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The Layer Method
Our top Secret time-saving technique for creating and merging balloons and tails in Illustrator.
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Friday, September 3, 2010
British Comics: 2004AD
A quick guide to what exactly is selling on this side of the Atlantic, and what isn't...
John Freeman has worked in British comics and magazine publishing for 20 years. First for Marvel UK, editing titles as diverse as Doctor Who Magazine and Death's Head II, and in 1995 he helped launch the Titan Magazines imprint, which started with Star Trek Magazine. He has written strips for a number of British titles including Judge Dredd: The Megazine and Lucky Bag; run a literature festival which included comic creator events and created the official site for Hammer Films. He is currently is currently editor of STAR TREK MAGAZINE and still writing comics for the UK titles Lucky Bag and Beyblades. He joins CWN to talk about, well, what else...?
British Comics: 2004AD
Let's start with a quick guide to what exactly is selling on this side of the Atlantic -- and what isn't, much to the annoyance of many British comic creators.
Most British comics on the newsstand are aimed at pre-schoolers, published by BBC Worldwide, Panini, Redan and Fleetway. Action Man, Barbie, Bob the Builder, Noddy -- these are the kind of licensed titles jostling for space on magazine racks in Britain's news agents and supermarkets. DC Thomson still lead the field in terms of anthology humour comics, with their top titles, the Beano and recently-revamped Dandy selling around 150,000 copies a week between them with Beano taking the lion's share.
Yes -- you read that right. 150,000 copies EVERY WEEK. Despite plenty of gloom and doom from many comics creators -- apart from Toxic, 2000AD and Striker, the teenage boy's market is largely reprint and there are virtually no girls' comics at all -- comics are still big business in the UK. So big that even now Future Publishing are beginning to dip their toes in the sector with their own comic based on the Jetix (Fox Kids) TV channel.
"By creating our own dedicated team Future is taking its entry into the kids sector very seriously," says Mike Goldsmith, the Senior Editor, responsible for the company's kids studio which is also producing an official Duel Masters magazine for the UK, with more titles to come. "We see it as an extremely exciting and appealing sector to enter."
 Even though comics are far from the pocket money prices older fans might be used to, comics still sell here, despite stiff competition from teen magazines -- if you can get the mix right. Reader interest in comics is even being re-ignited by some publishers. Toontastic, based in Oldham, launched its own brand Lucky Bag humour comic two years ago. Like the Beano and the Dandy, it's a humour anthology whose strips include a space-faring Turtle and the hilarious Dinoz in the Hood.
 Toontastic Managing Editor James Hill told me the title has steady sales at around 30,000 an issue -- good enough to put the title out once every three weeks this summer. Egmont's Toxic, published 16 times a year, sells some 42,000 copies every issue and editor Matt Yeo has steadily cranked up the number of strips in that title, in response to reader demand.
 DC Thomson is also fighting declining comics sales with its recent relaunch of the world's longest-running comic, The Dandy, trying to win back readers lost to television and computers. "The new Dandy is about putting the humour back into children's lives," says editor Morris Heggie. "We're going back to our roots with the mischievous humour that still appeals to all children."
 The indications are that the new look is working, certainly with kids I've spoken to. If it doesn't, the rumour among comics creators is that the title will be merged with The Beano some time in 2005. Sadly, despite the continued success of comics aimed at younger children, the days of comic titles for teenagers such as Eagle seem to be long gone. Today, the football comic Striker sells about 22,000 copies per issue with 2000AD -- source of many fine creators now gracing the pages of American comics -- selling even less than that.
 Some 15 years ago, comics for teenagers -- girls and boys -- were selling in hundreds of thousands. Great original titles such as Eagle, Lion, Valiant -- the latter featuring characters that are soon to resurface in a mini series from Wildstorm, Albion, since their copyright is owned by Time Warner, owners of DC Comics -- ended their runs many years ago.
For many British creators, comics lost their way editorially and that, rather than competition from rival media, was the real reason so many titles ceased publication. But with all the continued interest in comics as a medium on both sides of the Atlantic, and the success of comic characters on the silver screen, could adventure comics aimed at teenagers make a return? Are there other ways back to the British comics glory days?
I'll let you know what some creators and indie comic publishers think next time. Stay tuned...
Visit John Freeman at Down the Tubes net for more news about independent and mainstream British comics, a guide to writing comics, and many of his online comic strips such as The Really Heavy Greatcoat.
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