Nick Landau

 ( Year Of Birth Missing ) 

From fall 1975 to spring 1977, Landau studied for a postgraduate qualification in film and television production at the West Surrey College of Art and Design, with the intention of forging a career in television. In addition to producing television drama and documentaries during this year, Landau directed Six Inch Nails and Baling String, a documentary about a UK circus in decline. target="_blank" rel="nofollow"> "Nick Landau, director of Six Inch Nails and Baling String at the BFI" Retrieved 3 March 2023

At this time, a Brooklyn teacher named Phil Seuling took the first steps towards creating the “direct market” by setting up a direct sales service for US comic book retailers, creating a direct sales service between them and Marvel and DC. Landau was a vocal supporter of Seuling’s initiative and Comic Media Distribution Service became Seuling’s first international customer.

After first being assisted by Richard Burton and then Mal Burns, Landau was joined by Mike Lake and Mike Luckman at Comic Media Distribution Service. Landau and his partners came to feel that the company had grown out of its original name and re-branded their operation with Landau’s choice of company identity: Titan Distributors.

When Landau arrived at IPC Magazines, he found himself assigned to their controversial weekly comic Action. When Mills stepped down at 2000 AD after sixteen issues, replaced by Kelvin Gosnell, Landau was brought in as Gosnell's chief sub-editor. Thrill-Power Overload, p. 36. Gosnell was overwhelmed by the amount of work needed to launch 2000 AD's new sister title Starlord, and Landau took up the slack. "A brief history of Starlord" from "Watch the stars!" website As Gosnell describes it, "As soon as Starlord came on the scene, I lost it. I had to have someone running 2000 AD and that was Nick Landau. He was halfway between editor and chief sub," Thrill-Power Overload p. 41. and Roy Preston was made a sub-editor to take up the slack and help Landau. Thrill-Power Overload p. 42. With the focus on the launch of Starlord (issue No. 1 was cover-dated 13 May 1978), Landau, Preston, and art editor Kevin O'Neill had more creative freedom. As Mills says, "Some of the best decisions on 2000 AD's future were made while they were running the show. They were responsible for "The Cursed Earth", credit cards and encouraged talented artists like Garry Leach and Brian Bolland." Thrill-Power Overload p. 44.

Gosnell points out, however, that "this wonderful gush of creative freedom they felt when I started on Starlord nearly got 2000 AD taken off the market." Thrill-Power Overload p. 45. They ran into legal problems over fill-in stories for "The Cursed Earth" (which satirised the big food companies, including figures like Ronald McDonald and the Jolly Green Giant) Thrill-Power Overload pp. 46-47. but the main problems came over Inferno, the sequel to Harlem Heroes. Concerns were raised over the violence in the story, but the sequence of events is unclear, as detailed in the 2000 AD history Thrill-Power Overload, "trying to determine exactly what happened next is problematic, due to conflicting memories and the passage of time." Thrill-Power Overload p. 50. The outcome was that, with issue No. 86 (cover-dated 14 October 1978), when Starlord was merged into 2000 AD, Landau was moved into the same role at the war comic magazine Battle (swapping places with Steve MacManus). Thrill-Power Overload, p. 51.

While “resting in the trenches of Battle” Landau devised a new British comic-book concept called Heroes, coming out of his experience at 2000 AD and Action. The title was to feature heroes of past, present and future in their own strips, all secretly linked with each other (a fact that would only reveal itself over time) to battle a trans-time corporation.

Although Landau was promised editorship of this title by IPC’s publisher, he was disappointed to find that Kelvin Gosnell was ultimately named editor. Gosnell wanted to take Heroes in a direction influenced by the classic IPC titles of the 50s and 60s ( Lion, Valiant), far away from Landau’s original concept (which had been influenced by the harder-hitting and more contemporary Action and 2000 AD). The last straw for Landau was when Gosnell returned from an IPC board meeting where the Heroes name was jettisoned in favour of Tornado. Landau’s reaction was “to ask why the title had been named after a cleaning fluid.” Very shortly after this, in the spring of 1979, Landau resigned from IPC and focused full-time on the world of commerce.

In 1993, Landau, Luckman and Lake dissolved their partnership and sold Titan Distributors to the U.S.-based Diamond Comic Distributors. Landau became sole owner of Titan Books and the Forbidden Planet mega stores (including the flagship London store); Luckman became sole owner of Forbidden Planet's New York store.

• Landau, Luckman, and Lake, a fictional organization appearing in Marvel Comics, is named for the original three founders (including Landau) of Titan Distributors and Forbidden Planet bookstores.Cronin, Brian (27 March 2008). "Comic Book Urban Legends Revealed #148". Comic Book Resources.

• An interview with Nick Landau and Vivian Cheung at sci-fi-online.com
• Den of Geek: Nick Landau discusses his Titan/Forbidden Planet partnership with Vivian Cheung
• Financial Times: interview with Titan's owners Nick Landau & Vivian Cheung
• Review Graveyard: Titan Entertainment's Vivian Cheung and Nick Landau
• ICV2: Titan's Vivian Cheung and Nick Landau discuss Titan Publishing's roots and expansion
• ICV2: Titan's Vivian Cheung and Nick Landau discuss Titan Entertainment's various channels, their merchandise business and future plans