a celebration of the great comic book artists of the

53
LEO BAXENDALE FRANK BELLAMY BRIAN BOLLAND MARK BUCKINGHAM JOHN M BURNS ALAN DAVIS RON EMBLETON HUNT EMERSON DAVE GIBBONS FRANK HAMPSON BRYAN HITCH SYD JORDAN DON LAWRENCE DAVID LLOYD DAVE MCKEAN MIKE NOBLE KEVIN O’NEILL FRANK QUITELY KEN REID BRYAN TALBOT BARRY WINDSOR-SMITH LEO BAXENDALE FRANK BELLAMY BRIAN BOLLAND MARK BUCKINGHAM JOHN M BURNS ALAN DAVIS RON EMBLETON HUNT EMERSON DAVE GIBBONS FRANK HAMPSON BRYAN HITCH SYD JORDAN DON LAWRENCE DAVID LLOYD DAVE MCKEAN MIKE NOBLE KEVIN O’NEILL FRANK QUITELY KEN REID BRYAN TALBOT BARRY WINDSOR-SMITH A CELEBRATION OF THE GREAT COMIC BOOK ARTISTS OF THE UK A CELEBRATION OF THE GREAT COMIC BOOK ARTISTS OF THE UK

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Page 1: A CELEBRATION OF THE GREAT COMIC BOOK ARTISTS OF THE

L E O B A X E N D A L EF R A N K B E L L A M YB R I A N B O L L A N D

M A R K B U C K I N G H A MJ O H N M B U R N S

A L A N D AV I SR O N E M B L E T O NH U N T E M E R S O N

D AV E G I B B O N SF R A N K H A M P S O N

B RYA N H I T C HS Y D J O R D A N

D O N L AW R E N C ED AV I D L L OY D

D AV E M C K E A NM I K E N O B L E

K E V I N O’N E I L LF R A N K Q U I T E LY

K E N R E I DB RYA N TA L B O T

B A R RY W I N D S O R - S M I T H

L E O B A X E N D A L EF R A N K B E L L A M YB R I A N B O L L A N D

M A R K B U C K I N G H A MJ O H N M B U R N S

A L A N D AV I SR O N E M B L E T O NH U N T E M E R S O N

D AV E G I B B O N SF R A N K H A M P S O N

B RYA N H I T C HS Y D J O R D A N

D O N L AW R E N C ED AV I D L L OY D

D AV E M C K E A NM I K E N O B L E

K E V I N O’N E I L LF R A N K Q U I T E LY

K E N R E I DB RYA N TA L B O T

B A R RY W I N D S O R - S M I T H

A CELEBRATION OFTHE GREAT COMIC BOOK ARTISTS

OF THE UK

A CELEBRATION OFTHE GREAT COMIC BOOK ARTISTS

OF THE UK

Page 2: A CELEBRATION OF THE GREAT COMIC BOOK ARTISTS OF THE

Edited by George KhouryEditorial assist by David A. RoachBook design/artwork original and digitalversion by Paul Holder Email: [email protected] and production assist by Eric Nolen-Weathington

CONTRIBUTORSBrian ‘Duke’ Boyanski, Norman Boyd, Jon B. Cooke, Peter Hansen, Paul Holder, George Khoury, Eric Nolen-Weathington, David A. Roach

SPECIAL THANKSRichard Ashford, Alex Bialy, Rich DeDominicis, Jamie Grant, Paul Gravett, Lis Lawrence, Garry Leach, Craig Lemon, Marc McKenzie, Ian Robson, Matt Smith, Greg Strohecker and the staff at 2000 AD

TwoMorrows Publishing10407 Bedfordtown Drive, Raleigh,North Carolina 27614www.twomorrows.comemail: [email protected]

All DC Comics, Marvel Comics, Rebellion A/SComics, and other material, illustrations, titles,characters, related logos and other distinguishingmarks remain copyright and trademark of theirrespective copyright holders and are reproducedhere for the purposes of historical study.

First print edition July 2004Digital Edition created September 2011

THE HISTORYOF BRITISHCOMIC ART

by David Roach 6

LeoBAXENDALE 42

FrankBELLAMY 52

BrianBOLLAND 70

MarkBUCKINGHAM 90

John MBURNS 93

AlanDAVIS 105

RonEMBLETON 116

HuntEMERSON 128

DaveGIBBONS 140

FrankHAMPSON 146

Prefaceby George Khoury 5

Page 3: A CELEBRATION OF THE GREAT COMIC BOOK ARTISTS OF THE

BryanHITCH 156

SydneyJORDAN 174

DonLAWRENCE 180

DavidLLOYD 193

DaveMcKEAN 204

MikeNOBLE 212

KevinO’NEILL 224

FrankQUITELY 234

KenREID 251

Bryan

TALBOT 262

BarryWINDSOR-SMITH 269

Contributors’ Biographies 280

Page 4: A CELEBRATION OF THE GREAT COMIC BOOK ARTISTS OF THE

6 true brit the history of british comic art

T H E G R I T I N D I G I TA L T R U E B R I TOver the last 30 years, British comic book creators have had a tremendous impact over how comic arecrafted today. British writers, like Alan Moore, Garth Ennis, Grant Morrison, Neil Gaiman, and WarrenEllis, have entirely changed the dynamics of how we perceived stories in these four-color books, eachof them re-energizing a form that had been stagnant for too long. For their written work, these menhave received loads of much-deserved accolades and recognition, but the artistic counterparts wereremaining a bit under-looked. Don’t know about you, but I find the artwork by Windsor-Smith, Gibbons,and Bolland as alluring and as important to comics today as when I was a 13-year old schoolboy,discovering their works for the first time. These artists are very much storytellers and pioneers in theirown right, they’re the ones whose art heralded those issues of Conan the Barbarian, Watchmen,Batman, and so many other fondly-remembered titles. So it was my privilege to have had theopportunity to spearhead True Brit, a book exactly as the subtitle indicates: “A Celebration of the GreatComic Book Artists of the U.K.,” and the last of my sort-of trilogy of books on British comics that startedwith Kimota! and continued with The Extraordinary Works of Alan Moore.

True Brit was an idea which had been brewing in my head for abloody long time. There have been various articles and occasional magazine

issues, here and there, devoted to comics’ “British Invasion,” but I wanted to painta more complete picture, one that was inviting, attractive and accessible to comics readers, both new andold. This is an in-depth book that studies the roots of British comics. We look at the work of classic artistslike Ken Reid, as important as the contributions made by young guns like Frank Quitely to the entirepicture. Within this book are interviews and profiles of, in my opinion, the very best British artists ever tohave drawn a comic book. Each and every one of the 21 artists is someone of quality and someone Irespect, for who they are and the work they’ve done throughout each respective career. Without anyhesitation, I can say this is easily the most important book of the few that I’ve produced.

Here in America, very little is known of the British creators prior to Barry Windsor-Smith. Artists like FrankBellamy, Leo Baxendale, and Sydney Jordan are far from household names; a tragedy, really, becausewhen you see their art, it will seduce you. Adding to the tragedy is the fact that not much of the U.K.’s mostimportant comics prior to mid-‘70s has not been reprinted or imported into the States. There’s also agrowing concern in the U.K. that, as British comic readers grow older, new readers are not discovering therichness of the nation’s history in comics. Long gone are the “golden age” days of U.K.’s very active comicsfandom in the ’70s and ‘80s, when great magazines about comics, like Arken Sword, Fantasy Express,Speakeasy, and Escape were commonplace in comic shops. My hope is that this book will provoke people tosearch for the work of artists they are less familiar with, to appreciate even more the ones they know. Ifyou’re feeling that American comics are becoming somewhat redundant, search those great U.K. titles thatfeature strips ‘Garth,’ ‘Jeff Hawke,’ ‘Charley’s War,’ ‘Dan Dare,’ and ‘Modesty Blaise.’ You won’t bedisappointed in how entertaining and beautiful these serials are.

It’s hard for me to believe that this 200-page book was completed in less than a year, because of the greatmany people and sheer research involved. I pitched the idea to my publisher, John Morrow, on August 13,2003, and the completed tome was in stores roughly around the same date,one year later. If there was a difficult decision, it was narrowing down a listof artists to interview and profile from what seemed like hundreds of greats;so I decided to cover the gamut of the artists who I decreed most important,and best represented this history we were writing about. Along with theother contributors of this book, I made an effort to interview as many livingartists as possible, to capture each one’s story and feelings regarding theirheritage (and for those deceased, feature profiles filled with the appropriaterespect and sincere admiration).

Above all, I enjoy working with my friends – and everyone who made acontribution in this book is a friend. I don’t think I could have done True Britif that wasn’t the case. It’s important for me to know who I’m working with,and I’ve toiled with good people, people of substance, so I’m very proud ofeveryone who lent a hand. Those appendages belong to old friends like JonB. Cooke and Eric Nolen-Weathington, as well as newer friends from“across the pond”: Brian “Duke” Boyanksi, Norman Boyd, Paul Holder (alsothe brilliant designer of this project) and Peter Hansen. David A. Roach wasmy Yoda, my spiritual encyclopedia of the entire 100-plus-year history ofBritish comics, and has been one of the top artists in U.K. funnybooks forclose to 30 years. David spoke to me for many hours over the last year, andwrote the important – and exhaustive – historical exposition that opens thisvolume. No one was more important in making this book than Mr. Roach,who always – and unerringly – pointed me in the right direction.

So, in closing, why would a Yank like me, one from the armpit of the UnitedStates (that’s New Jersey), write and edit a book on comic creators from theBritish Isles? Because I wondered why there were so many great artistscoming from the same place, and I think, with this book, we discovered abeautiful kinship that crosses different artists. As I said in the originalpreface of the book, “This tome is recognition for every British artist (past,present, and future) for a rich heritage that I hope will never be forgotten.” Itrust these sentiments are apparent whether you’re just browsing or doingus the courtesy of actually buying this book.”

PREFACE

THEHISTORYOFBRITISHCOMICART by David Roach

by

George Khoury

Judge Dredd Megazine cover art by Patrick Goddard & Dylan Teague. © Rebellion A/S

Page 5: A CELEBRATION OF THE GREAT COMIC BOOK ARTISTS OF THE

�The story of British comics is a long, rich,diverse, frustrating and largely untold one.Britain was one of the first countries of theworld to develop the comic strip as we know ittoday, predating American strips by severalyears. Indeed, some believe it to be the truehome of the comic strip. For the first fewdecades of its existence, from the 1890s to atleast the 1930s, the British strip evolvedlargely in isolation from developments,traditions and innovations from elsewhere,creating its own idiosyncratic language. Whileboth British and American strips share acommon root in such Victorian humoroustitles as Punch and Puck, they emerged indifferent formats. British strips initiallyappeared in comic books, only establishing asignificant presence in newspapers in the1920s, while in the States the opposite is true;there, newspaper strips inspired a comic bookcounterpart in the mid-’30s. In fact, in mostcritical ways it is Britain that led the world increating the comic strip as we know it today,from the comic strips in the first regularlypublished comic book (Comic Cuts in 1890) tothe first significant recurring characters(‘Weary Willie and Tired Tim’, in IllustratedChips in 1896) and the first adventure strip(‘Rob the Rover’, in 1920).

From the late ’40s onward, the Britishadventure strip really came into its own, partlyinspired by America’s comic strips, and thiscaused a schism in the marketplace andamong fans which persists to this day. So it isprobably true to say that there are two distincttraditions of British comics: humour comicsthat have their origins in Tom Browne’s ‘WearyWillie and Tired Tim’, and post-war adventurecomics, which combined British and American

influences. Strangely, UK comics historianshave largely been fans of the humour comicsand have regarded the nation’s Golden Age ofcomics as being in the ’20s and ’30s.Consequently, what has been written about thecountry’s comics (and there has beensurprisingly little) has been grotesquelyunbalanced, partial and misleading. This hasextended to the perception of comics as awhole in the UK; for a long time, they havebeen seen as a juvenile, disposable andsomewhat tawdry medium, with little ofsubstance or depth to it. Nothing could befurther from the truth.

In America, Britain, and mainlandEurope, sophisticated societythroughout the Victorian era wasentertained by humorous publicationswhich combined comic verse withsatirical illustrations and cartoons. In Britain, publications such as Punch &Judy and Comic News often featuredcomic illustrations and even rudimentary

strips – short, comicnarratives told over thecourse of several linkedillustrations with accomp-anying captions and eventhe occasional wordballoon. However, althoughpublications such as FunnyFolks (1874) and Ally Sloper’sHalf Holiday (1884) regularlyfeatured these proto-strips,each issue was dominatedby captioned singleillustrations and short textpieces. The British comicstrip as we know it reallyemerged in Comic Cuts, firstpublished by AlfredHarmsworth in 1890, whichfeatured many short stripsand set the pattern of Britishcomics for the following fewdecades. It was cheaplypriced (at a half-penny), wasprinted in a black-and-white tabloid format, andwas published weekly.

Comic Cuts was soon joinedby competitors such asFunny Cuts as well ascompanion titles fromHarmsworth itself, such asIllustrated Chips and Funny

Wonder. All were published weekly and allran at a miserly eight pages! Visually,they shared the broadly realistic, highlyrendered and somewhat fussy styling ofmost Victorian publications, but all thatchanged dramatically with the arrival of the‘father’ of British comic illustration, TomBrowne. Browne was something of aRenaissance man, entering comics in 1895 at

Rob The Rover

Weary Willie and Tired Tim

Art by Tom Browne. © AP/FleetwayOther images ©respective holder.

the history of british comic art true brit 7

Page 6: A CELEBRATION OF THE GREAT COMIC BOOK ARTISTS OF THE

the age of 23, working for two years in theUnited States for the leading New York andChicago dailies, and travelling across Europeand the Far East as an artist for The Graphic. Onhis return to London, he helped found theSketch Club, exhibited at the Royal Academyand became a member of many leadingartistic societies, including the Royal Institute,before dying at the tragically early age of 38.

What Browne brought to comics, particularlyin the form of his first significant strip work,‘Weary Willie and Tired Tim’ (which firstappeared in Illustrated Chips #298 in May, 1896),was a dynamic, pared-down, linear style thatdid away with Victorian over-rendering at astroke. Browne was inspired by the elegantminimalism of Punch magazine’s leadingcartoonist, Phil May, but he combined May’sprecision of line with a wicked eye forcaricature and exaggeration. The result wasthe modern comic strip as we recognise ittoday. Interestingly, R.F. Outcault’s first ‘YellowKid’ strip appeared some six months later,which puts the lie to the notion that hepioneered the form. Admittedly, the Brownestrip rarely used speech balloons in its earlyyears, preferring the standard Britishapproach of a printed caption beneath eachpanel. However, the captioned panel was aubiquitous feature of British comics right up tothe second world war, and is indeed stillcommon in comics for the very young to thisday – it is simply a quirk of the nation’s comics.It is also worth noting that, whereas Outcault’searly strips had little plot, background ordialogue, Browne’s strips were wittynarratives with fully realised settings, aroving visual viewpoint and a keen earfor dialogue. Visually, Browne’seconomy of line was years ahead ofOutcault and his fellow pioneers,

F. Opper, Jimmy Swinnerton, and even RudolfDirks, creator of the Katzenjammer Kids.

‘The Adventures of Weary Willie and TiredTim’, two work-shy tramps prone to endlessmishaps and pratfalls, quickly propelledIllustrated Chips to sales of 600,000 copies perweek – an astonishing figure for the 1890s –and helped make Harmsworth into thecountry’s leading publisher. Through mergersand name changes over the years,Harmsworth became first the AmalgamatedPress, then Fleetway, IPC and Fleetway againbefore being bought by Egmont/Methuen inthe 1990s. For most of its 100-year existence,the company was the country’s most prolificand successful comic publishing house andenjoyed a virtual monopoly until the late ’30s.In the early years of the twentieth century,Harmsworth/AP released a steady stream oftitles, including The Rainbow, Puck, TheButterfly, Comic Life, Merry and Bright, Tip Top,Sparkler, and The Jolly Comic. These wereaimed at a predominantly young readershipand featured strips about children,anthropomorphic funny animals (such asJulius Stafford Baker’s ‘Tiger Tim’ in TheRainbow) or disaster-prone adults in the WearyWillie-Tired Tim mould. Such artists as H.S.Foxwell, Frank Minnitt, Brian White, PercyCocking, and Albert Pease found greatsuccess by working broadly in the Brownestyle, which remained largely unchallengedfor decades.

Whereas in the United States the comic striporiginated in newspapers before spreading to

comic books some 40 years later, in Britain thereverse was true. Aware of AP’s success,many of the country’s leading newspapersadopted their own strips, including (in 1919)A.B. Payne’s whimsical ‘Pip, Squeak andWilfred’, which ran for 36 years in the DailyMirror. The strip described the gentle highjinksof a dog, a rabbit, and a penguin, and itattracted a loyal following (known as theWilfredian League of Gugnuncs) numbering inthe hundreds of thousands. Other importantstrips included J.F. Horrabin’s ‘Dot and Carrie’,Roland Davies’ ‘Come on Steve’, and CharlesFolkard’s ‘Teddy Tail’, which first appeared inthe Daily Mail in 1915. However, the mostsuccessful British newspaper strip of that orany other era was undoubtedly ‘Rupert theBear’, created by Mary Tourtel for the DailyExpress in 1920.

