Hero Illustrated was a comic book

Comic book

A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...

-themed magazine

Magazine

Magazines, periodicals, glossies or serials are publications, generally published on a regular schedule, containing a variety of articles. They are generally financed by advertising, by a purchase price, by pre-paid magazine subscriptions, or all three...

 published in the early to mid 1990s in the United States. Columnists included Andy Mangels

Andy Mangels

Andy Mangels is an American science fiction author who has written novels, comics, and magazine articles, and produced DVD collections, mostly focusing on media in popular culture...

, and Frank Kurtz

Frank Kurtz (director)

Frank Kurtz is a filmmaker, retailer, and editor, as well as the creator of the Creepsville comic book, which was originally published by Gogo Publications.-Career:...

 was at one time a managing editor. The journal won the 1995 Eisner Award

Eisner Award

The Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards, commonly shortened to the Eisner Awards, and sometimes referred to as the Oscar Awards of the Comics Industry, are prizes given for creative achievement in American comic books. The Eisner Awards were first conferred in 1988, created in response to the...

 for Best Comics-Related Periodical/Publication.

History

Hero Illustrated was published by Warrior Publications of Lombard, Illinois

Lombard, Illinois

Lombard, "The Lilac Village", is a suburb of Chicago in DuPage County, Illinois. The population was 42,322 at the 2000 census. The United States Census Bureau estimated the population in 2004 to be 42,975.-History:...

. Its premiere issue was dated July 1993

1993 in comics

-January:* Doom Patrol #63: " The Empire of Chairs," Grant Morrison's final issue as Doom Patrol writer.-February:* Action Comics, with issue #686, suspends publication following "The Death of Superman."...

 and it ceased publication in the spring of 1996.

Specials

In addition to at least 26 regular issues, numerous specials were published, including Hero Illustrated Specials, Hero Premiere Edition, and Hero Special Edition.

• Hero Premiere Edition — a series of ashcan copy
  Ashcan copy
  An ashcan copy is a term that originated in the Golden Age of Comic Books, meant to describe a publication produced solely for legal purposes , and not normally intended for distribution.-Origins:...
  
   printings of forthcoming comics.
  • Bone
    Bone (comics)
    Bone is an independently published graphic novel series originally serialized in 55 irregularly released issues from 1991 to 2004. Bone was drawn and written by Jeff Smith....
    
    : Holiday Special (1993)
  • Charlemagne
    Charlemagne (comics)
    Charlemagne is a comic book series that was published by Defiant Comics from February of 1994 until July 1994. The series lasted for 5 issues before Defiant ceased publication. A free teaser issue, #0, was published inside Hero Illustrated #9, and not available separately.-Series...
    
     (inside Hero Illustrated #9, 1993)
  • Extreme Hero (1994)

• Hero Illustrated Specials
  • Batman
    Batman
    Batman is a fictional character created by the artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger. A comic book superhero, Batman first appeared in Detective Comics #27 , and since then has appeared primarily in publications by DC Comics...
    
     Special #1
  • Sci-Fi Special
  • Star Wars: Dark Empire II
    Dark Empire II
    Dark Empire II is the second trade paperback collecting a series of comic books written by Tom Veitch and illustrated by Cam Kennedy. It is preceded by Dark Empire I and followed by Empire's End.-Synopsis:...
    
     #1
  • Top 100 Special
  • Villains Special #1
  • X Special: Will to Power
    Will to Power (comics)
    Will To Power was a twelve-issue limited series event published by Dark Horse Comics under their Comics Greatest World imprint. It was published in four three-issue arcs, with each arc focusing on one of CGW's four environs, Arcadia, Steel Harbor, Golden City, and the area surrounding the...
    
    
  • The X-Files
    The X-Files (comics)
    The X-Files comics was a spin-off from the television series of the same name, originally published by Topps Comics and, most recently, DC Comics imprint Wildstorm.-Publication history:...
    
    (March 1995)
  • Year End Special 1993
  • Year End Special 1994

• Hero Special Edition
  • 1993: the Year in Comics (vol. 1, 1994)
  • Comic Book Villains: the Baddest of the Bad: Anti-Hero Special Edition (vol. 2, 1994)
  • The 100 Most Important Comics of All Time (vol. 4, 1994)
  • Comic Book Who's Who: Complete Biographies on the Hottest Comic Book Characters! (vol. 6 , 1994)
  • Hero 1994 Yearbook: the ups and downs, the best and the worst, the people and the events that rocked the world in comics in 1994! (vol. 8, 1994)