Toxic!
Encyclopedia
Toxic! was a British
weekly comic book
published by Apocalypse Ltd
. A total of 31 issues were published from March 28-October 24, 1991.
, Kevin O'Neill
, Mike McMahon
, John Wagner
and Alan Grant. 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 to 2000 AD
, which Mills had also launched in 1977. Toxic! was to be the main rival of 2000AD, and Toxic! would be in full colour throughout as opposed to 2000AD, which was still mainly published in black and white.
Toxic! was published by Apocalypse Ltd
, an offshoot of Neptune Distribution
based in South Wigston, Leicester
. Neptune also owned Trident Comics
which printed black and white comics by mainly new, unpublished creators.
The first title released by Apocalypse was a Marshal Law special titled Kingdom of the blind published in October 1990. This was followed by the first issue of Toxic! in March 1991.
Toxic! was initially dominated by Mills (Mills had rejected two of John Wagner
's proposals, Button Man
and Al's Baby for not fitting in with his vision for the comic. These two strips later appeared in 2000 AD and the Judge Dredd Megazine
respectively). His Marshal Law strip was seen as the flagship title and a character to perhaps rival Judge Dredd
. Mills also wrote Accident Man
(with Tony Skinner
) and Muto-Maniac in the first issue, which was rounded out by a short strip by Alan Grant and Simon Bisley
.
This first issue set the tone of Toxic! as it upped the levels of violence, bad language and general anarchic tone that Mills had felt was lacking in 2000AD at the time. The second issue saw Wagner and Grant's Bogie Man
strip start in an adventure called The Chinese Syndrome. The strip did not fit comfortably with the others and The 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 strip The Driver co-written and co-drawn by David Leach and Jeremy Banx, one episode of the which resulted in a visit by the local constabulary to the offices of Toxic after a complaint from a offended reader about Toxic containing obscene material.
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 by Trident 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 as Mike McMahon saw work published which he had not been paid for. After 31 issues the comic was cancelled and shortly afterward Apocalypse went bankrupt. This meant many involved were never paid and some of those never worked in comics again.
In September 2002 Egmont UK launched a boy's magazine entitled Toxic which has proven to be very popular, but apart from the title, there is no connection with the comic of the nineties. However, Toxic magazine
does contain some comic strips of the juvenile toilet humour variety.
Several strips did go off to other publishers. Mills took Marshal Law, Sex Warrior and Accident Man
to Dark Horse
, Wagner and Grant took The Bogie Man to Atomeka Press
, and several other strips were recycled in 2000AD.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
weekly comic book
Comic book
A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...
published by Apocalypse Ltd
Apocalypse Ltd
Apocalypse Ltd was a publishing company formed out of an alliance of Pat Mills, John Wagner, Alan Grant and Kevin O'Neill along with Neptune Distribution, who were also involved with Trident Comics....
. A total of 31 issues were published from March 28-October 24, 1991.
History
Toxic! was the idea of Pat MillsPat Mills
Pat Mills, nicknamed 'the godfather of British comics', is a comics writer and editor who, along with John Wagner, revitalised British boys comics in the 1970s, and has remained a leading light in British comics ever since....
, Kevin O'Neill
Kevin O'Neill (comics)
Kevin O'Neill is an English comic book illustrator best known as the co-creator of Nemesis the Warlock, Marshal Law , and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen .-Early career:...
, Mike McMahon
Mike McMahon (comics)
Michael McMahon is a British comics artist best known for his work on 2000 AD characters such as Judge Dredd, Sláine and ABC Warriors, and the mini-series The Last American....
, John Wagner
John Wagner
John Wagner is a comics writer who was born in Pennsylvania in 1949 and moved to Scotland as a boy. Alongside Pat Mills, Wagner was responsible for revitalising British boys' comics in the 1970s, and has continued to be a leading light in British comics ever since.He is best known for his work on...
and Alan Grant. 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 to 2000 AD
2000 AD (comic)
2000 AD is a weekly British science fiction-oriented comic. As a comics anthology it serialises a number of separate stories each issue and was first published by IPC Magazines in 1977, the first issue dated 26 February. IPC then shifted the title to its Fleetway comics subsidiary which was sold...
