Dez Skinn

Derek Graham "Dez" Skinn (born 4 February 1951) is a British comic and magazine editor, and author of a number of books on comics. As head of Marvel Comics' operations in England in the late 1970s, Skinn reformatted existing titles, launched new ones, and acquired the BBC license for Doctor Who Weekly. After leaving Marvel UK, Skinn founded and edited Warrior, which featured key works by Alan Moore.

Called by some the "British Stan Lee," Skinn is one of British comics' most influential figures. He has caused controversy in his career, specifically related to legal issues regarding his publishing new adventures of the 1950s character Marvelman, as well as charges of plagiarism about Skinn's 2004 book Comix: The Underground Revolution.

Skinn first came to prominence in the world of British comics fandom. As a teenager he contributed articles to the seminal fanzine Fantasy Advertiser, published by Frank Dobson (known as the "Godfather of British Fandom"). When Dobson left for Australia in 1970, he handed the zine on to two contributors, Skinn and Paul McCartney, to continue. As editors, Skinn and McCartney expanded the magazine to include more articles and artwork. (Skinn stayed on at Fantasy Advertiser even after starting his professional career at IPC Magazines; finally leaving the fanzine in 1976.)

In 1971, Skinn and Derek "Bram" Stokes produced Comicon '71 (the British Comic Art Convention) at the Waverley Hotel in London; the guest of honor was Frank Bellamy and other guests include Frank Dickens, Mick Farren, and Edward Barker. Skinn returned in 1981 to produce the final incarnation of Comicon, co-organized with Frank Dobson. He also produced the 2005 Brighton Comic Expo.

Skinn's professional career started at IPC Magazines (now known as IPC Media) in 1970, where he was sub-editor on Whizzer and Chips, Cor!!, and Buster. He was promoted to be an editor on the Buster Book of Spooky Stories in 1975 and 1976. While at IPC, he also served as Father of the chapel of the local branch of the National Union of Journalists.^{[citation needed]}

Skinn left IPC in 1976 to expand the comics arm of Warner Communications' publishing arm, Williams Publishing. He took over editing MAD UK, Tarzan, Korak, and Larry Harmon's Laurel & Hardy, revived Monster Mag, and launched House of Hammer. Two of Skinn's publications were given Eagle Awards in 1977 — House of Hammer for "Favourite Specialist Comics Publication — Pro" and Mad UK for "Favourite Black & White Comicbook — Humour."

During the summer of 1977, thanks to his interest in (and connections with) the film industry, Skinn became aware of the huge success of the film Star Wars, which would not arrive in British cinemas for nearly six months. Believing this was an opportunity to launch a science fiction magazine, he first suggested the project to his then-employer, Williams Magazines; after they rejected the notion, he decided to publish Starburst, under Skinn's own Starburst Publishing Ltd. Sporting the tagline "Science Fantasy in Television, Cinema and Comix," Starburst contained news, interviews, features, and reviews of science fiction material in various media (including TV, film, soundtracks, multimedia, comics and "collectibles"). Starburst won the 1978 Eagle Award for Favourite British Pro Comics Publication. He was able to publish three bimonthly issues – the first in January 1978, as Star Wars reached British cinema screens – before he was forced to spend the editorial and production budget for the fourth edition in order to ensure the rights to Hammer House of Horror.

In August 1978, thanks in part to the success of Starburst, Skinn was hired by Stan Lee to reshape Marvel's floundering British reprint division. (With issue #4, Marvel also bought and began to publish Starburst.) In his 15 months as editorial director for Marvel UK, Skinn reported directly to Lee; he reformatted the existing titles Mighty World of Marvel (which became Marvel Comic), Star Wars Weekly, and Super Spider-Man (which became Spider-Man Comic), plus the monthlies Rampage and Savage Sword of Conan. In addition, Skinn launched first Hulk Comic and then Doctor Who Weekly as well as many other titles — Frantic Magazine, Marvel Pocket Books, Star Heroes, TV Heroes, summer specials, winter specials, etc.