Comics Interview — Issue #008 (February 1984)
interview
Richard Burton
IPC Magazines' assistant editor on *2000 AD* provides a comprehensive look at the British comics industry. Describes how *2000 AD*, launched in 1977 by writers John Wagner and Pat Mills, broke British conventions by adopting American-style splash pan...
IPC Magazines' assistant editor on 2000 AD provides a comprehensive look at the British comics industry. Describes how 2000 AD, launched in 1977 by writers John Wagner and Pat Mills, broke British conventions by adopting American-style splash panels and dynamic dialogue, attracting an older readership including college students and pop musicians — slowly eroding the British social stigma against reading comics past age 14. Explains the unique economics of British weekly comics publishing: IPC launches titles with heavy TV advertising and high print runs, then systematically cuts 1,000 copies per week, with only "boom" relaunch issues or mergers with other titles pushing circulation back up. Details his own path from fan publisher of Comic Media News through a chaotic stint at Marvel's British office under Dez Skinn — where three people produced the entire output — to IPC, where he landed on the doomed Tornado (22 weeks before merger) before joining 2000 AD. Notes that superheroes don't work in Britain ("it would be impossible to do that in London because it's a lot flatter") and praises Dez Skinn's Warrior magazine, singling out Marvelman and V for Vendetta.
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