Tourtel’s elegant, simple line was bothcharming and sophisticated, and the littlebear’s whimsical adventures in the village ofNutwood immediately struck a chord with thepaper’s readership. Collections of Rupertstrips appeared as early as 1921, and the firsthardbacked annual collection made its debutin 1930, initiating a publishing sensation thatcontinues to this day. Tourtel retired in 1935and was succeeded by Alfred Bestall, who wasin his 40s and already a distinguished andsuccessful illustrator for Punch and The Tatler.Bestall soon became one of the mostimportant comic artists that the country hasever produced, and under his brilliantstewardship the strip became a British

8 true brit the history of british comic art

Rupert the Bear

Art by Alfred Bestal andMary Tourtell. © ExpressNewspaper

Page 7: A CELEBRATION OF THE GREAT COMIC BOOK ARTISTS OF THE

institution, delighting generations of readers and inspiring a mountain of merchandise. The wonderfullyeccentric strip invariably featuredyoung Rupert encountering astrange array of characters, frompirates and Gypsies to pixies,dragons, talking birds,magicians, inventors andcannibals. Another eccentricitywas the strip’s unique format.In the annuals, each pagedisplayed four identicallysized panels, below each ofwhich were two lines ofrhyming narrative, while two furtherparagraphs of text appeared at the bottom ofthe page. This meant that each story waseffectively related three times: first in pictures,then in rhyming couplets and finally, inexpanded form, in prose. Happily, the annualsstill maintain that strange convention to this day.

Bestall’s visual style flourished in the strip’srigid conformity, displaying virtuoso drawingand a remarkable sophistication – imagine across between Arthur Rackham’s fairy taleillustrations and Hergé’s minimalist Tintinartwork, and you will get some idea ofBestall’s style. For the covers and endpapersof the annuals, Bestall would create achinglybeautiful, character-filled panoramas, fullypainted in subtle washes of watercolour whichwould have made Rackham proud. Bestallalso appeared to have an unusual interest inthe Orient; he often filled his strips withChinese dragons, pagodas and conjurors, aswell as regularly providing readers withorigami puzzles. Under his tenure, sales of theannuals grew to one-and-a-half million copiesper issue at peak, and they still sell over250,000 today. The great man began to scaledown his ‘Rupert’ work in the early ’70s anddrew his final strip in 1982; he died four yearslater, soon after receiving an MBE from theQueen. In his later years he had starred in a TVspecial written by Monty Python’s Terry Jones,and his biography had been written by GeorgePerry. Among Rupert’s almost uncountable

mediatie-ins can befound comics, toys,several animatedcartoon series,confectionery, books,hit records (includingthe ‘Frog Chorus’single by PaulMcCartney, whichreached numberthree in the Britishcharts in 1984), andeven shops devotedto the character.Artists Alex Cubieand John Harroldhave kept the stripalive since Bestall’s retirement, and right up tothe present day each new generation of youngBritish readers is raised on Rupert.

Another notable early newspaper stripboasted an artist who, like Bestall, had comefrom the illustration field. This Daily Sketchstrip was called simply ‘Pop’, and his artistwas the extraordinary J. Millar Watt. ‘Pop’ –effectively a British version of GeorgeMacmanus’ legendary US strip ‘Bringing upFather’– centred on the pratfalls of a put-upon,portly dad and his demanding family. Like‘Bringing up Father’, the strip was oftenvisually quite stark, but Millar Watt had the

expressive, loose line of a painter rather thanMacmanus’ Deco-minimalism. A quirk of the‘Pop’ feature was Millar Watt’s way with a joke:in each four-paned installment, panels oneand two set up the gag, panel three had thepay-off, and the final panel usually contained awordless reaction shot. Millar Watt was anoutstanding draughtsman and imbued hislinework with an expressive vitality and asense of space and drama that bordered onthe poetic. With its visual sophisticationmarried to a more conventional – thoughinvariably funny – storyline, ‘Pop’ appealed toboth intellectuals and the masses, and it ranfrom 1921 to 1960.

Miller Watt retired from the strip in 1949 toconcentrate on his illustration work (GordonHogg took over ‘Pop’ in his absence) but in themid-’50s he was recruited into AP’sburgeoning comics line, where he enjoyed athird career change as a comic book artist. For the rest of the decade he drew incrediblydense and detailed strips such as ‘Robin Hood’and ‘The Three Musketeers’ while alsopainting a series of outstanding covers. In the’60s he moved on to full-colour, glossyAP/Fleetway prestige comic titles such asRanger, where he drew his final major stripwork in 1965: an atmospheric adaptation ofTreasure Island. With that exception, however,from 1962 until his death at the age of 80,Millar Watt concentrated primarily onillustrations for Look & Learn, Princess and OnceUpon A Time – illustrations which rival the likes

the history of british comic art true brit 9

Pop

Tiger Tim© AP/Fleetway

Happy Days by Roy Wilson. © AP/FleetwayPop by J. Millar Watt. ©Daily Sketch.

Page 8: A CELEBRATION OF THE GREAT COMIC BOOK ARTISTS OF THE

42 true brit leo baxendale

It would be impossible to have a book about great British comicartists without including the enigmatic Leo Baxendale. In theearly 1950s, British weekly comics were undergoing a revolutionwith the Eagle comic entering the marketplace to redefine thestandards for boys comics. In Dundee, Scotland, home of thegiant DC Thomson publishing empire this new event was largelyignored and the focus instead was to revamp their own line ofpopular comics and redefine the way humour comics were presented.

Given a new direction, men who became comic legends such asDudley Watkins, David Law, Ken Reid, and Paddy Brennanstormed onto the scene ushering in the new era. At the centre of this cauldron of creativity was ‘Che Guevara’ himself, Leo Baxendale.

An outspoken Englishman from Lancashire, Baxendale was aself-taught artist who after completing his National Service inthe Royal Air Force in 1950 joined the art department of the localLancashire Evening Post newspaper, where he wrote and

illustrated his own short, humorous

pieces. He also gained experience drawing theoccasional comic strip and sports cartoons.

At the age of 21 Baxendale submitted some of hiscomic strips to the Beano comic published by DCThomson. They hired him immediately and he beganwork on a number of minor pieces as a freelance artist.His first real comic strip, ‘Little Plum, Your RedskinChum’, made its debut on October 10, 1953.

Instantly popular, this strip was followed up with‘Minnie the Minx’ and ‘When the Bell Rings’, whicheventually changed its name to the now world-renowned ‘The Bash Street Kids’. He added to his ever-growing output in 1956 when he started drawing thepopular ‘Banana Bunch’ and ‘The Gobbles’ in the new

comic, Beezer.

His last major contribution for the firm was the addition of ‘TheThree Bears’ in the Beano in June of 1959. This hilarious animalstrip where the animals are more human than the peoplebecame extremely popular.

In 1964, following a rift with DC Thomson, Baxendale left to workfor Odhams Press. Surprisingly the refit revolved around artistic

license and not money asone would expect. Once thedie was cast Baxendalebegan preparing a total of30 samples which he sentout to British comicpublishers at the rate oftwo per day. Years later hefound out from AlbertCosser of Odhams Pressthat he needn’t have goneto all that trouble, as

Cosser recounted, “If you’d have sent a scribbled note saying‘I’m available,’ that would have been enough.”

As it happened only two packages were mailed out and bothrecipients responded quickly. Two days after he mailed hispackages Baxendale was sitting across the table in Dundee withAlf Wallace, the managing editor of the Odhams group of comics,who had traveled from London to see him in person. He toldBaxendale that Odhams market research had revealed thecomplete dominance of DC Thomson’s comics in themarketplace, especially the Beano. He went on to say that hedidn’t want Baxendale to draw some strip in Eagle or Swift, but

instead wanted to build a newcomic around his talents.Within a short time a newcontract was signed thatdoubled Baxendale’s income inone fell swoop. Furthermore,he could now sign his work,and the new comic would beprinted in full-colour gravure.At Thomson’s any scriptsprovided by Baxendale hadbeen free, but Odhams werewilling to pay him for any hemay write, which would further

Bash Street Kids

Leo

BAXENDALEby Peter Hansen

Leo photo: © Respective holder. Bash Street Kids, Three Bears © DC Thomson. Bad Penny: © Odhams.

Page 9: A CELEBRATION OF THE GREAT COMIC BOOK ARTISTS OF THE

Graphic, unfussy, stylish yet modern – a very distinctive signature, making abold statement, in fact insisting upon it. A very distinctive artist whosedraughtmanship, design anddynamism made him one of themost dramatic of illustrators. In acareer spanning over three decadesencompassing adventure, mystery,fantasy, science fiction and historicaladventures he became one of the finestand most influential of British comicartists. His major works wereproduced from the mid-1950s until thelate ’60s, during a golden era forBritish comics, inaugurated by the highquality Eagle comic which was to makehis name.

Frank

BELLAMYby Paul Holder

52 true brit frank bellamy

1917 -1976

Page 10: A CELEBRATION OF THE GREAT COMIC BOOK ARTISTS OF THE

frank bellamy true brit 53

Frank AlfredBellamy cameinto the worldon 21st May

1917 in a small bedroom of a Victorian terraced house in BathRoad, Kettering, in the county of Northamptonshire. A centralpart of England that is obviously a fertile breeding ground fortalent as artist Alan Davis and writer Alan Moore both hail fromthe region. The second child of Horace and Grace and youngerbrother of Eva, Frank was a bright and lively boy, full of jokes andfun who soon displayed a love for drawing. He must have cravedadventure too, as at the age of six or seven, he managed to pullsome hairs from a lion’s tail while visiting a local circus. Theywere proudly kept in a jar for a number of years no doubt untilhe could fulfill his ambition to be a big game hunter! Art andAfrica remained abiding passions throughout his life.

If he couldn’t be a big game hunter then he would have to be anartist. Luckily, Kettering had its own advertising studio and soonafter leaving school he managed to get a job there. He spent

some six years at William Blamire’s studio, with a break for hisnational service, learning lettering, layout and honing hisdrawing skills. There was a lot of local advertising and displaywork, particularly for the local cinema advertising forthcomingattractions such as the films of Cagney and Bogart. He hadvolunteered to go to Africa when his call up papers arrived, butwas considered more useful to the army as an artist and postedto West Auckland in Northern England. Over a period of sixmonths he painted an aircraft recognition room, thereby beingone of the few people allowed to draw the German swastika, yetstill managed to draw a weekly football cartoon for the KetteringEvening Telegraph for their Saturday sporting paper ‘The Pink’un’. He was promoted from Lance Bombardier to Sergeant.Promotion from the ranks of a single man came when hemarried 19-year-old Nancy Caygill from nearby BishopAuckland, County Durham on 6 March 1942.

A son, David, soon followed in 1944, like Frank arriving at the tailend of a world war. Aware of growing family commitments, helooked to London to further his career, securing a job at Norfolk

Frank and Nancy Bellamy in the mid-sixties

Movie Crazy Years © Radio Times publications

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70 true brit brian bolland

Out of Lincolnshire came this left-handed virtuoso,who grew up on a steadfast diet of Silver Age DCComics, and was so enamored with the art that byeleven he created his very own comics, sequentialdrawings on reams of typing paper. While enrolled atNorwich School of Art, Bolland immersed himselfinto the British underground – early strips wereprinted in Oz and Friendz in the early ‘70s along withthe self-published Suddenly at 2 O’Clock in theMorning. Upon leaving school he acquired an agent,Bardon Press Features, and landed commercialassignments for magazines such as Time Out andParade along with providing illustrations forrestaurants, concert promoters and otheradvertising work. By 1975 Brian landed his first

professional ongoing strip, rotating artwork withDave Gibbons on Powerman, a comic that wasdistributed primarily in Nigeria and neighboringAfrican countries. Beginning in 1977, he becameassociated with the stellar roster of talented artistsat 2000 AD and became the book’s most celebratedartist with his bold work during ‘Judge Dredd’’sgolden age. After a lengthy stay at 2000 AD, DCComics enlisted Brian to render work for GreenLantern, Justice League of America, AdventureComics, and Mystery in Space – the work on thesetitles was a childhood ambition now realized. Withwriter Mike W. Barr, the artist undertook the longestnarrative work of his career, (and one of the fewoccasions where his work would be inked by others)in DC’s bold experiment – the company’s first limitedseries Camelot 3000, which was only sold in comicspecialty shops. 1988 brought readers Batman: TheKilling Joke with writer Alan Moore which remainsthe last full-length work he’s produced. Afterwardshe’s dedicated himself primarily to being a coverartist and creating some of the most exciting andtitillating imagery seen throughout his lengthystays on Animal Man, Wonder Woman, TheFlash, and Batman: Gotham Knights. Bollandhas also written his fair share of eccentric

Brian

BOLLANDby George Khoury

Transcription by Marc McKenzie

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stories, all drawn by him and capturing his sense ofhumor, like ‘The Princess and the Frog’ (in HeartThrobs #1), ‘The Kapas’ (in Strange Adventures #1),‘The Actress and The Bishop’ (in A1 Vol. 1 #3), and‘An Innocent Guy’ (in Batman: Black and White #4),plus his chronicling his own ongoing short: ‘Mr.Mamoulian’. Today, Bolland illustrates directly intohis computer with his trusty Wacom tablet the samesharp linework and meticulous detail that we’vecome to expect from this master.

Let’s start at the beginning… where and when were youborn? [laughs] Well, I was born on the 26th of March, 1951 in asmall village called Frieston near the town of Boston – that’s theoriginal Boston – in Lincolnshire.

What type of profession did yourparents have? They owned a farm, Ibelieve? Yeah, my dad was a farmer,but we didn’t live on the farm. We lived inthe village, but his farm was in the nextvillage, Benington, a couple of milesaway. You don’t really have villages overthere [in the United States], but we havevillages. It was a very small farm; it wasonly 68 acres. By American standardsthat’s like a garden – a backyard, isn’t it?

No, that’s a decent plot of land[laughs]. Yeah.

What did he do on the farm? Did hehave livestock, or – ? No, it wasn’tlivestock, it was arable. Cabbages,potatoes, and sugar beets, things like that.

Did you have any other siblings? Howwould you describe your childhood?No, I was an only child. Growing up I’vegot nothing really to compare it with. Itwas in the country and there was a smalltown nearby. I’m not sure what I can sayabout all that; I was – I just grew up withwhatever most 1950s-1960s children grew up with, really.

What was your earliest comic book experience? I don’tthink I really particularly took to comics until I was nine or ten –no, I think I was nine; it was 1960. But, even then, I rememberthat there had been some Batman comics around the house,because I later found them without covers lying around in acupboard. I don’t know where they came from, becauseAmerican comics only started being shipped here in 1959. Therewas one from 1956-57; it was a Dick Sprang Batman story. Theone where Batman was – there were Batmen from all countries.There was a Mexican Batman and there were... other kinds ofBatmen, all in slightly different foreign Batman outfits.

So your parents didn’t have a problem with comics? Ah,well they did later, because from 1960 onwards I started tocollect them in a fairly excessive way and my dad was reallyworried, you know, whether they were a bad influence on me. Heonce threatened to take ’em out and burn ’em.

What exactly did he want you to be? He always said he didn’treally want me to be a farmer; I had very little interest in the

farm, and he always said that he didn’t particularly want me tobe a farmer, but later, in adult life, I’d been told that he was, kindof, disappointed that I didn’t take up farming. But he was verysupportive when I became interested in art. He was very, verysupportive when I made the decision and paid for me to go to artschool later on.

So when exactly did you get the urge to start drawing? Istarted drawing in 1960 or ‘61, pretty soon after I started buyingcomics and it was – well, actually no, I remember – all kids diddrawings at school, whether you take it up later on or not,because I’ve still got drawings I did of dinosaurs and of the localbirdlife. There are some drawings I did in crayon of bluetits andthrushes and things. I’ve a vague recollection of stickmencomics. I’ll have to have a look for them.

Was that one of your Insect League strips? The InsectLeague coincided with the beginning ofmy collecting comics and it was maybetrying to do something that looked like acomic book. That would have been from1960-1961 onwards. I did quite a lot ofthat.

So being a teenager, did youexperience peer pressure because youwere so into comics? When I was 16, Iwas at school with a kid called JeffHarwood, and his brother Dave turned outto be a great comic collector. I met Daveand we became great friends. We still aretoday. He was into the fanzine scene. Iwasn’t particularly, but through hiscontacts I got my early stuff printed invarious places.

He would ink your early work, stufflike that? Yes, he inked my stuff, and Iinked him, we did these kind of one-offcomics – fanzine type of things – together.And that was very good for me because itmeant I had someone nearby who I couldshow the work to and get feedback fromand who would do the same to me. We

just drew in ballpoint pen and colored in in crayon.

But you were pretty much a loner during high school, or – ?Well, I had a fairly typical circle of friends. I don’t think I was anymore of a loner than most kids. I think the fact was that I was ata school that wasn’t all that close to where I lived meant that Ididn’t spend time with the local kids. So once I left the school atthe end of the day, I was not surrounded by close friends. So Isuppose to that extent that’s true.

So who were the first artists that struck your fancy? Well the first comic I ever bought was called Dinosaurus. I talked my granny into buying it, bless her. It was a Dell comic,from 1960, drawn by Jesse Marsh, although I didn’t know his name until many years later, when Joe Staton informed me. After that, I was buying DC, and I think Gil Kane was prettymuch my first passion. I just idolized him and I really wanted todraw like him. But I mean, all those other artists – Alex Toth,Carmine [Infantino], Bruno Premiani, Curt Swan, MurphyAnderson – they were all there and to various extents they wereinfluences on me.

The Actress and The Bishop © Brian Bolland

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What about British comics? Had you not seen too many atthat point? No, I wasn’t particularly impressed with them. Iwas never into the funny comics; a lot of people in this country,they were keen on the funny comics like Beano and Dandy. But Iwas never into that at all. There was a comic that started the yearbefore I was born, which is well known, and that’s Eagle, but I’dnever bought it. So I never got into that stuff until my collegeyears. I’ve now got a few of the very first ones from the year Iwas born. Number 6 is the earliest from 1951.

But there were also a lot of adventure artists like DonLawrence, Hampson, and Bellamy…. Yes, all of those thingsI discovered in my later teenage years, in my later school years,and through my college years. I was able to, kind of, expand anddiscover everything that was going, including Don Lawrence’s‘Trigan Empire’ and all the Eagle stuff that I’d missed in mychildhood, you know?

