jamie hewlett
Alan Martin on ‘Everybody Loves Tank Girl,’ reteaming with Jamie Hewlett
This week, your favorite U.K. comic shops and online retailers should have received Everybody Loves Tank Girl, the latest volume in the ongoing saga of everyone’s favorite kangaroo-lovin’ chaos magnet (it will arrive in the United States next week). Since co-creator Alan Martin brought the character back in 2007, she’s been drawn by a succession of amazing artists: Ashley Wood, Rufus Dayglo and the elusive, legendary Mick McMahon. For this book, Martin has teamed with the great Jim Mahfood, marking the first time the U.K. comics icon has been drawn by an American.
Mahfood has made no secret of his love for Tank Girl, and he has clearly relished the opportunity to draw her and her extended cast of violence-loving misfits, producing some of the best work of his career. ROBOT 6 sat down with Martin to discuss this project and its unique origins, Tank Girl’s ongoing momentum, and the rumors that he is again working with the character’s co-creator Jamie Hewlett, still the only comic book artist in living memory to have ever quit the business to become a bona fide international pop star.
Comics A.M. | DC Comics retains rights to The Spirit Archives
The Spirit Archives, Vol. 1
Publishing | DC Comics may no longer hold the rights to create new stories about The Spirit and other pulp heroes like Doc Savage and The Avenger, but it does retain the license to publish The Spirit Archives for “the foreseeable future,” according to Denis Kitchen, agent for the Will Eisner estate. Most of the hardcover collections are out of print. [The Beat]
Digital comics | Third time’s the charm for retailer Steve Bennett, as he goes through three different tablets (one was stolen, one malfunctioned) on his way to the ideal digital comics experience. [ICv2]
Creators | Tom Spurgeon kicks off his annual round of holiday interviews with a lengthy conversation with Alison Bechdel, creator of Fun Home and Are You My Mother? [The Comics Reporter]
Six by 6 | Six creators who could make a big impact with a comeback
Greg Capullo's Batman
Comic creators come and go, but it’s the ones who stick around and become veterans who tend to make the biggest mark on the industry. Some work continuously in comics while others take a hiatus from the business and then return later: Jack Kirby did it, as did James Robinson, Alex Toth, Brian K. Vaughn and others.
One of the most recent big splashes by a returning veteran has been Greg Capullo, who took a hiatus from comics in the 2000s after making a name for himself on Spawn, X-Force and Quasar. In 2009, he limbered up working on Image’s Haunt and sealed the deal when he jumped to DC Comics in 2011 to relaunch Batman with Scott Snyder. That got me thinking: Are there other creators floating around on the outskirts of comics, or outside of comics completely, who could pose a formidable force if they returned to comics — and more importantly, if the comics industry knew how to use them? It’s with that in mind that I compiled this list.
Art Barrage | Special (nearly) all-British edition
Simon Bisley’s return to 2000AD after 22 years absence comes in the form of the cover to the upcoming Prog 1800. It’s already dividing opinion. I’ve never blamed Bisley for the worst excesses of his copyists, and this image has its high points — the Judge Death and Mean Machine figures, drawn in Bisley’s mature style, are particularly good — but it is hard to see past the great big unnecessary arse in the middle of this composition (via Comics Alliance).
Much more below, including the Beatles, Shaky Kane, Brendan McCarthy, Jamie Hewlett and Duncan Fegredo.
Assorted U.K. comics business
The anthology Ink + Paper is about to release its second issue, and again has a cracking line-up of contributors, including assorted U.K. graphic novelists, cartoonists and children’s book illustrators. I’ll be getting this, if just for the strip by Will Morris, whose The Silver Darlings will be out soon from Blank Slate, and which I’m anticipating eagerly.
Below: Dredd, Tank Girl, another NSFW Jamie Hewlett watercolor, and more Continue Reading »
Post-Con blues, and other assorted news
Another day, another guest artist on Scotch Corner:Today it’s a massive gallery of work by the underrated Top Cow regular Matt Timson. My favorite is his take on Rom, Space Knight for a Bill Mantlo fund-raiser. As Matt points out, “in the comics, Rom was forever banging on about having given up his humanity to become a Spaceknight, but this was the first time I’d ever thought about what that actually meant – and the horror involved.”
