UK Comic Publishers

• The British Library Newspaper Library holds a number of comics. Find out more at:
http://www.bl.uk/collections/comlist.html
Land Address: The British Library, Newspaper Library, Colindale Avenue, London NW9 5HE
General Enquiries: Tel: +44 (0)20 7412 7353  Fax: +44 (0)20 7412 7379
Email: newspaper@bl.uk

Majors (News Stand Titles)
• Click here for UK Magazine Publishers including part Works publisher who now publish several titles that use comic strip and comics-style illustration

BBC Magazines
Official: www.bbcmagazines.com
Room A1130, BBC Woodlands, 80 Wood Lane, London W12 0TT
The BBC publishes a huge number of titles but in among its many magazines, pre-school fare and boy-oriented titles such as Action Hero there's also Mysti magazine, based around the show and the books -- and it includes comic strip. Apart from Animals and You, a DC Thomson title aimed at 7 - 10s, this is the only girls news stand title to feature comic strip today. Web Link: www.mysti.co.uk

DC Thomson & Co Ltd.
Official: www.dcthomson.co.uk
Albert Square, Dundee DD1 9QJ
Publishers of The Beano, Dandy, War Library and other titles. Syndicates strips abroad, including strips no longer published in the UK such as Wendy, but are still originated.

David Fickling Books
Official: www.thedfc.co.uk
Publishers of the subscription-only weekly comic The DFC which featured strips by Philip Pullman, the Etherington Brothers, James Turner and many more. Read the downthetubes review of the first issue.

The comic, which gained some 4000 subscribers, sadly folded in 2009 but may return in 2012. Some of the strips are being collected by Random House.

Contributors to The DFC included (first link is usually to their web site, unless they only have a blog; where creator has a website and separate blog, this is noted. Some creators were writer-artists but have separate credits.

Writers

• John Aggs (The Boss)
• Kate Brown (The Spider Moon, available as a graphic novel) (also has a blog)
• Neill Cameron (Mo-Bot High)
• Jason Cobley (Frontier)
• Wilbur Dawbarn (Bodkin and the Bear) - also has a blog
• Robert Deas (Spectrum Black)
• Robin Etherington (The Strange World of Weird, Monkey Nuts)
• John Gatehouse (Lazarus Lemming)
• Ben Haggarty (Mezolith, available as a graphic novel)
• Julian Hanshaw (Chicken Caesar Jnr.)
• Laura Howell (The Mighty M) - also has a blog
• Tony Lee (Prince of Baghdad, available as an iPhone comic from Genus)
• Simone Lia (Sausage & Carrots)
• Sarah McIntyre (Vern & Lettuce) - also has a blog
• Dave Morris (Mirabilis)
• Gary Northfield (Little Cutie) - also has a blog
• Peadar O'Guilin (Sneaky!)- link is to agent's site
• Woodrow Phoenix (That's a Horse of a Different Colour) - follow on Twitter
• Misako Rocks (Peach de Punch) - also has a blog
• Dave Shelton (Good Dog, Bad Dog, available as a graphic novel) - also has a blog
• Jamie Smart (The DFC Olympics)
• James Turner (Super Animal Adventure Squad)
• Emma Vieceli (Violet)

Artists

• John Aggs (The Adventures of John Blake)
• Patrice Aggs (The Boss)
• Dan Boultwood (Prince of Baghdad - available as an iPhone comic from Genus)
• Adam Brockbank (Mezolith)
• Kate Brown (The Spider Moon) - also has a blog
• Neill Cameron (Mo-Bot High)
• Wilbur Dawbarn (Bodkin and the Bear) - also has a blog
• Robert Deas (Spectrum Black)
• Ted Dewan (Doodlit)
• Lawrence Etherington (Monkey Nuts)
• Robin Etherington (The Strange World of Weird, Monkey Nuts)
• Julian Hanshaw (Chicken Caesar Jnr.)
• Leo Hartas (Mirabilis)
• Laura Howell (The Mighty M; Sneaky!) - also has a blog
• Nikos Koutsis (Mirabilis)
• Simone Lia (Sausage & Carrots)
• Sarah McIntyre (Vern & Lettuce) - also has a blog
• Martin McKenna (Mirabilis)
• Jim Medway (Crab Lane Crew, New at the Zoo) - also has a blog
• Gary Northfield (Little Cutie) - also has a blog
• Woodrow Phoenix (That's a Horse of a Different Colour) - follow on Twitter
• Philip Pullman (The Adventures of John Blake)
• Misako Rocks (Peach de Punch) - also has a blog
• Nick Sharratt (What Does The DFC Stand For?)
• Dave Shelton (Good Dog, Bad Dog) - also has a blog
• Zak Simmonds-Hurn (The Strange World of Weird)
• Jamie Smart (The DFC Olympics)
• James Turner (Super Animal Adventure Squad)
• Emma Vieceli (Violet)
• John Welding (Will Scoggin's Skull) - also has a blog
• Andrew Wildman (Frontier)
• Dave Windett (Lazarus Lemming)

