Comico: The Comic Company

For the webtoon portal also known as Pocket Comics, seeComico (platform).

"Next Man" redirects here. For the comic written and drawn by John Byrne, seeNext Men.For the 1976 film, seeThe Next Man.

Comico: The Comic Companywas an Americancomic bookpublisher headquartered inNorristown, Pennsylvania.Its best-known comics include theRobotechadaptations, theJonny Questcontinuation written by co-creatorDoug Wildey,andMatt Wagner'sMage: The Hero DiscoveredandGrendel.Once considered a major contender on theAmericanmarket, 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 originalwebcomicssite calledCO₂Comics,which they explained was the reincarnation of Comico.

Comico: The Comic Company

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) Diana Schutz(editor-in-chief)

History

Origins

Comico was founded in 1982by a group of artists and publishers who had previously printed a local school paper calledDuckworkin 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 titlefor most of its existence:Grendel.Matt Wagner'sGrendelquickly leaped fromPrimerinto 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 Comicstitle—was first seen inPrimer#5. Chuck Dixon's Evangeline debuted inPrimer#6 and thereafter received its own standalone title.

The move to color

In March 1984 Comico introduced its color line of comics with:

• Mage: The Hero Discovered(hand-painted pages)
• Evangeline–Chuck Dixon's first comic writing venture with co-creatorJudith Hunt's pencils and hand-painting, andRicardo Villagran's inks
• ElementalsbyBill Willingham(in flat color).

Although an ownership disputeled toEvangelinemoving toFirst Comicsto be continued for two more years,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 additionalRobotechseries,Robotech Masters(adaptingSouthern Cross) andRobotech: The Next Generation(adaptingMOSPEADA). The three series produced a schedule that released aRobotechcomic book once every two weeks, until the license forRobotechmoved toEternity Comicsin 1988.Next Mandebuted in 1984, although another ownership dispute led toNext Mansoon moving to another publisher. This was offset in 1986, when Comico acquiredJustice Machineand theElementalsfrom the defunct Texas Comics.

The company continued to pick up other licenses, producing aJonny Questseries (andJezebel Jadespin-off), aStar Blazersseries, and a plannedMax Headroom 3-Dissue (unpublished).Ken Steacyillustrated aHarlan Ellisongraphic novel.Dave Stevens'sThe RocketeerandSpace Ghostalso made the line-up.

Other series includedThe Maze AgencyandGinger Fox.

Bankruptcy

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.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).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,and in 1989 partnered withDC Comicsto distribute their comics to a wider market.

Despite these measures, however, and with the end of theMage,GrendelandRobotechseries, 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 titlesand was deep intobankruptcy.Fish PoliceandTrollordswere picked up byApple Comics,whileThe Trouble with Girlswas acquired byMalibu ComicsandJustice MachineandThe Maze Agencywent toInnovation Comics.Comico suspended operations in 1990,withE-Man#3.

Andrew Rev

In 1990, the owners of the company sold Comicoto Andrew Rev, who released the rest of the original staff and began working on relaunching the company.With the planned relaunch, Rev held onto as many of the original Comico series he could.

Most significantly hit were Matt Wagner's creationsMageandGrendel.Mage II: The Hero Defined,expected out in 1989, was not published until the late 1990s. Both Comico and Wagner had jointlycopyrightedMageandGrendel,and with Comico in bankruptcy, that half of the copyright was claimed as a company asset.A two-partBatman/Grendel crossover,Devil's RiddleandDevil'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.Wagner regained sole copyright ofGrendelthat same year, and, much later,Mage,publishing the series throughDark Horse ComicsandImage Comicsrespectively.

While losing Wagner's characters, Rev did manage to buyElementalsfor his restart.Comico began printing again in 1992 with variousElementals-related comics, and in 1993 flooded the market with various one-shotElementalsspecials. Rev also acquiredNorthstar Publishing.Budgetary problems and conflicts with creators over paymentsled to Comico's presses going silent again until 1995,with yet anotherElementalstitle (running three issues), and variousElementalsspin-offs never making it past their first or second issues. Northstar continued publishing material as late as 1995.Comico's line ended in 1997 withElementals Sex Specialvol. 2, #2, illustrated byFrank QuitelyandElementals: The Vampires Revenge#2, the second installment of a four-issue limited series starring the spin-off character Ratman, illustrated by Kelly McQuain.

