Comics News
Paul Neal Talks To Dave Elliott About A1 Deadline
Two Classic UK Strip Anthologies Return Together For The First Time
Tripwire’s contributing writer Paul Neal just spoke to veteran editor Dave Elliott about A1 Deadline, the return of two of the UK’s best-known comic strip anthologies now combined in a single title and live on Kickstarter…
Tripwire: For the new readers and the uninitiated could you provide a little background about your personal history working in the comics industry. Did it all start with Atomeka Press in the late 1980s? That was almost, but not quite, forty years ago? New and old fans may need a refresher course.
Dave Elliott: Cheers, Paul. My first experience of the comics industry was with Quality Comics when they were involved with Marvelman reprints with Eclipse Comics and the Fleetway reprints that they inherited from Eagle Comics.
I met Garry Leach during that time, and we became fast, best friends. One of the things we would always talk about was the lack of creator-owned outlets in comics. By creator-owned, we meant truly creator-owned, where the creator controls all aspects of the created material. Warrior wasn’t like that; it kept control of certain aspects of the rights, most publishers did, or they just owned it all.
Atomeka Press and A1 emerged from those early conversations. Garry and I started A1 originally to be a 32-page comic of our own material, but every creator we spoke to wanted in on it. They ended up pushing us out of our own book.
A couple of the things that helped me survive while we did A1, there was a lot of inking for Marvel UK, as well as some for 2000AD (that I did with Garry) and editing Deadline for nearly a year.
TW: The Kickstarter for the brand new A1 and Deadline mash-up title has been a huge success I believe. May I ask how long this exciting project has been in the works? What inspired you to combine the titles of two landmark anthologies for a new era?
DE: My mind started churning ideas for this during lockdown. It was then that a chance conversation with Tom Astor, the original publisher and co-founder of Deadline with Brett and Steve, ended with him giving me the rights to the title of Deadline.
Thirty years is a long time between issues, and the Deadline title was being used elsewhere and had become well established. Rather than risk lawsuits, I decided to merge Deadline with A1. It wasn’t much of a stretch as many Deadline creators were in A1 as well, and I had brought some A1 creators to Deadline.
It’s also part of that great British publishing tradition where two titles would merge to keep things going.
Another major thing was meeting the right people to do this with. Chris Northrop was the project manager at Magnetic Press, so when we were introduced, we got along together in a way I hadn’t experienced since working with Garry. He’s a multi-Eisner nominated designer for his work, and his skillset covers all the bases I’m weak on. His partner in Horrible Future, Mark Schey, is a talented writer and legal expert who helped me draft the ideal contracts for the company.
TW: Please explain what goodies fans should expect from the first issue of A1 Deadline?
DE: The first special should warm the bottoms of many hearts as it has stories and art from Brett Ewins, Steve Dillon and Garry Leach, three creators without whom we’d have had neither title.
There’s creators who graced both titles like Alan Martin, Jamie Hewlett, Glenn Fabry, Steve Pugh, Ilya, Roger Langridge, and Shaky Kane. ’Newbies’ like Fred Van Lente, Alison Sampson, Mark A Nelson, Rhoald Marcellius, Lucy Sullivan, Laura Martin, Gloria Caeli, Fraser Campbell, Matt Harding and more!
Yes, there will be a nostalgic feel to it, and that will hang around for a few issues until we settle into a new rhythm.
TW: Are copies still available to support or purchase?
DE: There will be copies to buy after the Kickstarter. It won’t have any of the extras we offered during the Kickstarter, but at least in the UK, it will be available from your local comics retailer.
TRIPWIRE NOTE: Dave asked Paul to direct fans to the A1 Deadline website for all appropriate updates:
http://A1Deadline.com
TW: What is the future for A1 Deadline? How many issues are locked in and completed for example? Or is the first issue simply a one-off project?
DE: We launched with a special to test the waters. As I said, it’s been 30 years!! But with over a thousand backers, it seems it was remembered, and people are asking for more.
I’d like to get the magazine up to a regular quarterly schedule as soon as possible, but we may start with a couple of larger issues every six months until we have worked out any bugs.
I have the skeleton of the magazine worked out for the first two years, but we may well shift things around as we go along. The thing I liked about working on Deadline was the spontaneity, where we would add something at the last minute. I don’t like carving things in stone.
TW: In a few words, can you say why discerning fans of excellent comics should rush to buy A1 Deadline? What’s the mission statement?
DE: A1 DEADLINE has some of the best stories from the best creators in the business. There are creators you’ll know and there are creators you won’t, but I hope people enjoy the varied diet we’re offering.
Our mission statement is written into all our contracts.
This isn’t just a publisher agreement. It’s a collision. Voices that were never supposed to meet but did. We are a collaboration, not a corporation. A community, not a committee. What binds us is not genre or style, but fire: the need to make something true, strange, personal, urgent. We believe stories are experiments. Comics are rebellion. Panels are protest. Humour is armour. Ink is memory.
We don’t exist to chase trends. We’re here to make things that scare us a little. That no one asked for, but someone out there needs.
Every creator here stands alone and stands together. No house style. No formula. Just mutual respect and the belief that voices get louder when they’re unified.
This is not nostalgia. It’s the next thing. Built by us. For each other. For the reader who’s tired of safe. For the artist who’s done waiting.
We are A1 Deadline. We don’t follow the map. We burn it, then redraw it.
Tripwire Note: Here are a few images to give readers just a clue of what they may have to enjoy if they purchase a copy of A1 Deadline.
Support it now on Kickstarter
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