1982 in comics

Events and publications

January

• January 3: The first episode of Bunny Matthews' comic series Vic and Nat'ly appears in print. The series will run until 2005.
• January 14: In the Belgian comic magazine Spirou, the first episode of the Spirou and Fantasio adventure, La boite noire, by Nic Broca and Raoul Cauvin, is serialized.
• 29-31 January: During the Angoulême International Comics Festival, Claire Bretécher becomes the first woman to win the Grand Prix de la ville d'Angoulême.
• Warren Publishing suspends publication.
• DC Comics Presents #41 features an insert previewing the new Wonder Woman creative team of writer Roy Thomas and artist Gene Colan as well as an update of the character's costume.
• House of Mystery #300: "Special Thrill-Filled 300th Issue," edited by Karen Berger.
• Phantom Zone #1, by Steve Gerber, Gene Colan, and Tony DeZuniga; published by DC Comics.
• Marvel Super-Heroes, with issue #105, cancelled by Marvel.
• "Apocalypse War" Judge Dredd storyline begins in 2000 AD.
• Paris-Dakar by Jean Graton, 41th album of the Michel Vaillant series.
• The seventh issue of Jan Bucquoy's Belgian adult comics magazine Spetters focuses on Hergé in a direct reaction to the trial against Filip Denis' porn parody Tintin in Switzerland. The entire issue is deliberately made to offend Hergé in the crudest possible way and to defend the freedom of speech. This is a turning point in the career of Bucquoy, who will focus more and more on provocative stunts.

  February

• The Flash #306 began a Doctor Fate backup series by writer Martin Pasko and artist Keith Giffen which ran through issue #313.
• The New Teen Titans #16 features an insert previewing the upcoming Captain Carrot and His Amazing Zoo Crew! series by Roy Thomas and Scott Shaw.
• Savage She-Hulk, with issue #25, is cancelled by Marvel.
• The final issue of Jan Bucquoy's Belgian adult comics magazine Spetters is published.
• In the Spanish horror magazine Creepy, Torpedo, by Enrique Sánchez Abulí and Jordi Bernet, make his debut.
• In linus, Made in Germany, by Guido Crepax; Valentina meets Effi Lang, a German girl who become a regular character in the  series.

  March

• March 1: In À Suivre, the first chapter of It Was the War of the Trenches by Jacques Tardi is published.
• March 27: Britain's weekly Eagle comic relaunched by IPC Media in a mostly photonovel format.
• March 29: The first episode of Mort Walker and Johnny Sajem's The Evermores appears in print. It will run until 1986.
• The debut of Alan Moore's new, darker Marvelman in Warrior #1.
• The debut of Alan Moore and David Lloyd's V for Vendetta in Warrior #1.
• Justice League of America #200: 76-page anniversary issue, "A League Divided". The double-sized issue was a "jam" featuring a story written by Gerry Conway, a framing sequence drawn by George Pérez, and chapters drawn by Pat Broderick, Jim Aparo, Dick Giordano, Gil Kane, Carmine Infantino, Brian Bolland, and Joe Kubert. Bolland's chapter gave the artist his "first stab at drawing Batman."
• DC's horror-suspense anthology Secrets of Haunted House ceases publication with issue #46.
• Flash Gordon, with issue #37, is cancelled by the Gold Key Comics imprint Whitman Comics.
• Sarah Bernardt by Morris, Xavier Fauche and Jean Léturgie.
• La tribu fantome – by Jean-Michel Charlier and Jean Giraud, last album of the “fugitive Blueberry”. trilogy.
• First regular issue of the Italian anthological magazine L'eternauta. It contains the first of the "silent stories" by Carlos Trillo and Domingo Mandrafina.

  April

• April 1 : in Pif Gadget, debut of Les enigmes de Tim by Jean-Pierre Dirick, series of one-page detective riddles.
• April 16: in Spirou, La proie et l’ombre by Roger Leloup.
• April 25: The final episode of Vahan Shirvanian's No Comment is published.
• Daredevil #181 – Bullseye fatally stabs Elektra.
• The long-running British series The Trigan Empire ceases publication with the cancellation of Look and Learn with issue #1042.
• In the Brazilian magazine Tio Patinhas, O Furacão Branco e Preto, by Gérson Luiz Borlotti Teixeira and Irineu Soares Rodrigues; debut of Biquinho, the Fethry Duck’s nephew.
• Gli uomini in nero by Alfredo Castelli and Giancarlo Alessandrini, first album of the Martin Mystere series