Dennis Publishing Ltd.
Offical: www.dennis.co.uk
30 Cleveland Street, London W1T 4JD Tel: 020 7907 6000
Publishes humour, adventure titles, pockets books and annuals, including Viz.

Egmont Magazines Ltd.
Official: www.egmontmagazines.co.uk
Egmont House, 25/31 Tavistock Place, London WC1H 9SU Tel: 0207 344 6400
Publishers of Toxic. European-wide company with active publishing program in countries such as Sweden, where The Phantom remains popular.

Hamlyn Books
Official: www.hamlyn.co.uk
2 - 4 Heron Quays, London E14 4JB Tel: 0207 531 8584

John Brown Citrus Publishing
Offical: www.jbcp.co.uk
The Boathouse, Crabtree Lane, Fulham, London SW6 Tel: 0207 381 6007
Publishers of graphic albums. Also a major contract publisher. John Brown Junior publish a number of titles.

Panini Comics UK
Official: www.paninicomics.co.uk
Panini House, Coach and Horses Passage, The Pantiles, Tunbridge Wells, Kent KT2 5UJ
Publishes young readers titles, adventure titles such as Action Force plus Marvel reprints (and some originated superhero strips), along with the wonderful Doctor Who Magazine, which I used to edit so ignore my bias!
• Read about some of the history of Marvel UK at International Hero: Go

Rebellion Developments Ltd.
Official: www.rebellion.co.uk
2000AD: www.2000ADonline.com
The Studio, Brewer Street, Oxfrod OX1 1QN Tel: 01865 792201
Publishers of 2000AD and Judge Dredd: The Megazine

Software company Rebellion, creators of games such as Gunlok and Aliens vs. Predator, bought 2000AD in 2000 from publisher Egmont International.
The Oxford-based software developer assumed creative control of the magazine's content and its sister title Judge Dredd: The Megazine, while looking to maximize the potential of the many characters and storylines which the franchise has created (in both commercial and creative terms).
2000AD occupies an unequaled position in the world of science fiction, having been published for more than 30 years. During this time, the comic has introduced a number of the genre's most popular characters (Judge Dredd, Strontium Dog, Slaine, Rogue Trooper, Nemesis and many more) as well as launching the careers of some of the UK's most successful comic writers and artists, including Alan Moore, Dave Gibbons, Brian Bolland, Grant Morrison, Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon.
The first issue of 2000AD ('Prog 1' to use the comic's own terminology) hit the streets on 28 February 1977, for the down-to-earth price of 8p (or 17 Galactic Groats on Mercury) and featured a number of characters and stories which went on to enjoy huge popularity, including M.A.C.H. 1, Flesh and Invasion. It was not until Issue Two, however, that the publication's most enduring and notorious icon, Judge Dredd, first appeared.
At the height of its popularity, the comic sold more than 120,000 copies per week.
"I am only too happy to confess that I have been an avid 2000AD reader since Prog 1," said Rebellion's Chief Executive Officer, Jason Kingsley when the takeover was announced. "However, that doesn't mean that this deal was done for sentimental reasons. 2000AD is not only a goldmine of intellectual properties, it is also a hugely enjoyable read. We are looking forward to helping this top quality publication to achieve its fullest potential."
Rebellion's ownership of 2000AD allows the team full use of more than 700 characters and series, not only in computer games, but also in films, as action figures, in collectable card games and in any other suitable merchandising vehicle.

