Epic Illustrated #18 - Marvel

June 1983 - Another issue of the super-high class Epic Illustrated, Marvel's magazine of fantasy and science-fiction.

Behind the spooky cover by John Bolton is an issue stuffed to the staples with content, opening with "Dog in the Donor Bank" by Michael Saenz:

...told entirely in full-page panels, its a story of a space traveler driven by madness into a horrible act of violence. Creepy and odd.

Next is the cover feature, "Business Hours: Monday Through Friday, 9 To 5" by Chris Claremont and Bolton, a story with all the horror movie trappings--woman alone, deep shadows, threatening monsters:

...yet its all a goof, and the woman isn't quite as threatened as it might seem. A lot of fun. Plus, nudity!

Next is the fourth chapter of a serial called "Last of the Dragons" by Carl Potts and Terry Austin. I'm not sure exactly what's going on here, short of it being about the very bad idea of importing dragons to your land. But thanks to Potts and Austin's work, it sure is pretty to look at:

...I particularly love that negative space of the branches in the top panel.

"Bookview" is a text piece by Jo Duffy reviewing the book The Mists of Avalon, then "Mediaview" by Denny O'Neil doing the same for Videodrome.

Next is "Obsession", an early work by Peter Kuper! As you can see, a lot of the themes Kuper would play with in his later work are here:

I mean, you've got four mushroom clouds in just the first page.

Next is "Generation Zero" by Archie Goodwin and with a beautifully detailed art job by Pepe Moreno:

Next is "Garbage Scow" by Bob Aull, a three-page, EC-esque "message" story, ending with a nice full-page punchline.

Following is an interview with "visual futurist" Syd Mead, discussing his futuristic work, and then "The Art of Go Nagai", a look at the Japanese superstar artist. Mazinga!

Go Nagai also contributes "Oni", about the battle to contain the beast that lay within man.

Next is Rick Geary with "In Search of Einstein's Brain", one of his true to life stories about where the genius cranium actually ended up, but with a bit of a personal twist:

Last is "Lost Bones" by Duffy and Kent Williams, starring a character known as "Tail Gunner", whose job it is to provide escort for anyone willing to pay his price, no matter how dangerous. Nice moody art by Williams:

I can't imagine the amount of effort went in to just one issue of Epic Illustrated; with this many features by this many different people Marvel was clearly trying to get into the market that made Heavy Metal such a success. The ads are from big ticket, adult advertisers like the liquor and automobile industries, so they were able to compete, for a little while at least.

Epic Illustrated Ad - Marvel

I imagine it was hard crafting eye-catching ads for Epic Illustrated for the b/w magazines, since Epic was so lushly in color, but this one is overall pretty nice. And that list of talent--Corben, Starlin, Buscema, Pini--is impressive no matter what.

Epic Illustrated #7 - Marvel

August 1981 - I enjoyed Epic Illustrated #1(reviewed a few weeks ago) a lot more than I thought I would, so I was eager to pick up another issue.

I would've preferred to go in order and get the second issue, but buying batches of mags on eBay sometimes doesn't allow for that; so here we are with the seventh issue.

We're off to a good start with this beautiful cover by Barry Windsor Smith, and the relative lack of cover copy cluttering it up. Marvel was obviously trying to take on Heavy Metal for the Adult Fantasy Magazine crowd, and they certainly did put together an attractive package.

The very first story is a swing for the fences--it's "Holocaust", written and drawn by Neal Adams. According to the editorial by Archie Goodwin, it was originally started as part of a record album project for Eric Burden, but never got finished, so Neal rewrote and pulled it together for Epic.

It's sort of a history of the last few decades of the world seen through the eyes of a young black man, but then takes off in a thousand directions. Adams' work is, as usual, top-notch in pure dynamic sequential storytelling:

...the story runs sixteen pages and ends with a sequence of a woman--the universe--giving birth to the solar system. If you think my summary is confusing, try the story itself!