Were you naturally drawn to Bellamy’s style? Well, I wasnever a big Bellamy fan; I’d never bought anything by Bellamy. Iknew he was very highly regarded, but I never had a FrankBellamy passion at all. In an answer to an earlier question, the firstBritish comics I started buying as a boy, from about the age of 12or 13 in ’64 was a comic called Valiant and that had in it a stripcalled ‘The Steel Claw’ drawn by Jesús Blasco, a Spanish artist.

You were very into his work? Very, very much so. I think heused photos quite a bit, which was rare at the time, but it lookedgood. And also, something called ‘Mytek the Mighty,’ drawn byEric Bradbury – a Brit. And various other strips in that comic. Iwas very keen on Valiant, so that’s the only British comic I reallywas into as a child. My interest in British stuff was acquired lateron, really. Other things from that period – I also got very into SydJordan’s ‘Jeff Hawke’, a daily newspaper strip, and another onecalled ‘Carol Day,’ by David Wright. Both fantastic andunderrated.

What was it about the Silver Age that struck you, thatappealed to you so much? Well, I mean at the time it wasn’tthe Silver Age; it wasn’t called that until later on, really, was it?It’s just the comics that happened to be coming out at the time.

But there was something about the American culture youliked or... was it something about the comics that weredifferent? That’s an interesting question. I mean, as far as thecomics were concerned, I think I liked them as objects. I wasreally keen on the comics and –

You were strictly a collector – was that what it was? I don’tthink I was consciously thinking of building a collection here; Ijust wanted the next one and the next one and the next one. Butwhen I got the comic itself, I held it in my hand like it was sort of

Judge Dredd © Rebellion A/S Illustration (right) © Brian Bolland

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90 true brit mark buckingham

British comics were so important to me growing up, and remainso today. I loved Frank Bellamy’s stuff, and Don Lawrence.... Andas for Frank Hampson and his studio producing such rich andlovingly crafted art on ‘Dan Dare’... I wish I could lavish suchtime and effort on my own work. Leo Baxendale... a genius.British humor comics in general, especially Monster Fun andShiver and Shake... I loved those books and I dearly wish I stillhad copies of them. Those were the days when comics were acheap disposable entertainment that you shared with friends.

Collecting? What’s that? 2000 AD and Warrior – my two favoriteUK comics of all time – and the greatest influence on my work.Kev O’Neill, Dave Gibbons, Brian Bolland, Alan Davis, GarryLeach, Ian Gibson, Mike McMahon, Steve Dillon, Bryan Talbot,Alan Moore, Grant, and Wagner... heroes every one!!

I have always loved comics and they have always been a part ofmy life. They helped to establish my appetite for reading from avery early age, inspired me, fueled my imagination and mycreativity, and they offered me a safe haven to escape to duringthose darker moments of childhood. I soon realized that it alsooffered me the chance to access my own imagination and desireto tell stories in a very direct and personal way, and I tookpleasure in using it to entertain others.

I always endeavor to remain open-minded in all aspects of life,and especially in my work. I love to try new things and stretchmyself as an artist. I am also a very versatile artist... I havesurvived when others have not because I am always adapting. Iguess the other reason is that although I rarely dazzle peoplewith my art, writers and editors have often complimented me onthe strength of my storytelling – which is something that willalways be essential if you want to survive in this business.

While earning a Bachelor of Arts in Design atStaffordshire University, Mark flirted briefly with acareer in animation before taking on comics. WithinStrip AIDS, he made his debut and became acquaintedwith Neil Gaiman when he provided illustrations for thesatirical magazine The Truth. He broke into DC Comics

as an inker on Hellblazer andestablished himself as one of thetop inkers in the industry with hisbrushwork bringing out the bestof his pencilers in titles likeGeneration X, Sandman, GhostRider 2099, and Death: The HighCost of Living. Championed by

Gaiman and Dave McKean, he was able to prove to theDC brass that he was a more than an inker when hewould fully illustrate a Poison Ivy story for Secret Originsand eventually penciling even Hellblazer itself. InMiracleman – Book IV: The Golden Age, Mark displayedhis knack for impeccable storytelling and design,sculpting some of the finest comics ever seen. More ofhis versatility as a penciler can be seen in Death: TheTime of Your Life, Merv Pumpkinhead, Peter Parker:Spider-Man, Batman: Shadow of the Bat, DoctorStrange: Sorcerer Supreme, Mortigan Goth: Immortalis,and his ‘Tyranny Rex’ art in 2000 AD. Today, you can findhis present work on the critically-acclaimed Vertigotitle, Fables, with artwork as compelling as ever.

Mark

BUCKINGHAMby George Khoury

Who were your British artistic influences? What was their appeal to you?

What lead you to a career in comics? And what has beenyour secret to constantly work in the business?

Convention Ad Art © Respective Holders

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john m burns true brit 93

John M. Burns represents the finest in visualstorytelling graphics – not just as a British artist buta visionary who has spent a lifetime advancing hisart without the slightest interest in what it is to be a“hot artist”, “flavour of the moment/month/era,” orsimply put “a star”. All he ever did was thrive in thejoy of telling the best imaginable stories the bestimaginable way: from within, constantly managingto improve and stay fresh no matter if it is doingblack-and-white ink drawings with pen or brush,coloured pen and ink visuals, or painted vistas thatinspire with their sincerity. The reason for hisinclusion in this wonderful book is simple: Mr. Burnsis an artistic treasure – a paragon of modesty,

kindness, and generosity, and of dedication tohis craft. John M

BURNSby Brian “Duke” Boyanski

Judge Dreddcover

Judge Dredd© Rebellion A/S

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94 true brit john m burns

Did you always want to draw comics?

Yes. I always wanted a job drawing or illustrating, well, eversince I was 13 years old and passed my 13+ exam whichenabled me to go to the West Ham County Technical School [inEast London]. Here the lessons were in favour of art. Iremember having the usual career, “what you want to do withyour working life when you leave school” interview and beingnervous I hadn’t explained really what I wanted to do. Later – asluck would have it – I found out that the careers officer lived nearwhere I lived. I knocked on his front door. He was quiteunderstanding about it and let me explain what it was I wanted to do that I had not explained atthe interview.

This is where luck plays itspart: the illustration studio, Links

Studios, that I eventually joined had decided tocome back to the same school they had acquired their

previous apprentice from. Every two years the Links Studiostook on a young boy as an apprentice – the year I was leavingschool was the time for a new apprentice to be taken on. A friendand myself went for an interview. I had concentrated on figureillustration, my friend more towards advertising. The LinkStudios was an agency for comic strip illustrators, so I joinedLink Studios as an apprentice in 1954 at the princely sum of twopounds and five shillings [per week]. The career officer hadnothing to do with my joining Link Studios and becoming anillustrator, but I think it shows how badly I wanted to do this job.

What has inspired you to start drawing in general – andwhen did you start?

My brother was always drawing, and I wanted to draw as well ashe did. When I was 13, a friend and I entered and came first andsecond in a national painting competition (the very same friend Iwent to the Link Studios interview with) and the art teacher wasvery encouraging, so having passed the 13+ exams we bothwent on to the County Technical School.

How long are you in the comics business?

I started in 1954 when I became an apprentice at Link Studios.

Well, congratulations for the first 50 years, sir! Now, whowere the artists that inspired and influenced you?

My leaving present from school was a book suggested by my

future studio manageress and owner of Link Studios, DorisWhite. The book was Figure Drawing, by Andrew Loomis – anAmerican illustrator and instructor at the American Academy ofArt in Chicago. He was the first of many American illustrators toinspire me. Some of those were Austin Briggs, Ken Rilley, JoeDemers, Joe Bowler, Norman Rockwell, Robert Fawcett – afantastic draughtsman – and lots more. Later I became aware ofAlex Raymond and Stan Drake, newspaper strip artists.

Are there current visual storytellers that catch yourfancy at the moment?

Not one in particular. I like bits from most. I’m usually looking foroutstanding drawing, colour, and storytelling.

Did you ever write your own scripts, or do you prefer towork with other writers?

I would like to be able to write my own scripts, but I’ll stick towhat I do best.

Do you challenge a scriptwriter – bouncing back andforth ideas, proposing your vision, etc. – or do you preferjust to visually realise what is written for you?

I illustrate the script as presented. I might change a point of viewor two if I think it makes a better looking page, but I neverchange the writer’s storyline.

Did you have any formal art training?

No, but I had a better advantage [than formal art school training]:full-time drawing and being taught by working strip illustrators,plus [it seemed at the time] every night evening classes andweekends sketching in London museums!

When have you decided to start painting your pages? Doyou prefer that to ‘just inking’ the pencils?

When I realised that transparent inks were not giving me the

Countdown

Countdown © Polystyle

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alan davis true brit 105

Alan Davis wasborn, raised, andcurrently resides in the Midlandsof England. At anearly age, Alandeveloped a keeninterest in stories and soon began creating his own.These stories took many shapes and forms, be theyshort stories (usually accompanied by illustrations),bits of sequential art, or even complicated dioramas.But Alan never thought he would become a comicbook artist. In fact, it wasn’t until well after he hadestablished both a career and a family of his ownthat he drew his first professional comic book work.Initially, Alan thought his foray into comics to bemerely a fun hobby he could spend time with duringthe weekends. Before long, though, the hobbybecame the career – and a very successful career atthat. From his beginnings on such strips as ‘CaptainBritain,’ ‘Marvelman,’ and ‘D.R. & Quinch,’ throughExcalibur and ClanDestine, and with his currentwork on JLA: Another Nail and Uncanny X-Men, Alanhas built quite a resumé. But when it’s all boileddown, Alan Davis is simply a storyteller.

I’m going to call out some names and I’d like youto say what you think of first with each one....Frank Hampson.

Well obviously, I’ve got to say ‘Dan Dare’, but I don’t knowwhat else I could say about him really. I know other workthat he’s done, but ‘Dan Dare’ is what he’s most wellknown for.

You read ‘Dan Dare’ some as a child, right?

Yeah, it was actually before I got into looking for my own comics.I had older relatives who had Eagle, but ‘Dan Dare’ was reprintedat various times, so I did get to see it all. It was a landmark comicand a landmark character. Anyone who’s seen it will know thatthe designs and the philosophy behind it were far ahead ofanything that was done in comics then, or even since. As ascience-fiction strip, it had just terrific inventiveness.

Did the strip influence you creatively in any way?

I can’t say that it influenced me in a specific artistic way, becausethe artwork was very labor-intensive; it was produced by a studio.Frank Hampson did the original artwork as thumbnails or roughs– which were amazing things on their own – but then you wouldhave a studio of people do the finished art. They posed incostumes; they built models of all the characters, the ships, thecities; so it was very, very intensive to get the reality of it. All of thisstuff I’ve only found out in recent years; I didn’t know it at the time.

But could you tell even as a child that there was a lot ofwork going into it?

I don’t know. I think that when I was a kid, I just thought thatsome artists are better than others. It’s only as you get older thatyou start to really understand the dedication and the limitationsof the medium and the efforts that people make to try andovercome those limitations.

How about Don Lawrence?

Well Don Lawrence did ‘The Trigan Empire’, which is what he’smost known for. I wasn’t really a fan of Don Lawrence’s artwork– I always found a bit of a woodeness to it – but the coloring andthe way it was put together was very nice, and I liked ‘The TriganEmpire’ as a concept. It was like ‘Spartacus meets 300 Spartansin space’. It was always nice to look at, but I wasn’t ever reallyinto as much as I was ‘Dan Dare’ and some other things.

Changing styles a bit, Leo Baxendale.

The creation of his that I liked most as a kid was ‘Grimly Feendish’.As a kid I didn’t know who Leo Baxendale was, because a lot of theartwork, if it was signed I didn’t notice, but there was a lot that wasjust unsigned, and he did have an awful lot of imitators. The thingabout a very simplistic art style is that it is very easy to copy it. Ithink that Leo Baxendale would be the equivalent of Carl Barks inBritish terms. He had a style that everyone else based their workon or at least were very heavily influenced by.

You use a lot of humor in your writing and in your artworkas well at times, depending on what you are working on,of course. Did any of that develop from humor strips like‘Grimly Feendish’, or was it always a part of you?

I don’t know if the humor comes from a specific source like that.I always appreciated it, and I don’t know if it was a chicken andegg thing. Did I appreciate it because the humor was in me, ordid the humor appeal to me and make me think that way? I don’treally know. ‘Grimly Feendish’ was like the British version of‘The Addams Family’. I honestly don’t remember that much

Alan

DAVISby Eric Nolen-Weathington

Nightcrawler © Marvel Characters, Inc.

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106 true brit alan davis

about it, I just remember that there was a certain look to theartwork and a certain design to the characters that appealed tome, because it was so different than all of the ‘nice’ stuff thatwas being done at the time. It was an anarchic strip.

Syd Jordan.

‘Lance McLane’ was my favorite of Syd’s work, although hemade his name with ‘Jeff Hawke’. ‘Jeff Hawke’ was aimed at anolder audience while I was still in my infancy. I caught on to ‘JeffHawke’ later on. But Syd was often ghosted by other people –Paul Neary drew some of the stuff for Syd, and since then there’squite a few other people I know who either helped Syd or filledin for him on the artwork side. But he had a vision of sciencefiction which I don’t think I’ve ever seen in comics. I’d say evenwith ‘Dan Dare’ and things like that, his vision was far morerealistic – he was far more grounded in science – and it had thisLovecraftian twist where there were dimensions to the alienspecies and to the cultures that the characters interacted withwhich were just very, very strange.

Since you have that connection to him through Paul Neary,have you ever met Syd and talked about art with him?

I met him a couple of times many, many years ago, but I can’t claimto know him that well. I was fortunate enough to go into his studioand to see a lot of his work and listen to him talk about how heapproaches storytelling, but, no, I can’t really claim to know him.

John M. Burns.

John M. Burns has been fairly prolific. Although the work of hiswhich I prefer most are his newspaper strips, he did a tremendous amount of work in kids’ comics and various otherthings over the years, – in newspapers, magazines – and he’s justa phenomenal artist. I don’t know what else I can really say.[laughter] His coloring is terrific. He’s done work for Europe –Capitán Trueno. I’ve never seen him anywhere else, outside ofEurope. He’s just very, very prolific and he’s able to draw anything.

Does he stick mainly with newspaper strips or...?

No. I think it might be TV 21, he did some science-fiction strips for.I know he drew ‘Doctor Who’ a long time ago, and he did anotherscience-fiction strip, but it was a long time ago and I don’t haveany copies of it. Obviously, a lot of the British comics when I wasgrowing up were anthology titles, and what I would do was rip thepages of artwork out that I liked best, or the stories I liked best,and staple them together. But when you tend to do that, it meansthat you end up with a pile of ratty copies that are falling to pieces– you don’t keep them like you do comics that are complete.

Now for the one who had probably the biggest influenceon you, Frank Bellamy.

Frank Bellamy I knew because he’d filled in for Frank Hampsonon ‘Dan Dare.’ He’d also done the ‘Thunderbirds’ strip, which hewas very well known for. Before that he’d done work for Eagle -’The Churchill Story’, ‘The Montgomery Story’, ‘Fraser in Africa’,other things like that. But it was when I saw ‘Garth’ that I reallyrecognized his ability, because one of the things about seeing anartist’s work in color is you can be dazzled by the technique in adifferent way so that you don’t see the simplicity; it’s so clever,that’s it’s almost too clever. But when you see an artist work inblack-&-white, and you know the limitations of black-&-white,and you see them go so far beyond what anyone else is able todo, you realize the ability in breaking the restrictions that otherartists acknowledge.

He influenced your take on ‘Captain Britain’ as well. Can you go into that a little?

Well he wasn’t really a big influence; it was more the characterof ‘Garth’. I’d followed ‘Garth’ before Frank Bellamy came ontothe strip, but I’d never really liked it because I didn’t like theartwork that much. But when Frank Bellamy took over ‘Garth’, Igot into the ‘Garth’ character. He was a mix of James Bond, JohnCarter, and pretty much every other hero you can imagine rolledinto one. The way that Bellamy drew the strip, it just felt right.

Barry Windsor-Smith, or Barry Smith as he was knownwhen you first saw his work.

Well Barry Smith came quite late really. I think the first work I’dseen of Barry Smith was when he was into his Kirby/Steranko-influenced stage when he first started working for Marvel. I don’tknow if he did anything before then; I’m certainly not aware ofanything. He was novel, because he was so different fromeveryone else – you could see that he was doing the Americanstyle artwork, but it didn’t quite fit. I really watched him growwhen he took on ‘Conan’ and basically made ‘Conan’ his own.

When you first saw his work, did you just assume he wasan American artist or were you aware he was British?

I don’t remember. I just remember seeing the artwork andthinking, “Some of this isn’t very good, but there’s somethinggoing on here that’s exciting.”

Obviously, you spent a lot of time as a child reading theBritish comics and newspaper strips, but you also saw a lotof American comics. They were very different in terms ofstyle and content. Do you think the American and Britishstyles of comics have become more similar over the years?

