Epic Illustrated #1

History

The magazine was conceived in 1979 under editor Rick Marschall, originally titled 'Odyssey' and slated to debut as an issue of Marvel Super Special; after Marschall discovered at least seven other publications already using that name, the project was retitled Epic Illustrated and relaunched as a standalone series. Marschall was replaced by Archie Goodwin several months before the first issue appeared in Spring 1980, and it was Goodwin's editorial sensibility — favoring narrative ambition, painted art, and genre diversity — that defined the magazine's character throughout its 34-issue run. Stan Lee held the masthead editor credit on early issues while Goodwin served as editorial director, though observers noted the creative decisions were clearly Goodwin's. The full-color magazine format, printed on slick paper and sold as a periodical rather than a comic book, allowed it to sidestep the Comics Code entirely, enabling mature content that no standard Marvel title could carry.

Trivia · 8 facts

• Published Spring 1980 by Marvel Comics; cover-dated as Volume 1, Number 1 of a series that ran 34 issues through February 1986.
• Cover painted by Frank Frazetta — the first of many painted covers by prominent fantasy artists including Boris Vallejo, Richard Corben, and The Brothers Hildebrandt across the run.
• Contains 'The Answer,' an 8-page Silver Surfer story written by Stan Lee with art by John Buscema and inks/colors by Rudy Nebres and Rick Veitch, in which Norrin Radd confronts Galactus (Galan) at the edge of the universe seeking the meaning of existence.
• Chapters 1–3 of Jim Starlin's 'Metamorphosis Odyssey' serial debut here, introducing the characters Aknaton (last of the Osirosian race), Za (the first empathic member of a cannibalistic alien species), and Juliet (a teenage girl from Earth) — all key figures in the Dreadstar mythology.
• Starlin's serial pages in this issue are rendered in grayscale painted art (transitioning to full color in subsequent issues), a deliberate stylistic choice that distinguished the work from standard pen-and-ink comics.
• Contains 'Homespun' by Wendy Pini — an Elfquest short story featuring the character Petalwing and the father-daughter conflict between Olbar and his daughter; notably, it was not explicitly identified as an Elfquest story at publication, but its characters later reappeared in the main Elfquest continuity.
• Epic Illustrated was Marvel's first publication to offer contributors ownership rights and royalties rather than work-for-hire contracts — a policy directly stated in the magazine and confirmed by creator responses printed in the letters column of this very issue.
• The Silver Surfer story from this issue has been reprinted in the Silver Surfer Epic Collection Vol. 3: Freedom (2015), Marvel Masterworks: The Fantastic Four #19 (2017), Marvel Visionaries: John Buscema (2019), and the Silver Surfer: Return to the Spaceways Omnibus (2024), among other collections.

Cast · 8 characters

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