  May

• May 2:
• * The final episode of Frank O'Neal's Short Ribs is published.
• * Marten Toonder is named Officer in the Order of Orange-Nassau.
• May 3: In a Frank and Ernest gag by Bob Thaves a line about Hollywood actor Ginger Rogers' dance talent is published. The quote will eventually become one of the most often repeated descriptions about Rogers in non-fiction publications.
• To help raise money for his lawsuit against Marvel Comics for ownership of Howard the Duck, Steve Gerber brings out his own Destroyer Duck from Eclipse Comics.
• Fantastic Four Roast a one-shot written by Fred Hembeck is published by Marvel Comics.
• DC's long-running weird/horror anthology The Unexpected ceases publication with issue #222.
• Ghosts, with issue #112, is cancelled by DC.
• The Many Ghosts of Doctor Graves, with issue #72, is cancelled for the second time by Charlton.
• When the wind blows by Raymond Briggs
• Rififi en F1 by Jean Graton, 40th album of the Michel Vaillant series.
• La galere noire '', by Jean Van Hamme and Grzegorz Rosiński, 14th album of the Thorgal series.
• La vendetta di Ra'' by Alfredo Castelli and Giancarlo Alessandrini ; Sergej Orlof, the Martin Mystere's nemesis, makes his debut.

  June

• June 17: in Spirou, Virus by Tome and Janry.
• June 24: in Spirou, first episode of Les Archanges de Vinéa, by Roger Leloup.
• The first issue of the French comics magazine Psikopat is published. It will run until 2019.
• Fantagraphics publishes the Hernandez brothers 's Love & Rockets anthology.
• Marvel begins publishing the Hasbro-licensed series G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero, which would sell over 200,000 copies and out-sell Superman and the X-Men.
• Marvel Super Hero Contest of Champions #1, by Mark Gruenwald, John Romita, Jr., and Bob Layton; published by Marvel Comics.
• The two-issue "Nothing Can Stop the Juggernaut!" storyline by creative team Roger Stern, John Romita Jr., and Jim Mooney begins in The Amazing Spider-Man #229.
• Silver Surfer one-shot scripted by Stan Lee, plotted and penciled by John Byrne, and inked by Tom Palmer is published by Marvel Comics.
• In A suivre, Les Murailles de Samaris by François Schuiten and Benoît Peeters, first chapter of the series Les Cités ''obscures.
• First issue of Gil by Ennio Missaglia, short-lived series with an “urban cowboy” as protagonist.
• First issue of the anthological magazine Orient express ; it contains Rapsodia ungherese by Vittorio Giardino, first adventure of the private eye Max Fridman.
• Storia di una storia by Guido Crepax, comic version of Georges Bataille's Story of the eye,'' with Valentina.

  July

• July 11: In Topolino, The Case of the Circulating Saucer, by Carlo Chendi e Giorgio Cavazzano; debut of  Humphrey Gokart.
• The New Teen Titans #21 features an insert previewing the upcoming Night Force series by Marv Wolfman and Gene Colan.
• The Penguin Books imprint Plume releases Creepshow, a graphic novella based on the 1982 horror movie Creepshow.
• The Marvel UK storyline "Jaspers' Warp" begins in Marvel Superheroes #387

  August

• August 1: The first episode of Tom Armstrong's Marvin is published.
• August 2: In Montréal, Canada, comics store Komico is opened.
• August 29: in Topolino, Paperino e il vento del Sud, by Guido Martina and Giovan Battista Carpi, parody in five episodes of Gone with the wind.
• The Legion of Super-Heroes storyline "The Great Darkness Saga" begins with issue #290 .
• Marvel Superheroes, with issue #388, is cancelled by Marvel UK; it replaced in all but name by The Mighty World of Marvel.
• The first episode of Massimo Mattioli's Squeak the Mouse is published.

  September

• September 5: Gaspar launches his long-running political gag comic El Duende y su Camarilla.
• In Il giornalino, ''Fantasmi, by Gianni De Luca and Gian Luigi Gonano, last adventure of Commissario Spada.
• September 17: Marten Toonder wins the Stripschapprijs. The Jaarprijs voor Bijzondere Verdiensten is given to Nico Noordermeer.
• Marvel's Wolverine four-issue mini-series, by Chris Claremont and Frank Miller, begins.
• Marvel's Hercules: Prince of Power four-issue mini-series, by Bob Layton, begins.
• The Marvel/DC intercompany crossover The Uncanny X-Men and The New Teen Titans, by Chris Claremont, Walt Simonson, and Terry Austin.
• First issue of Love and Rockets by the Hernandez brothers
• In Linus, Frau Rosselli und Fraulein Lang by Guido Crepax.
• In alter alter, Il ritorno della fenice, first of the two Dino Battaglia's stories with the occult investigator Inspector Coke as protagonist.
• In Pif gadget, Le Fils du Soleil by Roger Lécureux, first episode of the series Tarao'', with the son of Rahan as protagonist.