Crisis (also known as 2000 AD Presents: Crisis in early issues) was a British comic anthology published by Fleetway Publications from 17 September 1988 to October 1991, initially fortnightly and later monthly. Designed to appeal to older readers than other Fleetway titles in order to take advantage of a boom in interest in 'adult' comics, Crisis featured overtly political and complex stories; one issue was even produced in conjunction with Amnesty International.
Although branded under the umbrella of the successful 2000 AD, the comic was not a sales success and – despite periodic attempts at revamps – was cancelled after 63 issues. However, it did feature early work by a number of notable British comics creators, including Garth Ennis, John McCrea, Mark Millar, Grant Morrison and John Smith.
Creation Background The breakout success of Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons' Watchmen and Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns had greatly boosted the view that comic books (or as mainstream press outlets often called them, 'graphic novels') were a credible form of entertainment on both sides of the Atlantic. Coverage in national newspapers and influential magazines such as The Face and Time Out - together with the high profile of many of the creators involved in what was referred to in the comics industry as the 'British Invasion' - seemed to point to a potential audience of older British comic readers that were not being catered for by 2000 AD, despite the title's growing maturity. While comics aimed at older readers existed in Britain they were either underground small-press titles like the Hunt Emerson-edited Street Comix or humour titles like the famous Viz; attempts like Dez Skinn's Warrior had received critical acclaim from comics readers but failed to break through to wider success. However, Igor Goldkind had produced British trade paperback editions of Watchmen and The Dark Knight Returns for Titan Comics that replicated the commercial success and critical attention the titles had received in America.
The success also added to the growing discourse on creator ownership in comics. IPC Magazines, owners of 2000 AD and one of the most dominant comics publishers in the UK, operated a model whereby creators signed away their rights under a work for hire agreement. The company had long justified this stance by paying generous page rates in return to contributors signing away all ownership to their work - which allowed the company's material to be reprinted or syndicated overseas without royalty payments, while popular characters such as Judge Dredd were entirely owned by the publisher. Until 1977 - when Kevin O'Neill was able to get credits into 2000 AD - IPC didn't even attribute the work of its creators. The growth of the comics industry fandom with specialised publications like The Comics Journal threw a greater spotlight on the poor treatment of the likes of Jerry Siegel, Joe Shuster, Jack Kirby and Steve Englehart, leading to a rise in 'independent' comic companies such as Pacific and Eclipse, who allowed authors and artists to retain rights to their creations - as well as Marvel Comics establishing their Epic Comics imprint.
Meanwhile, 2000 AD editor Steve MacManus quit the title, citing burnout after an initial temporary stint replacing Kelvin Gosnell in 1979 had turned into a decade-long residency. MacManus had been instrumental in ensuring 2000 AD repeatedly bucked sales trends and weathered the downturn in British comic sales of the 1980s which had claimed many of IPC's titles, and was persuaded to stay on by editorial director John Sanders in order to hand 2000 AD to new editor Richard Burton. With that done, MacManus was then to take a lengthy working holiday to America in March 1987, to see how IPC could launch a title to take advantage of the public interest in adult-orientated comics.
Development MacManus proposed a new 32-page full colour fortnightly; each issue would contain two 14-page chapters of ongoing stories, with a flip cover to allow both to be displayed equally. An additional "From the makers of 2000 AD" graphic was to be placed in the masthead. Each month's output would then be licensed to an American publisher, combined into a 28-page American-format comic and exported. While the cover price of 65p was twice that of 2000 AD, it would match that comic's monthly costs and was also the same as that of imported American titles, which were gaining greater traction in the UK through outlets like Forbidden Planet and other comic shops.
Before MacManus left for America in 1987, there were rumours that the IPC Youth Group was up for sale as the parent company looked to divest itself of comics, and that the controversial tycoon Robert Maxwell was weighing a bid. When he returned, MacManus found this had gone ahead; the IPC Youth Group had been renamed Fleetway Publications and was now part of Maxwell Communication Corporation. Initially little seemed to have changed, and MacManus continued work on the planned new title. Sanders had suggested a superhero angle to the stories to allow better marketability in the potentially lucrative American market, and the success of Grant Morrison and Steve Yeowell's 2000 AD strip "Zenith" showed MacManus that the genre could be handled in an adult-orientated way by British creators. He began brainstorming an idea where in a future America (incorporating Britain as the 51st state for "local colour") had a government-sanctioned superhuman in each state. Wanting to promote upcoming talent he commissioned John Smith, who at 20 already had experience on DC Thomson's science fiction title Starblazer and 2000 AD (including "Tyranny Rex") to write what would become "New Statesmen". Stalwart IPC writer Alan Grant would later claim MacManus boasted he planned to break the "stranglehold" Grant and writing partner John Wagner had on British comics.
