Zones

Publisher: London Editions

Format: Bi-monthly anthology

First Issue: Zones #1 (April 1990)

Last Issue: Zones #4 (October 1990)

Annuals and Specials: None

Absorbed: None

Absorbed into: None

Strips: The Shadow, Swamp Thing, Wasteland

Comments: An extremely short-lived licensed title published by London Editions while they held the UK license for reprinting DC Comics, Zones was aimed at an adult audience - as the introduction in the first issue explained, "Comics have grown up. Or so the media is constantly telling us. In Zones we hope to present strips which truly deserve the 'mature' label; stories with sophisticated scripts, and artwork that breaks the frontiers of the comics medium. We'll be setting them in context by giving you articles dealing with the past, present and future of the industry and areas of related interest; science-fiction, music, films and such-like."

It featured only three appropriately "mature" ongoing strips during its four issue run:

• Howard Chaykin's interpretation of The Shadow, reprinting the four part Shadow mini-series Blood and Judgement from 1986
• Len Wein and Bernie Wrightson's Swamp Thing, reprinting the first three issues of the 1972 Swamp Thing comic
• hort stories from John Ostrander and Del Close's American anthology series Wasteland - Tipped Toes from Wasteland#13 in Zones#1; The Dead Detective from Wasteland #8 and The St. Louis Electric Giraffe Caper! from Wasteland#7 in Zones#2

   In keeping with its stated goal of including relevant articles, Wasteland#1 and 2 also included a page, The Bizarre, discussing some of DC's more...well, bizarre, characters, Rex the Wonder Dog in Zones#1 and Detective Chimp in Zones#2.

   Zones#1's other articles covered the Shadow's background, the 1960s Mars Attacks bubblegum cards (several years ahead of the Tim Burton movie, so not an attempt to tie-in to that), and Gary Larson's Far Side cartoons, while Zones#2 covered the Dinosaurs Attack bubblegum cards released by Topps Comics in 1988 (an attempt to emulate the Mars Attacks cards), and the cyberpunk genre (in an article titled Sky the Colour of Static). Zones#3 introduced what was intended to be a recurring feature, the Fan-Dom Zone, wherein celebrities admitted to being comic fans; in this instance the celebrity was Radio One presenter Paul Gambaccini, at the time also co-owner of London's Top 10 Comics comic shop. It also carried an article on the most infamous hoaxes ever perpetrated, such as the Batman of the Moon and the Hydrarchus Silliman. The final issue's Through the Looking Glass covered H.R. Giger and his movie work, while Voices from the Shadows looked at the actors and actresses who portrayed the Shadow and his supporting cast in the radio series from 1930 to 1954, and The Weird World of Survival Research Laboratories covered said lab.

   After Zones was cancelled, London Editions made another attempt at a more mature comic, Shockwave.

First Posted: Circa 13/10/2019
Last updated: 31/05/2023

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