(Plenty more art and links below, not all of which is safe for work.)
Classic Tank Girl images recreated in photography
The Tank Girl Facebook page curated by Alan Martin is a great place to see some top-quality comic art. Martin regularly posts new work by his many all-star collaborators from over the years — Jamie Hewlett, Mick McMahon and Jim Mahfood included. Tank Girl is a character that’s always inspired a special level of devotion among her fans: Back when there was next to no cosplay culture in the U.K., Deadline magazine regularly featured photo spreads of that certain type of punky proto-Suicide Girl dressed as their heroine. I’ve gotten into the habit of looking through the page’s “Recent posts by others” sidebar to see any fanart that has been sent to catch Al’s eye. A while ago, I spotted the work of Scott Cole, a professional photographer who’s taken the notion of Tank Girl cosplay and fanart to a whole other level with a set of shots replicating classic Hewlett images and poses. Cole put a few minutes aside to discuss the motivations and inspirations behind these pictures which perfectly capture the character’s bad attitude.
ROBOT 6: Love these images. How do you describe your work, ’cause I’m not sure I’ve entirely the right frame of reference, myself?
Scott Cole: Thanks. My work has been described as sexy, edgy, gritty and creative. At the moment I’ve been focusing on tattooed models, mainly because it allows me to shoot more non-conventional shots, or to recreate classic sets (for example my black swan ballet set) from a different viewpoint. My worst nightmare would be to be commissioned to shoot wedding or baby shots. It’s just not my thing!
Comic creators I miss: Jamie Hewlett
While some creators spend their entire career in comics, others come and go. Some find greater success outside the field, while others just realize comics just aren’t for them. I recently re-read a brief post I wrote in early 2011 about some of the most sorely missed creators while thinking about artist Jamie Hewlett. He met with early success with Tank Girl (with Alan Martin) but dropped out of comics in the mid-1990s following the cancellation of the comics magazine Deadline and the poor performance of Tank Girl as a motion picture and as a Vertigo series. By an odd set of circumstances he ended up being roommates with Damon Albarn, lead singer of the band Blur, and they dreamed up the virtual band Gorillaz.
In a 2005 interview on Jonathan Ross’s talk show, Hewlett was pretty down on the idea of returning to comics, instead focusing on Gorillaz and animated projects. I’ve enjoyed Gorillaz for its music and the frequent use of Hewlett’s art on covers and in music videos and other parts of the promotional machine, but I’m still patiently waiting for him to reclaim his place in comics. But it got me to thinking: Is there a place for Hewlett in comics today?
Drawing comics is grueling work with long hours, and I could easily see his current career being more alluring than that solitary life. Plus, the comics industry has changed a lot since the early ’90s. The U.K .comics scene is far different, and the “big money” these days seems to lie in either finding success on your own, a la The Walking Dead, or working for the Big Two. Despite my wishful thinking, I don’t imagine we’d ever see Hewlett drawing an issue of Avengers Vs. X-Men. Tank Girl returned with Hewlett’s blessing in 2007, with Martin and other artists, but not seeing even a cover or pin-up by Hewlett really diminishes any hopes he might return.
But I look forward to the artist proving me wrong.
Jamie Hewlett made a comic out of Pulp’s “Common People”!
Exclamation point very much merited, if you ask me. That’s Tank Girl and Gorillaz co-mastermind Jamie Hewlett illustrating arguably the greatest song of the 1990s, “Common People” by Pulp — a masterpiece of withering English class-warfare derision and seamy sexuality. (Check out the awesome video if you haven’t heard/seen it.) According to PulpWiki, the comic was available only in the French single for the song and an Australian box set. What better way to celebrate the welcome news that Pulp will be reuniting for a tour in 2011 than by dipping into the glory of ages past?
Seriously, folks, a de facto Jamie Hewlett/Jarvis Cocker collabo? I can think of several entire comics over the past few years that the existence of this strip renders totally redundant.
(via Alexis Ong)
For the Gorillaz fan who has everything: Demon Lamp
Ever wonder what Tank Girl creator Jamie Hewlett is up to these days? Apparently he’s making lamps shaped like little demons and selling them on the Internet. And I’ll bet there’s some of you out there right now updating your Xmas list.