I think to a great extent comics have died out. They don’t haveany individuality. I don’t want to sound too depressing, becauseit is a quite depressing picture, but when I was younger, Britishcomics were anthology titles – the ones that still exist are as well– where you would get two- or three-page stories, and maybesix or seven of them in an issue. The very first comics that I sawwere mostly text and the comics were a very small part of them,so they were almost like serialized novels with a couple of comicstrips as well. As for the actual content, there weren’t any super-heroes per se, especially when I was younger there were warstories, historical stories, mythological, and sci-fi. In the warstories genre, you’d have things like ‘Captain Hurricane’,‘Typhoon Tracy’, and ‘Braddock’, who was a WW II pilot. With thehistorical stuff you had ‘Heros the Spartan’ from Frank Bellamy,and the classic things like Robin Hood and King Arthur – theywere always coming up. With the kids’ comics, you had thingslike football stories, athletes’ stories. ‘Roy of the Rovers’ is oneof the big footballing characters over here – he’s almost iconic. Inever really got into football comics; I was never interested infootball. There were other things like ‘Wilson, the GreatestAthlete’, who trained on the moors and ran barefoot and won inthe Olympics and things like that. For kids’ characters therewere things like ‘Billy the Cat’, a school kid who decides to be asuper-hero dressed as a cat, but that came quite late on. Therewas ‘General Jumbo’, a kid who could control an army of toys –he had a control device on his arm. There were ‘The Cubites’,which was basically just a gang of kids riding around on bikes.

There were things that might be recognized more as super-heroes: ‘The Dollman’, who I’ve told you about before – the guywho has the group of robots he controls and uses ventriloquism

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to give them personalities – and that was prettyfreaky. There was ‘The Spider’, who was verystrange – he was sort of a super-villain whofought other super-villains. As always withthese things there was a lot of science fiction.‘The Iron Man’ was a particular favorite of mine.You basically had a robot who was a super-computer, super-strong android. ‘The SteelClaw’, had the guy with the artificial hand whobecame invisible except for the hand wheneverhe got an electrical shock. More recently –when I say more recently, it was in my earlyteens, so it’s only more recently in a historicsense [laughter] – there was one called ‘TheMissing Link’, which was about a caveman thatwas thawed out and turned out to be TheMissing Link. He was mutated and became asuper-hero called ‘Johnny Future’ and was ina super-hero costume for a while. I wouldsay that he would have been the mostrecognizable as a super-hero. Therewere other interesting things wherethere were period super-heroes.‘Heros’ might fit into that slightly,but ‘Janus Stark’, who I supposewas a little bit like the characterin X-Files, in that he was able todistort his body and crawlthrough places, and he was aVictorian equivalent of Houdini.There was ‘Adam Eternal’, whowas cursed with immortality –he actually travelled throughtime in the end, and they didsome interesting things withhim. But it was more bizarrestuff than what you wouldrecognize as part of a DCor Marvel universe.

Most of the diversityin American comicsfaded out over timeand tended to followtrends, but it soundsas though the Britishcomics really kept thatdiversity throughout.

I don’t think it was a case oftrying to be diverse, because with ‘Dan Dare’there were imitators, like ‘Jet Ace Logan’,where as soon as you’ve got something that’ssuccessful, everyone else will try to imitate it.There were always lots of robots - giant robots,alien robots, clunky robots, heroic robots.‘Robot Archie’ was a very successful strip –not one that I particularly liked. There were alot of Tarzan-type characters, and there wereloads and loads of war comics and Westernstrips. I think the diversity came purelybecause there seemed to be a market for it.

Doctor WhoDoctor Who © British Broadcasting Corporation

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116 true brit ron embleton

Once out of the army, he set up astudio with several other tyroartists and quickly established

himself with publishers such asScion, Gerald D. Swan, DC

Thomson, and Fleetway. Muchof his work

in thisperiod waswesterns

(in such comicsas Comet, Hotspur,Dynamic Thrills, and

Mickey Mouse Weekly),drawn in a slick, smooth stylewhich was clearly influenced

by American comics. Embletonbegan to come into his own by

the mid-’50s with yet morewesterns for Cowboy ComicsLibrary, ‘Strongbow’ in Mickey

Mouse Weekly (from ’54-’59), andstrips in Super Detective. However, hisbreakthrough undoubtedly came withthe full-colour ‘Wulf the Briton’ strip

in Express Weekly (one of the weeklies inspired by the Eagle, thepre-eminent comic of the ’50s). ‘Wulf’ was set in the time of theRoman conquest of Britain, and gave Embleton ample scope todevelop his painting skills and to reveal his seemingly effortlessmastery of the human form.

By the end of Wulf’s run (’57-’59), themature Embleton style had emerged: anastonishingly realistic and detaileddrawing style married to a sophisticated,dramatic control of colour. He was fast,too. Invariably, it seemed as if nothing –not even the most apocalyptic scene ofmassed armies in pitched battle – fazedhim, and in addition to producing severalfully-painted comic-strip pages healways managed to find time tocontribute to numerous annuals,magazines and books. ‘Wulf’ wasfollowed by a succession of war strips forthe renamed TV Express (’60-’61), YoungLorna Doone in Princess (’62), and The

Wrath of the Gods for Boys World(’63). The Michael Moorcock-

scripted Wrath of the Gods is widelyregarded as his masterpiece, though

1930-1988

Ron Embleton was one of the true giants of British comics and, along with theother artists of the “big four” (Frank Hampson, Frank Bellamy, and DonLawrence), did much to establish the adventure strip in the country. Embletonwas the first of the big four to become a professional – at the precocious age of17 – with strips for Scion’s Big series of comics. His budding career wasinterrupted a year later when he was “called up” for his period of National Service(Britain’s equivalent of the Draft), including a tour of duty (1948-1950) in Malaya.Ron

EMBLETONby David Roach

Stingray

Self-portrait © Embleton Estate “Wrath of Gods” © Respective Holders Stingray © Carlton International Media Limited

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128 true brit hunt emerson

If Leo Baxendale, the quintessential Britishmainstream ‘bigfoot’ artist, could somehow havemated with brilliant American underground comixcartoonist Robert Crumb, such unholy spawn woulddoubtless resemble our next subject, Hunt Emerson.Though we Yanks tend to ignore any Brit comicsoutside of the pages of 2000 AD, Great Britain has itsown rich history of homegrown underground comix– that is, non-mainstream, ‘alternative’ funny-booksquite often focused on confessional tales of sex,drugs and rock ’n’ roll – and England’s ‘cartoony’comics, with its weekly episodes of (more oft thannot) the manic, ‘bigfoot’ antics of anarchistic,

reprobate schoolchildren,have been wildly popularon the Isles since wellbefore World War Two.Hunt, it appears, iscomfortable straddlingboth indie and mainstreamcamps, and – as you’ll findout momentarily – he hasa fine grasp of the historyof British comics.

Newcastle-on-Tyne, which is northeast of England.

1952.

Yes, I guess so. Theclass distinctions, I’m

sure you know, are very finely defined in England [laughter], andwe would probably be lower middle class. My dad was a radiooperator on weather ships, among other things, but that was hismain thing. And me mum, when I was small, she didn’t work,and then later she was an office worker.

Two brothers.

No. Me mum wasslightly musical.

But no, it all came out in me and my brothers

Not particularly, no. I had an uncle whowas a very dynamic man and could kind

of do most things, including sketching and suchlike, butthat wasn’t what he did. He didn’t do it as a hobby oranything, it was just something he could do. But no, memum’s often wondered this. She doesn’t know where it

came from, the fact that I’ve got this art and me brothers, we’reall musicians as well. We were always playing in bands together.Especially me and Norm, the elder of the two. We still playtogether when we get together.

Yes and no. Not a lot, but Icertainly do. I’ve been in a band

– well, there is a band, or there was a band, a couple of monthsago, which got together for a birthday party, actually for mypartner Jane’s birthday party, when she was 50. We put a bandtogether. And then we did another gig for somebody else’sbirthday party. There’s nothing else that’s happened since then.

It was great. [laughter]

Guitar.

I like playing live. I don’t mindwhat I’m playing. [laughs] For

listening, I like country and western, Bob Dylan, Emmylou Harris.

It’s just something that I do. It was funny, actually, doing it withthis band – what was it, two months ago now, three months ago– at this birthday party, because it was actually a good stage anda good P.A., and we were doing tracks like ‘Money’ and ‘Mess ofthe Blues’. Very rock and roll and R&B things. And I can really dothese, I can belt it out. But all of the people that I know inBirmingham have never seen me do this, ’cause I hadn’t actuallydone it for years. So we did this gig and everybody was saying,“I didn’t know you could do that, that’s fantastic!” I said, “Well, I’vealways been able to do this. It’s just nobody’s ever seen me doit.” Because other times I’ve always been playing country musicor traditional music, which isn’t the same, you know. [laughs] I like rock and roll.

The first half of it was, yes. Then we moved to a place that was abit more urban. The first half was cornfields and, yeah, fantastic.

Well, I’ve always drawn, since I could hold a pencil. I always didfunny drawings to amuse me classmates and things, but neverreally thought about it seriously. I knew that whatever I was

going to do, it was going to besomething to do with art, so whenit came time to choose collegeand things, I insisted in going toart college.

Hunt

EMERSONby Jon B. Cooke Transcribed by Steven Tice

Where are you originally from?

You were born when?

Did you have siblings?

What do you play?

What's your preference?

And when did you first start drawing?

So was it a pastoral kind of upbringing?

I would venture to guess that maybe 80% ofcartoonists would be terrified to be on stage.

Were your parent’s creative at all?

Any relatives?

Do you still play music today?

What kind of upbringing did you have?Was it working-class?

How'd it sound?

©Hunt Emerson

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And I did two years of preparation work in Newcastle, a two-yearcourse that was really more like an extension of high school.And then I came to Birmingham to do university – well, theequivalent to a university degree – in painting, but I was onlythere a few months and realized I didn’t know what the hell I wasdoing, basically. Whatever I was, I wasn’t an artist in that way. SoI quit that after a year, and that was when I started doing comicsand cartoons.

Yeah, everybody did. Beano and Dandy, Beezer,Topper, and things like that. I wasn’t fanatical aboutthem, but yeah, all kids saw them; they were aroundthe place. I also used to see Mad when it waspublished as a comic book, except that I saw it in theBallantine paperback reprints, the ones you had toturn on the side to read. And they were an absoluterevelation. I’d never seen anything like this before,and I was very, very interested in those.

Actually, I do! Which is quite unusual for me. [laughs]But yes, there was a time when, the first one I sawwas Utterly Mad, and some kid had brought it intoschool. I must have been about eight or nine. Andsome kid had brought it into school, and I rememberthere being a great pile of kids on the desk looking atthis thing, and my kind of glimpsing it from the back ofthis crowd of kids, sort of seeing what it was, andliterally fighting me way through to the front, becauseI’d never seen anything like it before.

Absolutely! I was totallyintrigued by it. And I didn’t

see any more after that for quite a while, for maybe a year ormore. But then gradually I started to find out where they were,so I saw two or three of them. Of course, it was only later that Imanaged to get hold of a full set and all the rest of it. But the onethat first got me was ‘G.I. Schmoe’ in Utterly Mad.

Yes, rather than the adventure strips, because we had two formsof comics in England at that time. There were the humor ones –Beano, Dandy, Topper, and Beezer, and others like that – and thenthere was Valiant, Hotspur, Victor, and other ones, which werebasically adventure strips. And I was never particularlyinterested in those ones. I always liked the funny stuff.

Oh, that’s right, yes. Used to go on a Saturday morning to seeBatman and Zorro....

Yeah, I guess so... I never really thought about it. I don’t know ifyou noticed, but I’ve been working for the Beano now, you know?

For the last year I’ve been drawing ‘Little Plum,Your Red-skinned Chum’. Although they don’t

actually use the ‘red-skinned chum’ line these days. [laughter]

It’s great fun. I wish they paid more,‘cause they don’t pay a lot, but it’s

actually great fun doing these. I’m not writing them, the editor’swriting them, sends me scripts. But it’s very good fun doing it.And it’s the most visible thing I’ve ever done in the comics world.

No, I didn’t realize there were any. [laughs]

When you were a child, did you regularlyread the British weeklies?

You know, I'm talking to a lot of Americanunderground comics artists, and for me – I remember exactly where I was when I firstencountered the Ballantine paperbacks,because they just – I mean, I had seen the“Super-Duper Man” beforehand but justthought that was an anomaly. I had no ideathat Mad was comics. Do you have a distinctmemory of where you were?

And you must see it. [laughs]

Were you particularly attracted to the plethora of kidhumor material, like Leo Baxendale?

I don’t know if this analogy is wrong, but it seems to methat I talk to a lot of British artists, they seem to almosthave the same experience in the ’50s and early ’60s that alot of American cartoonists and comics artists had in the’30s: that a culture was being developed just for them.There was the growth of the weeklies with Frank Bellamyand the adventure stuff. There would actually be movieserials, right? When they were long gone in the United States,they were still going on strong in England, weren’t they?

hunt emerson true brit 129

Did you feel like you had your own little culture?

Are you?

How do you like it?

Did you have favorite cartoonists who worked in theBritish weeklies when you were –

©Hunt Emerson

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dave gibbons true brit 141

David Chester Gibbons was born at Forest Gate Hospital inLondon, England, on April 14th of 1949 to Chester, a townplanner with architectural training, and Gladys, a secretary. Atthe age of seven he discovered Superman and was sooncompletely enraptured by the romanticism of the comic book,both British and American, like Mad and Eagle. Among thosethat whet his artistic eye from childhood were the elegant stylesof Wally Wood, Will Elder, Frank Bellamy, Jack Kirby and WillEisner. This self-taught artist spent much of his youth emulatingthe comics he cherished by often illustrating his own personalhumor strips before eventually breaking into the world of comicsfandom for fanzines like Rock & Roll Madness.

In his early 20s Gibbons became a building surveyor butmanaged gradually to break into the UK comics scene letteringmostly humor books for IPC. In time he scored more illustrationwork at DC Thomson where he would do adventure and sci-fistrips. By 1975, together with Brian Bolland, Dave worked onPowerman, a book designed and illustrated by both, for theNigerian marketplace. Shortly after, Gibbons put aside hissurveyor day job to solely focus on his career as a comic bookartist which was just beginning to take-off for the better.

With the arrival of 2000 AD a new exciting breed ofcomics were about to commence – and Gibbons wasthere from the inception of the anthology comic. At2000 AD, he illustrated and wrote stories for‘Harlem Heroes’, ‘Dan Dare’, ‘Ro-Busters’,‘Rogue Trooper’, ‘Judge Dredd’, and various othershort stories. With his growing reputation andprofessionalism, his work became sought after bymost comic book companies including Marvel UKwhere he helmed a fondly remembered ‘Doctor Who’run for many years.

Gibbon’s art finally made waves in the United Stateswhen DC recruited him to be at the art helm of GreenLantern, in 1982, and paired him with writer LenWein. He continued to work at 2000 AD whileexploring the rest of the DC universedoing covers and stories for almostevery DC character, from Batman toWonder Woman, at some point oranother. A major career highlight –and one of his best experiences at DC– was the tale, ‘For the Man Who HasEverything’, a quintessentialSuperman story written by AlanMoore and edited by the legendaryJulius Schwartz, the editor of manyof the comics the artist adored as achild. The arrival and success ofGibbons’ efforts in the States –alongside those of Moore andBolland – helped open the doors forthe avalanche of British talent thatwould follow in the coming years.Now triumphant on both sides of theAtlantic, the artist would soonconfront his biggest challenge inanother book with Alan Moore thatwould shake the foundation of thecomics industry.

Watchmen was the twelve-part maxi-series thattransformed the art form and captured unprecedentedaccolades from critics, comic fans, skeptics, and themainstream reading public. For the project the artist liberatedhimself from second-guessing what the American readingpublic wanted to see and constructed pages much the way hedid for 2000 AD. The series collected many awards and prizesfrom many literary circles including a prestigious Hugo Award in1988. With Watchmen Gibbons was able to push his storytellingabilities by experimenting with the design and mood of thishighly expressive work. From the unique symbolic covers to theintricate layout of his pages, the artist was able to tell a boldstory with complete and utter mastery of composition. The titleremains fondly remembered because it will forever stand as atestimony to the craftsmanship and application that serieswriter Alan Moore and artist Dave Gibbons injected into thiscomplex super-hero epic.

As if being one of comics most influential artistswasn’t enough, Gibbons has also demonstrated that he’s afabulous writer, having written World’s Finest (with artist SteveRude), Captain America (with art ist Lee Weeks), and

Dave

GIBBONSby George Khoury

Rogue Trooper

Rogue Trooper © Rebellion A/S

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142 true brit dave gibbons

Batman Versus Predator (with art ist Andy Kubert). And onthe art front he has also continued to collaborate with the finestwriters in the field like Frank Miller (on the Martha Washingtonseries), Stan Lee (on DC’s Just Imagine: Green Lantern) andHarvey Kurtzman (on Strange Adventures).

To this day Dave Gibbons remains as one of the most prominentnames within his field. The virtuoso continues to be a part of thekind of comics that are always adventurous and fun. Presently,the artist is at work on his largest and most ambitious project

since Watchmen: an original graphic novel named The Originalswhich is also written by him. Having spent the last two yearsworking on The Originals, it promises to be his most personaland most thought-provoking work, utilizing all of his storytellingand design skills to make it a truly unique effort.

Outside of comics, Dave has provided art for advertising clients,educational companies and designed various record covers. Hecontinues to live in England with his family.

(top) The Story So Far © Dave Gibbons – (lower) A.B.C. Warriors © Rebellion A/S

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We knowhowimportantan influenceAmericanartists like WallyWood and Will Eisner were to your career, so howimpactful were the works of British artists like Hampsonand Bellamy early on? Were there any other Englishartists who’ve inspired you as a professional?

Most British comics of the ’50s and ’60s were in black-and-whiteon really cheap paper, so the beautifully printed Eagle, whereHampson and Bellamy’s full-color work was mainly seen, wasan object of wonder. I loved the precision and detail of their workand their powerful storytelling.

Other artists whose work influenced me were Joe Colquhounwho drew World War II strips (and whose work I later ghosted atthe beginning of my career); Ron Embleton, whose beautiful full-color work appeared in many places and who ended up drawing‘Wicked Wanda’: Don Lawrence, of ‘Trigan Empire’ and ‘Storm’fame; Ian Kennedy, who drew great aircraft strips; and RonTurner, who drew ‘Rick Random, Space Detective’. Turner washeavily influenced by American pulp illustrators like Ed Cartierand drew the best aliens and spaceships ever!

