Deadline (magazine)

Deadline was a British comics magazine published between 1988 and 1995.

Created by 2000 AD stalwarts Brett Ewins and Steve Dillon, Deadline featured a mix of comic strips and written articles aimed at older readers. Although similar to the likes of Crisis, Revolver and Toxic! which emerged during the magazine's heyday, Deadline alone managed to sustain its impact beyond the first few issues and had a cultural influence beyond the comics world. Deadline was published by Deadline Publications Ltd.

History

The magazine's origins lie in the earlier publication: Strange Days. Strange Days was an anthology title created by Ewins, Brendan McCarthy and Peter Milligan.

Much of the its non-strip content centred on alternative and indie music. Coupled with the subversive nature of many of the comic strips, the magazine had a distinctive counterculture ethos and post-punk sensibility. It was most famous for being the original home of the popular strip Tank Girl, created by the young team of artist Jamie Hewlett and writer Alan Martin. Other notable strips included Wired World by Philip Bond, Planet Swerve by Glyn Dillon and Alan Martin, Hugo Tate by Nick Abadzis, Cheeky Wee Budgie Boy created and written by Jon Beeston and drawn by Jon Beeston and Philip Bond, Timulo by D'Israeli, A-Men and Space Boss by Shaky Kane, Johnny Nemo by Peter Milligan, and several early works by Al Columbia.

Owned and financed by Tom Astor (grandson of Nancy Astor) and initially edited by Steve Dillon and Brett Ewins before transferring editorship to Dave Elliott, then Si Spencer and finally Frank Wynne (a former staff member of Crisis and subsequently translator of Michel Houellebecq), it published original material but Dave and Frank also introduced reprints of American alternative comics such as Love and Rockets, Bob Burden's Flaming Carrot and Evan Dorkin strips such as Milk and Cheese. Dave also arranged for content from the magazine to be reprinted in the US by Dark Horse Comics as Deadline USA.

Deadline enjoyed the patronage of those who wouldn't normally purchase comics and the support of several key bands of the time, with Blur making regular appearances in the Tank Girl strips and covers including Ride, Curve, Carter USM and the Senseless Things. However, the commercial failure of the Tank Girl film and the crossing over of the alternative scene into the mainstream (around the time of Britpop, a movement it had helped to champion) saw the magazine eventually fold at the end of 1995. In the late 2000s, Alan Grant edited title Wasted owed much to the style and ethos of Deadline a decade and a half earlier.

References

External links

• Tank-Girl.com (Official home of all things Tank Girl)
• Online version of the Deadline strip Sadist