Some of these labels included Lookout! Records, Frank Kozik's Man's Ruin, Kill Rock Stars, Jade Tree, and most notably Jello Biafra's Alternative Tentacles Records and Long Gone John's Sympathy for the Record Industry, two labels whose most popular releases were by the Dead Kennedys and The White Stripes, respectively.
Their first two albums were among the first to be released by the influential independent Mordam Records label.
This period is also marked by an explosive expansion in distribution, as Ruth Schwartz of Mordam Records took on the magazine’s circulation fulfillment ensuring that it would be present in any and all outlets that already carried the notable music punk ‘zine Maximum RocknRoll. This distribution agreement took World War 3 Illustrated’s issues international, as they were carried by Tower Records in all territories.
Columbia Records | Guinness World Records | Atlantic Records | Decca Records | Mercury Records | Warner Bros. Records | Epic Records | RCA Records | Capitol Records | MCA Records | Virgin Records | Arista Records | Island Records | Elektra Records | Universal Records | Stax Records | Geffen Records | A&M Records | Reprise Records | Naxos Records | Polydor Records | Philips Records | London Records | Interscope Records | Rise Records | Liberty Records | Blue Note Records | Roadrunner Records | MGM Records | CBS Records |
Released in 1987, Too Many Cowboys was the first of the Ex's records to be issued simultaneously in more than one country, having been released on the band's own Ex Records in the Netherlands, by Ron Johnson Records in England, and by Mordam Records in the United States.
The partnership with Mordam records continued late into the 1990s until World War 3 Illustrated handed its distribution over to Chris Staros of Top Shelf Productions and Diamond Comic Distributors, an arrangement which continues today.