Redan Publishing Ltd
Official: www.redan.co.uk
Canon Court East, Abbey Lawn, Shrewsbury SY2 5DE Tel: 01743 364433
E-mail: info@redan.com
Pre-school titles and licensed titles, including Thunderbirds. Redan describes itself as the leading UK independent publisher for the pre-school magazine sector. Established in 1991 by Robert Sutherland, operating at first as part of Marvel UK, Redan largely focuses its output on magazines to pre-schoolers and their parents.
Most titles are based on popular children's television characters including Barney, Dora the Explorer, Oswald, Mr Men, Blue's Clues and many more.
Titles range from standalone character titles to the highly successful multi-character magazines, Fun To Learn Friends, Fun To Learn Favourites and Sparkle World. Redan prints over 3/4 million magazines a month, and considers its innovative approach to children's publishing sets the standard for the pre-school sector

Savoy Books
Official: www.abel.net.uk/~savoy
446 Wilmslow Road, Whittington, Manchester M20 3BW Tel: 0161 833 2664
Publishers of adult comic magazines, graphic novels and books.

Titan Magazines
Official: www.titanmagazines.com
Publishes Simpsons Comics, and magazines such as Dreamwatch and Star Trek Magazine. The company has begun to create new comic strip with titles such as Wallace and Gromit as well as publishing reprints such as Simpsons Comics and Star Wars Comic.
It is also the largest graphic novels publisher in the UK. In 2004 it began publishing classic UK comics in album format including Dan Dare and Modesty Blaise.

Toontastic Publishing Ltd
Office Block One, Southlink Business Park, Oldham 0L4 1DE
Tel: 0161 624 0414 Fax: 0161 628 4655
Currently publish titles including Beyblade and their own creation, the Lucky Bag comic. Lucky Bag is fully reprint.

Part Works Publishers
Led by companies such as Deagostini (www.deagostini.co.uk), Fabbri (www.gefabbri.co.uk) and Del Prado, these are ongoing 'series' of magazines building up into a collection. Recent examples include Star Trek -- now being re-issued with DVD -- Carry On and Lord of the Rings. Usually there's a gift to accompany each issue.
In recent years, the companies started breaking into titles with plenty of comics material in them. Terry Deary's brilliant "Horrible Histories" has been adapted into a part work -- loads of former Marvel UK people working on that, including Nick Abadzis -- and Jackie Chan Adventures. The business has grown massively in recent years and the Part Works companies are competing aggressively for new licences, to the extent that apparently there's little chance some big TV successes will become regular comics but instead become part works. (The Guardian did a feature on the success of part works: click here for that story (registration required to read this).
The difference between Part Works and regular titles is that they go firm sale after about Issue 7 and depend on subs sales and high sales to keep going. Most are very short-lived, maybe two years tops, although the Star Trek one apparently set records by lasting for over six on its first run.
Of course the titles can be re-released because they don't carry much time sensitive material. They're also re-published across Europe. The Star Trek title was repackaged as Star Trek Magazine for the US and as Fact Files in Japan where it proved extraordinarily popular.
The publishers do a lot of market testing and have plenty of material under their belts before going national. My friend Marcus Hearn had to plan the entire run of the Star Wars Fact Files in minute detail before it even began to go into commissioning.

Deagostini
Web Link: www.deagostini.co.uk
PO Box 1000, Newcastle Upon Tyne, NE85 2BS

Publishers of such titles as Disney Princess and Funny Bones and many others -- click here for a full list of titles (www.deagostini.co.uk/contact_corp.php)
De Agostini UK Ltd is the leading partwork publisher in the United Kingdom. In addition to the UK, the company publishes its titles in Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and Malta.
De Agostini UK Ltd is part of the international De Agostini group of companies with its head office in Milan. The parent company was founded in Italy in 1901.

Eaglemoss
Web Link: www.eaglemoss.co.uk
5 Cromwell Road, London SW7 2HR Tel: + 44 (0)20 7590 8300

Publishers of the Marvel Superheroes part work (launched September 2005). Describes itself as market leader in the highly competitive world of partwork publishing for over 20 years. They publish partworks in most of the English-speaking markets, as well as in France and Eastern Europe; and we license local publishers elsewhere. In addition,
they produce a wide range of high-quality illustrated books for publishers around the world.

