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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. with ''Primer'' #6. March began Comico's color line of comics, with ''Mage: The Hero Discovered'' (hand painted pages), Chuck Dixon 's first comic writng venture Evangeline (comics) with co-creator Judith Hunt pencils and handpainting with Ricardo Villagran inks 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 . 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 Stevens 's '' The Rocketeer '' and '' Space Ghost '' also made the line up. 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. With the end of the ''Mage'', ''Grendel'' and ''Robotech'' series, much of the reliable revenue for the company dried up. ''Evangeline'' showed such potential that the creators had already taken it to First Comics to be continued for two more years. 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. 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. Most significantly hit were ''Mage'' and ''Grendel'' creations. '''', expected out in 1989, wasn't published until the late 90s. ''Mage'' and ''Grendel'' had been Copyright ed 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. 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 . ORIGINAL COMICO TITLES
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