Britain has very few news-stand comics at the moment, so we definitely notice when one of them disappears:
Missing the Deadline
By Andy Roberts
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Britain has very few news-stand comics at the moment, so we definitely notice when one of them disappears: Missing the Deadline By Andy Roberts |
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After seven years, Deadline, Britain’s last newsagent-distributed comic (unless you count Judge Dredd: the Megazine, which you shouldn’t), has folded. Rumours of its demise have been circulating for at least two years, but until the launch and subsequent failure of sister publication Tank Girl, they had been based less on fact than on the cancellation of every other alternative comic launched in the last decade.
Illo #1: Tank Girl by Alan Martin and Jamie Hewlett
[The answer to TG’s question is, of course, “ Hollywood ”.]Deadline was created in 1988 by 2000AD veterans Steve Dillon and Brett Ewins. Early issues featured an awkward mix of strips by Dillon, Ewins and their mates, and generally pointless (and not well-written) text articles and interviews. More of an identity was established when newcomers Jamie Hewlett and Alan Martin’s Tank Girl character became a cult success. The stunning artwork and formless, irreverent tone of the strip attracted an audience of indiekids, students and those comics fans who’d picked up on US independents like Love & Rockets and Neat Stuff. The magazine’s format thus loosened and invigorated, Deadline became a showcase for the daft, the trippy and, to a small extent, the experimental.
Many featured artists have gone on to work for DC in the States. Hewlett (minus Martin) revived Tank Girl there in the wake of the disastrous movie, having already drawn the odd page of Doom Patrol. Phil Bond and Glyn Dillon (Steve’s less talented brother) drew issues of Shade; Roberto Corona took over from Glyn Dillon on Egypt; Shaky Kane’s Kirbyesque Kreations adorned a Doom Patrol cover. But it’s for the less well-known, more ambitious creators that I believe Deadline’s memory will be cherished by comics lovers.
Illo #2: “Hugo Tate” by Nick Abadzis
Only the start of Hugo’s adventures in America
An early contributor was Nick Abadzis, whose “Hugo Tate” stories began as scrawly stick-figure gag pages (“Hugo Tate: he’s a pillar of hate”) and developed into long, involved stories exploring Hugo’s fragile personality and his hair-raising adventures crossing the States with a homicidal maniac (this last story was collected as 0, America by Tundra/Atomeka in 1993).
Frank Wynne, editor from 1993-95, brought in some of the best British small-press talents such as Matt “D’Israeli” Brooker (later to draw “The Kindly Ones” in Sandman), Garry Marshall, Chris Webster, Ed Hillyer, Jonathan Edwards and Darryl Cunningham, sometimes in interesting combinations (such as Savage Pencil and Ed Pinsent’s “Dead Duck”). Webster and Marshall’s “Rockdrill”, Hillyer’s “End of the Century Club” and Edwards’ brilliant one-pagers about old rock stars (“Sly and his Family of Stones”, “Scott Walker and his Amazing Bike”) were highlights of the later issues, and Rachael Ball’s “Box City” series, a strange and witty combination of the everyday and the uncommonly odd, is long overdue for collection.
Jump to next part of the article—after illustrations
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Illo #3 by Matt “D’Israeli” Brooker
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Illo#4 by Rachael Ball
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Illo #5: by Jonathan Edwards |
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With Reservations...
However, it was often said over the last couple of years that the mag had lost its way; the hit-and-miss quality of the strips and less than enthralling band interviews became reminiscent of its earliest issues. I contributed to Deadline for the final year of its publication with a series called “Frieda’s Friends”. It was the first time I had been given the chance to do ambitious and personal work, and get paid for it (though not much). I found Frank to be an astute, thoughtful and sensitive editor; in fact, I’ve always maintained that he’s the only editor in British comics who knows what he’s doing. Though not a comics writer or artist, he has an excellent understanding of the medium’s structure and storytelling. But I agreed with many of the criticisms I heard. Frank was overworked; much of his time was taken up away from Deadline itself, on Tank Girl-related projects . The attempt to promote the mag as a sort of hip style item was doomed from the start (notwithstanding Rian Hughes’ eye-catching design). What it needed was some serious money behind it; advertising, promotion, and not least, a decent page rate for the artists. The magazine’s owner, Tom Astor, kept it going for little or no reward for a long time, but either couldn’t or wouldn’t give it the boost it really needed.
Looking at some old issues of Escape the other day, it struck me that there’s been nothing like it since, in terms of an attempt to put out a pro-quality magazine reflecting the true and unique creativity of the UK underground. Deadline had its moments, and many will miss it (including me for obvious reasons!), but it was sadly never a beacon of real originality or integrity. I hold out much greater hope, in the long run, for Bristol’s excellent Scenes From The Inside and others like it. A farewell raising of the glasses to Deadline, then, but a hearty toast and a cautious three cheers for the future.
Editor’s note: Escape ran for 19 issues, (plus two exhibition supplements, plus graphic novels) between 1983 and 1989, edited by Paul Gravett, who now runs the Cartoon Art Trust, but somehow finds time to contribute articles to Comics Forum.
Copyright is acknowledged in all cases; if not otherwise stated,
all works are Copyright© their respective creators or publishers.
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