GE Fabbri
Web Link (UK):www.gefabbri.co.uk
Elme House, 133 Long Acre, London WC2E 9AW
Tel: Corporate Enquiries 020 7836 0519 or 020 7468 5600

Publishers of such titles as the Star Trek Fact Files, Tracey Beaker, CSI and others.

Independents
• If you are interested in self-publishing, check out the book "How to Self Publish" from Engine Comics. This is a great guide to going it alone!
• SmallZone is a great service publishes information on fanzines and sells them online, and at UK comic marts and events. If you've started a fanzine this could be worth checking out. They also offer a print service.
• If you can't find the publisher you're looking for here, try my "Small Press" page

Ablaze Media
Official: www.tozzer.com
Publishers of the highly-acclaimed comic Tozzer

Accent Comics
Official: www.accentukcomics.com
Founded in 2000, Accent UK is a privately owned comic publisher based in Cheshire in the United Kingdom. Owners Colin Mathieson and Dave West collect the talents of the UK Independent Comic publishing community, along with guests from overseas, producing an annual themed anthology such as Robots and Westerns, as well as producing comics off their own.

Ambrosia Publishing
Official: www.ambrosiapublishing.com
Digital comics publisher

Ariel Press
Official: www.arielpress.com
Roseleaf Media, PO Box 732, York YO30 5WR
Publishers of Raven, a black and white US-size comic which includes strips by Vince Danks and Roger Gibson among others, including Sapphire and The Bishop.

Bad to the Bone
Official: www.ankh.datasnake.co.uk/ankh.htm
This website is the home of Noel K. Hannan's science fiction publishing featuring archive material from Nightfall Press, Bad To The Bone and ankh. There's also over x thousand words of fiction including the complete texts of two novels, Kingdoms of Clay and The Children, and an MP3 soundtrack for the graphic novel Streetmeat.

Black and White Cat Press
Official: www.blackandwhitecatpress.org
Email: blackandwhitecatpress@hotmail.com Tel: 07858616077

The Black and White Cat Press is an artist run printer and publisher of zines, comics, books and CDs based in Salford, England. The press was set up by David M. Birchall in 2001 and prides itself on taking care of all aspects of the design, print and construction of its artworks.
The Press is also active in the field of furthering visual education providing comics workshops with young people in the Greater Manchester area.

Blink Twice
Official: www.studioblinktwice.com
For general enquiries, fan-mail and spam, please e-mail enquiries@studioblinktwice.com
The website of the publishers of titles such as Malcolm Magic. Blink Twice is the brainchild of the Etherington Borthers, regular contributors to comics such as The DFC.

Boychild Productions
Official: www.boychildproductions.co.uk
E-mail: info@boychildproductions.co.uk
East House, Old Trinity School House, Church Street, Bradford upon Avon, Wiltshire BA15 1LW, United Kingdom.
Publishers of titles such as Manga Mover, Beautiful Things, and Iraq: Operation Corporate Takeover

Com.x Ltd
c/o An.x Ltd, 1 Quality Court, Chancery Lane, London WC2A 1HR United Kingdom
Official Blog: comxcomics.blogspot.com

Publishers of Cla$$ War, John Higgins Razorjack and much more. back in 2009 alive and kicking - see news story here!

• Buy Razorjack from amazon.com

The Girly Comic
Official: http://factorfictionpress.co.uk
/girly/index.html

The Girly Comic is a comic strip anthology launched at the Comics 2002 Festival in the UK. While by no means restricted just to women readers, the plan is to produce something a little more woman-friendly than a lot of mainstream comic titles out there, with a diversity of material, at an affordable price. Edited by Selina Lock, it plans to feature strips from romance to comedy, sci-fi to fantasy, slice of life to anthropomorphic animals - depending on the submissions...

Knockabout Comics
Official: www.knockabout.com
10 Acklam Road, London W10 5QZ Tel: 0208 969 2945

Site requires Shockwave 3 or later. Publishers of humour and underground comix, including Hunt Emerson's cracking tales.

