Titan Entertainment Group
Type |
Retailer Publisher |
---|---|
Industry |
Comic books Retail Publishing |
Founded | 1978 |
Founder(s) |
Nick Landau Mike Lake Mike Luckman |
Headquarters | London, England, United Kingdom |
Key people |
Nick Landau Vivan Cheung |
Divisions |
Forbidden Planet bookstore chain Titan Publishing Group Titan Merchandise |
Titan Entertainment Group (TEG) is a British retailing and publishing company, owner of the Forbidden Planet bookstore chain, Titan Magazines, and Titan Books. TEG is run by Nick Landau and Vivan Cheung.
History
Titan Distributors
Up through the mid-1970s, only a small range of American comic books were available in British news agents. Landau saw the distribution opportunity, and along with Mike Lake and Mike Luckman, formed Comic Media Distributors. Soon changing its name to Titan Distributors, Landau operated the business until 1992, when he and Lake parted company. (Lake almost immediately sold Titan Distributors to the American comics distributor Diamond Comic Distributors.)[1]
Forbidden Planet
Early on, Landau was "forced" into retail by the closure of one of his leading customers; he needed to take a radical step to avoid going out of business himself.[citation needed] In 1978, Titan Entertainment Group opened its first Forbidden Planet bookstore, on Denmark Street in London.
In 1992, after Landau and Luck parted company, TEG established a chain of stores, Forbidden Planet International, mainly in northern England and Scotland. Although TEG has made some attempts to establish Forbidden Planet abroad, there are no longer any TEG-owned FP stores outside the UK.
Titan Publishing Group
Titan Books
In 1981, TEG started Titan Books, publishers of both new and licensed graphic novels and film and TV tie-ins.
Titan Magazines
Titan Magazines, officially launched in 1995, publishes Star Trek Magazine, the Wallace and Gromit comic, UK editions of Simpsons Comics, and many other titles.
Titan Merchandise
The newest division of TEG, Titan Merchandise produces high-quality licensed merchandise for global properties, including Marvel Comics, Doctor Who, Kick-Ass, and Hammer Horror.
References
- ↑ "NewsWatch: Diamond Acquires Titan Distributors," The Comics Journal #154 (November 1992), p. 14.