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The comic that 2000AD killed

Started by Robert Frazer, 06 July, 2020, 07:41:02 PM

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Robert Frazer

Hey there everyone, I'd like to ask a quick question for the more knowledgeable Squaxx.

I dug my copy of Thrill-Power Overload out of the loft recently and while flicking through it one detail caught my attention. On p.74-75 John Sanders relates how he came within an inch of closing down 2000AD in 1980 following a strike which stopped publication for five weeks. Sanders was eventually prevailed on not to cancel 2000AD because it was too profitable for IPC, but he had to make a statement to the strikers so instead he closed down a "girls' comic with a very high circulation".

I'm not at all familiar with this story and Thrill-Power Overload doesn't go into specifics so I was curious, does anyone know the title of the comic in question, and if there's anywhere where we can read more up on it? I'm just fascinated to learn more about the comic that died so that 2000AD might live.
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Richard

According to Michael Carroll's frivolous infinitely valuable resource, his Rusty Staples website, it might have been Misty, Pink, or Fabulous: https://www.michaelowencarroll.com/pics/fullmyguyfamilytree.jpg

Hopefully he might see this post and be able to tell us, or you could pop over to his website and ask him in the comments.

davidbishop

I'm not sure how accurate John's recollection was; I think there was an NUJ strike in 1980, and another in 1984. Now Misty got cancelled in 1980, but that happened in January when it got merged into Tammy. The following year Jinty got cancelled in Nov 1981, and merged into the ubiquitous Tammy - but that was well after the strike was over. Tammy was cancelled in 1984 [and merged into Girl]. The editor of Tammy at the time - the wonderfully named Wilf Prigmore - said anti-union feelings within management may have been a factor, so that could be where the punitive cancellation went - 1984, not 1980?

There was talk of John Sanders writing his memoirs, so perhaps that will clear things up...

Richard

Thanks David. There's a gap of a full month between progs 376 and 377, in July-August 1984, so it must have been then. Tammy has already gone under in June, and there are no other 1984 demises on the chart I linked to, so I'm none the wiser though. Maybe Michael will make finding out his next project...

The Enigmatic Dr X

Is there really a month between progs 366 and 377? Blimey. I did not realise that. Too little at the time, I guess, and too old now!
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Molch-R

Quote from: davidbishop on 06 July, 2020, 08:24:58 PM
There was talk of John Sanders writing his memoirs, so perhaps that will clear things up...

https://2000ad.com/news/the-inside-story-of-the-british-comic-industry-from-the-man-who-ran-it/

(postponed until January 2021 due to the virus)

The Enigmatic Dr X

Lock up your spoons!

Jim_Campbell

Quote from: Richard on 06 July, 2020, 08:40:50 PM
Thanks David. There's a gap of a full month between progs 376 and 377, in July-August 1984, so it must have been then. Tammy has already gone under in June, and there are no other 1984 demises on the chart I linked to, so I'm none the wiser though. Maybe Michael will make finding out his next project...

I think lead times were a fair bit longer back then — art, script and lettering all had to be shuttled between the respective droids via editorial each way by post, production involved physical paste-up, then bromides, negs, plate-making and, again, all this stuff had to make its way as physical packages by post or courier... so it's possible that the gap in July publication was the effect of industrial action several weeks earlier. Sanders could have shuttered Tammy with immediate effect if he knew he had other titles he could funnel material already in hand into.
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Lobo Baggins

#8
Circumstantial evidence points to it being Tammy - in the prog before the strike halted things (prog 376, dated 7 July 1984), KP were running a free comics promotion for their fizzy polystyrene flavour snack, Skips, which included a list of comics running the promotion (Buster, Whoopie, Tammy, Whizzer and Chips, 2000 AD, Tiger, Roy of the Rovers, and The Eagle).

In prog 377 immediately after the strike the following statement appeared:

Because of an industrial despute, some of the comics which carry tokens for the KP Skips Free Comics Offer have not been published in the last few weeks.
Once it becomes possible to publish these comics again each comic will print more tokens for you to collect.
Unfortunately TAMMY is no longer being published. We will therefore accept tokens from any of the remaining eight comics - you do not have to collect tokens from different comics. The publishers are very sorry for the trouble this has caused.