Mam Tor Publishing
Link: www.mamtor.com
PO Box 6785 Derby D22 1X7 E-mail: info@mamtor.com
Publishers of the creator owned Event Horizon anthology. The first isue, released May 2005, is an eclectic, energetic mixture of strips and art pages from the likes of Liam Sharp (the originator of this project), Chris Weston, Gary Erskine, Rich Johnston, Savetto Tenuta, John Bamber, John Howard, Edmund Bagwell and many others. As with all anthologies, some stories will appeal more than others but for me Sharp's Steve Niles scripted F******* Savages makes for a great opener and I enjoyed strips such as Weston's H.E.A.D. Trips and Johnston/Tenuta's Chase Variant immensely. Bagwell's beautiful illustrations to Ralph R. Raims The True Adventures of Jed Lightspear, Space Pirate are simply stunning.
The title's been described as pulp fcition for the 21st Century: it certainly is that, in spades. There's an unfettered joy from the contributors involved in this project as they've flexed their creative skills to maximum, doing what they want simply for the hell of it. unconstrained from any ediotorial interference. While some of the contributions left me a little cold -- always the way of anthologies, not every item will appeal to all -- there is more than enough from some terrific creators at the top of their game to justify the high price tag for this quality publication. Nice one, Liam!

Moonface Press
Link: www.moonfacepress.com
Publishers of the Devilchild graphic novel series and the Hero Killers one-shot in 2006. The site includes PDF previews of most of our books, a PayPal- friendly shop, and a regularly updated news page.

Pulp Entertainment
Official: www.pulptheatre.com
Publishers of Brodie's Law. Pulp Theatre Entertainment is a leading UK publishing/media studio that has been in business for 7 years. Founded by creators David Bircham and Daley Osiyemi as a collective for talented artists and writers, dedicated to developing and successfully marketing exciting new and original titles.
• Review of Brodie's Law: Click Here

Rough Cut Comics
Official: www.roughcut-comics.com
Order comics from: 129 Langmuirhead Road, Glasgow G66 5DL

An independent publishing company based in the United Kingdom.
Formed by Edward Murphy to develop two-way tie-ins between the comics' medium and the film, television, and games markets, the company produces American-style publications, which are distributed throughout the UK and United States.
The company are currently working with a host of innovative writers - Colin Barr, John Dorans, Douglas Skelton (Blood on the Thistle), UK LetterHack El Sloano and artists - Colin Barr, Jaeson Finn, Shelby Robertson (Morbid Angel), and Dominic Regan (A1, Dom Zombie).
If you're a comic artist (or would like to be) & you'd like to draw or ink for Rough Cut they need you to send them scanned samples of your work.Please send JPEGS no larger than 100k. A couple of pages ought to do it.
Be warned though, you might be able to draw like Michael Angelo but if it takes you a week to draw a page... don't call them, go find a ceiling somewhere.
Email your scans to tryout@roughcut-comics.com

SkyJack Publishing
Official: www.skyjackdigital.co.uk
Established in January 2009, Skyjack is the brainchild of fromer TOXIC editor Matt Yeo and is working on all sorts of projects straight off the bat, from Ben 10 Magazine (for Egmont UK), a number of newsstand publications for other companies, big projects with major video game publishers and much, much more.

This includes Bulletproof Comics, an Internet-based showcase for up-and-coming UK comic book creators.
"Bulletproof began as an idea for a comics newsletter but soon expanded into an online, portfolio-style magazine after the interest shown by many UK comic creators," explains Matt. "There's a wealth of incredible untapped comics talent in the UK, and Bulletproof has been set-up to get them under the spotlight!"
Within bulletproofcomics.co.uk you'll discover material from exciting new writers, artists and creators, as well as exclusive interviews and artwork from established industry professionals such as Frank Quitely, Steve Yeowell, Richard Starkings and Andy Diggle.
"It is becoming increasingly difficult to find a platform to showcase your comic book work, whether it be art or writing," added Stu Taylor, Editorial Consultant, Bulletproof Comics. "As a new writer, I find the potential of bulletproofcomics to be extremely exciting. It's essentially a UK comics talent pool that allows writers to find artists, artists to find writers, and even mainstream publishers to find entire creative teams at a click of a button!"
• Read a review of Bulletproof #1

Soaring Penguin
Official: www.soaringpenguin.co.uk
E-mail: help@soaringpenguin.co.uk
Tel: 020 8265 8575
In addition to publishing its own titles such as Meanwhile, Soaring Penguin offers a print and design service and say they can provide competitive print quotes and distribution assistance.