I hope I don't sound mean towards this story--clearly, Adams was working with big BIG BIG themes, and while I didn't really get a lot of what was going on, it's always nice I think when someone could just make a fortune doing Batman pin-ups tries something really ambitious.

Next is "Epus" by Pepe Moreno, about a wounded, left-behind soldier in Vietnam, who finds himself transported back into an ancient, mythic past. Moreno's work is superb here, with a great, woodcut-y feel:

A grim, grim ending, but an effective tale.

Next is an interview with Windosr-Smith, featuring many color prints of his work, as well as a sample of the comic strip Mandro. Don't remember Windsor-Smith every drawing a daily newspaper strip?

That's because the strip only existed in the fictional world of the horror movie The Hand, featuring Michael Caine as a cartoonist with a rogue severed hand. It certainly looks like fun:

Next is another installment in Jim Starlin's "Metamorphosis Odyssey", fully painted by Starlin. If anything, Starlin's story is just as ambitious as "Holocaust", if with slightly more classic sci-fi characters and settings.

Next is the goofy "The Egg" by J.K.Potter and Tim Caldwell, a photo-realistic story of a guy who finds a creepy, malevolent egg in a trashcan. Oh, not that old plot again.

Steven Grant gives us an editorial on video games next, concentrating on the new game "Space Invaders", and then is "The Llehs", by Graham Marks and beautifully painted by John Bolton.

It's about an undersea world full of treachery and adventure, but it's nothing compared to the world above the water. Bolton's work is of course outstanding, full of imagination and wonder:

Man, I wish Bolton had gotten a chance to do an Aquaman tale sometime, it would've been a wonder to behold.

Next is "UFO" by Tim Conrad, a tale that seems to be a crime story, except when some space aliens show up! Done entirely in black and white, as is the next story "The Comedy", by Dean Motter, featuring a mime in a gun duel.

The issue concludes with Adams' "Holocaust"(split between the the first and last few pages of the issue)...once you have a giant woman giving birth to planets, you pretty much need to wrap it up.


I think I've been able to pinpoint part of the reason fantasy stories never have appealed to me that much--I think they all use a sort of visual(or textual, in the case of prose) shorthand that all fantasy fans understand, but leave me bewildered. I like to think I'm a reasonably intelligent guy, but most of the stories left me with a "What was that about, exactly?" feeling, so I figure it must be me.

It reminds me a little bit of my love for the movies by Albert Brooks. He's only made a handful of films(Real Life, Defending Your Life, Lost in America, the masterpiece Modern Romance), but they reduce to me to tears, from laughing so hard. Yet when I've showed them to friends, frequently the reaction is a confused "Where are the jokes?"

Brooks uses a certain tone, a certain shorthand for how people interrelate, communicate(or, more frequently, don't communicate) and I think unless you're on his frequency, his work seems odd and distant.

So that might be my problem with fantasy stories. But I promise I won't give up on Epic Illustrated--the work in here is just too impressive, the magazine too important to the history of the comic magazine format, to pass up, even if half the time I have no idea what's going on.

Epic Illustrated Ad - Marvel

I found this ad on the back of a Marvel Super Special, about six months before Epic the magazine debuted.

I get the feeling the artist, Peter Ledger, wasn't given a lot of specific instruction--"Just make it big, like in the Mighty Marvel Manner!"

Epic Illustrated #1 - Marvel

No magazine has been more requested to show up here than Epic Illustrated.

I never really got into Epic when it was first out(1980-1986) so I never had any issues of it in my box o' magazines, but reading this first issue made me want to read more of them.

I had always thought that Epic was full of the kind of sci-fi/fantasy that, frankly, just never appealed to me as a kid, or now--stuff with elves and mystical wizards(even now, if I read a story and it opens with "In the land of the faeries..." I go zzzzzzzzzzzz) and I guess I never bothered to actually look inside an issue and find out whether I was right.

