Dez Skinn
A chat with the man behind titles such as Doctor Who Weekly, Warrior, The House of Hammer and Comics International...
EAGLE FLIES AGAIN: Dez, thank you for agreeing to this interview. Which comics did you read when you were young?
DEZ SKINN: Like most kids, I went from standard nursery fare to DC Thomson's mildly anarchic weeklies, Beano, Topper, Dandy, Beezer. I then graduated to the adventure weekly rivals, Thomson's Victor, Hotspur and Hornet on one side and IPC/Fleetway's Valiant, Lion, and Smash. Plus just about all of the rest -- picture libraries, Len Miller and Alan Class reprints of US titles.
I was a voracious reader, who also read stories without pictures. But comics were to books like TV was to radio for me. They still allowed for my imagination to develop, my sense of wonder, as, like just about every other kid, I didn't see them as stagnant silent still frames, but accepted the surreal concept of sound effects and speech balloons, and a flow between images. It's something we take for granted, being comics-literate. But it's amazing how many people can't deal with the words and pictures in a single image... In the same way some people can't deal with subtitled movies, I guess.
EFA: Which ones influenced you the most?
DEZ: When I discovered American comics, as a nine-year old used to one and two page weekly episodic storytelling, I was knocked out. Plus they were brash colourful characters, totally suitable for their brash colour format!
I was already showing what some would consider nerdy tendencies, seeking out earlier British weeklies I'd missed at jumble sales and filing them tidily, so the imported monthlies were a dream. Not only did each issue give you beginnings, middles and ends to stories, but they were boldly numbered so you were sucked in to collecting them.
Marvel's “silver age” hadn't begun by then, so, while I bought everything I could find, from Classics Illustrated to Disney, it was the DC superhero line which excited me most. Batman, Blackhawks, Green Lantern et al. It was these titles which made me want to work in comics, even though I felt I'd have to move to America to do so.
EFA: How did you get involved in comics on a professional level?
DEZ: Strangely enough, while I wanted to work on a Mick Anglo DC reprint title (where I felt my knowledge would give me something to contribute), I ended up at IPC, as a sub-editor on Whizzer and Chips. Mick didn't need an assistant, so he sent me to City Magazines/Century 21 who were producing the Gerry Anderson titles, and they passed me on to IPC.
EFA: How did you go about launching Doctor Who Weekly?
DEZ: I'd first tried in 1976. House of Hammer had proven successful for me and I felt Doctor Who would be a logical next step. I never felt, as Brits, we were of the right mindset for superheroes, a distinctly US invention of contemporary myths as they have no historical ones of their own. So I wanted to take household names and give them the comics treatment, in the belief they would have a vast potential market. So, with Hammer and Doctor Who, I put dummies together and booked a meeting with the copyright holders, Hammer Films and BBC Enterprise. The BBC had already licensed Doctor Who for a two-page strip in a TV anthology weekly, TV Comic (what a waste!), so I had to wait a few years, but both company's liked the approach I presented, so it went remarkably easily.
EFA: Why do you think it was so successful?
DEZ: Doctor Who had a weekly TV audience of over nine million. I was aiming at as many of those as I could. I had the belief the fans would buy it anyway, just for the one or two photos they hadn't seen, and I needed a bigger audience. It was a very successful launch, around 200,000 I recall. But it was easier for me in 1980 than more recent editors, I had Tom Baker to help and the equivalent of a 25-minute weekly national TV ad to ride the back of.
EFA: The Weekly could have been a rush-job like the Doctor Who annuals but it was put together with care, especially the comic strip. Did you have to fight to make it such a quality title?
DEZ: I had the good fortune of Stan Lee, my immediate superior, giving me a totally free hand in running UK Marvel. America saw only printed copies, comps, and balance sheets. As long as the line succeeded, they left us alone. Together with the UK company's accountant I'd work out budgets and break evens and if it made sense on paper we'd do it.
EFA: Have you followed Doctor Who Magazine since your involvement with it finished?
DEZ: Sadly, no more than Buster, Starburst or anything else I was involved in. I'm not being callous, hopefully, but there just aren't enough hours in the day, and I'd possibly feel very frustrated about missed potential, poor creative choices and such like. I'm a very hands-on sort of editor who would be on the outside suddenly and wouldn't know why they do things the way they do.
EFA: Are you a big fan of Doctor Who?
DEZ: I wouldn't say a big fan, any more than I'm a fan of any SF series from Star Trek to Star Wars or even Buffy and the rest. Although I did love the middle seasons of Babylon 5.
EFA: You've helped to launch the careers of many comic writers and artists -- is this important to you?
DEZ: Very much so. It's something I'm very proud about, being able to provide a stage for them to flex their muscles in a far less restrictive environment than the large companies would be able to do. I think this freedom allowed them to shine and often be snapped up by America to do greater things.
EFA: The comics market is dominated by American and manga titles. Are traditional British titles like Eagle, Buster, Tiger etc. dead forever?
DEZ: The current wholesale stranglehold sadly makes it very difficult to launch anything “different” for newsagents. Where I could, as with Starburst, throw out 72,000 copies of the first issue, to van wholesalers, as retail box-outs and so forth, things have changed.
Leading wholesalers actually charge you a fee to carry the first three issues (only) of your title. With my last launch, Toy Max, two major retail chains were charging what worked out at 33p a copy, whether they sold any or not. So if they didn't sell a single copy they'd still be charging the publisher several thousand pounds for the privilege. Outrageous or wot?
EFA: You now edit the hugely successful Comics International. What are its main aims and objectives?
DEZ: Almost the same as Warrior, Hulk or any other title I've been involved in. To entertain, and celebrate good quality work. CI can cover more than just half a dozen artists and writers an issue, and with it's Time Out-style approach can also show the great outside world of journalists, teachers, librarians and such like that there's more to comics than kids' stuff.
EFA: What advice would you give to aspiring comics writers and artists? Is there enough work around these days?
DEZ: The first thing I say to many novices is find somebody else to pay for it. So many want to publish their own work. It isn't enough they're talented, they want to take on the invidious task of publishing. So they invariably lose money when their comics don't sell and become totally disillusioned with the industry.
As we show in CI there are a host of amateur anthology comics, small press titles, out there. They may not pay, but they get your work in print, provide feedback and give you the opportunity to gain experience. Fanzines have always been a superb launchpad and are often read by editors who will snap up the next hot find.
Alternatively, if would-be artists want to submit work, they should aim specifically at titles running their kind of material. It's no use blanket mailing. That only leads to frustration. Neither should they start out wanting to change the status quo with “better” re-workings of existing characters, that's a slap in the face to an editor. They have to get in by fitting in and then, when they're on the inside they can move the goalposts. They should also be persistent and thick-skinned.
One leading artist sent me work month in month out for the best part of a year before being commissioned. He didn't badger or expect replies, he just sent his latest work in every month. I soon became familiar with his work and, as soon as something appropriate came up I didn't have to look far to find his details.
EFA: Which of your many projects have you been most proud of?
DEZ: My next one! Sorry, but I'd worry if I looked back and thought yesterday's work was a peak. My latest is the Comix: The Underground Revolution hardback/softback. It's getting publicity in places nothing I've done before could dream of, from Dazed & Confused to Arena, Jack magazine, John Peel, Radio 4's Today programme, an Institute of Contemporary Arts launch, and so on. Good, better, best, bettered. That's what I strive for.
Dez, thanks for talking to us and
good luck for the future.