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'Epic Comics' was a creator-owned imprint of Marvel Comics started in 1982, lasting through the mid-1990s, and being briefly revived on a small scale in the mid-2000s.

Launched by editor-in-chief Jim Shooter as a spin-off of the successful ''Epic Illustrated'' magazine, the Epic imprint allowed creators to retain control and ownership of their properties. Co-edited by Al Milgrom and Archie Goodwin, the imprint also allowed Marvel to publish a more mature line of comics oriented toward an older audience.
The first project was ''Dreadstar'', a space opera by writer-artist Jim Starlin, published November 1982. Subsequent titles included ''Coyote'' by Steve Englehart, ''Alien Legion'' (a war series set in outer space, created by Carl Potts but written by others), ''Six from Sirius'', a sci-fi title by writer Doug Moench and artist Paul Gulacy, ''Sisterhood of Steel'', a saga of elite women-warriors by Christy Marx and Mike Vosburg and ''Void Indigo'', a controversial title written by Steve Gerber.
The line branched out later with historical fiction (''Black Dragon''), social commentary (''The One'', ''Marshal Law''), humor (''Groo'') and fantasy (''Moonshadow'', ''Elfquest''). However, initial sales were disappointing, so in order to give the line a boost, popular Marvel writer-artist Frank Miller and artist Bill Sienkiewicz were commissioned to develop ''Elektra: Assassin'', featuring the ninja assassin from the ''Daredevil'' comic book.
Although Epic was meant to be mainly a creator-owned line, ''Elektra: Assassin'' became only the first title featuring Marvel characters published by the imprint. Others included ''Meltdown'', a painted mini-series featuring Havok and Wolverine from the ''X-Men''; a resurrected ''Tomb of Dracula''; and the miniseries ''Silver Surfer: Parable'', dealing with messianic themes, written by Stan Lee with art by French comics storyteller Mœbius). Marvel then commissioned writer and Marvel editor Archie Goodwin to create original characters for a Mature Readers superhero line for Epic Comics. This took the form of The Shadowline Saga, a storyline spanning four different titles in 1987.
Epic was also notable as one of the first American comic publishers to release material originally produced in other countries, such as the Moebius graphic novels ''Airtight Garage'', ''The Incal'' and ''Blueberry'', published here in English translations by Jean-Marc Lofficier & Randy Lofficier. Epic also published Katsuhiro Otomo's manga classic ''Akira'', with translations by Marvel staffer Mary Jo Duffy and colors by Steve Oliffe.
As well, Epic, now edited by Potts, licensed a variety of literary material, the best known of which were the Clive Barker novels and stories, including ''Hellraiser'', ''Nightbreed'' and ''Weaveworld''. Other adapted works included ''William Shatner's Tekworld'', the ''Wild Cards'' anthologies, and William Gibson's ''Neuromancer''.
Epic's cachet dimmed somewhat in the late 1980s and early '90s, partly as a consequence of the new breed of "grim and gritty" stories Epic had helped to pioneer but which had now become a staple of mainstream comics. Yet during a sales boom in comics around that time, Epic published the four-part graphic novel miniseries ''Atomic Age'', a 1950s-style science fiction story reimagined from a contemporary perspective by writer Frank Lovece and artists Mike Okamoto and Al Williamson, and brought out the action-oriented Heavy Hitters line with material from Peter David (''Sachs and Violens''), Howard Chaykin (''Midnight Men''), Gerard Jones (''The Trouble with Girls''), Joe Kubert ''(Abraham Stone'') and Steve Purcell (''Sam & Max''). The subsequent comic-book sales bust, however, prompted Marvel to end Epic in 1994. In late 1995, the line was temporarily brought back to complete the reprinting of the Akira manga. Epic was ended again when the series completed in early 1996.

