Picking up the pieces
Picking up the pieces |
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Page 20 of 38  Cover, (1993), showing the changing attire and hairstyle of the stroppy star, a sort of antipodean, science fictional skinhead. Art: Jamie Hewlett. One by-product of this was that Deadline featured a higher proportion of female creators than other contemporary newsstand comics. This was because women had traditionally been less intimidated by the small press than by the (male-dominated) mainstream. Three names in particular stood out: the aforementioned Julie Hollings; Carol Swain, whose dark, charcoal-rendered stories dealt in a heightened reality; and Rachael Ball, whose humour strips relied on a finely tuned ear for dialogue, and whose 'Box City' stories developed a cult following. The fact that women characters and creators generally had such a high profile meant that the comic attracted a higher proportion of female readers than any other on the shelves (estimated at around twenty-five per cent by the publishers in 1989). For all Deadline's merits, sales continued to be unspectacular, and a decision was taken in the early 1990s to make it more of a magazine. A number of steps were taken: the number of articles was upped, and the proportion of strips cut; more colour was added, along with glossy paper throughout; and finally, a presentation makeover was undertaken by noted designer/cartoonist Rian Hughes. Under a new editor, Deadline would be sharper than before, with a spiky letters page, and straplines like: 'The Style Mag for Underachievers' and 'Wrong Headed Notions For Right Minded People'. In terms of the strips, Tank Girl was still the favourite (though running decidedly short of ideas by the mid-1990s), now backed by reprinted stories from the hit American title Love and Rockets, about music and romance in post-punk Los Angeles, and newer indigenous material like 'Cheeky Wee Budgie Boy', a bizarre tale of a lino-laying giant budgie, 'Milk and Cheese', about some stroppy animated dairy products, and 'Bugs and Drugs', an in-your-face punk collage. Again, links with the small press were as important as ever.  'Beryl the Bitch' (1989), featuring the comic's second female with altitude a predatory socialite. Art/script: Julie Hollings. |