Comic Book Babylon A Cautionary Tale of Sex Drugs & Comics SC

"Comics were undoubtedly in my blood from day one. I had 'four colour funnies' running through my veins before I’d even heard the expression. Cut me and I bled cyan, magenta, yellow and black. I inhaled the musty smell of old comics, as if they were perfume. I sweated Indian ink and I came in process white. It was my destiny to work in comics." - Tim Pilcher

As a life-long comic fan, Tim Pilcher finally achieved his dream job working for his favorite comics publisher, DC Comics, in 1993. However, he was completely unprepared for the sheer hedonism that was to follow.

Timed to coincide with the 20th Anniversary of Vertigo, this memoir explores how Tim became the first British member of the DC editorial staff, and the comics professionals and celebrities he met on the way up and down, including Grant Morrison, Peter Milligan, Jamie Hewlett, Mark Millar, Garth Ennis, Philip Bond, Paul Gambaccini, Glyn Dillon, Jonathan Ross, The Spice Girls, Blur, Adam Ant, and many, many more. It reveals the crazy halcyon days of the British comics publishing, and blows the lid off the debauchery and excess that was part and parcel of the industry.

Candid, uncensored and revealing: this is the completely unofficial and unendorsed story of DC Comic’s infamous Vertigo UK office, written by one who was the heart of the drug-fueled creative whirlwind. Everything you’ve heard is true. But you’ve only heard of half of it.

Book cover designed by legendary comic artist, font designer and decent, all round good egg, Rian Hughes. Rian designed the logos on many of the Vertigo comics Tim worked on including: Kill Your Boyfriend, Face and Tainted.

“…For a few glorious years only, before cost-cutting set in, there was... Vertigo's 'British Office' - the comics equivalent of the Loaded HQ in the ‘90s. Vodka, mushrooms, Es, sex, money, travel and the pure unleashed creativity of young people having a good time together.” – Grant Morrison, author of Supergods, All Star Superman, Batman Inc. and The Invisibles.