CO₂Comics

In July 2009, Comico co-founders Gerry Giovinco and Bill Cucinotta announced the launch of thewebcomicssite CO₂Comics.The site hosted several of the comics from theComico Primer,including work by Reggie Byers,Bernie Mireault,Rich Rankin, and Neil Vokes.

As of May 2022, the website is no longer online.

Titles published

Original titles

• Comico Christmas Special(1988), #1
• Comico Primer(1982–1984), #1–6
• Elementals
  • v1 (1984–1988), #1–29 (continued from Texas Comics)
  • v2 (1989–1993), #1–26
  • v3 (1995–1996), #1–3
  • Elementals Sex Specialv1 (1991–1993), #1–4
  • Elementals Sex Specialv2 (1996–1997), #1–2
  • Elementals: Ghost of a Chance(1995), #1
  • Elementals: How the War was Won(1996), #1–2
  • Elementals: The Natural Order(1988), TPB (collectsJustice Machine Annual#1 from Texas Comics and v1 #1–5)
  • Elementals: The Vampires Revenge(1996), #1–2
  • Elementals: Vortex(1991–1992), #1–2
• Evangeline(1984), #1–2 (continued atFirst Comics)
• Grendel
  • v1 (1984–1984), #1–3
  • v2 (1986–1990), #1–40
• Mage: The Hero Discovered(1984–1986), #1–15 (continued atImage Comics)
• Silverback(1989), #1–3

Other titles (selected)

• The Amazon(1989), #1–3
• Bloodscent(1988), #1
• AZ(1983), #1–2
• E-Man
  • v3 (1989), #1 (fromFirst Comics)
  • v4 (1989–1990), #1–4 (continued at Alpha Productions)
• Empire Lanes: Arrival(1990), TPB (as Keyline Books; collectsEmpire Lanes(1986), #1–4 from Northern Lights Publishing)
• ESC(1996), #1–2
• Fish Police
• Ginger Fox(1988), #1–4
• Gumby
  • Gumby's Summer Fun Special(1987), #1
  • Gumby's Winter Fun Special(1988), #1
• The Jam, Urban Adventure: Super Cool Color Injected Turbo Adventure from Hell(1988), #1
• Jezebel Jade(1988), #1–3
• Jonny Quest
  • Jonny Quest(1986–1987), #1–31
  • Jonny Quest Classic(1987), #1–3
  • Jonny Quest Special(1988), #1–2
• Justice Machine
  • Justice Machine featuring The Elementals(1986), #1–4
  • Justice Machinev2 (1987–1989), #1–29
  • Justice Machine Annual(1989), #1
• The Maze Agency(1988–1989), #1–7 (continued atInnovation)
• Next Man(1985), #1–5
• Ribit!(1989), #1-4 byFrank Thorne
• Robotech
  • Robotech: Macross Saga(1984–1988), #1–36
  • Robotech: Masters(1985–1988), #1–23
  • Robotech: The New Generation(1985–1988), #1–25
  • Robotech: The Graphic Novel(1986), TPB
  • Robotech in 3-D(1987), #1
• The RocketeerAdventure Magazine(1988–1989), #1–2 (continued atDark Horse)
• Sam & Max,Freelance Police Special(1989), #1
• Skrog(1983), #1
• Star Blazers(1987), #1–4
• Space Ghost(1987), #1
• Strike Force America(1992), #1
• Trollords(1988–1989), #1–4 (from Tru Studios, continued at Apple Press)
• The Trouble with Girls(1989), #1–4 (from Eternity, continued at Eternity)
• The World of Ginger Fox(1986), graphic novel

Sources

• Bill Cucinotta and Gerry Giovinco interview,David Anthony Kraft's Comics Interview#5 (July 1983).

External links

• Comicoat the Comic Book DB (archived fromthe original)