, which Mills had also launched in 1977. Toxic! was to be the main rival of 2000AD, and Toxic! would be in full colour throughout as opposed to 2000AD, which was still mainly published in black and white.
Toxic! was published by Apocalypse Ltd
Apocalypse Ltd
Apocalypse Ltd was a publishing company formed out of an alliance of Pat Mills, John Wagner, Alan Grant and Kevin O'Neill along with Neptune Distribution, who were also involved with Trident Comics....
, an offshoot of Neptune Distribution
Neptune Distribution
Neptune Distribution was a comic distribution company established in Leicester in 1986. It was set up to challenge Titan Distribution's monopoly on the UK comic distribution business....
based in South Wigston, Leicester
Leicester
Leicester is a city and unitary authority in the East Midlands of England, and the county town of Leicestershire. The city lies on the River Soar and at the edge of the National Forest...
. Neptune also owned Trident Comics
Trident Comics
Trident Comics was a comic book publishing company based in Leicester, UK, specializing in black and white comics created by new British talent...
which printed black and white comics by mainly new, unpublished creators.
The first title released by Apocalypse was a Marshal Law special titled Kingdom of the blind published in October 1990. This was followed by the first issue of Toxic! in March 1991.
Toxic! was initially dominated by Mills (Mills had rejected two of John Wagner
John Wagner
John Wagner is a comics writer who was born in Pennsylvania in 1949 and moved to Scotland as a boy. Alongside Pat Mills, Wagner was responsible for revitalising British boys' comics in the 1970s, and has continued to be a leading light in British comics ever since.He is best known for his work on...
's proposals, Button Man
Button Man
Button Man is a comic strip created for leading British comic 2000 AD, written by John Wagner and illustrated by Arthur Ranson.-Plot:...
and Al's Baby for not fitting in with his vision for the comic. These two strips later appeared in 2000 AD and the Judge Dredd Megazine
Judge Dredd Megazine
Judge Dredd: The Megazine is a monthly British comic magazine, launched in October 1990. It is a sister publication to 2000 AD. Its name is a play on words, formed from "magazine" and Dredd's locale Mega-City One.-Content:...
respectively). His Marshal Law strip was seen as the flagship title and a character to perhaps rival Judge Dredd
Judge Dredd
Judge Joseph Dredd is a comics character whose strip in the British science fiction anthology 2000 AD is the magazine's longest running . Dredd is an American law enforcement officer in a violent city of the future where uniformed Judges combine the powers of police, judge, jury and executioner...
. Mills also wrote Accident Man
Accident Man
Accident Man is a character from the defunct monthly UK comic Toxic! written by the comic writer Pat Mills in the early 1990s.-Plot:The story centered around the life of Mike Fallon, a high-class hitman. Fallon was known for making his murders look like accidents, often going to extravagant lengths...
(with Tony Skinner
Tony Skinner
Tony Skinner is a British comic book writer who collaborated with comics legend Pat Mills in the 1990s. Together they worked on scripts for ABC Warriors, Finn and Flesh for 2000AD and Sex Warrior, The Fear Teachers, Psycho Killer and Accident Man for Toxic!.-Bibliography:*Accident Man :** "Accident...
) and Muto-Maniac in the first issue, which was rounded out by a short strip by Alan Grant and Simon Bisley
Simon Bisley
Simon Bisley is a British comics artist best known for his 1990s work on ABC Warriors, Lobo and Sláine. His style, reliant on paints, acrylics, inks and multiple-mediums, is strongly influenced by Frank Frazetta, Bill Sienkiewicz, Gustav Klimt, Salvador Dalí, Egon Schiele, and Richard Corben...
.
