1995: COMIC WORLD REPORTS THE PANINI TAKEOVER OF MARVEL UK

From August 1995: COMIC COLLECTOR issue 42 (the last one) reports on the beginning of the end of MARVEL UK.

Panini, best known at the time as the sticker people, were another part of the swelling Marvel empire following the rapid expansion of the early 1990s.  No doubt it made sense to consolidate all of Marvel's European operations under one roof (and - following the boom-and-bust growth of the UK operation with the US line and magazines - bring some financial rigor to the business).

It didn't take the new management long to purge the ranks of M-UK staff and streamline the business.  The changes killed any hopes of re-entering the US market as well as most of the magazine line.  Only DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE survived the cuts but even that long-runner lost its spin-offs.  The editorial to the left lists the early casualties.  Who's next?  COMIC WORLD as it happens.  Oops.

Unfortunately for Marvel London, Marvel's dire financial situation meant that the recently purchased Panini had to be flogged-off pronto to keep the faltering empire afloat.  And Marvel UK were bundled-up with the package.  I've always assumed that Marvel sweetened the deal to speed the sale by granting Panini the European rights to publish Marvel material as soon as the existing market-by-market license expired.  An arrangement that survives to this day.

1995: COMIC WORLD ISSUE 42: THE FINAL ISSUE

From August 1995: the final issue of UK magazine COMIC WORLD, with JUDGE DREDD movie tie-in cover.

The magazine (which started life as COMIC COLLECTOR) shuttered suddenly (a victim of falling sales, increasing print prices and the bottom falling out of the comics market... robbing it of the essential advertising it needed to survive) so - unlike the current (and final) issue of GEEKY MONKEY (sad to see you go... you were great) - there was no opportunity for a farewell.

1994: THE CLANDESTINE PROMO TRADING CARD (Marvel UK)

From February 1994: the free MARVEL UK CLANDESTINE Trading Card, cover-mounted with COMIC WORLD magazine issue 24.

This, unfortunately, really was the last gasp of the British Bullpen'smarketing mahine. Even as this freebie adorned issue of COMIC WORLD magazine was hitting British newsagents (it had pretty good distribution through WH Smith stores and selected independent newsagents, including inexplicably my own local shop which probably didn't carry more than 100 titles overall) and specialist stores (where it served as a nice compliment to the more news-based COMICS INTERNATIONAL from the House of Skinn), word of the Genesis Massacre was spreading through the industry.

The British Bullpen had put a lot of promotional weight behind this and LOOSE CANNONS in the hope that they would address the perception issue that the whole UKverse line was suffering from quantity over quality. Twelve months earlier it had been perfectly acceptable to flood the market with (sometimes) substandard fodder but, now the speculators had bailed, readers and retailers were being more choosy with their pounds and dollars. And, frankly, the amount of British books still surfacing in the 50p boxes twenty years on suggests a lot of retailers had been overordering on an epic (not Epic) scale. 

The speed of the collapse was so fast that dozens of books and projects were caught in the final maelstrom. And very few emerged unscathed. 

THE CLANDESTINE was one of the lucky ones. Having Alan Davies' name above the door certainly helped but being a Marvel UK book didn't. So it shifted to the US operation. LOOSE CANNONS also looked like an obvious winner but didn't make the cut. 

If it comes as any consolation to the Annex of Ideas, TOPPS COMICS, publishers of THE MARK OF ZORRO, also didn't last... Despite bankable franchises like THE X-FILES, MARS ATTACKS, STAR WARS GALAXY MAGAZINE, JURASSIC PARK and XENA WARRIOR PRINCESS.

Those were indeed hard times. 

1993: THE CLANDESTINE in COMIC WORLD MAGAZINE

Alan Davis discusses THE CLANDESTINE (and other matters) in a three-page article from COMIC WORLD magazine issue 22 (December 1993).

At this point, the four-issue limited series was still a MARVEL UK project due to launch in January 1994.  It eventually debuted, under the auspices of Marvel New York, later that year. 