For the second story, MacManus reached out to the experienced Pat Mills, who was among those leading demands for better treatment of British comics creators. He had been working for IPC for most of the 1970s, first of all on girls' comics before devising weeklies Battle Picture Weekly, Action and 2000 AD for the company, for which he received little recompense beyond the initial payments. Mills became particularly disillusioned following the treatment of his acclaimed Battle story "Charley's War"; the writer requested a research budget for the strip's planned second arc, which would move the story to World War II. This was refused, and Mills quit the strip in protest; IPC simply assigned staff writer Scott Goodall to continue the story, and the work-for-hire contract gave Mills no capacity to object.
To help work on the title (to be named 50/50 to reflect the split content), MacManus recruited Goldkind from Titan. The latter acted as a sounding board for the proposed Mills strips, and their discussions on global corporations and brands led to Mills conceiving "Third World War". Goldkind also suggested graphic artist Rian Hughes, who mixed agency work with small-press comics, to design the 2000 AD Presents 50/50: Third World War half of the flip comic; Steven Cook - who had a strong record, having produced successful redesigns for Starburst, Doctor Who Magazine and most recently 2000 AD - for the 2000 AD Presents 50/50: New Statesman half. However, management felt the title was not "sales friendly" and furthermore were concerned that the split format would cause concern for newsagents, which still made up the primary market for British comics. 50/50 was retitled Crisis at Goldkind's suggestion (MacManus would later recall management weren't enthusiastic about the new title either), and Hughes was retasked to create the overall look of the exterior as well as the interior for "Third World War", while Cook would style the interior for "New Statesmen". Hughes used experience from working in the music industry to ensure the various promotional materials and the comic itself were kept under the same "stylistic umbrella".
MacManus' research in America also saw him get hold of copies of contracts offered by DC Comics and Epic, and melded ideas from both with guidelines from the Society of British Authors to come up with creator contracts for the title. These retained Fleetway's copyright on the material and a flat rate, but added an 8% royalty for sales beyond the title's break-even point, for collected edition reprints and - crucially - 35% of net profits for overseas syndication, as well as provisions for further payments in the event of merchandising or adaptations for other media. While MacManus would later acknowledge the amounts involved were not "earth-shattering", it was a major step forward for the company. The same terms were also offered to the artists, and as a result Crisis was able to land renowned artists for both strips. The experienced Carlos Ezquerra, who had worked for IPC for a decade (most notably on "Strontium Dog") signed on for "Third World War" and Jim Baikie (another veteran, who had received a major boost in acclaim following his work on 2000 AD'''s "Skizz" with Alan Moore) would draw "New Statesmen". MacManus recalled that the pair were the first choices of both writers; however, Mills has stated he wanted Ian Gibson first, but the artist objected to some of Eve's actions and turned the strip down.
Publication history
Launch British comics generally drummed up publicity for a new title by including a free gift with early issues and prominent retailer displays in return for early issues being supplied on a sale or return basis until the title found its average circulation. Feeling it would go against the grain of the title's intended older audience, MacManus eschewed the free gift while Goldkind worked on a publicity campaign, including a launch at a bar in North London; Mills later felt this flew in the face of the comic's contents. The event was a success however, as the publication of the first issue (dated 17 September 1988) gained coverage in The Economist, The Jewish Chronicle, The Scotsman and Timeout, though the reviews themselves were mixed. Much of the coverage labelled Crisis as a political comic, something MacManus felt was only partly true but was happy to take in the name of publicity. The creators were sent on a cross-country signing tour, culminating in a prominent appearance at the 1988 United Kingdom Comic Art Convention.
At the same time Crisis was launching, 2000 AD alumni Brett Ewins and Steve Dillon were priming the similarly themed Deadline, published by Deadline Publications Ltd and underwritten by Tom Astor. MacManus recalled there was some sentiment that the larger Fleetway were trying to steamroller a potential rival with corporate muscle, something he denies being a conscious choice. The press campaign saw the first issue of Crisis sell an impressive 80,000 copies. However, despite the expensive launch and attempt at better production values (including all-colour artwork) the comic was still printed on newsprint stock like the company's weeklies, something both Mills and Hughes would later criticise. MacManus recalled the early response as polarised - "those that liked it loved it, and those that didn't ridiculed it."
Sales for the second issue fell to 50,000 - while a drop after the first issue was industry standard, this was more severe than expected. At the same time Maxwell's underlings drastically cut back on the numbers of staff and general costs at Fleetway, with most of the staff moved to work-from-home freelancers to reduce costs. MacManus was retained as a permanent employee, with the full-time staff relocated from King's Reach Tower to offices in Camden. By this point Crisis' sales had evened out at 30,000 per issue, and MacManus found himself having to defend what management felt was an underperformance.
Relaunch