Guess the big news in British comics is the sale of
Comics International, published for an astonishing 200 issues by Dez Skinn. A press release went out yesterday from Dez's Quality Communications which states that, after 16 years in the editorial chair, Dez is stepping down becuase of the "increased workload of exciting new challenges" that he has in development. The sale of
Comics International was made after "weeks of aggressive bidding between a number of entertainment and media companies" (it says here) before being handed over to new editor Mike Conroy. Actually, the press release makes no mention of who actually bought the paper. The new owners are a three-way partnership between a chap who works in TV/advertising, who owns 60%, Conroy, who owns 25%, and a comic shop retailer who has a 15% share
.
I know many people have had their run-ins with Dez over the years but you can't write off his contribution to British comics over the years, from fanzines like
Fantasy Advertiser to his years at Marvel, Top Sellers and his own Quality Communications. Dez was behind
Hulk Comic,
House of Hammer/Halls of Horror and
Warrior amongst others. I don't think it's time to start yelling "The king is dead, long live the king" quite yet... I imagine Dez will be back with something new in the future.
- The new graphic novel adaptation by Alan Grant and Cam Kennedy of Robert Louis Stevenson's Kidnapped is central to the Edinburgh reading campaign. Details and some nice pages of Cam's artwork can be found in this article, 'Edinburgh's going to get Kidnapped', from The Scotsman (21 December).
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