I also loved a lot of artists who turned out to be Italian, ratherthan British, notably Tacconi and Gino D’Antonio, who drew forthe monthly War Picture Library series.

Were there any favorite British strips as you were growing up? Did you passionately pursue and collect them?Did your parents encourage your comics passion?

I’ve mentioned a few of my favorites above. Hampson and, later,Bellamy drew ‘Dan Dare’. Bellamy was also responsible for‘Heros, the Spartan’ and, later, ‘Thunderbirds’. As for newspaperstrips, I loved ‘Jeff Hawke’, a science-fiction strip by Syd Jordanand Willie Patterson; I persuaded my parents to get the dailynewspaper it appeared in and would clip the strips out.

My dad had been a reader and collector of American SF pulps inthe ’30s and drew cartoons himself as a boy. His parents had alodger in their house when my father was young, who drewillustrations for DC Thomson, the big Scottish comics publisher.I still have his paintbox, given to my dad, and inherited by me.

I remember my dad bringing home the first British edition ofMad, ostensibly for me, but I think he read every page, too! Ihave fond memories of him driving me around the localnewsstands to buy comics. My parents were a little lesssupportive of me drawing comics for a living, with good reason,given the alternatives that were open to me!

dave gibbons true brit 143

Top: Comicon ‘71 © Dave Gibbons Above: Cyclops © Marvel Characters, Inc.

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156 true brit bryan hitch

Think Neal Adams on methamphetamines and you’llget an inkling of the kinetically hyper-realisticstylings of one Bryan Hitch. Currently the Brit artistis taking super-hero comics up a notch with hissuperb artistry on Marvel’s The Ultimates (a riotousreworking of The Avengers written by Mark Millarand inked by Paul Neary, penciller Hitch’scollaborators on their previous – and equallyoffending opus – The Authority), with eachissue pushing the spandex-costumed envelope tothe extreme. But no alien-noshing, horny Hulk –however grotesque – can disguise the fact that Hitch

just might be the finest realisticcomic book artistworking today. Theguy’s work issimply awesome.’Nuff said.

Where are you originally from?

Far northwest of England, just before you trip over Scotland.

What’s the name?

Cumbria. Carlisle’s the city.

Carlisle? I visited that.

Oh really?

Yeah, the Lake District?

Oh, yeah, I grew up around there, I know that very well.

And I loved visiting Edinburgh. That’s probably my favoritecity in the world.

I haven’t been there for years and years. Mark [Millar]’s up inGlasgow, but he’s not far from Edinburgh. In fact, Edinburgh andGlasgow are only an hour and a bit away from where I grew up.I grew up in a place that’s been both part of Scotland and part ofEngland in history, and you only have to walk about ten minutesin a northerly direction to discover a Scottish accent. It’s not veryfar at all. Hadrian’s Wall ran through the city, of course. Theoriginal border was very close.

So you had history all around you?

Yeah! Not that you appreciated it when you were a child. After Ifirst moved to London in 1992, I used to go back and then I’d dothe touristy stuff, because I would have time on my hands. Iwould get a chance to visit the museum or the castle – which isa thousand years old and built by William the Conqueror to keepthe nasty Scots out (it didn’t work) – or the Lake District in properform. But when you grew up with that stuff around you, you takeit for granted or worse, fail to notice it’s there. Likewise, living inLondon, I don’t do the tour stuff unless I’ve got somebody visitingme here. And I’ve got all the museums and all the galleries andthe Tower of London and all the possible tourist things you mightwant to do, and some extraordinary history around here. And Idon’t do any of it.

Just take if for granted, huh?

You really do, because you’re just so busy getting on with yourday-to-day nonsense that you seem to forget that there’s

all this stuff to do that’s very, very interesting, butsomehow not as pressing as getting the children

to bed or getting a deadline met – whichnowadays seems to be something of a currentjoke. [laughter] And all the other stuff that justpresses at you for attention.

When were you born?

I was born in the sleepy late winter, early spring,of 1970.

What did your parents do for work?

My mother worked part-time for the city councilin a clerical capacity, and my dad was a painterand decorator. We always used to joke that mydad was a painter, he could do three coats in oneafternoon.

Bryan

HITCHby Jon B Cooke Transcribed by Steven Tice

Nick Fury © Marvel Characters, Inc.

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[laughs] Did either have creative leanings?

I don’t know. It’s hard to say. My mother prided herself on asingular lack of imagination, but she could multi-task betterthan anybody I’ve ever seen before in my life. I mean, herevening activity was watching television whilst reading a book,talking to my dad, and knitting, simultaneously. I neverdiscovered how she could possibly do that, because I simplycan’t multi-task. I can uni-task very effectively, but I really,literally, can’t talk and chew gum simultaneously. But my dad, Ithink, had potential. He used to draw pictures for us as children,which as a child I remember being very good. Especially BlackBeauty; he was very good on horses, I remember. Certainly hewas very good at copying. I suspect he had unrealized talent butwas never encouraged, having grown up in the crumblingindustrial North and told to go to work at 14, with no education.I think he could have quite happily sat on a stool in the middle ofthe countryside and painted watercolors. He got into fishing in abig way for a while. I think the solitude really appealed to him, asa family man.

Did you have relatives who were creative, or of note?

Apparently there were artists on both sides. My mother’s uncleand my dad’s uncle were both artists. My dad’s uncle was a warartist of minor note, or possibly of no note whatsoever, whichmeans he probably painted semi-naked ladies on aircraft copiedfrom George Petty. I certainly remember seeing drawings in oneof my grandmother’s scrapbooks, which she said were by herbrother. I remember them as a child being very good, but I can’tconfirm that, as a child’s recollections aren’t necessarily a goodjudge of quality. I know there were a number of averagewatercolors in my mother’s parents’ house, which weresupposedly by her uncle, so there was certainly some attemptsat artistry in the family, but nobody ever made a living out of itthat I’m aware of.

How many siblings do you have?

I have one sister. She’s a psychiatric nurse, and has no artistic orimaginative leanings whatsoever – more left-brain than right-brain I feel.

Is she older or younger?

She’s two years older.

So as a child, were you read to a lot?

Actually, I was! One of the more enduring memories of childhood,other than running around outside in my sister’s knickersbecause she told me they were swimming trunks, is my dadreading the books of Enid Blyton stories to us. He had a very goodreading voice. He had, when he was younger, attempted tobecome a priest. He felt a strong vocation, went away to seminaryand spent a year or two there studying, though he never wentthrough with it to the bitter end. Well, he never got as far as beingcrucified, but I understand that’s no longer a pre-requisite. Heremains a very devout Catholic, however, and maintains adelightfully child-like view of faith and religion, which seems tomake him happy. However, one thing that they did teach himthere was enunciation and clarity of speech which, given aheretofore unrealized thespian leaning, lent itself to dramaticreadings, and he brought all those powers to bear on fairy taleslike ‘Rapunzel’. And my favorite was ‘Mister Meddles Muddles’.

Did you watch a lot of TV as a kid?

A great deal of television. I was very taken, and always havebeen, with science fiction. Of course, we grew up with DoctorWho and Blake’s 7, which was this appalling Star Trek knockoff inthe ’70s. I mean, if you think the sets were bad on Star Trek, youshould see the Blake’s 7 stuff. You could see the strings hangingoff the spaceship! [laughter] But we kind of liked it. If I was outplaying (and in those days nobody seemed worried about childwelfare, as we were sent out to play very early in the morningand told to come back at dinner time – no mobile phones if wegot into trouble; we were armed only with the advice to avoidanybody dodgy looking and not to shoplift if we could help it), I would always make sure I was back for Blake’s 7 or Star Trek.

Did you read?

Quite avidly and, again, it was science fiction and fantasy stuff. Ofcourse, comic books were always a must. I was introduced tocomic books very, very early on, with the classic tale of the kidwho was ill and off school one day and his parents brought hima comic home. So, yeah, I always remember reading.

What was the comic that they brought home?

There were two. Well, memory being what it is, it might not be atall accurate, but I remember both a Marvel and a DC comic. The

bryan hitch true brit 157

The Ultimates © Marvel Characters, Inc.

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158 true brit bryan hitch

Marvel comic was an Avengers issue drawn by George Pérez andfeaturing one of the many Atlantis attacks on humankind.[Hitch’s note: I wonder if was issue #154, which was my firstAvengers comic? There weren’t that many Pérez-drawn mid-’70s Avengers issues featuring characters from Atlantis, afterall.] The other one was an issue of Superman whereinSuperman’s identity was revealed to the Daily Planet by LoisLane pulling his shirt up and saying, “Go and save us from thisfalling comet, you arsehole!” or something like that. [Jon laughs]I was talking to Mark Waid about it, and he assured me thathappened almost every issue during that particular series ofSuperman comics, so I have yet to identify it. Mark Waid’sapparently an expert on these things and is able to identify anyissue of Superman just by a description of the punctuation; Ithink I remember talking to Mark about this once when we wereworking on JLA. I mentioned to him one line of dialogue from aSuperman issue I recalled, and he was able to tell me the issueand who drew it and what number it was. I’m sure he’ll be ableto fill you in if you actually ask him what happened or describethe number and placement of exclamation points.

Were you attracted at all to the weeklies, the British comics?

Sure. When I was about five, I think, in the mid-’70s, there werea couple of things, 2000 AD and Starlord, both separatemagazines published by the same publishing house, and hadthese science-fiction characters in them, such as ‘Judge Dredd’and ‘Strontium Dog’ and they certainly appealed to me. It wasthe first time I came across that kind of thing over here. It wasquite different. It was black-and-white, it was harder-edged andwas grittier. Not that you knew words such like hard-edged,gritty, postmodern, or anything like that in those days. But theywere very much out of the punk rock scene, because that waswhat the writers and artists drawing them were into for a while.Many of the stories, particularly in ‘Nemesis the Warlock’, drawnby O’Neill were inspired by The Jam songs. They eventuallymerged into one magazine called 2000 AD and Starlord, andeventually just 2000 AD. Of those characters, I think ‘StrontiumDog’ was originally in Starlord, and ‘Judge Dredd,’ of course, in2000 AD. They really did engage me for quite some time. Theaccepted route in those days was of course to go and work for2000 AD and then hopefully get discovered by DC, like DaveGibbons, Steve Parkhouse, Alan Moore, Alan Davis, to name buta few – Kevin O’Neill. All of these chaps DC came over en masseto recruit. I remember that in the early ’80s, just seeing all thesepeople I knew from British comics suddenly showing up inAmerican publications getting quite a kick seeing them doingreal comics. Super-heroes. Today, of course, it’s de rigeur, but inthose days it was quite a novelty.

Did you enjoy the humor titles? Dandy and Beano?

Well, we got Beano. Every Wednesday, Beano showed up on thedoorstep, and my sister and I used to fight over breakfast forwho was going to read it first and who was going to read theDaily Mail. She usually won and I would have to settle for hergirlie comics after my dad grabbed the Mail whilst wearing onlya vest. But I was never into it in such a way that I wanted to drawfor Beano. I enjoyed reading it, just like I enjoyed watchingSaturday morning cartoons. But 2000 AD and the super-herocomics, those I’ve always wanted to draw. From the minute I readthem, I would copy from them. I would never copy from theBeano, because I wasn’t interested in that kind of cartooning(there are other people who can do that better and have that kindof natural leaning) I think I always leant toward the dramatic stuff.

Did you have a subscription to it, or would the newsagentdeliver it?

To us, subscriptions were from the newsagent. You just put in aregular order and it came through your front door with anewspaper. Oh, a memory just sparked! I remember getting aregular order for a Tarzan weekly magazine, which was in black-and-white. It must have been a reprint, because my memoriestell me that it was drawn by Joe Kubert. Of course, I’ve got allthose DC Tarzans now, the original books. I’m sure that musthave been my first exposure to his work, too. But, again, I didn’trealize it was an American comic, or a reprint of one then. I justthought it was a British comic, and I didn’t really know who’ddrawn it. I do remember it being absolutely extraordinary though,and my admiration for Kubert continues to grow to this day.

Did you live in a rural area?

No. I grew up in I suppose what you would call VictorianIndustrial housing in the ’70s. You can imagine all these terracedhouses, just streets upon streets upon streets, each with corner

The Ultimates © Marvel Characters, Inc.

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bryan hitch true brit 159

shops, newsagents, green grocers, butchers, all kinds of localbusinesses, no central business district. All of these wereusually surrounding some Victorian industrial centre, in ourcase it was a big steelworks that was at the top of the street. It’snow a vast retail park with a drive-through Burger King, but inthose days it was this great British steelworks building hugecranes. These houses we lived in and other people lived in wereall the original workhouses from the 19th Century and everymorning I was woken in several different stages. First is thewakeup call for my dad (being shouted at from downstairs by mymother). My dad was in bed and she’d attempt to wake him upquietly by shouting from downstairs. Then he would stir. Thenshe would shout again even louder with a little more impatience,so as not to disturb anybody and he would finally get up. Then,just when I’d get off to sleep again, this great claxon sound of anair-raid siren would go off every morning at a quarter to seven,and that was the original buzzer (as it was quaintly known) tocall all the workers to the steelworks, to wake them up, basicallytheir industrial-sized alarm clock to call them t’mill whichnaturally woke up the entire city. We were pleased in the early’80s when that was demolished and replaced by a Burger Kingwhich was altogether quieter.

When did you start drawing?

Well, I think pretty much from assoon as I could hold a pencil. Idon’t have any memories whereI’m not involved in drawing insome form or another.

What were you drawing?

Stuff out of my head, stuff I’dseen on television. I’d beenreading comics since I wasfour and five years old, andI’m sure that the comics andthe drawings went together. Ican’t remember a time whenI wasn’t drawing comic booksuper-heroes and copyingpages from comics.

Were you doingsequential stories?

Not originally. I mean,there were times I wouldcreate a super-hero forthat particular day,called original things like‘Electron, Proton andNeutron’ and I would drawthree or four panels or a coupleof pages of a strip and then getbored with it, throw it away, comeup with another variation on thesame idea tomorrow and keepgoing that way. I think, much liketoday, I don’t really remembercompleting stories. [laughter]

Did you do your own knockoffs or imitation charactersbased on existing stuff?

It was the classics. Everybody, of course, had to have an emblemon their chests.

How was the stuff? Did you ever look at it again, or is itgone?

Much like today, I just don’t keep it. I think the fun for me hasalways been in the doing, and I really hate looking back on thestuff. You know, there’s times when I come across some older orpast work and it doesn’t suck as badly as I remember it sucking,but frankly, if people are willing to part with money to own theoriginals, then that’s fine and I appreciate it a great deal. I reallydo enjoy the process, I’m just constantly disappointed in the endresults. As long as I’ve got a set of photocopies I can look atoccasionally, I don’t really need to retain the original artwork.

[laughs] So, from early on, was it a mixture of Britishcomics and American comics that held your interest?

I suppose. I mean, I read 2000 AD and I enjoyed it very much, butreally it was American comics, it was Superman to start with,and Batman. Mostly I could only get DC comics. The way itworked in those days, especially where I lived, in the ’70s, therewere no comic book shops so the newsagents got this stuff that

I think came over as ballast in ships. It was alwaysmonths and months out of date, it would say

something like June ’83 on the cover, and I’d begetting it in July of ’96 or something, just

ludicrously out of date, and sometimescompletely out of order, as well. But my localnewsagents would just put it all in a big stackin the corner, wouldn’t even put it out on theshelf, it’d just be a corner of a desk in the back

of the shop, and they’d just stack this stuffabout three feet high when it came in. I wouldgo in and day by day erode the stack withwhatever money I could possibly scrounge fromrelatives. Judging by the way the pile went down

and the fact that when I went back in thesame stuff was left. I don’t thinkanybody else bought it. Gradually overthe month I would go in, week afterweek, and start by buying all the ones

I wanted desperately, and thengradually work my way through thepile to eventually get to Jonah Hexor something, where just becauseit was a comic, I’d buy it. I knew Ididn’t like it, I certainly didn’t

want to read it, but it was acomic, so I bought it anywayeven if it was by Dick Ayers.

You know, that’s a little unfair,because I saw Ayers’ stuff at the

arse end of his career, and asI’ve grown more familiar with the

history of comics I’ve come toappreciate a lot of earlier work,including that of Dicky A, especially

his inking over Kirby.

Mister Fantastic © Marvel Characters, Inc.

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For over 50 years he’s explored the furthest reaches of the universe, discovering newworlds, encountering unknown alien races andbreathtaking adventure – the legendarydraftsman Sydney Jordan has done all of thisand so much more in the space yarns he’schronicled. The artist, a native of Scotland, is bestknown for being the creator of ‘Jeff Hawke’, theworld’s longest running science-fictionnewspaper strip, for The Daily Express, and thepopular ‘Lance McLane’ in The Daily Record – bothsyndicated across the globe. Jordan’s interest inaviation and space started at the end of World War IIwhen he enrolled at Miles Aeronautical TechnicalSchool for aspiring aviation designers, aneducation that would serve invaluablethroughout the rest of this career. Unable to findwork in the aviation industry, he turned tocomics and landed worked as an assistant to LenFullerton on his comic Dora, Toni and Liz in 1951. By1952 he moved to London and worked for the agencyMan’s World, where he did the art for ‘Dirk Hercules’in a series of comics promoting physical fitness.Soon after, Jordan pitched a proposal for a charactercalled Orion to The Daily Express, who picked up thestrip once the hero was turned into a Royal Air Forcepilot and bestowed the name of Jeff Hawke in1954. In 1956, Willie Paterson, a childhood friendof Jordan’s and a fellow classmate at Miles,joined Hawke as writer/co-plotter and assisted inmaking the newspaper strip a classic by presentingheavier science-fiction elements to the plotlines andintroducing amusing aliens like the infamousChalcedon, the space pirate, a villain as beloved asthe hero himself. When ‘Jeff Hawke’ ceased in 1976,Jordan created ‘Lance McLane’, a more psychedelicand fantastic mix of science fiction that enduredmany years of fanfare. Whether it’s the sight of hiscelestial landscapes, his gut-ripping action, hismeticulously detailed aircrafts, or his beautifulwomen, Jordan’s library of work and brushwork hasmade him one of the true masters of British comics.