1993: CYBERSPACE 3000 in COMIC WORLD (Marvel UK)

 

More MARVEL UK goodness from the GENESIS EXPLOSION period: a rare bit of not-DHII action: COMIC WORLD issue 15 (Mat 1993) reporting on the impending launch of the new SF title CYBERSPACE 3000.

This strip (not to be confused with the similarly named, also-in-space, SEEKER 3000 which was resurrected during the nineties) won't be familiar to readers of OVERKILL because, like many of the explosion titles, it never made it into the UK comic.  

Despite being set in the distant future, the British Bullpen still managed to figure out ways to incorporate members of the established roster of cosmic characters.

The writer was Gary Russell, one time editor of DWM and, in a previous life, Dick in the late Seventies FAMOUS FIVE TV show (now on DVD... and worth getting for some undemanding nostalgia). 

The title eventually notched-up eight issues before ending (rather suddenly as I recall) at the end of the year.

1994: COMIC WORLD REPORTS THE MARVEL UK GENESIS MASSACRE

From COMIC WORLD MAGAZINE issue 25 (March 1994): the moment MARVEL UK's 'Genesis Implosion' became the 'Genesis Massacre', the complete closure of the US-focused operation.

The cuts of late 1993 hadn't boded well for the Annex of Ideas, stalling a lot of upcoming UK-Verse projects (and closing some existing titles and the entire FRONTIER imprint) in an attempt to avert the glut of new material flooding into a collapsing market (presumably calculated, at least in part, by which of the imminent releases had still managed to generate reasonable orders from retailers and distributors) but this was total wipe-out.

All of the 'parked' projects (many of which had several issues already completed and more partially-completed and work-in-progress) were officially scrapped and any title that had managed to escape the implosion was also cancelled.  

To get a sense of how bad things were at the end:  According to Capital Distributors (long-gone in the great distributor shake-up of the nineties - thanks Marvel - but big at the time and publisher of their own version of PREVIEWS in the form of ADVANCE COMICS), retailer orders for the 16th, and final, issue of DEATH'S HEAD II were down to 7,400 copies.  A far cry from the 105,900 they had moved of the first issue in late 1992.  CYBERSPACE 3000, another last survivor, had seen 55,400 copies of its first issue shifted through Capital but, eight months later, that figure had plummeted to 4,350 for the finale. 

It's worth noting that, in today's much reduced industry, numbers like this probably aren't exceptional.  And, of course, Capital wasn't the only distributor handling M-UK product so these are far from final figures.  And they have to be seen in the context of an over-expanded business which was going through some very drastic right-sizing.  Sales were down across the board although, as many of the M-UK books were seen as peripheral to the main Marvel offering, they were more vulnerable to readers and retailers trimming their sails. 

The few survivors of the massacre were: 

CLANDESTINE which had initially been slated for January '94 and eventually appeared, under the auspices of Marvel New York later in the year.  

DOCTOR WHO: AGE OF CHAOS had been placed on indefinite hiatus in the Implosion but, although plans for a four-issue US run died here, it did surface in the summer of 1994 as a one-shot magazine-format special in the UK.  Work was still ongoing when the US version was abandoned and, as a result, yet-to-be-drawn splash pages were dropped.  To date, it has never been reprinted. 

WILD ANGELS was to have been a four-parter for a January '94 premiere (House Ads appeared in other M-UK books) and eventually surfaced, presumably because Pino Rinaldi supplied the art, as a black and white digest compilation courtesy of Panini's Italian division. 

A lot of seemingly commercially still viable work was also lost in Marvel's haste to draw a line under the whole experience.  The LOOSE CANNONS four-parter had already generated a fair amount of heat in the fan press and looked like a potential winner (if not in its original format, possibly in book form).  The DEATH'S HEAD II/ PUNISHER combo, scheduled for 1994, probably sounds more juicy now than it did at the time considering how frequently both characters popped-up in every conceivable crossover and cameo.  Nevertheless, it might have started DHII's rehabilitation and integration into the US-verse.  A lot of the other books, from creative teams that latterly became big industry names, seem greater losses in retrospect than they did at the time (which is not, of course, to underestimate the sense of disappointment and sense of loss (and loss of income) of anyone who has toiled on a creative project only to discover it would never see the light of day). 

