From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Toxic!
Toxic!
Toxic! 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and white comics by mainly new, unpublished creators.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 Octo-
ber 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 com-
ic. 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 Si-
mon Bisley.
This first issue set the tone of Toxic! as it upped the
levels of violence, bad language and general anarchic
Toxic #1 (March 1991), artwork by Kevin O’Neill. tone that Mills had felt was lacking in 2000AD at the time.
The second issue saw Wagner and Grant’s Bogie Man strip
Publication information
start in an adventure called The Chinese Syndrome. The
Publisher Apocalypse Ltd strip did not fit comfortably with the others and The Chi-
nese Syndrome stopped suddenly with issue nine, and a
Schedule Weekly
different story (The Manhattan Project) started with issue
Publication date March 28 - October 24, 1991 eleven. The second issue also saw the launch of the love-
Number of issues 31 it-or-loathe-it strip The Driver’’ co-written and co-drawn by
David Leach and Jeremy Banx, one episode of the which resulted
Creative team in a visit by the local constabulary to the offices of Toxic after
Writer(s) Alan Grant a complaint from a offended reader about Toxic containing ob-
Pat Mills scene material.
John Wagner This was not the only strip which suffered problems,
Artist(s) Mike McMahon Marshal Law began to miss issues, and some of the mate-
Kevin O’Neill rial replacing it proved not to be as popular. Some strips
meant to be published by Trident Comics were even used
Toxic! was a British weekly comic book published by to provide filler material. This hurt the title as although it
Apocalypse Ltd. A total of 31 issues were published from had sold well initially, sales were dropping and it became
March 28-October 24, 1991. 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
History been paid for. After 31 issues the comic was cancelled and
Toxic! was the idea of Pat Mills, Kevin O’Neill, Mike McMa- shortly afterward Apocalypse went bankrupt. This meant
hon, John Wagner and Alan Grant. The aim was to pro- many involved were never paid and some of those never
vide creators an outlet for their work to be published worked in comics again.[citation needed]
with them retaining the rights and control of their work. In September 2002 Egmont UK launched a boy’s mag-
This was in contrast to 2000 AD, which Mills had also azine entitled Toxic which has proven to be very popular,
launched in 1977. Toxic! was to be the main rival of but apart from the title, there is no connection with the
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Toxic!
comic of the nineties. However, Toxic magazine does satirising the concept that "old people make wars...
contain some comic strips of the juvenile toilet humour young people fight them". The story was revamped
variety. for a two issue mini series published by Dark Horse.
• Brats Bizarre, a team of decadent superheroes, by
Legacy Mills, Skinner and Duke Mighten. This story was
uncompleted.
Toxic! may have ended up being a failure but it proved • The Driver, A man known only as The Driver drives a
a full colour weekly comic could be done. This changed five mile-long truck full of toxic and industrial waste
2000AD as it was forced to change its format to mirror (including wreckage from the Challenger Shuttle
the full colour format of Toxic!. It also gave some creators disaster) through the middle of middle America only
their first major break into comics, Mike Carey being one to fly tip it into Meteor Crater, Arizona, in the
of several examples. process he uses a small town as a brake. It was a strip
Several strips did go off to other publishers. Mills that was either loved or hated by the readers but
took Marshal Law, Sex Warrior and Accident Man to Dark which still garnished much kudos. On the back of the
Horse, Wagner and Grant took The Bogie Man to Atomeka Driver, Banx and Leach were commissioned by
Press, and several other strips were recycled in 2000AD. Marvel US to write and draw Toxic Crusaders both for
the regular title and then for an aborted 4 issue mini
Notable stories series. The Driver himself featured in the following
years comic convention UKCAC logo.
• Marshal Law, these were new adventures of Mills and • The Dinner Ladies From Hell by David Leach. In the vein
O’Neill’s superhero-hunter, previously published by of The Omen and To the Devil a Daughter crossed
Marvel Comics’ Epic imprint. This was the most with Ripping Yarns. In a nutshell, the wives of the
consistently popular story but suffered from missing Four Riders of the Apocalypse have six days, six
issues and ending abruptly during a storyline. The hours and six minutes to corrupt seven children with
story was eventually completed and published by the deadly sins and only one man and God’s cook
Dark Horse. book stand in their way.
• Accident Man, an assassin who makes his hits look like • Detritus Rex Written and drawn by Banx and coloured
accidents, written by Mills and Tony Skinner and by Leach. This bizarre and twisted post-ecological-
drawn initially by Martin Emond, later by Duke apocalypse tale was uncompleted.
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 fiction series about a man References
who attracts bad luck, by Mills and McMahon. This • Toxic! at 2000AD Online
story was uncompleted. • Toxic! at the Comic Book DB
• The Bogie Man, Wagner and Grant’s delusional • Bishop, David (2007). Thrill Power Overload. Rebellion.
Glaswegian would-be Bogart, drawn by Robin Smith pp. 260. ISBN 1-905437-22-6.
and Cam Kennedy. Both of the stories which ran in
Toxic! were completed at Atomeka Press. The Chinese
Syndrome was also renamed Chinatoon at Atomeka. A
External links
television film version was shown in 1992, starring • News article about the Accident Man film
Robbie Coltrane.
• Makabre, a religious vigilante of the future, by Alan
Grant and Enrique Alcatena. This story was
uncompleted.
• Sex Warrior, by Mills, Skinner and Will Simpson, a war
in which sexual energy is used as a weapon,
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Toxic!&oldid=448458430"
Categories:
• 1991 comic debuts
• Comics anthologies
• British comics titles
• Defunct British comics
• Publications disestablished in 1991
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Toxic!
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