Sweatdrop Studios
Official: www.sweatdrop.com
Sweatdrop Studios is a semi professional collective of UK creators working on original manga. We start our work as small-press style floppies, but our larger anthologies and longer running series are printed in paperback format with ISBNs. Members of the group are made up of amateurs, hobbyists and full-time professional comic artists.
Wikipedia sums up a lot about Sweatdrop at:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweatdrop_Studios

Tabella Publishing
Official: www.tabella.co.uk
6 Winterborne Monkton, Dorchester, Dorset, DT2 9PT
Tel: 01305 261229 E-mail: infoATtabella.co.uk

Tabella Publishing (tabella is Latin for a drawing and/or writing tablet) was set up in 2008. Working from their home in rural Dorset, Kevin and Julie Quinn publish high quality arts and graphics books (digital and traditional in origin). They’re keen to expand our programme, and welcome enquiries from artists/writers interested in getting their work into print.
Kevin has worked in publishing for nearly 10 years, and is currently the General Manager for Veloce Publishing Ltd.
Julie has worked as a teacher for over 15 years, and takes a major role in administration, editing and layout.

Typocrat
Official: www.typocrat.com
3 Hackney Road, Shoreditch, London E2 7NX United Kingdom Tel: +44 (0) 7719 889 906
Typocrat Press is a new independent comics publisher specializing in putting out the best contemporary European comics and graphic novels in high quality English editions. Europe is home to some of the most inventive and exciting artists in the world, and this company's goalgoal is to make them more available to English-speaking readers. They will be publishing around three or four books a year from 2005 onwards by the best European artists, as well as a regular anthology series featuring a host of outstanding talents from across the continent.

Warpton
Official: www.warpton.co.uk
Publishers of Nature's Guard and doing some interesting work in the area of trying to promote indpenedent titles in the UK.

WildFur Productions
Official: www.wildfur.net
An online publishing company established by comics creators Simon Furman and Andrew Wildman.

Witch
Official: www.lornamiller.com
Lorna Miller has been producing illustrations and writing and drawing her own comic stories since she graduated from Glasgow School of Art in 1994. Her 80 page comic book Witch is sold worldwide. The 'zine has also included interviews with comics creators such as Frazer Irving and Alan Moore.

Zarjaz
Web Link: www.zarjaz.blogspot.com
Award-winning fanzine devoted to 2000AD characters. Copies are available for £2 plus 70p postage each from Andrew Lewis, 39 Priory Court, Brynoch, Neath SA10 7RZ. Cheques/Postal Orders payable to A Lewis


Printers
• ComiXpress
P.O. Box 434 Dumont, NJ 07628 United States
Link: www.comiXpress.com
This is a new service for independent comix artists that will print books with no minimum orders, act as their online store, then fulfill the order so that all the artist needs to worry about is creating their comix and being notified of their sales. ComiXpress allows creators the opportunity to print their comics in quantities as low as one single issue for incredibly low prices (You can literally get the ball rolling for just over $10!).
While getting ComixXpress to print comics and send them to the UK might be very expensive, this might be an excellent way for artists in the UK to sell their comics to a North American audience. More variety in comics is good for everyone!

• Printers UK Directory
If you're thinking of publishing a fanzine, here's a comprehensive list of UK litho printers who embrace the Internet and  online business. Printing firms are ranked below in order of user popularity. In each case their service response and quality has been anonymously checked by the site's directory team.

• Mitchell & Wright Printers Limited
The Print Works, Banastre Road, Southport, Merseyside PR8 5AL
Tel: 01704 535529 Fax: 01704 543216
E-mail: print@mitchell-wright.demon.co.uk

Printers of Carl Critchlow's Thrud the Barbarian comic.