This first issue set the tone of Toxic! as it upped the levels of violence, bad language and general anarchic tone that Mills had felt was lacking in 2000AD at the time. The second issue saw Wagner and Grant's Bogie Man
The Bogie Man
The Bogie Man is a comic book series created by writers John Wagner and Alan Grant and artist Robin Smith. The main character is Francis Forbes Clunie, a Scottish mental patient who suffers from the unusual delusion that he is Humphrey Bogart, or rather a composite of the characters he played in...
strip start in an adventure called The Chinese Syndrome. The strip did not fit comfortably with the others and The 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 strip The Driver co-written and co-drawn by David Leach and Jeremy Banx, one episode of the which resulted in a visit by the local constabulary to the offices of Toxic after a complaint from a offended reader about Toxic containing obscene material.
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 by Trident 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 as Mike McMahon saw work published which he had not been paid for. After 31 issues the comic was cancelled and shortly afterward Apocalypse went bankrupt. This meant many involved were never paid and some of those never worked in comics again.
In September 2002 Egmont UK launched a boy's magazine entitled Toxic which has proven to be very popular, but apart from the title, there is no connection with the comic of the nineties. However, Toxic magazine
Toxic magazine
Toxic magazine was launched in September 2002 by London-based Egmont Publishing UK. The intention was to address the elusive boys' magazine market...
does contain some comic strips of the juvenile toilet humour variety.
Legacy
Toxic! may have ended up being a failure but it proved a full colour weekly comic could be done. This changed 2000AD as it was forced to change its format to mirror the full colour format of Toxic!. 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 took Marshal Law, Sex Warrior and Accident Man
Accident Man
Accident Man is a character from the defunct monthly UK comic Toxic! written by the comic writer Pat Mills in the early 1990s.-Plot:The story centered around the life of Mike Fallon, a high-class hitman. Fallon was known for making his murders look like accidents, often going to extravagant lengths...
to Dark Horse
Dark Horse Comics
Dark Horse Comics is the largest independent American comic book and manga publisher.Dark Horse Comics was founded in 1986 by Mike Richardson in Milwaukie, Oregon, with the concept of establishing an ideal atmosphere for creative professionals. Richardson started out by opening his first comic book...
, Wagner and Grant took The Bogie Man to Atomeka Press
Atomeka Press
Atomeka Press was a British publisher of comic books set up in 1988 by Dave Elliott and Garry Leach. Atomeka ceased publishing in 1997 and was then revived in 2004, but its future seems uncertain, as it has not published any new material since 2005.-History:...
, and several other strips were recycled in 2000AD.
Notable stories
- Marshal Law, these were new adventures of Mills and O'Neill's superheroSuperheroA superhero is a type of stock character, possessing "extraordinary or superhuman powers", dedicated to protecting the public. Since the debut of the prototypical superhero Superman in 1938, stories of superheroes — ranging from brief episodic adventures to continuing years-long sagas —...
-hunter, previously published by Marvel ComicsMarvel ComicsMarvel Worldwide, Inc., commonly referred to as Marvel Comics and formerly Marvel Publishing, Inc. and Marvel Comics Group, is an American company that publishes comic books and related media...
' EpicEpic ComicsEpic Comics was a creator-owned imprint of Marvel Comics started in 1982, lasting through the mid-1990s, and being briefly revived on a small scale in the mid-2000s.- Origins :...
imprint. This was the most consistently popular story but suffered from missing issues and ending abruptly during a storyline. The story was eventually completed and published by Dark HorseDark Horse ComicsDark Horse Comics is the largest independent American comic book and manga publisher.Dark Horse Comics was founded in 1986 by Mike Richardson in Milwaukie, Oregon, with the concept of establishing an ideal atmosphere for creative professionals. Richardson started out by opening his first comic book...
.
- Accident ManAccident ManAccident Man is a character from the defunct monthly UK comic Toxic! written by the comic writer Pat Mills in the early 1990s.-Plot:The story centered around the life of Mike Fallon, a high-class hitman. Fallon was known for making his murders look like accidents, often going to extravagant lengths...
, an assassin who makes his hits look like accidents, written by Mills and Tony Skinner and drawn initially by Martin EmondMartin EmondMartin Emond , also known under the pseudonyms "Martin Fuckin Emond", "Martyfuck", "Martywood", "Mickey Martin" and "MFE", was a New Zealand cartoon illustrator and painter....
