Titan Distributors was a British

comic book A comic book, also called comicbook, comic magazine or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) simply comic, is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are of ...

distributor A distributor is an enclosed rotating switch used in spark-ignition internal combustion engines that have mechanically timed ignition. The distributor's main function is to route high voltage current from the ignition coil to the spark plugs ...

which existed from

1978 Events January * January 1 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes off the coast of Bombay, killing 213. * January 5 – Bülent Ecevit, of Republican People's Party, CHP, forms the new government of Turkey (42nd go ...

to 1993, when it was acquired by a larger U.S. distributor. Operated by

Nick Landau Nick Landau is a British media figure. He is co-owner of the Titan Entertainment Group, which publishes Titan Magazines and Titan Books, and owns the London Forbidden Planet store. In the 1970s, before starting up Titan Distributors, he publishe ...

, Mike Lake, and

Mike Luckman Mike may refer to: Animals * Mike (cat), cat and guardian of the British Museum * Mike the Headless Chicken, chicken that lived for 18 months after his head had been cut off * Mike (chimpanzee), a chimpanzee featured in several books and documen ...

, Titan Distributors supplied comics, science fiction, and other genre products to retailers all over the United Kingdom. Titan also operated the retailer

Forbidden Planet ''Forbidden Planet'' is a 1956 American science fiction film from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, produced by Nicholas Nayfack, and directed by Fred M. Wilcox (director), Fred M. Wilcox from a script by Cyril Hume that was based on an original film story ...

, produced the bimonthly Westminster Comic Marts, and operated

Titan Books Titan Publishing Group is the publishing division of Titan Entertainment Group, which was established in 1981. The books division has two main areas of publishing: film and television tie-ins and cinema reference books; and graphic novels and co ...

History

Origins: Comic Media Distribution Service

In 1973, when only a small range of US comic books were available in British news agents,

established Comic Media Distribution Service (CMDS), which imported American comics from the "big two" publishers DC and

Marvel Marvel may refer to: Business * Marvel Entertainment, an American entertainment company ** Marvel Comics, the primary imprint of Marvel Entertainment ** Marvel Universe, a fictional shared universe ** Marvel Music, an imprint of Marvel Comics ...

Formation of Titan Distributors / Forbidden Planet

In 1978, Landau partnered with Lake and Luckman and re-formed CMDS as Titan Distributors.Skinn, Dez
"Early days of UK comics conventions and marts, part 3"
DezSkinn.com. Accessed Mar. 3, 2013. In addition to their distribution business, the partners also immediately founded a retail location, the

bookshop, a small store on

Denmark Street Denmark Street is a street on the edge of London's West End running from Charing Cross Road to St Giles High Street. It is near St Giles in the Fields Church and Tottenham Court Road station. The street was developed in the late 17th centu ...

in London. As the scope of the store expanded beyond comics to embrace film and television, a second store was opened just around the corner on

St Giles High Street St Giles is an area in the West End of London in the London Borough of Camden. It gets its name from the parish church of St Giles in the Fields. The combined parishes of St Giles in the Fields and St George Bloomsbury (which was carved out of ...

. The store's success led to overcrowding, necessitating a move to much larger premises on

New Oxford Street Oxford Street is a major road in the City of Westminster in the West End of London, running from Tottenham Court Road to Marble Arch via Oxford Circus. It is Europe's busiest shopping street, with around half a million daily visitors, and as o ...

Westminster Comic Mart

In late November 1979, Titan began operating the

London Comic Mart Comic Mart is the catchall term for a series of British comic book trade fairs which were held in the United Kingdom from 1972 until the early 1990s. The Comic Mart was one of the earliest recurring public comic events in the UK, predated only by ...

(a venture started by Landau and his former partner,

Rob Barrow Comic Mart is the catchall term for a series of British comic book trade fairs which were held in the United Kingdom from 1972 until the early 1990s. The Comic Mart was one of the earliest recurring public comic events in the UK, predated only by ...

, in 1972),Burton, Richard. "Meditorial," ''Comic Media News'' #29 (Jan./Feb. 1977). staging shows roughly on a bimonthly basis at Central Hall Westminster."Comic Mart: Britain's Largest Comic Fan Gathering" advertisement, Comicon '79 program booklet. The Westminster Comic Mart, as it became known, was the center of the London comics scene for much of the 1980s; the

British Comic Art Convention The British Comic Art Convention (usually known by the moniker Comicon) was an annual British comic book convention which was held between 1968 and 1981, usually in London. The earliest British fan convention devoted entirely to comics, it was als ...

disappeared after the 1981 show, and the

United Kingdom Comic Art Convention The United Kingdom Comic Art Convention (UKCAC) was a British comic book convention which was held between 1985 and 1998. As a complement to UKCAC, from 1990 to 1995 the organizers put on the Glasgow-based Glasgow Comic Art Convention (GlasCAC), ...

didn't start up until 1985, so there were no actual comic book conventions being held in London during this time. Publisher/editor

