Comico - The Comic Company was an American comic book company, headquartered in Norristown, Pennsylvania. Its best-known comics include the Robotech adaptations and Matt Wagner's Mage: The Hero Discovered and Grendel. Once considered to be a major contender on the American market, it went into bankruptcy in 1990, although it continued to sporadically publish books until 1997. http://www. ... A comic book is a magazine or book containing the art form of comics. ... Norristown is a borough located in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, USA. As of the 2000 census, the borough had a total population of 31,282. ... The fighting mecha of Robotech in action Robotech is an 85-episode science-fiction television series about three successive extraterrestrial invasions of Earth. ... Matt Wagner is an American writer and artist of comic books. ... Mage is a semi-autobiographical comic book written and illustrated by Matt Wagner. ... Grendel is a long-running series of comic books originally created by author Matt Wagner. ... 1990 is a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1997 is a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Comico was founded in 1982 by a group of artists and publishers in the Norristown area who had previously printed a local school paper called Duckwork. Their first book, Primer #1 attempted to establish a large black and white line, featuring the premiere stories of Victor, Slaughterman, Az, Mr. Justice and Skrog. Only Slaughterman and Az made it out of the pages of Primer #1. 1982 is a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Primer #2 would premiere what would be Comico's flagship title for most of its existence: Grendel. Matt Wagner's Grendel quickly lept from Primer into three issues of its own black and white series before the production of all Comico's black and white comics ceased in 1984 with Primer #6. 1984 is a leap year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

March began Comico's color line of comics, with Mage: The Hero Discovered, Evangeline (both painted) and Bill Willingham's Elementals (in flat color). This was followed in 1985 with the three Robotech series (with a schedule that released a Robotech comic book once every two weeks), Next Man and Justice Machine in 1986. Bill Willingham (born December 1956 in Fort Belvoir, Virginia) is an American writer and artist of comic books. ... Elementals was a dark superhero comic book first published in 1984 and created by Bill Willingham, for which he was both writer and artist. ... 1985 is a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The fighting mecha of Robotech in action Robotech is an 85-episode science-fiction television series about three successive extraterrestrial invasions of Earth. ... 1986 is a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Along with getting a major license in Robotech, it picked up and produced an excellently done Jonny Quest series (and Jezebel Jade spin-off), Star Blazers series and Max Headroom graphic novel. Ken Steacy illustrated a Harlan Ellison graphic novel. Dave Stephens's The Rocketeer and Space Ghost also made the line up. Jonny Quest was a science fiction animated series created by Hanna-Barbera (based on an idea by Doug Wildey) which had its debut on ABC in 1964. ... Space Battleship Yamato (or, alternately, Space Cruiser Yamato) is the English title for the Japanese science fiction anime series 宇宙戦艦ヤマト, created by Leiji Matsumoto. ... Max Headroom doing a promotion for Cinemax Max Headroom was the name of a fictional television character in the late 1980s and of the science fiction television series in which he starred. ... Graphic novel (sometimes abbreviated GN) is a term for a kind of book, usually telling an extended story with sequential art ( comics). ... Harlan Jay Ellison (born May 27, 1934) is a prolific writer of short stories, novellas, essays and criticism. ... The Rocketeer is a comic book created by Dave Stevens, appearing in short installments over the course of 13 years, from 1982 to 1995. ... The title screen of Space Ghost Space Ghost was one-half of the animated television series Space Ghost and Dino Boy created by Hanna-Barbera Productions; it first aired on September 10, 1966 on CBS. In the series, the hero, Space Ghost, battled villains in outer space. ...

While Comico had proven to be a serious contender as a third major comic company, a decision in mid-1986 spelled the end of the comic company: it began to publish to the newsstand market. This significantly raised the number of prints for each issue, but also increased the number of issues being sent back that didn't sell. Refunds for those returned issues ate into the publisher's budget very quickly. In response to this, Comico began to push out a number of new titles, aimed at spreading out the number of returned comics between various titles. They also partnered with DC Comics to distribute their comics into a wider market. The current DC Comics logo, adopted in May 2005. ...

With the end of the Mage, Grendel and Robotech series, much of the reliable revenue for the company dried up. Many of the older artists and publishers jumped ship and, by 1989, Comico was deep into bankruptcy. The company stopped printing in 1990, with E-man #3. 1989 is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Bankruptcy is a legally declared inability or impairment of ability of an individual or organization to pay their creditors. ... 1990 is a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar. ... E-Man was a fictional super-hero published first by Charlton Comics, then several other independent publishers. ...

In 1991 the owners of the company sold Comico to Andrew Rev, who released the rest of the original staff, and began working on relaunching the company. With the planned relaunch, Rev held onto any of the original Comico's series he could. 1991 is a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Most significantly hit were Mage and Grendel creations. Mage II: The Hero Defined, expected out in 1989, wasn't published until the late 90s. Mage and Grendel had been copyrighted by both Comico and Wagner jointly, and with Comico in bankruptcy, that half of the copyright was claimed as a company assett. Matt Wagner regained sole copyright of Grendel in 1993 and, much later, Mage, publishing the series through Dark Horse Comics and Image Comics respectively. Mage is a semi-autobiographical comic book written and illustrated by Matt Wagner. ... For copyright issues in relation to Wikipedia itself, see Wikipedia:copyrights. ... 1993 is a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar and marked the Beginning of the International Decade to Combat Racism and Racial Discrimination (1993-2003). ... Dark Horse Comics is an American comic book publisher, one of the largest independent publishers behind dominant publishers Marvel Comics and DC Comics. ... Image Comics is the third largest comic book publisher in the United States. ...

While losing Wagner's characters, Rev did manage to buy Elementals for his restart. Comico began printing again in 1992 with various Elementals related comics, and in 1993 flooded the market with various one-shot Elementals specials. The comic's presses went silent again until 1995, with yet another Elementals title (running three issues), and various Elementals spin-offs that never made it past their first issues. Comico's line ended in 1997 with Elementals Sex Special #1, illustrated by Frank Quitely. 1992 is a leap year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1995 was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1997 is a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Frank Quitely (born 1968) is the pseudonym of Scottish comic book artist Vincent Deighan. ...

Original Comico Titles

• Elementals
• Evangeline
• Grendel
• Mage: The Hero Discovered