He was an expert in martial arts and had met endless unusual characters, who were perfect for stories. The advantage of working with Tony was I no longer had to get bogged down in boring but necessary research. Later, John would have another very successful writing partnership with Alan Grant. Of course they didn’t, and we went on to successful solo careers. They didn’t know ‘which one had the talent’ and feared standards would drop. They saw us as a creative duo and didn’t think we would work so well on our own. When the garden shed got too much, and John headed south to work in IPC, the various editors were really concerned that we were splitting up. It was a very successful relationship that lasted for over a year. I’ll come back to editing later on, which is an art-form in itself. I think it was the sharpness and clarity of our stories as well as our cynical and powerful ideas that got us through. Now we took it to another level: endlessly rewriting and polishing our material. John and I had already had a thorough training in editing stories at D.C. We proved him wrong.Īnother advantage of having a partner is that you can edit each other’s work, honing it to a remarkable degree. Although we were depressed by this news, we decided to ignore our insider’s advice and still go for it. Insecure about their own talent, they make damn sure nobody gets in to possibly take their place. I wouldn’t bother if I were you.’ That is typical of so many gatekeepers in publishing. ‘It’s really difficult getting stories accepted by IPC.

Thomson’s arch-rival, IPC Magazines, John rang up a friend who was an assistant-editor on an IPC comic and asked him whether there were any opportunities for work. For example, before we started sending scripts to D.C. It can help you overcome the inevitable insecurities of being freelance, and you can boost each other’s confidence. There are many advantages of having a writing-partner.

Pinhead vs. Marshal Law by Pat Mills