Born 1931 in Dundee, Scotland, where the renowned publishinghouse of DC Thomson was producing a staggering range ofcomics, including five story magazines a week filled withintelligent, literate adventure tales for boys and carrying the titleillustrations by some of Britain’s leading illustrators of the day.Enjoying that peculiarly literary emphasis which the Scottisheducational system bestowed at that time, and encouraged bymy parents to read the comics and earlier classics, mychildhood was happy and full. My father used to quote the greatpoets to me from an early age, and I fell in love with what hecalled “golden-tongued romance.”

Despite my interest in drawing and writing my love of aviationled me to attend Miles Aircraft's experimental college for would-be aeronautical engineers just after the war, and it was therethat I learned about the nuts and bolts of flying. But the lure ofstorytelling through comic book brought me back to Dundeewhere I worked in a studio run by an ex-Thomson artist and hiscolleagues. This was how I studied art – at the feet of those whounderstood the demands of drawing the human figure in themedium of pen and ink.

While at Bill McCail's studio, I studied the work of Alex Raymond(‘Rip Kirby’), Milton Caniff (‘Steve Canyon’), and later Stan Drake(‘The Heart of Juliet Jones’). Raymond for his mastery of theclothed figure, accurate and graphic; Caniff for the wonderfulrendering of uniforms and particularly aircraft (no one couldtouch him for the image of an aeroplane in combat); and Drakefor his photographic use of tint and the sheer glamour of hischaracters.

174 true brit sydney jordan

When and where were you born? What was your upbringing like?

Did you study art formally? And what attracted you to the comics form?

Who were your most important artistic influences?

All Jeff Hawke art © The Daily Express

Sydney

JORDANby George Khoury

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In 1954 the flying saucer phenomenon was wellunder way, and by linking my opening sequencesto the contemporary newsworthy nature of the‘sightings’, I was able to sell the idea to the DailyExpress. The first two or three stories saw Hawkeprogress from being a kind of super-hero to amuch more realistic character firmly based in anot too distant future. Chesley Bonestell’sfabulous spacescapes and the eerie sciencefiction of Ray Bradbury were to influence thebackground and storylines which eventuallydeveloped.

Willie Patterson, a school friend and fellow student atMiles Technical College, had an intellect bordering ongenius, and when I asked him to help with the scripts hebrought all of his classical knowledge and Bohemianlifestyle to bear. The result is what the Italians (the mostreceptive of all the foreign syndication readers) call theGolden Age, including as it does the pantheon of alienswhich he and I created – bizarre, yet cursed with most ofthe frailties which beset mankind! We thought so muchalike that it was rare for us to argue over any aspect ofthe story or drawing. His scenarios, linked with thedialogue, were almost always what I myself would haveenvisioned, and I changed themonly after careful consideration.

sydney jordan true brit 175What inspired the ‘Jeff Hawke’ strip, in terms of its look and story?

Could you please describe how Willie Paterson and yourself collaborated on the strips?

All Jeff Hawke art © The Daily Express

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Donald Southam Lawrence was born in East Sheen Londonon November 17, 1928. With his passing in December of 2003 the last of the great British comic bookillustrators/artists passed on to the big art college in the sky.

Like many of the greats, Don was quite modest and self-effacing where his art was concerned, and when askedabout his work would always wax lyrically about others. Alifelong admirer of his great friend Ron Embleton (‘WickedWanda’ artist in Penthouse) and others such as FrankBellamy and Frank Hampson, Don never really saw himselfas their contemporary. When I mentioned that he would befeatured in this book alongside Bellamy and Hampson hewas embarrassed and humbled to be even consideredalongside people he admired so much. Such was the man.

Never a great student Lawrence, took refuge in his art atschool. After being evacuated during the war he joined thearmy in 1947, leaving in 1949 to study art at the BoroughPolytechnic in London until he left in 1954. Almost 50 yearslater in September 2003, I had the pleasure of interviewingDon Lawrence in London at the first British convention hehad attended since 1976.

180 true brit don lawrence

Don 1928-2003

LAWRENCEby Peter Hansen

Left: Artwork © The Don Lawrence Estate & all characters copyright to respective holders

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Well I had decided to do strip work after an ex-student had comeback to the college to show off a page of cowboy artwork that hehad done. So I went to see a man called Ted Holmes atAmalgamated Press who gave me a tryout... which I failed!![laughter]

I thought it was going to be easy you know, but of course it’s noteasy. Anyway he paid me for the art and he said, “Well look, whydon’t you try Mick Anglo,” who was the bottom of the bottom, youknow, you can’t get any lower than Mick Anglo. [laughter] So Idid and he paid me a pound a page for black-and-white and hegave me a tryout and he said okay, and that’s how I started.

No, and I didn’t realise it was only a pound a page at first. Heasked me to draw a sample page of Marvelman flying over abunch of skyscrapers and I went home and spent a whole bloodyweek drawing that sample page with all of the windows in theskyscrapers. It was bloody murder. I almost died when I foundout he was only going to pay me a pound a page!

Not really, I also did a small little magazine called Dolphin for agentleman called Mr. Feldman who lived in Meadowvale whowas a tailor, and he wanted a magazine to advertise hisbusiness, and he was my first paying customer. Which wasgreat, because up until I got that job I had been really struggling.

[laughs] It had nothing at all to do with tailoring. He just wantedto do it, and he handed them out to his clients. I did a few storiesfor it, but once I started on ‘Marvelman’ I really didn’t have timefor it anymore.

No, he just sort of said “off you go” and he gave me a few scriptsto start with, but after a while they dried up and I started writingmy own stories.

Well it was war time, you see, and there really weren’t anycomics around. I remember getting my hands on a Canadiancomic, it was a big one, and how I got hold of it I don’t remember,but it had ‘Dick Tracy’ in it and a lot of the heroes of that time. Imean, I just loved those types of comics, but I never thoughtabout being a comic or strip artist. It was the fact that at artschool abstract impressionism was ‘in’ and I never really liked itas I was a ‘realist’ painter, and I was completely out of my depth.I just thought that I had to use what talent I had and comic stripsseemed to fit. I didn’t want to go into advertising, I knew that. Ihad gone up to London to show a company my stuff even beforeI went into the army, and they said, you know, “Do your serviceand come back and see us.”

Well, I did a bit, but not much, I did a game cover design forMilton Bradley called ‘The Temple Raiders’. But they would comedown every couple of weeks to make little changes and theywere so picky, I thought, “Well I’m not going to do this again.” Ialso did a big poster to advertise Hong Kong, and got paid verywell for it, but in the end they decided not to use it.

don lawrence true brit 181

After leaving art school, Don, what did you do?

A pound a page doesn’t sound very much.

So this was the first real paying jobin the comics business that you had?

It’s a strange looking little magazine, Don, and I can’t seewhat it had to do with a tailoring business.

So once you started on ‘Marvelman’, Don, were youthrown in at the deep end? Or did you start off by erasingpencils or inking?

Did you know anything about comics when you started,Don? You know, were you an avid comic reader when youwere a kid?

So you never really did any commercial work?

Wells Fargo

Wells Fargo © Respective Holder

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Beneath the sadistic grin of a man namedV, within the belly of a dark, totalitarian

British government and beyond Alan Moore’svisionary script – you will find that the true

foundation of the timeless V for Vendetta is therich atmosphere and theatrical storytelling that

the artistry of David Lloyd provided in every page ofthat tale. When he was 13, he would doodle and

emulate the art of his favorite comic book artists. Theyoung artist was a constant fixture in the early days of

British fandom, and learned the fundamentals ofillustrations when he trained as a commercial artist in

advertising. After a few attempts of pitching newspaperstrips, David broke into professional comics when he drew a

strip for The Magician annual in 1975, an effort he considers amisstart. It was in 1978 with his faithful adaptation of

Quatermass’ ‘Enemy from Space’ (in Halls of Horror #23) that hiscareer began to take shape as he landed a variety of steady work

with strips like ‘Night Raven’ and various Doctor Who back-up stories(for Marvel UK) along with ‘The Kicktail Kid’ and ‘Kojak’(for TV Comic).

Over the years, Lloyd has drawn over a hundred comic stories for a widearray of publishers, but the jewel of his body of work remains V For

Vendetta. With V’s powerful semblance, stark blacks and moving frames– along with a dash of inspiration from Jim Steranko’s Chandler – Lloyd

earned the respect of his peers and the admiration from legions of fan forwhat still stands as his largest endeavor in comics. The illustrator

continues to remain a vital force in the industry, always striving forexcellence in his art and stories that are free of clichés and rich in originality.

David

LLOYDby George Khoury

david lloyd true brit 193

�V © DC Comics

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194 true brit david lloyd

Could you fill us in on your background in terms of what your parents did? What type of upbringing and education you had?

My dad worked in a bus garage doing maintenance work. Mymum did lots of different part-time jobs as well as looking afterthe family. My dad didn’t really understand what I was about asan artist. Once he suggested buying me a paint-by-numbers kit,and I didn’t know how to answer him – though I think heguessed from my reaction that it wasn’t what I wanted. Foryears, I thought he had no artistic ability himself until the day hedecided to redecorate the upper rooms of the house and pick thecolor scheme for every room, including mine (at a stage when Iwasn’t particularly worried about what it looked like). He chosean unusual but effective combination – and even though thedecision he took was governed as much by how many tins ofpaint he had left in the shed as by his own good sense, it wasobvious he knew exactly what he was doing. I think he was oneof those guys who hid an understanding of art and color,because it wasn’t what guys of his generation and hisbackground were supposed to know anything about. He was areally great dad when he could be, and I wish I’d seen more ofhim. Sadly, he spent too much time doing night work becausethat’s where the best pay was.

My mum did everything humanly possible for me and mybrother. She saved and bought new things for the house with themoney she got from her part-time jobs. My education was

ordinary – I didn’t shineacademically. I was alwaysgood at art and English, thenlater took crafts likephotography and printing.Left school at 16 with noreally useful qualifications,except for one in art. Wantedto go to art school, but careerguidance officers hadn’t beenvery informative about thatroute to fame and fortune –and by the time we figuredout how I could get to artschool, it was too late to meto enter in the year I leftschool. There was noquestion of me hangingaround doing nothing untilthe year after, so I wasdirected to the nearestemployment office, and soonsecured a job as a traineeartist/messenger andgeneral gofer at acommercial art studio incentral London, a stone’sthrow from St Paul’sCathedral.

When did you startdrawing – and when didyou want to become acomic book artist? Howdid you go about learningyour craft?

The Spirit

Top: The Spirit © Will Eisner Right: © Dark Horse Comics

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david lloyd true brit 195

As a kid – can’t remember what age – I think the first strip Idrew, though, was a collaboration with a friend of mine. I can’tremember exactly how the tasks were broken down but we bothdrew some of it. It was like a little newspaper three-framer, andit was called ‘Jim Tack’ and ‘Jack Boot’. Memory dissolves into amist after that... until I did an adaptation of Arthur C. Clarke’s‘Security Check’ – my very first attempt at a comic book stylestrip – which was heavily influenced by Steve Ditko’s work. ThenI produced a controversial, two-page tribute to the ECs (which I’dbeen introduced to via the Ballantine reprints). It wascontroversial because having hung it in the school corridor – tomy art teacher’s enthusiastic urging. I found myself beingsummoned to the headmaster’s office for publicly displayingsomething he considered to be lacking in appropriate taste. Hewas very nice about it, though, and congratulated me on mytalent. However, the art had to come down – before it couldspread its poison of corruption to many more of my vulnerableschoolmates. The strip was called ‘Vampyrus’, and owed a lot toGraham Ingles.

The studio I trained at was a perfect placeto learn how to appeal to comic readers,because we were taught how to draw stuffin a way that would make people want tobuy it. However, almost all of it was stilllife work: toasters, desk lamps, tea sets. Itaught myself how to draw people, andhow to draw strips. The only how-to bookson strips I had were a Walter Foster bookwhich I liked as much for its large-sizeformat as for what it contained, and a littleCharlton tips-’n’-tricks book I got fromsomewhere. For figure drawing, one of thebest books I had was People in Action, byNigel Lambourne; it emphasised thenecessity to initiate a drawing first fromrough lines of energy, which could bemoderated at completion. I just lovedstrips and I wanted to draw themwhenever I could. I practised endlesslyand loved it. Drew great epics in line andwash that no one was ever meant to see.They were my stories, just for me. Likepainting for fun, I drew strips for fun. Ieven drew them in the lunch hour at thestudio – and when things were slack.

When I left the studio, it was on the tissue-thin promise of beingable to sell some newspaper strip concepts I’d come up with toa European syndication agency. It didn’t happen, I’m sorry to say– and it’s just as well it didn’t, in the long run, because I still hada lot of very rough edges as an artist which I desperately neededto smooth out. I ended up doing non-art-related part-time jobsfor some time, as well as trying to get freelance work doing bookcovers, children’s book illustration, posters, and greeting cards– comic strip work was not my first choice to aim for at that time,for reasons I have yet to fully understand. I did a number ofgreeting cards, but most of my samples leaned a bit too muchtowards the dramatic, and I had to be guided towards evoking alighter feel for things. My heart definitely wasn’t in it. It was anunstable existence, work-wise, but I was determined never to goback to a nine-to-five job in art, again. I liked being my own boss– even if I wasn’t paying myself much money!

Who have been some of your influences? And exactly what about their work influenced you, and how that affected you?

Turner. I had an aunt who always gave me cool things atChristmas and one of them was a little book called The ObserversBook of Painting, which had reproductions of the great masters.One of them was Turner’s ‘Ulysses Deriding Polyphemus’, whichI managed to get a print of, and which remained on my bedroomwall for years – even during the ‘film poster wallpaper’ period ofmy late teenage years. It was the atmosphere made from lightthat impressed me most with Turner – and Rembrandt was onthe same team. Then Millais for his extraordinary photo-realistwork allied to amazing lighting effects, Geoff Campion – he drew‘Texas Jack’ in one the English weeklies – Steve Dowling, whocreated the newspaper strip, ‘Garth’, the first British super-hero(not Marvelman); Giles, an English political cartoonist whosework was an extraordinary blend of the realistic and the

cartoony; George Woodbridge and Jack Davis –loved their work so much, of daffy dogs andgunfighters, that I did tracings of them and hungthem on the wall; little b-&-w reprints of UScomic book stories, packaged in the UK underthe titles Mystic and Spellbound; Wally Wood;Orson Welles; H.G. Wells; Ray Harryhausen –The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad; Ron Embleton;Rod Serling; Ian Fleming; Mickey Spillane;Robert McGinnis; Josh Kirby – who paintedcovers for a series of sf paperbacks (some timebefore he did Pratchett stuff) including somefor... Ray Bradbury. Then there was RichardMatheson, Robert Bloch, Robert Sheckley, H.P.Lovecraft, Don Medford, Don Siegel, AlfredHitchcock, Boris Sagal, Terence Fisher, RonCobb of Famous Monsters of Filmland, FrankFrazetta, John Burns, Steve Ditko, Jack Kirby,Frank Bellamy, Al Williamson, the EC crowd,Tony Weare, the early Warren crowd, GrayMorrow, Toth, Torres, Jim Steranko.

Steve Ditko astounded me with his work onAmazing Adult Fantasy, which was the mostconsistently powerful, individualistic, and

Above: The Spirit © Will Eisner Right: Global Frequency: © DC Comics and Warren Ellis

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To pigeonhole Dave McKean as being just ‘a comicbook artist’ would be criminal, for he’s not only atalented all-round illustrator but also a giftedwordsmith, an accomplished photographer, anexceptional musician and a visionary filmmaker. Itwas back during his education at Berkshire Collegeof Art, from 1982 to 1986, that McKean began toseriously consider comics as a career. Althoughcomics were an early love in his life, they weren’t thedriving force for the sequential stories he wanted totell. Rather, he was driven by his appreciation for thegreat illustrators and painters whom he had studiedand became interested in injecting the abstractqualities of expression into comics. During 1986, theartist befriended an up-and-coming writer namedNeil Gaiman, and they started a fruitful collaborationthat began with the release of the acclaimed Violent

Cases and continues to the present day with TheWolves in the Wall. DC editor Karen Bergersoon scouted the pair and they soon foundthemselves working on Black Orchid, athree-part prestige series lavishly paintedby Dave. When the Batman hysteria of thelate ‘80s hit, the artist was able to raise hisprofile by showcasing his talent forimagery with Batman: Arkham Asylum,written by the renowned Grant Morrison,and at one point the most successfulgraphic novel of all-time. From 1990 to

1996 he worked on his next project,Cages, a graphic novel whichstands at 500 pages andremains his magnum opus.For Cages, his most personalwork, McKean created its artwith everything and anythingimaginable, in every mediapossible and using all of hisskills to illustrate his inspiringode of creativity and emotion.Another of his achievements incomics are the haunting covershe’s provided for so many bookslike Hellblazer, Black Orchid, TheDreaming, Alice Cooper: The Lastof Temptation, Miracleman, andthe entire collection of Sandman.Other graphic novels by the artistinclude Mr. Punch and Signal toNoise (both written by Mr. Gaiman),and Slow Chocolate Autopsy (withIain Sinclair). Outside of comics,he’s designed and illustrated plentyof compact disc covers, amongthem one for The Rolling Stones,and created ad campaigns forKodak, Nike and other clients. Thefilmmaker-side of McKean hasdirected and written ‘The WeekBefore’ and ‘N(eon)’, both short films,and now his first feature filmMirrorMask for Sony Pictures andslated for release in the fall of 2004.

