When i was in high school way back when a friend showed me a magazine called 'Epic Illustrated'. It was published by Marvel. This was a magazine that collated wonderful artists and writers into one place. people like Ken Macklin, Jim Starlin, Vaughn and Marc bode, John Muth, Rick Geary. Covers by Boris Vallejo, Richard Corben, Frank Frazetta. Stories that had their beginning in this magazine included The last galactus story, Cobolt 60, Groo the Wanderer and Cerebus. Until then i had no idea that a world like this existed. What an utterly fantastic magazine. I bought the very next Issue (number 28, february 1985). It was the first thing i'd ever NEEDED to buy. Even when we went on a holiday to Holland i bought an issue there! From the start of my fascination i was a little sad that there were serial stories. This meant that i wouldn't really be able to read the whole magazine until all the old stories had finished or i bought back issues. And with 27 back issues it never would have been feasable for a 15 year old! Even if it HAD crossed my mind. I was even sadder when the magazine finished up with issue 34 (february 1986). I really was lost and as melodramatic as this sounds, i think it had an effect on my psyche in that i was depressed that something so good would come to an end.

The reason Epic finished up was understandable though and i wish other people would consider this. the costs of publishing were getting expensive and the editors faced the choice of raising the price substantially, incorporating more advertising or decreasing quality of printing. Instead they chose not to cheapen it in any form and so had to finish it up. I turned to Heavy Metal which is a similar publication from national Lampoon. Perhaps a bit more adult themed. Heavy Metal predates Epic. Even so, i much preferred Epic and after a while stopped buying Heavy Metal. I also read british mags like Revolver and 2000AD. I still wasn't satisfied however, even though some good things came out of them like Judge Dredd and Halo Jones.

Halo Jones actually lead me to finding issue one of Epic.In the early 90s i bought a Halo Jones t-shirt from a comic book shop in the U.S. It doesn't happen nowadays much but back then (and especially american businesses) you would get a christmas card for several years after buying just one thing, even though I live in Australia! Also of course you would get the odd update about what was on special, etc. One day i got a newsletter from them and it seems they had come across a whole box of brand new Issue ones, never sold. Naturally i bought one. God knows why i didn't buy more! Still, how was i going to find the rest of the issues when most comic book shop owners would just look at me blankly? And even if they had heard of Epic Illustrated, It was hardly likely that someone was going to be bringing in their whole collection anytime soon!

But now we have Ebay. Hooray for Ebay! Now I have 26 issues without really trying. This is the reason for this little page. I've found that when i see an issue for sale i can't remember if i have it or not. I have several times bought the same issue. and i find that some people say what issue number it is and some don't. This is my 'periodic table' of Epics i've bought off Ebay so that i can quickly see what is missing. I figured it might as well be a web page just in case anyone else likes Epic and may have the same predicament as me. Note that i haven't shown issues 28-34 here as they are packed away and about 3000km away from me! As i see them on ebay i may start putting them up here so that the 'table' is complete.

A quick word on Ebay. If you are reading this you may cherish this magazine as much as I. But the market doesn't share our view. I wouldn't (and haven't) paid more than about $5 US per issue, not including post. In fact, more than half of my Ebay purchased collection was one lot for about $40 australian AND that included a half dozen other magazines! The other magazines were of a similar format called '1984' and '1994'. JUST took one out of the bag now to have a look. These are in B & W and very adult oriented. But i digress... My point is that people will try it on. That's their right to. Be patient and you will get these at a reasonable price. Check out these auctions:

I'm about to bid on this and three others from the same seller. As you can see, no one has shown any interest yet

Another seller. Hope springs eternal! What i'd like to show you is the same issue from another seller that i missed while i had a rare break from the internet. It passed in at 99c!

OK. enough. Now on to my Epic Illustrated 'periodic table':

issues 1-4 (spring, summer, fall and winter 1980)

issues 5-8 (april, june, august and october 1981)

issues 9-12 (december 1981, february, april and june 1982)

issues 13-16 (august, october and december 1982. february 1983)

issues 17-20 (april, june, august and october 1983)

issues 21-24 (december 1983. february, april and june 1984)

issues 25-28 (august, october and december 1984. february 1985)

any queries feel free to contact me: