Desert Island Comics
Imagine this: some cosmic, comic-reading extraterrestrial comes down,demanding to see ten examples of the finest sequential art that Planet Earthcould provide ... what would you show it? Put it another way: If you were to be stranded alone, on a desert island for the rest of your life with only ten comic books as your company ... which would you choose? Here's what I'd take,
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| 1. Dan Dare: The Man From Nowhere. Mere words can't express how much I love this book! Published in 1979 by Dragon's Dream, and featuring the amazing art of the Frank Hampson Studio, it collects the golden era of the Dan Dare strip from The Eagle weekly. My one problem with it is the fact that it wasn't reprinted from the original artwork; that had been lost years before. Its a testament to the quality of the illustration that it still looks great, despite being photographed from tatty old issues of the fifties publication. What have I personally taken from his work? Probably the way Frank Hampson built a fully realised world for his characters to inhabit. He created extensive amounts of preliminary sketches and diagrams of everything from the smallest piece of hardware to the most complicated, alien architecture. He built models of spacecraft and weaponry for reference purposes and created costumes and badges for his studio colleagues to be photographed in. It was probably the nearest a comic-strip studio came to the practices of the animation industry. |
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| 2. Superman Vol. 1 / No. 338 : Let My People Grow! Let's face it, you're either a Batman fan, or a Superman. I fall into the latter category! I'd always loved the story of Moses, and Superman seemed to be the Sci-Fi equivalent. This has never been more evident than in this great, anniversary issue from 1979 where Kal-El finally liberates the occupants of Kandor (and what a fab title)! With gorgeous art by Curt Swan, the definitive artist of the Man of Steel, if you only buy one more Superman in the rest of your life, make it this one! |
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| 3. Nathan Never: Memoire Dal Futuro Every time my artwork gets bogged down by unnecessary, painstaking detail, I take a look at this book. The artist, Nicola Mari is Europe's answer to Mike Mignola, and I'd go as far to say he's superior: stark, moody, dynamic, minimal, expressive and impressive. Perfect Comic Noir! In an ideal world, Frank Miller would have got Mari to draw DK2, and then we'd have had the first great comic book of the 21st Century. Instead that glory will go to some book called The Filth! |
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| 4. Judge Dredd: The Cursed Earth Brian Bolland, and Mike McMahon couldn't have more contrasting styles, but there was something so strong about the character of Dredd that it didn't matter. In fact, between them, these artists represent the best of the whole spectrum of 2000ad artists. Bolland: clean, precise and realistic. McMahon: expressionistic, dynamic, and anarchic. You can find more information about Brian, and view his incredible comic book covers at: http://www.Brianbolland.com/ |
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| 5. Rogue Trooper Book 1 Dave 'The Big E" Gibbons and Colin Wilson in one book! I reckon I must be Dave's longest running fan... I can even remember his early work for D.C. Thompson: "Spring-Heeled Jackson" and "The Hour of the Sharkmen"! In many ways, out of all the artists on this list, his comic-strip artwork is the purest: uncomplicated layouts, pristine pencils, the cleanest inks and simple storytelling. Its his simplicity that makes his work so accessible to readers outside of the comic world, and if you ally him with a talented writer its no wonder you'll get a mainstream hit like Watchmen. However, his stint on Rogue Trooper remains my favourite of his canon, probably because I'm a sucker for military hardware! He isn't the only artist in this book, though; there's also Colin Wilson, probably the best comic-strip artist from New Zealand! With a style obviously influenced by Jean "Moebius" Giraud, Colin brought a European feel to the strip ... check out his moody, detailed backgrounds! You can find more information about Mr. Gibbons and buy his artwork at: http://www.chaoscitycomics.com/dave/daveintro.htm |
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| 6. The Trigan Empire Why is Don Lawrence so horribly ignored outside of Europe? His full-painted artwork is amazing! Yeah, I know I'm biased, having been his apprentice ... but I can assure you, he was my all-time favourite artist even before I met him! Honest! Like Frank Hampson before him, Don has an amazing ability to create a convincing, consistent and original world for his stories; every thing has been thought through to the last detail. But whereas Hampson's approach was studied and deliberated, Don's is more instinctive: he uses no reference at all! That makes him the more natural artist in my book. Its fascinating to watch him at work... you just stand there thinking "Christ, how the hell does he know how to draw that without any research?!!!" You can find more information about Don Lawrence and buy his artwork at: http://www.donlawrence.nl |
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| 7. Moebius: Fusions Jean "Moebius" Giraud is the only artist to get two books in my top ten... and I think he's probably the only comic-strip illustrator who merits the title of Artist with a Capital "A". Can I explain why? I could try, or I could simply direct you to check out "Fusions": a stunning collection of his artwork that displays his uncanny ability to master any genre or medium! From photo-realism to abstract, from pen-and-ink to chalk and pastel ... he can do it all! And that's not to mention the sheer inventiveness, imagination and joie-de-vivre he pours into his work! He is a true artistic genius! |
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| 8. Blueberry: Broken Nose If Glenn Fabry and Art Adams were gene-spliced, and forced to draw a Western Graphic Novel, it would probably look something like Broken Nose! Despite not being a big fan of Cowboy-genre comics, the intricate art on this book still rates as one of my biggest influences. The amount of detail is truly phenomenal. I've constantly attempted to emulate the attention Giraud/Moebius gives to textures and shading. So, its thanks to this damn book, that I'm a penny-less detail obsessive and not a nonchalant, rich hack like some artists I could mention. And it has my favourite front cover, not just of Giraud's work, but of all comics, ever! |
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| 9. The Best of 2000ad 24: Strontium Dog in The Moses Incident Carlos Ezquerra is the most professional comic strip artist ever. Whatever the subject matter, whatever the page-count, whatever the deadline, he'll turn in a professional job, on time! Not only is he reliable, he's consistent… and these are much under-rated qualities, these days. That's not to say Carlos hasn't had his moments of greatness; in fact he's had plenty. I'm particularly fond of the stuff he did for the British war book, Battle, in the Seventies; in particular Major Easy and Rat Pack. But without doubt his best work was on this Strontium Dog story for 2000ad. Its got a fab script by Alan Grant, chock full of melancholy, horror, violence and laughs, and Carlos pulls out all the stops with his bleak, moody, scratchy linework. No one does gritty, lumpy, sun-baked, mud-caked landscapes like Ezquerra! |
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| 10. Any Asterix book! by Goscinny and Uderzo! At my school you were either a Tin Tin fan or an Asterix! I was on the side of the indomitable Gauls... TinTin was too much of a goody-goody for me! Ignore the crap animated and live-action films, and re-examine the original books : they're anarchic, anti-imperialist and full of dreadful puns and slapstick violence... just what kids should be into! They're also quietly intelligent and informative! And have great cartoon artwork ! Forget Euro-Disney: its about time I made a visit to the Asterix theme park! |
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