Neptune distributors, Trident comics and Toxic

[maryanddavid]

I'm a sucker for comic history stuff, and this does relater to 2000ad bit. Its a series of six blog posts by an ex employee of Neptune, and it makes for entertaining reading, especially the bit about Pat Mills, however true.
The first instalment is here, I'm sure you will figure how to get the rest!

https://g1rm.wordpress.com/2014/11/15/the-rise-and-fall-of-neptune-comic-distributors-part-one/

[Leigh S]

Interesting read - I was at LEicester Poly in late 1990/early 91 and rememer cycling down to South Wigston to have a gander at the address printed in Toxic - all you could see was a watchmanand maybe a Batman poster in a high window in a run of fairly derelict looking warehousey buildings (if my memory serves me, which it mightnt at that time to be fair!)

[GordonR]

The blog entries, long-winded and full of fairly pointless personal minutiae as they are, give a good idea of the financial shenanigans and organisational debacles behind Neptune/Toxic, but they barely cover the creative side, and don't even seem to make mention of a crucial fact that crippled Toxic from before it even launched:  it didn't have an editor.

An editor (whose name I shamefully can't remember) at Marvel-Epic was originally tapped up to be editor - I think she had worked with Pat & Kev when Epic published Marshal Law.  She was putting the comic together from her home in NY - not an ideal situation in those pre-internet days, when the rest of the entire operation was in the UK - but was supposed to be moving to the UK to take up a more hands-on role.  However, late in the day, she decided that moving to another continent to work for an ego-maniac like Geoff Fry in an industrial estate on the outskirts of Leicester maybe wasn't what she wanted out of life, and she pulled out.

Which left Toxic as a comic with a launch date, and no editor.  Pat, John and Alan all had editorial experience, but all were pretty adamant that they weren't going to end up editing another bloody comic.  I think Pat and Alan ended up doing a lot of the work, even if that mostly meant writing most of the comic between them, just to keep it going.

A young Dan Abnett, who had previously been an editor at Marvel UK, finally come aboard as full-time editor, but by that time the roof was already starting to cave in, and I suspect Dan spent most of his time dealing with queries from irate freelancers about where their fucking money was.  (Things worked out okay for Dan, though, since after this he went freelance rather than return to editing, and the rest is about 57-US-titles-a month history.)

[Dandontdare]

I've read the first couple and it is a fascinating insight - the second episode (a bit of a detour about the boss's wedding) is hilarious.

[Big_Dave]

I'm a sucker for comic history stuff, and this does relate to 2000ad bit. Its a series of six blog posts by an ex employee of Neptune, and it makes for entertaining reading, especially the bit about Pat Mills, however true. The first instalment is here, I'm sure you will figure how to get the rest!

https://g1rm.wordpress.com/2014/11/15/the-rise-and-fall-of-neptune-comic-distributors-part-one/

Thanks, David. Margaret Clark (an associate of Dan Chichester at Marvel's mature readers Epic imprint) was the initial editor of Toxic who never quite made it across the Atlantic.

Fry's determination to produce a rival to 2000ad is usually just stated as fact, without any clue to motivation other than hubris, so it's interesting to learn the role Fleetway's exclusive direct market distribution deal with Titan played in forming Fry's grudge against Tharg.

[sheridan]

I've read the first couple and it is a fascinating insight - the second episode (a bit of a detour about the boss's wedding) is hilarious.

Loved the blog - pretty late last night, work in the morning, but I had to read 'em all!  Shall have to investigate some of the other historical pieces as well...

[SuperSurfer]

Fascinating articles. Never been so engrossed in a comics blog since Jim Shooter's.

[Cpt Rhodes]

Really enjoyed those blog entries, all the more with the Glasgow comic shop and character connections.
Trident comics totally passed me by at the time, I might try and track down some issues.

The rise and fall of The Glasgow and UK Comic Art Conventions is also an enjoyable read for anyone who remembers them.

https://g1rm.wordpress.com/2013/05/26/the-rise-and-fall-of-the-uk-comic-art-convention/

https://g1rm.wordpress.com/2013/07/14/the-rise-and-fall-of-the-glasgow-comics-art-convention-part-one/