whole, but a lot of them do, and they pull absolutely no punches. Smartly written and well-produced, picking up a book from Black Mask is an experience that will leave you thinking long after you’ve put down the comic.

“Black” from Kwanza Osajyefo, Tim Smith III and Jamal Igle gives us a world where racial tensions are even higher than in the real world, as only black people have superpowers. “Calexit” from Matteo Pizzolo and Amancay Nahuelpan sees a near future in which California chooses to break away from the United States by force. And on a much less topical but no less awesome note, “4 Kids Walk Into a Bank,” from creators Matthew Rosenberg and Tyler Boss, tells the story of a group of kids in the ’80s who try to rob a bank to stop the dad of one of them from doing it instead; it’s “Stranger Things” meets “Ocean’s 11,” if Danny Ocean was a teenage girl in way over her head.

RELATED: Listen to “Quantum Teens Are Go” writer Magdalene Visaggio on WMQ&A

Valiant Entertainment

For those of us who came up in the early ’90s in the days of Wizard Magazine, Valiant Comics was a fixture, the fourth most influential company of those pre-bust days, up there with DC, Marvel and Image. But the bust hit Valiant hard, and after being purchased by video game company Acclaim, Valiant quietly folded. That is until 2008, when Valiant Entertainment returned, better than ever. Featuring some great creators, and with a stable of interesting characters, Valiant has a solid superhero universe that also has touches of sci-fi, fantasy and horror. The universe isn’t too sprawling, and it’s easy to pick up only one or two titles and not feel dragged into an entire universe. But once you start, it’s hard to stop.

My favorite corner of the Valiant universe features the Brothers Anni-Padda, three immortal brothers who are about as different as can be and travel through the centuries together and apart (mostly apart). Their adventures can be found in “Archer & Armstrong,” “Ivar, Timewalker” and “Wrath of the Eternal Warrior,” with different creative teams on each book, among them Fred Van Lente and Robert Venditti. Speaking of Venditti, he wrote the entire 50-issue first volume of “X-O Manowar,” the series Valiant relaunched with, about an ancient Visigoth who gets alien power armor and has to figure out how to navigate the modern world. And, finally, there’s “Faith,” about a fangirl turned superhero, written mostly by Jody Houser, a book that is fun, genre-aware and has a main character you just have to love.

(Grote’s note: Also worth checking out from Valiant is “Quantum & Woody,” about a pair of adoptive brothers forced to work together as superheroes. The first arc of the current volume, by Daniel Kibblesmith and Kano, is superscience comedy in the mold of “The Venture Brothers.”)

RELATED: WMQ talks with Valiant Editor-in-Chief Joe Illidge

Matthew Lazorwitz was given “Who’s Who in the DC Universe” #2, featuring characters whose names begin with B, when he was 5, and that probably explains his devotion to all things Batman to this day. Follow him @MattLaz1013 on Twitter.