The UK-verse was left in the care of Marvel New York but, frankly, they didn't seem to notice.  The collapsing industry, and Marvel's over-extended financial obligations, were a sufficient distraction for staff (those that survived the regular restructurings and rounds of redundancy) to prevent anyone (until this year) taking a punt on a roster of failed characters.  

Marvel also had their 2099 future-universe to play with.  Launched in 1992, it was more commercially viable because it feature possible-future (so, like the M-UK books, it had no real impact on Marvel's main universe) versions of bankable characters.  It still petered out in 1998.  

Marvel acquired the MALIBU ULTRAVERSE in late 1994 (the official reason, to snap-up Malibu's state-of-the-art coloring technology, was a smokescreen to hide the real reason: DC were about to pounce on the very busy upstart and Marvel's owners were concerned that a sale would cost them their position as numero uno in the industry, vital for keeping the share price inflated) and promptly tried to integrate the characters into the Marvel line.  Plenty of crossovers followed but Marvel eventually ran the whole thing into the ground... and (for various legal and financial reasons) hasn't touched the characters since. 

1993: COMIC WORLD REPORTS THE INDUSTRY CRASH

 

This is how the British magazine COMIC WORLD reported the industry crash in late 1993.  This issue would have gone on sale around November that year.  

Included in the coverage is MARVEL UK's 'Genesis Implosion", the first stage in the two-part sequence of events that led to the closure of the entire US-focused line... and the mothballing of all the characters created for it.  

The management's spin on the decision is an interesting bit of PR... suggesting that the numerous projects placed on hiatus needed further 'quality control' work.  Presumably this was part of the British Bullpen's push to emphasize quality over their previous dash-for-growth.  

A couple of months later, CW was reporting the 'Genesis Massacre'.  

1992: MARVEL UK LAUNCH SHADOW RIDERS (Comic World)

This is a news report from COMIC WORLD issue 9 (November 1992) heralding the imminent launch of MARVEL UK's new SHADOW RIDERS book.  

1992: MARVEL UK NEWS (Comic World)

Here's a MARVEL UK GENESIS 92 news piece from the 8th issue of COMIC WORLD magazine, cover-dated 8 October 1992.

1992: DEATH'S HEAD II INTERVIEW In COMIC WORLD MAGAZINE

This is another dip into COMIC WORLD magazine's contemporary coverage of MARVEL UK's GENESIS 92 line: a feature on flavour-of-the-moment cyborg assassin DEATH'S HEAD II published in the 8th issue, cover-dated October 1992.

The early nineties was a time when every publisher, especially Marvel, were stretching their cash cow characters as thinly as possible to grab every dollar (and, ideally, squeeze the competition off the racks) but, by the time the Genesis Implosion rolled around, overkill could have referred as much to DHII as it did to Marvel's British anthology.

It's amusing to see Neary's quote about the original DH considering he wasted no time on cashing-in on the success of his successor by dusting-off as many of the character's previous appearances as licensing deals would allow to publish the twelve-part THE INCOMPLETE DEATH'S HEAD for an easy buck.

1992: DEATH'S HEAD HERO HISTORY (COMIC WORLD)

Here's a rather nice one-page Hero History for the original DEATH'S HEAD, published in COMIC WORLD (formally Comic Collector) issue 5 (cover-dated July 1992) just as the GENESIS 92 line was running up to speed.

1992: GENESIS 92 UK DISTRIBUTION (Marvel UK)

I've posted before about MARVEL UK's flip-flopping over the distribution of the GENESIS 92 books in the UK and here's a news report about it, from Steve Holland's COMIC WORLD magazine issue 4, cover-dated June 1992.