, later by Duke Mighten and John Erasmus. This also ended up at Dark Horse and was optioned to be made into a film in 1997. It remains unmade.
- Muto-Maniac, a science fictionScience fictionScience fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
series about a man who attracts bad luck, by Mills and McMahon. This story was uncompleted.
- The Bogie ManThe Bogie ManThe Bogie Man is a comic book series created by writers John Wagner and Alan Grant and artist Robin Smith. The main character is Francis Forbes Clunie, a Scottish mental patient who suffers from the unusual delusion that he is Humphrey Bogart, or rather a composite of the characters he played in...
, Wagner and Grant's delusional GlaswegianGlasgowGlasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...
would-be BogartHumphrey BogartHumphrey DeForest Bogart was an American actor. He is widely regarded as a cultural icon.The American Film Institute ranked Bogart as the greatest male star in the history of American cinema....
, drawn by Robin SmithRobin Smith (comics)Robin Smith is a British artist best known for his work on Judge Dredd and Strontium Dog for 2000AD and The Bogie Man for Fat Man Press.A 2-part interview with Smith appears in the Judge Dredd Megazine, issues 225-226, alongside a new Bogie Man adventure....
and Cam KennedyCam KennedyCampbell Kennedy is a Scottish comics artist. He is best known for his work on 2000 AD, especially the flagship titles Judge Dredd and Rogue Trooper.-Biography:...
. Both of the stories which ran in Toxic! were completed at Atomeka PressAtomeka PressAtomeka Press was a British publisher of comic books set up in 1988 by Dave Elliott and Garry Leach. Atomeka ceased publishing in 1997 and was then revived in 2004, but its future seems uncertain, as it has not published any new material since 2005.-History:...
. The Chinese Syndrome was also renamed Chinatoon at Atomeka. A television film version was shown in 1992, starring Robbie ColtraneRobbie ColtraneRobbie Coltrane, OBE is a Scottish actor, comedian and author. He is known both for his role as Dr...
.
- Makabre, a religious vigilante of the future, by Alan Grant and Enrique AlcatenaEnrique Alcatena-Biography:Alcatena became famous in his country during the 1980s collaborating for local magazines like Skorpio and Nippur. He also worked for the children's magazine Anteojito where his work was mostly surreal fantasy full of mythology...
. This story was uncompleted.
- Sex Warrior, by Mills, Skinner and Will Simpson, a war in which sexual energy is used as a weapon, satirising the concept that "old people make wars... young people fight them". The story was revamped for a two issue mini series published by Dark Horse.
- Brats Bizarre, a team of decadent superheroes, by Mills, Skinner and Duke Mighten. This story was uncompleted.
- The Driver, A man known only as The Driver drives a five mile-long truck full of toxic and industrial waste (including wreckage from the Challenger Shuttle disaster) through the middle of middle America only to fly tip it into Meteor Crater, Arizona, in the process he uses a small town as a brake. It was a strip that was either loved or hated by the readers but which still garnished much kudos. On the back of the Driver, Banx and Leach were commissioned by Marvel US to write and draw Toxic CrusadersToxic CrusadersToxic Crusaders is an animated series based on The Toxic Avenger films. It features Toxie, the lead character of the films leading a trio of misfit superheroes who combat pollution. This followed a trend of environmentally considerate cartoons of the time, including Captain Planet and the...
both for the regular title and then for an aborted 4 issue mini series. The Driver himself featured in the following years comic convention UKCAC logo.
- The Dinner Ladies From Hell by David Leach. In the vein of The Omen and To the Devil a Daughter crossed with Ripping Yarns. In a nutshell, the wives of the Four Riders of the Apocalypse have six days, six hours and six minutes to corrupt seven children with the deadly sins and only one man and God's cook book stand in their way.
- Detritus Rex Written and drawn by Banx and coloured by Leach. This bizarre and twisted post-ecological-apocalypse tale was uncompleted.