We Think So Loud

Another featured advertisement in early Deadlines was for the We Think So Loud 12" by The Mercy Giants, which featured lyrics by Brett Ewins and a cover starring acid guru Ron Merlin. Each 12" came with a free comic. I don't have the tech to rip vinyl, but I can bring you the comic.

Download The Mercy Giants - We Think So Loud (Lyric Sheet)

Atom Tan

In 1988, a single copy of Deadline #1, an anthology comic created by 2000AD stalwarts Steve Dillon & Brett Ewins, made an unlikely journey over the Welsh border, across mountains, through fields, along the coast, over a bridge and onto the middle shelf of a usually rather poorly stocked newsagent in a little village on Anglesey. I was 14 years old and my life changed forever.

Alright that's a slight exaggeration, but it was still bloody exciting. I um'd and aah'd for a few minutes before forking over the rather adult amount of £1.50, hoping the man behind the till didn't realise the mag was full of violence and bras. I was already a fan of Misters Ewins and especially Dillon, and became an immediate convert to the work of Jamie Hewlett, Philip Bond (♥), Nick Abadzis, Shaky Kane and the incredible D'Israeli D'Emon Draughtsman. I religiously scored every Deadline from then on, even when in later years it began to fade as an underachieving style mag.

Advertised in those early issues was a tantalising zine which promised all kinds of Hewlett & Bond goodies. That zine was Atom Tan. Unfortunately, I didn't get to read it. But years later, thanks to the magic of eBay, I was finally able to sate my drooling inner child.

Design god Jamie Hewlett has since given us Gorillaz and Journey To The West, and Philip Bond went on to draw the sexiest character in comicdom and save the world.

Thanks to punkster Cclay for the scan of Atom Tan #1.

Download Atom Tan #1

Download Atom Tan #2