Titan Distributors

{{Infobox company

|name = Titan Distributors

|logo =

|type = Comic book distribution, Comic marts, Book publishing

|foundation = {{Start date and age|1978}}

| fate = Acquired by Diamond Comic Distributors, 1993

|location_city = London

|location_country = United Kingdom

|key_people = Nick Landau, Mike Lake, Mike Luckman

|industry = Comics

|products = Books, trade paperbacks

|revenue =

|num_employees =

|predecessor = Comic Media Distribution Service

| parent =

| divisions = Forbidden Planet bookstore
Westminster Comic Mart
Titan Books

|homepage =

|footnotes =

}}

Titan Distributors was a British comic book distributor which existed from 1978 to 1993, when it was acquired by a larger U.S. distributor. Operated by Nick Landau, Mike Lake, and Mike Luckman, Titan Distributors supplied comics, science fiction, and other genre products to retailers all over the United Kingdom. Titan also operated the retailer Forbidden Planet, produced the bimonthly Westminster Comic Marts, and operated Titan Books.

History

= Origins: Comic Media Distribution Service =

In 1973, when only a small range of US comic books were available in British news agents, Nick Landau established Comic Media Distribution Service (CMDS), which imported American comics from the "big two" publishers DC and Marvel.Burton, Richard. "Meditorial," Comic Media News #15 (Sept. 1974).

= Formation of Titan Distributors / Forbidden Planet =

In 1978, Landau partnered with Lake and Luckman and re-formed CMDS as Titan Distributors.Skinn, Dez. [http://dezskinn.com/fanzines-3/ "Early days of UK comics conventions and marts, part 3"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120201083457/http://dezskinn.com/fanzines-3/ |date=2012-02-01 }} DezSkinn.com. Accessed Mar. 3, 2013. In addition to their distribution business, the partners also immediately founded a retail location, the Forbidden Planet bookshop, a small store on Denmark Street 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.{{Cite web |date=2018-09-07 |title=How cult comic book shop Forbidden Planet changed the way we consume geek culture |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/long_reads/forbidden-planet-comic-book-shop-london-geek-culture-neil-gaiman-a8521951.html |access-date=2022-07-04 |website=The Independent |language=en}} The store's success led to overcrowding, necessitating a move to much larger premises on New Oxford Street.{{Cite web |date=2018-09-07 |title=How cult comic book shop Forbidden Planet changed the way we consume geek culture |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/long_reads/forbidden-planet-comic-book-shop-london-geek-culture-neil-gaiman-a8521951.html |access-date=2022-07-04 |website=The Independent |language=en}}

= Westminster Comic Mart =

In late November 1979, Titan began operating the London Comic Mart (a venture started by Landau and his former partner, Rob Barrow, 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 disappeared after the 1981 show, and the United Kingdom Comic Art Convention 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 began his career managing the Fast Fiction 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,[https://web.archive.org/web/20070529025014/http://www.eagleawards.co.uk/results.asp "The Eagle Awards - Results: 1983,"] Eagle Awards website. Archived at the Wayback Machine. Accessed Jan. 27, 2020. which were presented by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons."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 Titan Books, whose first title was the trade paperback collection of Brian Bolland's Judge Dredd stories from 2000 AD. This was one of the earliest high-quality, book-format publications of comic material in the UK,{{cn|date=December 2020}} 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 and Hunt Emerson's You Are Maggie Thatcher — and also taking over publishing Escape 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 Titan Books and Forbidden Planet London; 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, which added its clients and warehouses to the Diamond UK operations."Newswatch: Diamond Acquires Titan Distributors [part 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. [https://www.independent.co.uk/news/long_reads/forbidden-planet-comic-book-shop-london-geek-culture-neil-gaiman-a8521951.html "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).