Copies were also bagged and stickered before being distributed.  A rare surviving example can be found here.

At some point, possibly late in 1992, the policy was abandoned and the UK originated books hit British comic book stores (more-or-less) simultaneously with their stateside debut.

1992: CAPTAIN BRITAIN in COMIC COLLECTOR MAGAZINE

COMIC COLLECTOR issue 2 (April 1992) was - planned or not - a bit of a MARVEL UK special.  Not only did it preview the launch of OVERKILL/ GENESIS 92 (see my previous post) but it also included this nice three-page Hero History on CAPTAIN BRITAIN by Phil Hall.

Although a lot of water has passed under Tower Bridge since 1992, I reckon this is a still a great little primer for Britain's best.

1992: MARVEL UK'S GENESIS 92 PREVIEWED IN COMIC COLLECTOR MAGAZINE

This is a great article - and cover - from the second issue of Steve Holland's COMIC COLLECTOR (soon to be COMIC WORLD... but we'll get to that) previewing the first wave of GENESIS 92 books and their UK home: OVERKILL.

1992: MARVEL UK'S GENESIS 92 ANNOUNCED in COMIC COLLECTOR MAGAZINE (Aceville)

The rise-and-fall of MARVEL UK roughly coincided with the run of Steve Holland's mainstream (I used to pick up my copy each month from the local newsagent) comics magazine COMIC COLLECTOR/ WORLD which launched, during the boom, in early 1992.

I don't seem to have a complete set (or I've misfiled a few issues along the way) but I thought it would be fun to use the contemporary coverage to tell the as-it-happened history of the Annex of Ideas' excursion across the Atlantic as part of the build-up to the launch of REVOLUTIONARY WAR next year.

The story starts at the start with this announcement of the GENESIS 92 project in the news pages of the first issue.

It's interesting to note that the revived KNIGHTS OF PENDRAGON was announced under the title PENDRAGON II.  Presumably someone decided, prior to launch, that it made more sense to use the exact same title as its relatively successful predecessor.

I've posted the whole two-page spread because I thought the sale of Fleetway was a significant moment in the history of British comics as well as setting-the-scene for some of the other British comics that were around when OVERKILL launched.

I'll return to future issues, in roughly chronological order, in posts-to-come.

1994: LOOSE CANNONS FROM MARVEL UK IN COMIC WORLD MAGAZINE

Without wishing to be unkind to anyone involved, I think it's fair to say that a certain amount of dross was churned-out by Marvel UK during their dash for growth in the US market between 1992-94.  That's why the bulk of the material - and characters - created during that period have remained untouched ever since (and probably will be until Marvel realises that they need to renew their ownership of the characters and put something copyright-confirming into print).

When the Genesis '92 US line imploded completely in early 1994 I doubt that many fans mourned its passing for long.  There was one book however that looked like it might actually be a classy piece.  LOOSE CANNONS (by Dan Abnett and Mark Harrison) was a planned four-issue fully-pained limited series which continued the concepts introduced in the WARHEADS book (which was one of the better books in the UK line).  It was due to launch in January 1994 but was nixed, along with the rest of the line, at the last minute.  Marvel got as far as placing adverts and articles in the comics press, including these pieces from British magazine COMIC WORLD 24, cover-dated January 1994.

I think the advert says a lot about M-UK's sales pitch throughout this era: Sexy girls (suspenders in space!), hefty armaments and DH.

Marvel UK never rescheduled the project and early hopes that 2000AD might pick it up were spiked because of the inclusion of Marvel characters (including the inevitable Death's Head II appearance).

The bulk of the four issues were completed when the project was killed (which makes the decision even more ludicrous... Marvel had already paid for it!) and have subsequently surfaced on line.

Comic World was a mainstream magazine, available from newsagents, that covered British, American and European comics during the early nineties boom years.  Edited by Steve Holland, it was published by Aceville Magazines in Colchester.