204 true brit dave mckean

Dave

McKEANby George Khoury

The Dreaming © DC Comics

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dave mckean true brit 205

Violent Cases © Neil Gaiman & Dave McKean

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When and where were you born? How would you describe your upbringing?

Taplow, near Maidenhead in Berkshire, England. December 29,1963. A background I would characterize as supportive, butneutral. My parents had a Northern England working class ethic,but ended up in the aspirational middle class. My father was themanaging director of a shipping company, but also fought for hisworkers rights. But underneath all of this he really wanted to bean architect, but never got the opportunity to try, despite the offerof a scholarship.

My father died when I was 12. My mother supported mecompletely and unconditionally, and so I think I had theopportunity to create my own path from an early age.

Was there a particular moment that caused you to wantto be an artist?

I remember a few key moments, my father drawing cartoons forme. Drawing some portraits of film actors that actually lookedlike them. Drawing a surreal little illustration that worried myfather about my sanity. Seeing Max Ernst paintings at the Tate.And then reading comics, Marvel comics at eight, Warrenmagazines, Heavy Metal , American undergrounds,independents. Four great years at art school, publishing our owncomics, arguing with everybody. Great teachers who hit me inthe head with a whole world of possibilities. Exhibitions by RalphSteadman and Gerald Scarfe at the Festival Hall, Jim Dine,Jasper Johns. A wonderful talk by Marshall Arisman at the ICA.

© Dave McKean

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212 true brit mike noble

Mike Noble is to most British fans what Curt Swan is toAmerican comic fans. Like Swan in the ’60s, he couldalways be relied upon to produce beautiful work. Nobleholds a special place in UK comic readers’ heartsbecause his regular output during the ’50s to ’90sexpanded children’s horizons and conveyed a positivevalue system. Many of his works are based ontelevision shows, some American, some British – ‘TheLone Ranger’, ‘Fireball XL5’, ‘Captain Scarlet’, ‘Zero X’(from the Thunderbirds Are Go film) – and many UKchildren’s series. His work is entirely his own becausein the UK, unlike most American comics, artists tendedto pencil, ink and colour their work.

But what of the man? When I tried toshare with Mike how I personally feltabout his work, I asked him tothink back to his childhood. A bigsmile crossed his face and heburst out with ‘Sexton Blake’ (afictional British detective createdin 1893). “I used to buy Film Funwith Arthur Askey in it; it was a Fridaytreat back then.” Noble is a humble manwho still cannot understand all the fussabout his work. At times I felt that Mike wasvery self-denigrating about his work, but Isuspect now, he is, in fact, the quintessentialEnglishman, modest about his achievements.

We interviewed Mike on a typical drizzly March afternoon athis Sussex home. He is retired now but not idle. His life in a ruralvillage sees his participation in village life. He won a nationalcompetition to design a church lychgate, he co-designed aposter for the Millennium celebrations of people in the village,and has made a brief comeback illustrating posters of familiarsubjects for the recent Gerry Anderson-inspired comics of the’90s. He lives in a detached bungalow inherited from his parents,a well-kept garden surrounds the property, and Mike is keen forthe rain to let up so he can get out there. We started the meetingat one of Mike’s favourite pubs, next to which he informed us heoften played cricket. We enjoyed a relaxed meal and pint of thelocal beer whilst Mike regaled us with stories of the war. Hisknowledge is obviously inspired by having lived through theperiod in the London Blitz as an 11-15 year old. When Imentioned my mother came from Lüneburg, in Germany, Mikeimmediately pricked up his ears, citing the signing of thearmistice on the Lüneburg Heath. The subjects of his earlychildhood drawings were war subjects, too.

Mike Noble was born on the 17th of September 1930 inWoodford. His father was a stockbroker’s clerk at the StockExchange, where he would deal on behalf of clients. Mike

Captain Scarlet © Carlton International Media Limited

Mike

NOBLEby Norman Boyd

Captain Scarlet

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laughed when I asked if, like the children in Mary Poppins, hehad the opportunity to follow his dad to his place of work. “Well,I went into the offices with my brother while father was dealingon the floor and used to tap away at the typewriters.” Mike’sfather is important to him as his main inspiration. His father,although a talented artist, did not take up art as a career: “Youwere regarded as a mad fool if you relied on art to make a living,in those days. From his background, which was in the country,work in the city of London was a real step up, a real advantageand father was pretty intelligent and it suited him and he enjoyedit. But his art was always going to be a hobby. But neverthelesshe was very capable.” Mike has samples of his father’s works athome. His brother would draw as a child too: “It was obviously inthe genes. Father would let us get on with it and every now andagain he’d do a drawing for us and we’d be all aquiver.”

Mike’s older brother (by 18 months) shone at school and wentinto the Navy, having to do his National Service. “Inuniversities, at that time, there were certain vacancies forex-servicemen, and because of David’s qualifications, hewent up to University College Oxford for three years andthen he went into hospital administration, eventually leadingto his working for the Medical Research Council and a CBE atthe end of it all.” I was curious why one son should have sucha different career path from the other, and Mike admitted,“Academically I didn’t shine like my brother, but father thought,‘This boy can draw,’ anyway, and insisted I had a reasonableeducation, which I thought very wise. So I went to a privateschool in Ilford and then to art school (South West EssexTechnical College).” “Why that one?” I asked. “There was a lady atmy school, who had been to this art school, and she said if oneor two of us wanted to go to this art school she could put in aword, and father was happy with that. And besides, it was thenearest to home. So I had to produce some drawings for a test,and they accepted me. You went to life class, drawing for plastercasts, Greek Gods – a classical education. They taught you thebasics of how to draw, and I chose the commercial course, whichwas advertising rather than fine art, because I didn’t see myselfstarving in an attic. [laughter] If you do fine art you have to come

Fireball XL5 © Carlton International Media Limited Popeye and Beetle Bailey © King Features Syndicate Inc

mike noble true brit 213

Fireball XL5

© Respective Holders

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224 true brit kevin o’neill

His long journey into professional comics beganbehind the scenes at IPC magazines, where as ateenager he was employed as an office boy onBuster. Over subsequent years, O’Neill paid hisdues working through the production ranks at IPCuntil finally serving as art director for 2000 AD

during one of the most fondly remembered, andcontroversial, periods of the title. Shortly after,Kevin left his staff position to pursue freelanceassignments and the chance to demonstrate theartistic skills that he had been honing for so long.The artwork that the artist unleashed must have

come as a surprise to those whoonly knew O’Neill’s cavalier and lowkey demeanor, because hisprovocative illustrations reflected afar different side of him – thesedrawings were intense withgrittiness and full of menacing,kinetic energy with a richness indetail and atmosphere. With his chiefcollaborator, the legendary scribe PatMills, the illustrator co-created talesfull of social commentary, darknessand, mostly important, mischievoushumor in books like ‘ABC Warriors’,‘Ro-Busters’, ‘Metalzoic’, ‘Nemesisthe Warlock’, and Marshal Law.Nowadays, a more seasoned O’Neillshines brightly with the mostambitious work of his career in theadventures of The League ofExtraordinary Gentlemen forAmerica’s Best Comics with AlanMoore.

Where and when were you born? And how would you describe yourupbringing?

I was born in Eltham, South East London onthe 22nd of August 1953. I was raised on aworking class council estate by an Irishfather and an English mother. As a smallchild I became a big fan of the Fleischer’sPopeye cartoon transmitted on Britishtelevision in the late 1950s. Was addicted toall animation subjects and read as manycomics as I could afford: British, American,hybrid reprints of Captain Marvel… alsoMarvelman and British Annuals thatreprinted Blackhawk and Plastic Man.

How did you discover comics? How did you know this was the careeryou wanted?

My first comic was probably a British nurserycomic, something like Playhour, but I reallywanted The Beano and Dandy – as soon as I had the pocket money to spend I boughtthose that I have always loved: the DCThomson work of Dudley D. Watkins(especially his masterpiece ‘Desperate Dan’),

League of Extraordinary Gentlemen© Alan Moore & Kevin O'Neill

Kevin

O’NEILLby George Khoury

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kevin o’neill true brit 225

Leo Baxendale on the ‘Bash Street Kids’ and ‘Little Plum’, DaveyLaw’s ‘Dennis the Menace’, and the magnificent cartoon art ofKen Reid on ‘Jonah’. I started drawing from an early age, and Iknow my father did not care much for me reading comics as Igrew older, but as I also read a lot of books from the local library,he tolerated it. My parents never discouraged me from myambitions, they just could not help in any way; there were noother artists in the family that I was aware of. It never occurredto me that it may have been impossible to break into comics oranimation. I was always a dreamer and inhabited a pretty richfantasy world in my head. The main obstacle was putting thatworld on paper from a self-taught background. I was painfully

shy, no idea why no one else infamily was like that, so I guessI retreated into the world ofimagination. I think thisspurred me on as I was clearlyunfit for work in the realworld. When I was 15 I had aSaturday and summer job in asupermarket working in thestore rooms and filling shelves– memories of wearing thatvast brown overall in front ofgirls from my school stillmake me shudder!

Could you list your mostimportant influences – andwhat is it about their artthat lured you in? Is thereanything of thoseinfluences that you see inyour art and storytelling?

Influences are interesting toreflect on; comic art,animation, and illustration allat some level alter perception.Comic art, in particular; thoseink lines and squiggles,represented to me a glimpseof worlds more real andpowerful and desirable thanthe world I lived in. Andattempting to draw my ownimages conjured up awonderful sense of well being– most probably some intenseform of daydream manifest.Instead of having sportsheroes, I had artists whosework I grew to recognize andeven worship, even if it wouldbe many years before I knewtheir names (if British). As I’vesaid The Beano and Dandyartists were important to me,but when a school friend

traded me his Son of Mad

League of Extraordinary Gentlemen © Alan Moore & Kevin O'Neill

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paperback, it had atruly profoundinfluence – Bill Elder,Wally Wood, JackDavis, and ‘the usualgang of idiots’ as theysay, all burned into mypsyche. Also, as Ipicked up Madmagazine when I couldfind it, I learned to be alittle more suspiciousof the adult world I wasgrowing up into; evenas a kid I was nevercomfortable in theCatholic faith. And ourteachers despised Madas a pernicious evilAmerican rag – thevery things that made itso attractive. I’m loatheto invoke truly greatartists as having aninfluence that shows inmy work, but I’d like tofeel the art of Ken Reidand Bill Elder had a lasting effect on me. Their paper worldswere so rich and detailed. They just inspired me to keep ondrawing, drawing, drawing….

When you were 16 your father retired and you had toseek employment – was your family in a dire place? Wasit difficult in deciding between work and the possibilityof going to art school?

My father taking early retirement meant I had to give up a placeat St. Martin’s School of Art (and Goldsmith in New Cross – I hada choice). Financially things were tough, but an ill wind provedgood in the long run; my headmaster before I left school said Ishould apply for a job at Odhams, the publishers. I did and a verynice lady in the women’s magazine department told me they hadsold their comic division to IPC magazines and I should go toFleetway House in Farringdon and visit an editor: Mr. SidneyBicknell.

Could you describe what it was like working at IPC whenyou were an employee there? How you went aboutlearning your craft?

Sid interviewed me when I was 16 and had just left school, andFleetway House seemed like a rather strict school. Sidintroduced me to his boss, Jack Le Grand, and also their top arteditor, Janet Shepherd. I began work as an office boy on Buster.I handed out soap and towels to the editors once a week, spenttime leafing through old volumes of comics, and gradually doingminor art and lettering corrections and pasting up reprints of‘Billy Bunter’ strips. Jan was a good, if strict, teacher. She alsotold me while looking through my samples that it would be tenyears before I was good enough to work as a professional artist– and she was right!

Kind of an odd atmosphere at Fleetway House, the older staff allseemed to wish they were working on something better thancomics, and the younger guys (Steve Moore, Steve Parkhouse,

Dez Skinn…) really were looking for an opportunity torejuvenate the place. It seemed the house rules on grammarwere more important than the pure art and story of comics. Thewhole business by now (1970) was aimed at their antique idea ofwhat the maximum of eleven-year-old reader wanted (based, Ithink, on what their fathers had wanted). I appreciate thegrounding it gave me in production and I did pretty much everyjob including a stint in the coloring department – no regrets, butthat old school ‘job for life’ mentality did not appeal to me. SteveParkhouse gave me some very valuable advice. He said neverlearn to letter because if you do they will have you constantlydoing urgent freelance lettering jobs instead of having time toconcentrate on your art. Jan did encourage me to do displaylettering and logos – she was brilliant at this (Jan designed theoriginal ‘Judge Dredd’ logo).

After working on Buster, Scorcher, Valiant, Whizzer and Chips…I’d really had enough and in 1973 went freelance. My folks weresurprised as self-employment seemed like unemployment tothem but I was doing a little freelance art for the humordepartment annuals (or) coloring for the Disney reprints andgirls comics and some paste-ups. In this period I was also doingfanzine art for Fantasy Advertiser and an H.P. Lovecraft fanzineand several others. I began my own fanzine called Just Imagine,which was dedicated to interviewing special effects people – anearly interview was with Ray Harryhausen (I was a lifelong fan).I found Ray’s phone number in the London phonebook, rang himup, and he invited me to visit his home. He and his wife weredelightful. (In common, with Ray the original King Kong had aprofound influence on me as a kid – fantastic film, and thoseGustave Doré-inspired jungle scenes are the best ever!) Havingspoken to Ray, I had the courage to approach other effectspeople like Derek Meddings, Brian Johnson, Ian Scoones, JohnStears, Les Bowie…. This fanzine work overlapped with myposition as art editor of 2000 AD. I covered the first Supermanmovie and then stopped the publication. When I began it nobodywas covering the FX world apart from FXRH – devoted to Ray

League of Extraordinary Gentlemen © Alan Moore & Kevin O'Neill

226 true brit kevin o’neill

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234 true brit frank quitely

Frank

QUITELYby George Khoury

Quitely studied Fine Art at Glasgow School of Art andhas worked through every facet of illustration, fromface-painting to advertising. Since breaking into thecomics industry with his underground work on ‘TheGreens’ in Electric Soup, Frank became known forhis unique characterizations and elegantstorytelling. In 1993, the artist started work on‘Missionary Man’ (written by Gordon Rennie) in thepages of Judge Dredd Megazine. He enteredAmerican comics working on short stories for DCeditor Andy Helfer’s Big Book line through thecompanies’ Paradox: Big Books imprint. Althoughthe limited series Flex Mentallo: Man of MuscleMystery (written by Grant Morrison) is tragically out-of-print, because of legalities, it was with that titlethat the fanboys began to take notice of Quitely’srefreshing line work and imagination. His later workwith Mark Millar on The Authority continued theprogressive tone set by Warren Ellis and BryanHitch’s early run with stories that were even moretwisted than the original. For his next work The NewX-Men, Frank reimagined the X-Men for a newgeneration of fans and won Wizard Magazine’s BestArtist of 2001. Aided by Grant Morrision’s scripts, hewas able to give the mutant team a fresh look withthe attitude to match. More of Quitely’s artwork canbe seen in JLA: Earth 2, The Invisibles, Flinch,Kingdom Come: The Offspring, Strange Adventures,Transmetropolitan, 411, Weird War Tales,Heartthrobs, Gangland, ‘Blackheart’ (in Dark HorsePresents), Batman: The Scottish Connection, 20/20Visions, and the upcoming We3 (written by GrantMorrison). He continues to make Scotland his homewith his wife and three children.

Flex Mentallo © DC Comics

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frank quitely true brit 235

Where and when were you born?

Start with the easy questions. Glasgow, in Scotland.

What year?

In January ’68.

What did your parents do?

My dad, Vincent, was a high school teacher. He taught P.E. –physical education. [chuckles]

And you went to the same school where he taught?

Unfortunately, yes. Every kid’s worst nightmare. [chuckles]

And your mother was a housewife?

And my mum, Patricia, was a housewife, yeah. She had been ateacher prior to being a housewife but, I can’t imagine her beingcut out for it.

Did they encourage you into the arts?

Yes, they did. At the very least they were very, very enthusiasticand tolerant, even indulgent of my art. Neither of them wereparticularly artistic themselves. Both of them were very, verypractical. They could do a lot with their hands, but neither ofthem was actually artistic. You would expect two teachers wouldhave pushed their son further in the academic side of it and lessso on the art side, but I think they just resigned themselves tothe fact I was a whimsical child with a short attention span andthe arts were the thing that was doing it for me. You see Iperformed kind of average in everything else, and I’m sure Icould have done better. I mean, they did encourage me to studymy academic subjects, they just weren’t too strict about it,thankfully, and they were very supportive about my art.

But, you were rebellious growing up, or were you the laidback-type?

Yes and no, I looked rebellious. I dressed as a rebellious artist,and I used to make my own clothes and make my own hats,make my ownhairstyles andmodify my ownclothes. Yeah, Iwas quite acolorful teenager,growing up. I’msure to peoplewho didn’t knowme, I’m sure Ilooked liked areal handful, but Iwasn’t really. Iwasn’t really arebel to my core.[laughs] I just liked to look the part.

Did you ever professionally design clothes and hats?

No, I sold some of my efforts, but the combination of beingartistic and liking David Bowie and Iggy Pop and Frank Zappaand Lou Reed, and y’know, and the combination, I suppose, ofbeing artistic and being a teenager, wanting to look different,wanting to make some kind of a statement, not having a lot ofmoney to spend... all these things came together. I’ve got some

painfully embarrassing photographs I could show you from myteenage years, but I never started out with the ambition of beinga clothes designer; I was just enthusiastic about it.