This is, I think, the only mention of the strike in the prog itself.

So, the industrial action seems to have started sometime during late June (prog 376 would be on the shelves on the 1st) which would fit in with the last Tammy appearing in June.
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Robert Frazer

#9
Thank you for the information everyone, this is all very interesting stuff.

Thrill-Power Overload does actually say that 2000AD was affected by two different strikes. It claims that there was a gap of five weeks after the release of Prog 165, over May 1980, at which point Sanders closed the "girls' comic with a high circulation" that I referred to in the OP (p.74-75). Later on, it refers separately to another strike in July 1984 where publication was halted due to a dispute over reading allowances (p.102-103). Sanders is quoted in each incident, so he seems to be sure the two events are distinct ones.

If you say that there were no comic cancellations in 1980, maybe Sanders was just mixing up the order of events?
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sheridan

Quote from: Richard on 06 July, 2020, 08:40:50 PM
Thanks David. There's a gap of a full month between progs 376 and 377, in July-August 1984, so it must have been then. Tammy has already gone under in June, and there are no other 1984 demises on the chart I linked to, so I'm none the wiser though. Maybe Michael will make finding out his next project...


I remember that - this new story had begun in 376 and I had to wait an eternity for the second episode.  The amount of times I re-read that first episode in that month!

Richard

QuoteIf you say that there were no comic cancellations in 1980, maybe Sanders was just mixing up the order of events?
Three girls' comics were cancelled in 1980.

Robert Frazer

#12
I understand, but the timelines are still a bit skewiff.

That disruption to publication from the 1980 strike definitely happened, Sanders hasn't misremembered the 1984 strike - I checked Barney, and Prog 164 is dated 10th May 1980 whereas Prog 165 is dated 14th June 1980, leaving a gap of over a month.

As Mr. Bishop says, Misty closed in 1980 but too early in the year for it to be relevant.

There was Fabulous 208, but that only closed in September after being rebranded as Fab Hits - that doesn't seem to be the candidate, both for the long gap between strike and closure and that you wouldn't waste money redesigning and relaunching a magazine that you were specifically aiming to cancel.

The only other candidate is Pink, which according to the My Guy family tree posted up-thread closed in June 1980 (on the very same day that 2000AD came back, it says). That might seem to make it the one Sanders refers to, but and although it's more of a magazine it apparently did have some comic content. Problems with the theory are that the magazine was not cancelled outright but merged into Mates and I can't find any details about the editorial staff being particularly bolshy as Sanders reports. Does anyone know anything more about this one?

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Funt Solo

Quote from: Robert Frazer on 09 July, 2020, 08:52:45 PM
... the magazine was not cancelled outright but merged into Mates ...

From what I've read of the Action, Starlord and Tornado mergers - it's effectively a cancellation. Some of the creative teams (freelancers) keep working but you get rid of one set of editorial staff. And then, there's effectively half the work for the creative teams, of course - so somebody loses out.
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Mike Carroll

Quote from: Richard on 06 July, 2020, 08:20:54 PM
According to Michael Carroll's frivolous infinitely valuable resource, his Rusty Staples website, it might have been Misty, Pink, or Fabulous: https://www.michaelowencarroll.com/pics/fullmyguyfamilytree.jpg

Hopefully he might see this post and be able to tell us, or you could pop over to his website and ask him in the comments.

Thanks for the mention, Richard! I remember the in Thrill Power Overload about Sanders killing a comic but I was never sure whether it was real or just a rumour!

Quick note: In future if you could link to the Rusty Staples posts rather than the images that'd be great. First, if people go straight to the images I've no way of knowing how many views they get. Second, there's no link back to the posts. Third, those posts get updated from time to time (when new information comes in, or existing info is corrected) and that might mean I'll remove the old image and replace it with a newer version -- which might have a different name!

Cheers,
Mike