Crisis (comic book)

Infobox comic book title
title=New Statesmen


imagesize= 250
caption=Crisis #1 (Sept. 1988), featuring an image by Carlos Ezquerra of Eve from "Third World War"
schedule=Fortnightly (1-48)
Monthly (49-63)
format=Comics anthology
publisher='Fleetway
date=1988 - 1991
issues=63
main_char_team=
writers=
artists=
pencillers=
inkers=
letterers=
colorists=
editors=Steve MacManus
creative_team_month=
creative_team_year=
creators=
subcat=Fleetway and IPC Comics
sort=PAGENAME
nonUS=y

"Crisis" was a British comic published from 1988 to 1991 as an experiment by Fleetway to see if intelligent, mature, politically and socially aware comics were saleable in the United Kingdom. The comic was initially published fortnightly, and was one of the most visible components of the late-80s British comics boom, along with "Deadline", "Revolver", and "Toxic!".

History

"Crisis" was Fleetway's response to the success of "Deadline". David Bishop, in his "Thrill Power Overload", comments "2000 AD" had once represented the cutting edge of British comics, but was now in danger of looking staid and old fashioned next to "Deadline".David Bishop "Thrill Power Overload", page 127]

"Crisis" would offer to make the work creator-owned, which might the chance for royalties and greater copyright control, which was a departure from the way they had done business up until then. They also planned to turn the stories into American comic books which would sell better on the other side of the Atlantic, although ultimately only the first few titles got this treatment and the title moved to shorter stories from issue #14 onwards.

As a 2000 AD spin-off, it was initially science fiction based. It began with two stories: "Third World War", by Pat Mills and Carlos Ezquerra, extrapolated some of the effects of global capitalism on the developing world into the near future, as seen through the eyes of a group of young conscript "peace volunteer" soldiers; "New Statesmen" was a "realistic superhero" strip by John Smith and Jim Baikie. "Third World War" later moved on from developing world topics to minority issues within the UK and introduced two new artists, Sean Phillips and Duncan Fegredo, while Mills took on co-writers including Alan Mitchell and Malachy Coney.

When "New Statesmen" finished it was replaced by two contemporary stories: "Troubled Souls" by Garth Ennis and John McCrea, set amid the "troubles" of Northern Ireland, and "Sticky Fingers", a flatshare comedy by Myra Hancock and David Hine. "Troubled Souls" was Ennis's comics debut, and led to a sequel, "For a Few Troubles More", and a religious satire, "True Faith", the latter illustrated by Warren Pleece.

"True Faith" and another proposed strip, "Skin" by Peter Milligan and Brendan McCarthy, about skinheads and thalidomide, ran into problems with censorship. Robert Maxwell, Fleetway's then owner, withdrew the collected edition of "True Faith" from sale after receiving objections from religious groups; "Skin" was dropped after the printers refused to handle it, probably over its harsh language. "Skin" was later published as a graphic novel by Tundra, and failed to generate any noticeable outrage.

Another casualty of censorship was John Smith and Sean Phillips's "Straitgate". Its main character was intended to be a self-obsessed young loner who suffers from delusions and ends up going on a killing spree, but it was toned down until he became little more than a self-obsessed young loner.

Grant Morrison and Steve Yeowell contributed "The New Adventures of Hitler" (originally published in "Cut", a Scottish arts and culture magazine), a speculative story about how the young Adolf Hitler's stay in England might have affected his later actions. Morrison also wrote " Bible John", illustrated by Daniel Vallely, about a series of murders in Glasgow, and "Dare", his revisionist take on Dan Dare. "Dare" was drawn by Rian Hughes, and had started in "Revolver", the sister comic of "Crisis". Unfortunately "Revolver" folded before the last episode of the story, which was therefore concluded in "Crisis". Morrison's frequent collaborator Mark Millar contributed a grim prison story, "Insiders", drawn by Paul Grist.

Later issues of "Crisis", by then edited by Igor Goldkind, included a number of translated European strips, including Milo Manara and Federico Fellini's "Trip to Tuluum" (collected in a trade paperback published by Catalan Communications) and a number of short strips by Miguelanxo Prado. After issue 49 "Crisis" was published monthly, for 14 further issues, finally ending in October 1991.

Other creators whose work appeared in "Crisis" include Simon Bisley, Glenn Fabry, John Hicklenton, Philip Bond, Si Spencer, Steve Sampson, Chris Standley, Peter Doherty, editor Igor Goldkind, Tony Allen, James Robinson, Tony Salmons, Oscar Zarate, Paul Neary, Steve Parkhouse and Bernie Jaye.

Ultimately the comic did not sell sufficiently well to survive, and Fleetway cancelled it in 1991. Nevertheless, while it lasted, "Crisis" broke the mould of British comicsFact|date=June 2008 by publishing stories which tackled urban struggles, political issues, economic inequality, sexual politics, racial and nationalistic disputes, and cutting-edge speculative writing.

Editors

*Steve MacManus #1–49
*Steve MacManus and Michael W. Bennent #50–52
*Michael W. Bennent #53–63

Notes

References

*comicbookdb|type=title|id=18364|title="Crisis"

External links

* [http://www.fortunecity.com/tatooine/sputnik/53/crisis.htm A "Crisis" fansite]
* [http://www.toonhound.com/crisis.htm A brief guide to the comic]