What were the comics that got you into? What were theones you remember best?

Unlike most comic artists who come from anywhere in Britain, Ididn’t actually grow up reading 2000 AD, and loving 2000 AD.[chuckles] My earliest memories were of a Scottish newspaperstrip. There were two strips, one was called ‘The Broons’, andthe other was called ‘Oor Wullie’. They were written and drawnby the same artist, a guy called Dudley D. Watkins. I would say ifI had to pick only one comic artist as being the single biggestinfluence on me, then Dudley D. Watkins would be the one.When I was very young I read ‘The Broons’ and ‘Oor Wullie’, andI read ‘Rupert the Bear’.

In Scotland, we have quite a strong tradition of children’s comics,like The Beano, The Topper and The Beezer; I read comics likethat, too. As I got a little bit older – seven, eight, nine, ten – Istarted reading comics like Bullet, which was an adventurecomic – war stories and crime stories – and it always had atleast one story about a kid from a working class backgroundstruggling against the middle class. I never saw 2000 AD whenI was younger, and I only saw a handful of American comics andvery few European comics. I particularly liked Conan theBarbarian, for some reason.

Did you solely live off comics, or did you have a job? Didyou go to art school?

After high school I went to Glasgow School of Art. I specialized infine arts; I specialized in drawing and painting. Because I had thisidea that if I studied drawing and painting I would become goodat drawing and painting and I could become a children’s bookillustrator. This was one of the big ideas I had of how to use mytalent to make money. The only dream I ever really had, in termsof using art professionally, was just that. It was “imagine youcould make a living from drawing,” and how good would that be?

I had ideas that it would be nice to design clothing, or to illustratebooks, or to do backdrops or whatever. But really it was justanything – if I could just use my talents, just to get an averagewage to help pay the bills and I was actually doing somethingthat I enjoy, then that would be a dream come true. That was theextent of my ambitions.

When I went to art school, the first year was fantastic! I did a bitof everything. And the variety was great. And then, I had entereddrawing and painting and realized that drawing and painting

The Greens © Frank Quitely

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ken reid true brit 251

It is difficult to describe the impact Ken Reid had on the British comic book market without first describingbriefly what that market is all about. Even to this day the British comic book market bares no resemblance toits American counterpart. It’s almost as if they are on two separate evolutionary tracks really.

In the UK, comics for the most part have always been weekly publications. Historically they have beenproduced on newsprint resembling the Sunday funnies more than they do a comic put out by DC, Marvel, DarkHorse, or any other US comic book publisher. Furthermore, not only were they weekly and on newsprint butthey were a mixture of humor with adventure strips in serialized form stretching over from one week to thenext carrying a single storyline for weeks, sometimes months. So perhaps it would be best to think of themas weekly Sunday Funnies sections with Prince Valiant type adventure pages, and full page Blondie typehumour strip stories side by side. Finally, on top of this for most comic books there was no color added excepton the cover, back page, and the centre page, with all the interior pages just plain old black-and-white. Ofcourse there were a few exceptions, but they were few and far between.

Usually aimed at pre-teens, the British comic book relied heavilyon humour strips, and from his first appearance in 1953 in theBeano comic published by the giant DC Thomson and John Lengpublishing companies, Ken Reid made an immediate impact inthis genre. Over the course of the next 25 years he would rise tothe very top of his profession as one of, if not the best humourstrip artist ever to dip a pen into an inkpot anywhere in the world.

Born on the 19th of December 1919 in Manchester (same townand a few months before Lee Elias) Reid was a born artist. Hismother was quick to tell friends and family that he was drawingrecognisable things at the age of two. Like all kids of his day, hegrew up on a diet of British comics such as Funny Wonder, FilmFun, and Chips. At the age of nine, Reid was diagnosed with aTubercular hip, and as a result was confined to bed for sixmonths with the possibility that he would spend the rest of his

Ken 1919-1987

REID Britain’s comic genius

by Peter Hansen

Faceache © IPC Roger the Dodger © D C Thomson The Nervs © Odhams Other art © Respective Holders

The Nervs

Fudge the Elf

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life in a spinalc a r r i a g e .Fortune smiledon him, however,and not only didhe recover, butthroughout hisillness he drewcontinuously. Onleaving school at14 years of age,Reid was granteda full scholar-ship to SalfordArt School inM a n c h e s t e r .After four yearsand just beforegraduation, Reidwas expelled forrefusing to signa letter of apologywhen he wascaught by thePrincipal duringclass time at alocal café near to the school(boy have timeschanged!)

Having made thedecision not toreturn to artschool, Reid setup h is ownstudio in a roombehind a store in Water StreetManchester in1936. He madehimself a largesign: KEN REID:COMMERC IALARTIST, and satback waiting for the work to roll in. As he would comment manyyears later, “Absolutely nothing happened!” Without a smallamount of work from a commercial photographer in the samebuilding, Reid would have quickly joined that well knownfraternity of starving artists. Either way the amount of work wasnot enough to live on, and so he hit the streets visiting everycommercial art studio in the telephone directory asking if theyhad any freelance work. In this way he managed to get a coupleof minor jobs but still not enough tokeep him going.

Eventually Reid’s father intervenedand offered to come around with himand act as his agent. Although Reid’sfather was not shy about goingwhere angels fear to tread, a wholeday of slogging around the streets ofManchester produced nothing. Atthe point of going home Reid and his

father foundt h e m s e l v e soutside of theM a n c h e s t e rEvening Newsoffices – still inbus iness ! Av e r i t a b l eimp e n e t r a b l efortress, at leastas far as youngfreelance artistswere concerned.But not to Reid’sfather! With Reidin tow, he strodeinto the largeimposing foyerand marched upto the peak-c a p p e d ,sergeant-majortype Commiss-ionaire and toldhim he had anappointment withthe art editor. Hedelivered this linein such ana u t h o r i t a t i v efashion that theman immediatelygot a boy to takethem up to the arteditor’s office.Barton, the editor,looked blankly at them for amoment beforesaying that hedidn’t remembermaking anappointment witha Mr. Reid. At this point Reid’s

father confessed that he had lied in order to in to see him andshow him his son’s artwork.

Whether he admired his cheek or what we will never know, buthe invited them in and carefully went through Ken’s portfolio. Hethen told them that the Evening News was thinking of starting achildren’s feature and various artists had already been asked tocome up with ideas, adding that perhaps Ken would like

to submit something? Reidimmediately set to work and his firstidea was to take advantage of the current craze for keepingbudgerigars as pets. Why not turnone into a strip and call it ‘TheAdventures of Budge’. However, Reidquickly discovered that he wasn’tvery good at drawing budgies and sohe invented a companion he could

Ali Ha Ha © D C Thomson © Fleetway Publications

Martha’s Monster Make-up

252 true brit

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262 true brit bryan talbot

Coming from a mining town and generations ofminers, Bryan Talbot began drawing his owncomics as a child for his own enjoyment, never

once imagining that comicswould be his true calling. It wasafter studying graphic design atPreston Polytechnic, that hebegan to seriously considercomics as a career when heentered the UK comicsunderground scene. His strip‘Chester P. Hackenbush – ThePsychedelic Alchemist’, his firstmajor work at 65 pages, waschronicled in the first threeissues of Brainstorm Comix for Alchemy Publications. ‘TheAdventures of Luther Arkwright’was given life in the pages ofNear Myths and Pssst!, andproved to be a ground-breakingcosmic epic and a provocativereaction to mainstream comics.When ‘Luther’ was completedand collected, it would earn thestoryteller four Eagle Awardsand The Best Produced BritishWork of the Year title fromSociety of Strip Illustrators, andhelped bring forth a successfulsequel, ‘Heart of the Empire’. In 1984, he followed KevinO’Neill on 2000 AD’s ‘Nemesisthe Warlock’ for threesuccessful full-length books ofdevilish delight. Over thesubsequent year, the artistcrossed over into America,providing artwork and storiesfor a variety of titles likeSandman, Hellblazer, Legendsof the Dark Knight , The Nazz, Fables, The Dreaming,

Teknophage, and so many others. The ’90s broughtreaders the most important work of Talbot’s career,The Tale of One Bad Rat, one of the most emotionalworks ever created in comics. The poignant One BadRat demonstrated the possibilities of what could beachieved within a graphic novel – here was anengaging story tackling the difficult subject of childabuse with great tenderness and maturity. Presently,Talbot continues to work on his latest opus Alice inSunderland, and bedazzling us with his vision andpassionate artwork.

Bryan

TALBOTby George Khoury

Art: © Bryan Talbot - Characters © Respective Holders

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bryan talbot true brit 263

Where and when were you born?

Wigan, Lancashire, 1952.

And how would you describeyour upbringing?

I was an only child and both myparents were working, so I spent alot of time by myself – playing withtoys or watching the tiny screen TV.My folks both encouraged mydrawing (my dad used to paint atone time) and introduced me tocomics by getting me a weeklynursery comic, Jack and Jill, fromwhen I was two to encourage me toread, and later the DC Thomsoncomics such as the Beano andBeezer. Every Christmas my dadbought me the Rupert the BearAnnual.

When did you decide that youwanted a career in comics?

I didn’t. I always knew that I wantedto work in ‘Art’ in some way, but Ididn’t know what. When I was five,an uncle gave me a pile of old Gilesannuals, which I loved (and stillhave) and for a while, I wanted to bea newspaper cartoonist. Eventhough I read comics all the time Iwas growing up, and even drew myown stories, it never occurred to methat I could make a living by doing itprofessionally.

Which were the types of comicsthat appealed to you? And whowere some of you influences?

I loved the strips by Leo Baxendale,Ken Reid, and Dudley D. Watkins.And I think that Alfred Bestall’sRupert style eventually had aninfluence on Bad Rat. In the ’60s, Ibecame a big fan of Marvel comicsand Jack Kirby, and, later, artistslike Steranko, Starlin, and BarrySmith were big influences.

How did you go about learning your craft?

By reading comics all my life, making them for my ownamusement while I was growing up and then, later, writing anddrawing underground comics, which I still consider to be myapprenticeship in the medium.

What formal art training did you have?

My art education was a complete cock-up. At grammar school wewere just given sheets of paper and told to draw. That was it. Iused to spend most of my time doing big and extremely silly ‘BashStreet Kids’ style cartoons, like the ones in the Beano annuals byLeo Baxendale. Leo was a big hero of mine and eventually webecame friends and were in exhibitions and such together.

I barely scraped through my O- and A-level art exams, and wentto Wigan School of Art, a department of the technical college, todo a one-year foundation course. Unfortunately I learnt bugger-all there as well. I was taught there by three exhibiting abstractartists who had a total horror of figurative art. Abstract was verytrendy then, realism scorned as old fashioned. As a result, all Ilearnt there was how to make abstract pictures; pretty damnuseless considering my future career.

After this, I failed to be accepted at any Fine Art collegesbecause, I suppose, I just wasn’t enthusiastic enough about theportfolio of abstract art I dragged around to interviews. At thelast minute I managed to blag my way onto a graphic designcourse in Preston. After starting the course I realised that no

Luther Arkwright © Bryan Talbot

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Barry

WINDSOR-SMITHby George Khoury

The Pictish King Bran Mak Morn from Five Robert E Howard Characters © Barry Windsor-Smith

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270 true brit barry windsor-smith

Barry Windsor-Smith was born in London’s East Endon May 25 of 1949, and studied art at East HamTechnical College where he earned a degree inIndustrial Design and Illustration. A connoisseur ofcomics all throughout his childhood, it was thegrandness of Jack Kirby’s storytelling that appealedto him more than the others. His early art, which wasvery Marvelesque in approach, earned him his firstpro assignments: providing illustrations for OdhamPress, the English publisher with the Marvel Comicslicense at the time, on books named Wham!, Pow!,Terrific, and Fantastic. During the summer of1968, with his friend Steve Parkhouse,Barry came to America with barelya dime to his name and aportfolio that would openthe doors for him at MarvelComics. X-Men #53, was hisfirst Marvel book, and alongthe way he would make stopsthroughout the Marvel line in Daredevil, The Avengers,Astonishing Tales, and Iron Man.Conan the Barbarian, his onlyregular series at Marvel, proved tobe a major stepping stone in hiscareer along with being a period ofgrowth as his artwork started tobecome more sophisticated, driftingaway from the super-heroics to a moreromantic approach. His last stories forConan and the elegant adaptation of ‘RedNails’ (in Savage Tales) are among the mostfondly remembered of the title and have beenreprinted countless times. Upon leavingConan and the world of comics in 1974, the

artist formed The Gorblimey Press, which gave himthe opportunity to expand beyond comic books and achance to be independent. For his imprint he createdart full of romanticism, detail and vigor in producinghis fine line of posters, prints and lithographs. Thiswas an important creative phase for him as heembraced his influences, particularly Pre-Raphaelite and Art Nouveau, into the way he wouldcreate art afterwards. Longing to create new comicart and stories, he returned to Marvel Comics in 1984re-energized and provided artwork for MachineMan, Uncanny X-Men, and covers for The NewMutants. His most prolific period in comics occurredin the ’90s when he became an integral part ofValiant Comics’ success as their creative directorand writer/artist of twelve issues each of Archer andArmstrong and Solar, followed by Rune (for MalibuComics), ‘Weapon X’ (for Marvel Comics), and hismost personal and ambitious work in the industry,nine issues of Barry Windsor-Smith: Storyteller (forDark Horse Comics). Storyteller was an anthologycomic that presented the stories of ‘TheFreebooters’, ‘The Paradoxman’, and ‘Young Gods’.Fantagraphics is presently publishing all threefeatures from BWS: Storyteller separately along withunpublished material. Two volumes of BarryWindsor-Smith: Opus, his series of autobiographical

art books, have been releasedthus far, and they show hislife’s work as comic bookartist, painter, designer,illustrator, and publisher,as well as his work infilm. Today, he keepshimself constantlybusy working on newstories and paintingsin his upstate NewYork studio.

1970’s self-portrait © Barry Windsor-Smith / Early UK Odham art © Marvel Characters, Inc.

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Have you always been artistically inclined?

Once the school system singled me out as a ‘talented boy’, I began to realize that I perceived things and thought differentlyfrom my friends and most of the other children at school.Although it’s the outward manifestations (drawing pictures thatsurfaced from one’s imagination) that teachers and elders willfirst respond to, the bottom line isthat this kid or that kid possessesraw capabilities to access andchannel parts of the brain that theother kids can’t. But having thiscapability means nothing much atall if it’s not nurtured. Havingtalent is as elementary andnatural as being born; it’s whatyou make of your life that matters.In my case, a working class ethic superimposed on my ownparticular neural composition.

What initially attracted you tothe comics form?

Storytelling, I guess. From myyoungest years I can recall noparticular artist or style of art thatattracted me to British comics. Butonce I discovered the Miller & Co. black-and-white reprints ofAmerican comics, I began to recognize and appreciate individualart styles, and style and clarity of how each artist told a story. So,I guess, by the middle years of my pre-teen youth I’d becomeattracted to comics for both their story and their art. Once thatwas established in my head, I began to judge and criticize artistsby their capabilities, their standards, and their limits. I wasawfully precocious. It was like I’d become a functioning editor atthe age of eleven, or something.

Did the works of any of the British comics old masters –Bellamy, Jordan, Baxendale, etc. – make any impressionon you? Were there any British strips you enjoyed?

Do you mean ‘strips’ in the American or British sense? In the UScomic strip means newspaper strip (a few panels published in asingle horizontal strip each day in a newspaper). Strip in Britainseems to mean any form of comics. I’m a bit fuzzy on thetimelines here. I recall being stunned by Frank Bellamy’s ‘Herosthe Spartan’, but in what period of Bellamy’s work, or my youth,this came about is lost to malleable memory. I don’t recognizeBaxendale’s name, but Jordan sounds familiar. ‘Jeff Hawke,’right? There was another strip artist, he did Modesty Blaise.What a great name for a heroine. I do recall the slick brushworkof ‘Jeff Hawke’ and Modesty Blaise; all those dramatic blacksand chiaroscuro. Despite my appreciation of these Britishartists, I really wasn’t influenced by any of them at all. If I were,I’d’ve probably tried to emulate them in one way or another andseek work in England rather than in America.

What lured you to the United States? Why were you so sure that you wanted to build yourcareer there and not in England?

Simply put, in 1968 there was no American style comics artcareer to be had in England. Power Comics were just goofyblack-and-white reprints, and I did get some limited work withthem, but beyond that there was nothing whatsoever. Comparedto the visionary dynamics of Kirby/Lee Fantastic Four, MightyThor, and all else, British material, no matter how well producedit was, seemed rather lame, old fashioned, and, to use thecurrent US vernacular, retarded.

Although some good folk, who should really know better, haverecently suggested that I broke into Marvel and Americancomics by deliberately emulating Kirby, this is not quite true. Thefact is that in the mid- to late 1960s, I’d become so awed by thegenius of Kirby’s work that, in my 17-year-old naïvety, I couldn’tperceive comics art as anything other than Jack Kirby’sextraordinary style of dynamic figure drawing and fantasticaltableaus. The result being that, as I was a basic student out of agreat London art college, who was willing to be transformed byany emergent power that might enlighten him, Kirby’s style anddynamics in both art and storytelling became the ideal that – atthat time – I comprehended best of all.

A year prior, in 1967, I was very influenced by Ralph Steadman.Ralph taught illustration and cartooning at my school, East HamTechnical College, and his influence over me meant that Iemulated his style to some degree or other. But, y’know, withRalph as with Kirby, I wasn’t wholly conscious of actuallycopying these artists’ styles. I never said to myself, “If I can drawlike Kirby, I can go to America and get a fab job.” I never thoughtthat way. I was just following my instincts. Within a year or so Iwas moving away from Kirby as I began to find my own way.

Monster © Barry Windsor-Smith

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