| Toxic! | |
|---|---|
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | Apocalypse Ltd |
| Schedule | Weekly |
| Publication date | March 28 - October 24, 1991 |
| No. of issues | 31 |
| Main character(s) | Marshal Law Accident Man The Bogie Man |
| Creative team | |
| Written by | Alan Grant Pat Mills John Wagner |
| Artist(s) | Mike McMahon Kevin O'Neill |
| Editor(s) | Dan Abnett[1] |
Toxic! was aBritish comic that was published weekly from March 28 to October 24, 1991, byApocalypse Ltd, with a total of 31 issues.[2][3][4]
Toxic! was the idea ofPat Mills,Kevin O'Neill,Mike McMahon,John Wagner andAlan Grant.[5] The aim was to provide creators an outlet for their work to be published with them retaining the rights and control of their work. This was in contrast to2000 AD, which Mills had also launched in 1977.Toxic! was to be the main rival of2000 AD, and would be in full-colour throughout (as opposed to2000 AD, which was still mainly published in black and white).
Toxic! was published byApocalypse Ltd, an offshoot ofNeptune Distribution based in South Wigston,Leicester. Neptune also ownedTrident Comics which printed black and white comics by mainly new, unpublished creators.
The first issue ofToxic! was released in March 1991.Toxic! was initially dominated by Mills (Mills had rejectedJohn Wagner's proposal forButton Man based on its supposed similarity toAccident Man;[6] it later appeared in2000 AD). HisMarshal Law strip was seen as the flagship title and as a character to perhaps rivalJudge Dredd. Mills also wroteAccident Man (withTony Skinner) andMuto-Maniac in the first issue, which was rounded out by a short strip byAlan Grant andSimon Bisley.[7]
This first issue set the tone ofToxic! as it upped the levels of violence, bad language and generalanarchic tone that Mills had felt was lacking in2000 AD at the time. The second issue saw Wagner and Grant'sThe Bogie Man strip start in an adventure calledThe Chinese Syndrome. The strip did not fit comfortably with the others andThe Chinese Syndrome stopped suddenly with issue nine, and a different story,The Manhattan Project, started with issue eleven. The second issue also saw the launch of the love-it-or-loathe-it stripThe Driver co-written and co-drawn by David Leach and Jeremy Banx, one episode of which resulted in a visit by the local constabulary to the offices ofToxic! after a complaint from an offended reader aboutToxic! containing obscene material. Issue #15 saw the start ofThe Dinner Ladies From Hell written and drawn by David Leach, described as a cross between Dennis Wheatley and Robert Rankin.
This was not the only strip which suffered problems,Marshal Law began to miss issues, and some of the material replacing it proved not to be as popular. Some strips meant to be published byTrident Comics were even used to provide filler material. This hurt the title, as although it had sold well initially, sales were dropping, and it became clear that there were problems with Apocalypse paying creators. These problems meant many creators such asMike McMahon saw work published which he had not been paid for. After 31 issues, the comic was cancelled and shortly afterward Apocalypse went bankrupt.[7] This meant many involved were never paid and some of those never worked in comics again.[citation needed]
Toxic! may have ended up being a failure but it proved a full colour weekly comic could be done. This changed2000AD as it was forced to change its format to mirror the full colour format ofToxic!. It also gave some creators their first major break into comics,Mike Carey being one of several examples.
Several strips did go off to other publishers. Mills tookMarshal Law,Sex Warrior andAccident Man toDark Horse, Wagner and Grant tookThe Bogie Man toAtomeka Press, and several other strips were recycled in2000AD.[citation needed]
In September 2002Egmont UK launched a boy's magazine entitledToxic, which has proven to be very popular, but apart from the title, there is no connection with the comic of the nineties.Toxic does contain some comic strips of the juveniletoilet humour variety.