MARKLEY’S FEVERED BRAIN: A TITAN-ANIC publisher

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Wayne Markley

by Wayne Markley

It is no trick to routine visitors of this column that Humanoids is one of my preferred publishers, mainly because of the diverse listing of the books they publish, from criminal offense to science-fiction to fantasy. A second publisher who has just a diverse line of books, although their line of books is extremely different from Humanoids, is Titan Publishing. Titan publishes whatever from licensed book of American material for Europe (mainly the U.K.) to Modesty Blaise to traditional British comic strips to the Simon as well as Kirby library to magazines to monthly comics. I believed this time around out I would look at this incredible publisher that has something for everybody.

Judge Dredd

Before I discuss Titan’s different publications, a bit history. There was a time there were several comic distributors. Titan distribution was one of these. They were based in England as well as were the primary supplier for England as well as Europe as well as many other parts of the world. They were had by two fellows named Michael Lake as well as Nick Landau. They had retail stores (the prohibited world chain); they dabbled in publishing, mainly reprinting traditional judge Dredd as well as other 2000AD titles. They did some collection of newspaper strips, notably Modesty Blaise, Jeff Hawke, James Bond as well as others. They likewise published the very first work of Neil Gaiman to get wide distribution, fierce situations (after a little print one by getaway Publishing). Over time, Nick as well as Mike grew apart as Nick wished to do more with the publishing as well as Mike wished to go after the distribution end. Mike as well as Nick offered Titan distribution to diamond Comics Distributors in the mid 1990s as well as it ended up being diamond distribution UK. Nick continued with the publishing as well as has gone on to grow a diverse as well as profitable publishing company.

Simon & Kirby Library: Crime

Perhaps the most fascinating books they publish, for American comic book fans at least, are the Simon as well as Kirby Library. Titan has undertaken the task of reprinting all they can of the Joe Simon as well as Jack Kirby work that has not been collected yet by marvel as well as DC. So far they have done four volumes. two volumes are gorgeous large hardcovers of Simon as well as Kirby’s work from the 40 as well as 50s. The very first volume focuses on superhero work other than the DC as well as marvel characters. The second volume is dedicated to the Simon as well as Kirby criminal offense comics. This is a collection of hard-boiled criminal offense stories, mainly from the 50’s. Personally, I discover these to be a few of the very best criminal offense stories from the time period as well as I discover they are far much better than criminal offense Does Not Pay. There is likewise going to be a third volume in this hardcover series dedicated totheir romance comics. There likewise is a paperback collection of Simon & Kirby’s alternate superhero, the fighting American. This is kind of a remake of Captain America, however it is different sufficient to be extremely entertaining as well as well worth reading. any type of of these collections are well worth your money, as they are all full color as well as function top notch production values. as well as for an overview of their work, the very best of Simon & Kirby is a nice collection. These are fantastic books for fans of Joe Simon or Jack Kirby or comic history. As a bonus, these books are being put together with the full cooperation as well as advice of Joe Simon.

Modesty Blaise

One of my personal favorites that Titan publishes is Modesty Blaise. For those of you who are not familiar with moderate Blaise, it was a newspaper strip that started in 1963 as well as ran up until a few years ago. It tells the story of an ex-criminal crime-lord who retired as well as decides to assist people with her assistant, Willie Garvin. These strips had different artists throughout the years however all the stories were written by Peter O’Donnell. This is one of the very best experience strips performed in the last 50 years as well as the stories take location around the world as well as function complex stories with great deals of twists as well as turns as well as always had fetching art. So far Titan has published twenty volumes of Modesty Blaise stories, with each volume containing three total stories. any type of of these are worth reading, as well as it does not need you checked out them in order however it helps. Modesty Blaise likewise has appeared in 13 novels (all by O’Donnell) as well as has been in two movies as well as one graphic book published by DC.

Dan Dare

Another character that Titan is collecting is the total Dan Dare. Dan attempt is a British science fiction strip thatstarted in 1950 as well as has been started as well as stopped a number of times throughout the years as well as has always had incredible art. It originally appeared in the regular Eagle Comics as a two page comic strip. These stories are just fun science fiction as well as there is extremely bit in America that compares to this strip, however perhaps buck Rogers comes closest. Their collections are full color hardcover books collecting the strips in the sequence they were published. Plus, each volume has great deals of historical material about the artists as well as the strips. It is well worth inspecting out any type of one of these volumes just for the art, which is a extremely British style that never truly has been seen right here in America. There are 13 volumes so far.

Charley’s War

One of the biggest war books ever done, as well as I am willing to bet almost nobody is conscious of, is Battle. This was a British comic that featured war stories from all ages as well as it was amazingly brutal as well as accurate. one of the very best strips from the pages of battle was by Pat Mills as well as Joe Colquhoun called Charley’s War. This strip is about a 16 year old named Charlie Bourne who joins the British armed forces in the very first world war as well as finds the hell that is war, from the everyday struggle to make it through to the living headache that were of trenches of WW1. Both Mills as well as Colquhoun put so much detail in these stories as well as they are so precise you feel filthy after reading each volume. These are truly incredible pieces of storytelling that extremely few creators, if any, have ever been able to duplicate, particularly with a war book. This is not Sgt. rock or Sgt. Fury, however a genuine story of war. This book is for fans of fantastic storytelling, war history buffs, as well as fans of Garth Ennis’s war stories as he has stated many times that battle was a big influence on his writing. There are eight black as well as white hardcover editions so far.

Tank Girl

Titan likewise publishes a number of other books, comics as well as magazines. I have only explained a few of their titles that I truly enjoy. They likewise publish storage tank Girl, star trip as well as Supernatural magazines, as well as a ton of art as well as movie books. as well as to top everything off they likewise distribute the difficult situation criminal offense series of novels, which I likewise truly enjoy, as well as would suggest to any type of fan of difficult boiled criminal offense comics such as Criminal.

John Lord

Finally, I would like to mention a recent release from one of my preferred publishers who I mentioned in the opening of this article, Humanoids. The book is called John Lord as well as it is a criminal offense graphic novel. however it is so much more than that. This was quickly the very best graphic book I have checked out in ages. It is a criminal offense story set in the 1920s with flashbacks to the late 1880s. There are two stories at when going on here, one set in the past as well as moving ahead as well as one set in 1920s as well as the story lastly merges to expose the surprise ending, which with a criminal offense story it is relatively difficult as most endings have ended up being clichés over the years. one of the unique things with this story is all the flashback are wordless. Yet the story moves at a breakneck speed with tons of twists as well as turns. The art is likewise breathtaking as well as in full color. As an aside though, I would only suggest this book for mature visitors because of strong story material as well as nudity. however general I cannot suggest this book extremely enough.

As always, all opinions in this column are mine as well as do not show the thoughts of Westfield Comics or their employees. any type of thoughts, comments as well as disagreements can be sent to MFBWAY@AOL.COM.

Thank you.