Paul Gravett Paul Gravett is a London-based journalist, curator, writer, and broadcaster who has worked in comics publishing since 1981. He is the founder of ''Escape Magazine'', and for many years wrote a monthly article on comics appearing in the UK magaz ...

began his career managing the

Fast Fiction ''Fast Fiction'' was a market stall, magazine, mail order distributor and news sheet that played a key role in the history of British small press comics. It existed in its various forms from 1981 through to 1990 under the stewardship of Paul Grave ...

table at the Westminster Comic Marts. Gravett invited artists to send him their homemade comics, which he would sell from the Fast Fiction table, with all proceeds going to the creator. The 1983 Westminster Comic Mart was the host convention for the

Eagle Awards The Eagle Awards were a series of awards for comic book titles and creators. They were awarded by United Kingdom, UK fans voting for work produced during the previous year. Named after the UK's ''Eagle (British comics), Eagle'' comic, they were l ...

,"The Eagle Awards - Results: 1983,"
Eagle Awards website. Archived at the Wayback Machine. Accessed Jan. 27, 2020. which were presented by

Alan Moore Alan Moore (born 18 November 1953) is an English author known primarily for his work in comic books including ''Watchmen'', ''V for Vendetta'', ''The Ballad of Halo Jones'', ''Swamp Thing'', ''Batman:'' ''The Killing Joke'', and ''From Hell' ...

and

Dave Gibbons David Chester Gibbons (born 14 April 1949) is an English comics artist, writer and sometimes letterer. He is best known for his collaborations with writer Alan Moore, which include the miniseries ''Watchmen'' and the Superman story "For the Man ...

."News From Hither and Yon: Eagles Return, New Dog Strip, EC Update, Computer Comics," ''The Comics Journal'' #84 (Sept. 1983), p. 22.

Titan Books

In 1981, Titan Distributors set up the publishing company

, whose first title was the trade paperback collection of

Brian Bolland Brian Bolland (; born 26 March 1951)Salisbury, Mark, ''Artists on Comic Art'' (Titan Books, 2000) , p. 11 is a British comics artist. Best known in the United Kingdom as one of the definitive Judge Dredd artists for British comics anthology '' 2 ...

Judge Dredd Judge Joseph Dredd is a fictional character created by writer John Wagner and artist Carlos Ezquerra. He first appeared in the second issue of ''2000 AD (comics), 2000 AD'' (1977), which is a British weekly anthology Comic book, comic. He is the ...

stories from '' 2000 AD''. This was one of the earliest high-quality, book-format publications of comic material in the UK, and Titan Books followed the first title with numerous other ''2000 A.D.'' reprints. Titan Books expanded operations in 1987, putting out its first original title —

Pat Mills Patrick Eamon Mills (born 1949) is an English 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. He has been called "the godfather o ...

and

Hunt Emerson Hunting is the human activity, human practice of seeking, pursuing, capturing, or killing wildlife or feral animals. The most common reasons for humans to hunt are to harvest food (i.e. meat) and useful animal products (fur/hide (skin), hide, ...

's ''You Are Maggie Thatcher'' — and also taking over publishing ''

Escape Escape or Escaping may refer to: Computing * Escape character, in computing and telecommunication, a character which signifies that what follows takes an alternative interpretation ** Escape sequence, a series of characters used to trigger some so ...

'' magazine.Plowright, Frank. Opening Shots: And As Ye Reap, So Shall Ye Sow," ''The Comics Journal'' #122 (June 1988), p. 11.

Dissolution and sale

In 1992, Landau, Luckman, and Lake dissolved their partnership and traded their company shares: Landau became sole owner of

and

Forbidden Planet London Forbidden Planet is the trading name of two separate UK-based science fiction, fantasy and horror bookshop chains across the United Kingdom, Ireland, and the United States, and is named after the 1956 feature film of the same name. Specialisi ...

; Luckman became sole owner of Forbidden Planet's New York stores, and Lake became sole owner of Titan Distributors."NewsWatch: Diamond Acquires Titan Distributors," ''The Comics Journal'' #154 (Nov. 1992), p. 14. Lake almost immediately sold Titan to the U.S.-based

Diamond Comic Distributors Diamond Comic Distributors, Inc. (often called Diamond Comics, DCD, or casually Diamond) is an American comic book distributor serving retailers in North America and worldwide. They transport comic books and graphic novels, as well as other po ...

, which added its clients and warehouses to the Diamond UK operations."Newswatch: Diamond Acquires Titan Distributors art II" ''The Comics Journal'' #162 (Oct. 1993), pp. 35-36. He then opened Forbidden Planet locations in Scotland and northern England (an operation later named Forbidden Planet International).Barnett, David
"How cult comic book shop Forbidden Planet changed the way we consume geek culture: Four decades on, the institution is still enjoying a position both at the top of the market and in the hearts of nerds across the land,"
''The Independent'' (07 September 2018).

References

{{Authority control 1978 establishments in the United Kingdom 1993 disestablishments in the United Kingdom Book distributors British companies established in 1978 Companies based in London Comics industry Defunct companies of the United Kingdom Privately held companies of the United Kingdom