 | This articleneeds additional citations forverification. Please helpimprove this article byadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Deadline" magazine – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(June 2014) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
| Deadline | |
|---|---|
 Cover ofDeadline #1 (Oct. 1988), featuring an illustration ofTank Girl byJamie Hewlett. | |
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | Deadline Publications Ltd. |
| Schedule | Monthly |
| Format | Ongoing series |
| Genre | Alternative comics |
| Publication date | Oct.1988 to Oct./Nov.1995 |
| No. of issues | 71 |
| Main character(s) | Tank Girl |
| ISSN | 0957-3305 |
| Creative team | |
| Created by | Brett Ewins Steve Dillon |
| Written by | Alan Martin,Peter Milligan |
| Artist(s) | Jamie Hewlett,Philip Bond,Nick Abadzis,D'Israeli,Shaky Kane,Al Columbia |
| Editor(s) | Steve Dillon andBrett Ewins Dave Elliott Si Spencer Frank Wynne |
Deadline is a British comics magazine published between 1988 and 1995.
Created by2000 AD artistsBrett Ewins andSteve Dillon,Deadline featured a mix ofcomic strips and written articles aimed at adult readers.Deadline sat at the forefront of the wave of British comics anthologies for mature audiences that includedCrisis,Revolver andToxic!, and had a cultural influence beyond the comics world, most notably via its breakout starTank Girl.Deadline was published by Deadline Publications Ltd.
The magazine's origins lie in the earlier publicationStrange Days, an anthology title created by Ewins,Brendan McCarthy andPeter Milligan.
Much of the non-strip content centred on alternative and indie music. Coupled with the subversive nature of many of the comic strips, the magazine had a distinctivecounterculture ethos and post-punk sensibility.
The magazine was owned and financed by Tom Astor[1] (grandson ofNancy Astor), and initially edited by Steve Dillon and Brett Ewins before transferring editorship to Dave Elliott, thenSi Spencer and finallyFrank Wynne (a former staff member ofCrisis and subsequently translator ofMichel Houellebecq). Alongside original material, Elliott and Wynne also introduced reprints of Americanalternative comics such asLove and Rockets,Bob Burden'sFlaming Carrot andEvan Dorkin strips such asMilk and Cheese. Elliott also arranged for content from the magazine to be reprinted in theUS byDark Horse Comics asDeadline USA.
Deadline enjoyed the patronage of those who would not normally purchase comics and the support of several key bands of the time, withBlur making regular appearances in theTank Girl strips (Tank Girl artistJamie Hewlett was good friends with Blur'sDamon Albarn), and covers includingRide,Curve,Carter USM and theSenseless Things. However, the commercial failure of theTank Girl film and the crossing over of the alternative scene into the mainstream (around the time ofBritpop, a movement it had helped to champion) saw the magazine eventually fold at the end of 1995.
In the late 2000s,Alan Grant edited the titleWasted, which owed much to the style and ethos ofDeadline a decade and a half earlier.
