The following letter is a full transcript of a response by Countdown and TV Action editor Dennis Hooper, published in Vol. 3 No. 2 (issue 10) of Comic Media, a fanzine published in the early 1970s. This was published shortly after TV Action merged into TV Comic, in September of 1973:

'Dear Mr. Burton,'

'Thank you for your letter and specimen of your new publication. However, it would not be honest if I did not make criticisms of your opinions. Basically, I believe your association to be nothing more than similar bodies that suffer from the mystery of the collectors' syndrome. What you collect, seems to be of little importance; be it stamps, car numbers or steam trains etc. You, your colleagues and myself are poles apart on the subject of comics.'

'We must firstly discern the use of comics in modern society. I see them as harmless and entertaining journalism, that a child might enjoy. I subscribe like any other perfectionist, to the highest standards I can obtain. I agree that the British Market has reached rock-bottom position, but apart from some of the superbly drawn artwork of America, I do not have any great enthusiasm for fantasy. In my opinion anyone who rates this as literary talent, is devoid of taste.'

'Anybody who has been in this area of publishing as long as myself, will soon put you right on how so many American comics arrive in Britain. It has been common practice to use these comics as ballast on unladen cargo ships for many years; which means of course, that they sell cheaply here.'

'I thank you for your compliment about TV ACTION, but must add that compared with TV21 which I began with Alan Fennell, and EAGLE, I find the editorial contents second-rate. This is mainly due to the mediocrity pumped out by British and American TV stations, which I am compelled to echo.'

'As I have pointed out before, to me your cult is based on visual expression rather than written. To myself, that which is written will always be of more consequence.'

'To conclude, I am not a kindred soul, although I do not deny you the right to harmlessly pursue your interests as fervently as you please.'

'Dennis Hooper,
Editor - TV ACTION.'


More than thirty years on, Richard Burton - co-editor of Comic Media with Nick Landau - recalls:

'I first met Nick Landau in 1971 when he had just started publishing Comic Media. We became friends and I co-edited a number of issues of CM with him before I spun off Comic Media News as my own publication. This lead to a job with Marvel UK and then IPC Magazines where I joined the 2000 AD editorial team in 1980.

The mention of Comic Media makes me think I sent Dennis Hooper a copy of the magazine to solicit his opinions of British comics vs. American comic books. At the time, and this was pre-2000AD, comics fandom in the UK was almost exclusively centred around US comic books. British comics were considered a very poor relation to them – despite selling millions to the mass market – in terms of story and art. About the only UK comics fans took any pride in were Eagle (for its superb production values) and TV21 (which people like Frank Bellamy contributed to).

Dennis was known to be something of a ‘curmudgeon’ at the time and so his views didn’t exactly surprise me. He was a classic example of the ‘old school’ of British comics which was soon about to change when 2000 AD hit the scene in 1977. His comment about comic books being shipped over as ballast in ship was perfectly correct. US comic books took around six months to arrive in Britain, were hard to find and, because they were largely returns from the American market, hardly ever included first issues of new titles. At the time of Dennis’ diatribe British fans like Phil Clarke were already finding ways to import comic books directly from the States and selling them onto fans at premium prices. I helped Nick Landau start his own import business at around this time and that grew directly into the Forbidden Planet/Titan empire he runs today.

If I were to be honest I probably couldn't have hoped for a better response from Hooper at the time. It confirmed the theories that a lot of us fans held at the time about the thoughtless and uncaring nature that endured amongst British comics publishers - and made great copy for the pages of CM. I'm actually more surprised by your reaction to it all these years later! To my knowledge I didn't ever reply to Hooper - or hear from him again.

I sort of wish Dennis was still around so I could watch him eat his words.'


With thanks to Randall W. Scott.