Eighties Black and White Comic Books (US):

At the beginning of the 1980s, established independent publishers (anyone that was not Marvel or DC), were still mostly doing reprints of older comic book work, or compiling comic strips into comic book format. The newsstands were open, but limited to which books could be displayed. The comic book shop was the place to be, and allowed titles such as Raw to find an audience; this new 1980 anthology serialized Art Spiegelman's Maus.

'81 was almost a repeat, save for two debuts, Bob Burden's Flaming Carrot Comics, and the Hernandez brothers' Love and Rockets—very significant that these started out self-published. 1982 had a few more premieres than the year previous, including the birth of Comico and its book Primer.

The market truly sprouted in 1983, with new publishers bringing more fresh work from venerated artists/writers. There were a few unknown contributors to comics, most notably, the pivotal Albedo Anthropomorphics by Steve Gallacci and his Thoughts & Images.

1984 had similar growth as '83, the standout being Mirage comics, setup by Eastman and Laird to put out first Gobbledygook (the photocopy edition), and then the phenomally successful TMNT in May of that year.

7+ months would be all it took for everyone to realize that they too could write, draw, publish, or distribute comic books. And why not? The economy was improving, and printing costs were cheap enough. In 1985, everything bloomed.

Before perusing the list, take a look at a few important titles that began before the '80s, with most managing to continue beyond.

Most "Adult" titles are not listed here; those that are listed, are done so for their notoriety. This list is also aimed at original works, or notable reprints in comic book format. This is not a complete list yet, and I doubt it will ever be 100% accurate either, but I will endeavor to try. There are also a few UK titles, and many Canadian, that had major influences over in the States.

Would you like to see a list of publishers, too? That's a growing list.