 | |
| Status | defunct,c. 2008 |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1982 |
| Founder | Dez Skinn |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Headquarters location | 3 Lewisham Way London |
| Publication types | Comic magazines, Magazines |
| Fiction genres | Superheroes, Science fiction, Horror |
Quality Communications was a Britishpublishing company founded byDez Skinn that operated from 1982 toc. 2008. The company's most notable publications were the monthlycomics anthologyWarrior, which featured early work by writerAlan Moore; and the comicstrade magazineComics International, which Skinn published and edited for 16 years. Quality was involved with comics in both theUK and theU.S., mainly with reprint material fromWarrior and repackaging2000 AD material for the U.S. market.
Quality was initially formed to publishWarrior, which featured theAlan Moore storiesV for Vendetta andMarvelman.Warrior won 17Eagle Awards during its short run (including nine Eagles in 1983 alone).[1] Quality was also involved in the U.S. completion ofMarvelman andV for Vendetta.
Quality's main period as a comics publisher was from 1982 to 1988.2000 AD content repackaged for the U.S. market included the titles2000 A.D. Presents,Spellbinders, andScavengers. During this period, Quality also published 7 issues ofHalls of Horror, a title Skinn had originated earlier withThorpe & Porter (the British publishing division ofWarner Communications).
In 1990, Quality shifted focus to magazines, launched the comics trade journalComics International, which Skinn published and edited for the following 16 years. His "Sez Dez" column was a regular feature in issues #100–#200. With issue #200, in 2006, Skinn sold the magazine to Cosmic Publications.[2] (Comics International struggled along for another couple of years before folding in 2010.)[3]
Quality published a few sporadic titles in the 2000s, includingToy Max (2003), a one-off magazine for toy collectors,[4] and Skinn's hardcover bookComix: The Underground Revolution (2004). In 2005, Quality publishedAce Comics, an anthology of ten comic strips byCity College Brighton & Hove students of Skinn's; it was distributed for free inEast Sussex.
In 2008, Quality Communications published the 15th-anniversary issue (numbered #15) ofJack Kirby Quarterly.[5]