Having studied art in college, as opposed to business, Mike Richardson considered himself an unlikely entrepreneur when he launched Dark Horse Comics in 1986. But the name he chose for his venture has since proven apropos for another reason: The privately held concern, located in remote Milwaukie, Ore., has become the third largest comics publisher in the U.S., last year raking in about $30 million in sales. (Based on revenue, Marvel Comics is No. 1 and DC Entertainment is No. 2, according to Austin, Texas, research firm, Hoovers Inc.)

Dark Horse Comics

And through its film division, Dark Horse Entertainment Inc., the company has produced more than two dozen movies, including "The Mask" and "Timecop."

Dark Horse Comics evolved out of Mr. Richardson's first enterprise, a 400-square foot bookstore in Bend, Ore., that sold mostly comic books and sci-fi novels, which he funded with a credit card. While running the shop and subsequent locations, he says comics illustrators and writers repeatedly griped that many publishers demanded full ownership of their work. So much like a super hero on a quest for justice, Mr. Richardson set out to defy that practice by building a different kind of publishing company.

Edited interview excerpts with Mr. Richardson follow.

Q: You used earnings from your stores to launch Dark Horse. What was your strategy for success in retail?

A: Back then, if you were an adult who read comics, you'd drive up to a 7-Eleven and wait until no one was there to buy them. You'd pay as fast as you could, put them in a paper bag and run out to your car. When I bought comics in college, that's how I would buy them. So I tried to make a comics store that was comfortable for adults to walk into. There were no big pictures of Wolverine in the window. I tried to make it feel more like a bookstore and professional people would come in and spend a lot of money.

Q: How did you go about producing your first comic book, "Dark Horse Presents?"

A: In mid-1985 I brought together a group of writers and artists I had met over the years and said I was planning to start publishing comics. It seemed like a screwy idea to most people that someone in Oregon could start a comics company, so as a show of good faith, I said I'd give them 100% of the profits of Dark Horse issue No. 1. We hoped to sell 10,000 copies and we sold 50,000.

Q: How did you initially set your publishing business apart from the competition?

A: We offered royalty payments to illustrators and artist on a quarterly basis, and upon request, we offered full-line item reports on costs related to the publishing of their books. We also paid them rates competitive with Marvel and DC.

Q: How has the market changed since?

A: It's gotten tougher and more discerning. A variety of publishing agreements exist today, everything from traditional work-for-hire contracts to creator-owned and -controlled projects to the vanity-press approach. Dark Horse has developed different types of deals in order to publish a variety of books. We still believe in the creator-owned ethic that the company was founded on. Today, there are multiple places where a creator can own his project, a situation I believe was hastened by Dark Horse's policies.

Q. Consumers are increasingly reading books on electronic devices like the iPad. Has Dark Horse adapted accordingly?

A: We certainly had to come up with a way for our comics to be easily read on the iPad and we accomplished that by adapting material into single panels. You can enlarge the panels to the size you need, whatever feels comfortable. Those of us who remember buying comics off the rack when we were kids hang onto the old format. Now the kids coming up don't have the same affinity for a paper product and they're happy to get their comics on some kind of downloading device.

Q: Dark Horse has about 140 employees today. What's it like being a boss?

A: The unexpected part of operating a successful business is the amount of time you spend with your employees. You tend to look at everyone's situation and judge them by your own experience. But you have to stop and make sure you understand what your employees are going through. There are constant deadlines so the idea is to balance the stress with a comfortable environment.

Q. Has Dark Horse published any duds?

A: Not every book breaks through. Some books are riskier than others. We go in knowing that they may not sell as well as we hope. But some do in a major way, and of course you love with when that happens.

Q. What advice do you have for aspiring entrepreneurs?

A: You need a great deal of optimism, almost to the point of blindness to the facts of reality. And you need confidence to get around whatever it is that's blocking you. When I opened the first store, everybody freaked out except my wife. The first day, the store did $8.37. But every day was better than the last. Once the store started doing well, I said I wanted to start a publishing company, and everybody freaked out again. When I said I'd make movies, they freaked out again. Now, they don't say much. I was told growing up I could do anything I wanted. I worry sometimes that that message isn't out there anymore, because it really is true.

Write to Sarah E. Needleman at sarah.needleman@wsj.com