One other thing I neve realized was the extent to which Marvel with Epic was trying to compete in the Heavy Metal/slick magazine market. This issue opens with a two-page ad(y'know, like a real magazine) for Kawasaki motorcycles, which is grown-up enough, and then facing the table of contents we get this:
...you didn't see this ad in Marvel Two-In-One much.

After an editorial by Stan Lee(of course) and some early testimonials from Ray Bradbury, George Pal, Neal Adams(who is typically frank--and even a little skeptical--about whether Marvel will treat Epic's creative people right) and others, we get...The Silver Surfer?

Yes, the first story, "The Answer", stars the Surfer and Galactus and is by Lee, John Buscema, Rudy Nebres, and colors by Rick Veitch. It's a metaphysical tale of the Surfer trying to find The Answer. It's more of a Think Piece rather than a story, per se, and probably the kind of tale Stan imagined himself "moving on" to, had the Marvel style of slam-bang action and melodrama not become the industry standard.

At first I thought it was an odd choice to open with the Surfer--if you're trying to establish a new magazine with a new identity, why open with one of Marvel's big superhero stars? I mean, what, was Ant-Man busy?

But then I realized that Marvel probably figured that, saucy denim jeans ads or no, Epic was going to have a lot of the same audience the color comics had simply because it was from Marvel, so why not gently guide that audience into this new experience, by opening with a character they all knew? Well played, Stan.
The next story is "Homespun" by Elfquest's Wendy Pini, and is the exact kind of story that would keep me from buying Epic--a tale of faeries and mystical creatures. I'm not knocking the piece--it's well done and as you can see from the splash page, exquisitely drawn and colored--it's just not my cup o' tea.

Next is "Aware" by Leo Duranona, a Warren-esque piece of two characters who know they're only characters in a story. That's been done before, of course, but at only five pages its over before it wears out its welcome.

"For The Next 60 Seconds" by Bob Larkin is similar, in that its not anything you haven't seen before(a black humor piece about the end of the world), but its only three pages and Larkin's storytelling is effective.

Jim Starlin contributes the longest tale "The Metamorphosis Odyssey", all in black and white, the first three parts of it are all in this first issue. A truly galaxy-spanning tale of a race of beings and one who has to leave his home because he won't go along with a grim plan to take over Earth(there's a lot more to it, but I can't hope it to summarize it all).

Ray Rue contributes "Lullabye of Bedlam", a Twilight Zone-ish fantasy tale, and next is a text story, "Elfspire" by John Pocsik and Thomas Blackshear. Oh no, more elves!

Next are three one-page stories all by Yugoslavian cartoonist Mirko Ilic, the first of which, "History of Human Absurdity" is a classic which reminds me of Richard Corben's Warren work:
"Convert" is another dark-humored story, this time by Ernie Colon, which means its awesome. 'Nuff said.

"Heads" is by Arthur Suydam, a tale of revenge among different races of creatures. The story was ok, but Suydam's artwork is great.

Chapters 2 and 3(titled "Za!" and "Juliet") of Starlin's "Metamorphosis Odyssey" are next("Juliet" is set outside at night, and Starlin's work is so effective and moody you can practically hear the crickets chirping); following them is "Detour" a one-page text piece by somone named...George Bush??

Last is "Topaz" by Carl Potts, who growing up I was more familiar with as an editor at Marvel, not a writer/artist. It's a light-hearted tale featuring a couple comprised of a centaur and a topless woman(yep, this magazine is for adults, all right), and Potts' work is excellent. This panel alone struck me as a marvel(sorry) of layout, rendering, and color:
Finally, there's a one-page creator's biography page by Archie Goodwin, and is unusual just for actually mentioning other company's comics, by name, something Marvel never did which always seemed a bit silly to me. Leave it to Archie Goodwin to go the classy route.

Like I said at the beginning, I was pleasantly surprised how much I liked Epic, and how varied the contents and talent were. Back issues of Epic are plentiful and cheap on eBay, so this definitely won't be the last time we talk about it here!