Contents

Epic returns

Titles

Sources

Epic returns

In 2001, after recovering from bankruptcy, Marvel returned to publishing material suited for mature audiences, inaugurating with a new imprint called MAX. Yet in 2003, Epic was brought back, with editors originally scouting for new creator-owned projects before deciding to adapt lesser-known Marvel properties. Marvel Editors quietly contacted new and budding writers in the industry, such as Plain Dealer newspaper and Newsarama Comic Critic Michael San Giacomo, Ryan Scott Ottney, Eric J. Moreels, Jason Henderson, and many others, to ask for new comic pitches using existing Marvel properties. San Giacomo created his own character, Phantom Jack.
The new Epic received considerable attention with ''Trouble'', a miniseries by Mark Millar that supposedly would retcon the Spider-Man mythos by revealing that May Parker was actually Peter's mother, but although all the main characters sported names any Spider-fan would recognize, there was no explicit revelation that they were in any way connected to their Marvel Universe namesakes. Other comics in the line, including a Crimson Dynamo title, were produced by lesser-known talents, and the line was aborted before it could develop traction. A number of solicitations were cancelled. Titles that were in progress when Marvel's new management dumped the line were hastily thrown together under one cover with the title Epic Anthology Presents, which was promptly cancelled after the first issue was published. San Giacomo pulled Phantom Jack from the anthology before it was published. The character was published instead by Image Comics and returned in 2007 and 2008 through Atomic Pop Art Enterprises.

Titles

★ ''Airtight Garage'' - French comic, created by Moebius

★ ''Akira'' - Manga - Katsuhiro Otomo

★ ''Alien Legion'' - created by Carl Potts

★ ''Atomic Age''

★ ''Black Dragon'' - written by Chris Claremont, art by John Bolton

★ '' - created by J.M. DeMatteis

★ ''The Bozz Chronicles'' - written by by David Michelinie, art by Bret Blevins

★ ''Coyote''

★ ''Crash Ryan''

★ ''Crimson Dynamo''

★ ''Dreadstar'' - created by Jim Starlin

★ ''

★ ''Epic Anthology'' - collected the complete first issues of three different titles that were developed as individual mini-series (Sleepwalker, Young Ancient One and Strange Magic); only one issue published

★ ''Epic Illustrated'' - magazine anthology similar to ''Heavy Metal''

★ ''Feud''

★ ''Groo the Wanderer'' - by Sergio Aragones, Mark Evanier and Stan Sakai

★ ''Gun Theory'' - by Daniel Way and Jon Proctor, cancelled mid-series after two issues

★ ''Hellraiser'' - based on concepts by Clive Barker, includes a separate outing for ''Pinhead''

★ ''The Last American''

★ ''Moonshadow'' - created by J.M. DeMatteis

★ ''Nightbreed'' - based on Clive Barker's novel and movie by the same name. It follows the original story and continues, with two special issues crossing-over into the Hellraiser line.

★ ''The Olympians'' - Stephen Jewell and Gary Chaloner

★ ''The One''

★ ''The Shadowline Saga''

★
★ ''Dr. Zero''

★
★ ''Powerline''

★
★ ''St. George''

★
★ ''Critical Mass''

★ ''Silver Surfer: Parable''

★ ''Sisterhood of Steel''

★ ''Six from Sirius''

★ ''The Sleeze Brothers''

★ ''Starstruck'' - written by Elaine Lee, art by Michael William Kaluta

★ ''Steelgrip Starkey'' - miniseries - Alan Weiss

★ ''Stray Toasters'' Bill Sienkiewicz

★ ''Swords of the Swashbucklers'' - written by Bill Mantlo, art by Jackson "Butch" Guice

★ William Shatner's ''Tek World''

★ ''Timespirits

★ ''Tomb of Dracula'' - controversial revival by Marv Wolfman and Gene Colan

★ ''Trouble''

★ ''Void Indigo''

★ ''War Man'' - written by Chuck Dixon, art by Juan Zanotto (2 parts; 1993)

Sources

★ "Marvel to tell 'Epic' stories once again", ''Comic Book Resources''

★ "Epic Comics", ''International Catalogue of Superheroes''

★ "The Trouble with Marvel", ''The Comics Journal''

★ "Epic publishing timeline", ''Maelmill.com''