 | |
| Industry | Comics |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1982 |
| Founder | Gerry Giovinco, Bill Cucinotta |
| Defunct | 1997 |
| Headquarters | Norristown, Pennsylvania |
Key people | Geraldine Pecht (art director) Bob Schreck (administrative director) Mark Hamlin (sales and marketing rep)[1] Diana Schutz (editor-in-chief)[2] |
Comico: The Comic Company was an Americancomic book publisher headquartered inNorristown, Pennsylvania. Its best-known comics include theRobotech adaptations, theJonny Quest continuation written by co-creatorDoug Wildey, andMatt Wagner'sMage: The Hero Discovered andGrendel. Once considered a major contender on theAmerican market, Comico went into bankruptcy in 1990, although it continued to sporadically publish books until 1997. In 2009, two of Comico's original founders launched an originalwebcomics site calledCO2 Comics, which they explained was the reincarnation of Comico.
Comico was founded in 1982[3] by a group of artists and publishers who had previously printed a local school paper calledDuckwork in the Norristown area. 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. Slaughterman, Az, and Skrog made it out of the pages ofPrimer #1 and into their own brief titles, while Victor would continue to appear in each issue ofComico Primer.
Primer #2 would premiere what would be Comico's flagship title[citation needed] for most of its existence:Grendel. Matt Wagner'sGrendel quickly leaped fromPrimer into three issues of its own black-and white-series before Comico ended its black-and-white titles in 1984 withPrimer #6.Sam Kieth's characterThe Maxx—later to have his ownImage Comics title—was first seen inPrimer #5. Chuck Dixon's Evangeline debuted inPrimer #6 and thereafter received its own standalone title.
In March 1984 Comico introduced its color line of comics with:
Although an ownership dispute[4] led toEvangeline moving toFirst Comics to be continued for two more years,[5] Comico landed a major license inRobotech, with 1984 seeing the debut ofMacross, which continued in 1985 asRobotech: The Macross Saga, along with the debut of two additionalRobotech series,Robotech Masters (adaptingSouthern Cross) andRobotech: The Next Generation (adaptingMOSPEADA). The three series produced a schedule that released aRobotech comic book once every two weeks, until the license forRobotech moved toEternity Comics in 1988.Next Man debuted in 1984, although another ownership dispute led toNext Man soon moving to another publisher. This was offset in 1986, when Comico acquiredJustice Machine and theElementals from the defunct Texas Comics.[5]
The company continued to pick up other licenses, producing aJonny Quest series (andJezebel Jade spin-off), aStar Blazers series, and a plannedMax Headroom 3-D issue (unpublished).[6]Ken Steacy illustrated aHarlan Ellison graphic novel.Dave Stevens'sThe Rocketeer andSpace Ghost also made the line-up.
Other series includedThe Maze Agency andGinger Fox.
While Comico had proven to be a serious contender as a major independent comic company, a mid-1986 decision to distribute to the newsstand market doomed the company.[7] The direction significantly raised the number of prints for each issue, but also increased the number of issues being sent back that did not sell. Refunds for those returned issues ate into the publisher's budget very quickly (and, among other things, they had trouble paying their printing bills).[8] 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. In 1988 they began distributing their titles to the bookstore market,[9] and in 1989 partnered withDC Comics to distribute their comics to a wider market.[10]
Despite these measures, however, and with the end of theMage,Grendel andRobotech series, much of the reliable revenue for the company dried up. Many of the company's long-time artists and publishers jumped ship and, by 1989, Comico had cancelled half its titles[11] and was deep intobankruptcy.Fish Police andTrollords were picked up byApple Comics, whileThe Trouble with Girls was acquired byMalibu Comics[12] andJustice Machine andThe Maze Agency went toInnovation Publishing. Comico suspended operations in 1990,[13] withE-Man #3.
In 1990, the owners of the company sold Comico[14][15] to Andrew Rev, who released the rest of the original staff and began working on relaunching the company.[16][17][18] With the planned relaunch, Rev held onto as many of the original Comico series he could.
Most significantly hit were Matt Wagner's creationsMage andGrendel.Mage II: The Hero Defined, expected out in 1989, was not published until the late 1990s. Both Comico and Wagner had jointlycopyrightedMage andGrendel, and with Comico in bankruptcy, that half of the copyright was claimed as a company asset.[19] A two-partBatman/Grendel crossover,Devil's Riddle andDevil's Masque, was written and drawn by Wagner and colored at the time of the Comico series, but was delayed by Comico's bankruptcy. It was eventually published by DC in 1993.[20] Wagner regained sole copyright ofGrendel that same year, and, much later,Mage, publishing the series throughDark Horse Comics and Image Comics respectively.
While losing Wagner's characters, Rev did manage to buyElementals for his restart.[7][21] Comico began printing again in 1992 with variousElementals-related comics, and in 1993 flooded the market with various one-shotElementals specials. Rev also acquiredNorthstar Publishing.[18] Budgetary problems and conflicts with creators over payments[22] led to Comico's presses going silent again until 1995,[23] with yet anotherElementals title (running three issues), and variousElementals spin-offs never making it past their first or second issues. Northstar continued publishing material as late as 1995.[24] Comico's line ended in 1997 withElementals Sex Special vol. 2, #2, illustrated byFrank Quitely andElementals: The Vampires Revenge #2, the second installment of a four-issue limited series starring the spin-off character Ratman, illustrated by Kelly McQuain.
In 2009, Comico co-founders Gerry Giovinco and Bill Cucinotta launched thewebcomic site CO2 Comics.[25] The site hosted several of the comics from theComico Primer, including work by Reggie Byers,Bernie Mireault, Rich Rankin, and Neil Vokes.[15]
As of May 2022, the website is no longer online.[26]