Originally Posted by
Brian B
Epic was a number of things. First it was its own comic magazine, Epic Illustrated, in a format like Heavy Metal. Much of the work in it was creator owned, like what would become Jim Starlin’s Dreadstar. It also from the beginning published the occasional Marvel character in a odd short comic story, in a sort-of prestige format. The printing, paper and color was always nicer than standard comics.
Later, it was an imprint Marvel used to publish creator-owned work and again, “prestige” projects for a Marvel character, like the two issues or graphic novel format of Moebius’ Silver Surfer. It was also a line used to publish some reprints, not a lot, of prestigious (there’s that word again), pre-existing creator-owned series or foreign-owned series, like Elfquest, or Akira. Sadly, the Epic imprint died out before they finished Akira, which is a real shame. The Epic-published Akira was really well done for an American audience.
These days, Epic is just the imprint for Marvel’s reprints, but there was a time when it was a lot more than that.
Anyway, Epic was chock full of series and stories not owned by Marvel. Some were great, many were not, but anyone who wants to pick out good stuff Marvel published not owned by Marvel, then just look at Epic. They did a lot.
The sadly departed Archie Goodwin, former editor of Epic Illustrated and the Epic line, no doubt deserves a lion’s share of the credit for the good work Marvel published under Epic.