Bryan Talbot is a comic book artist and writer. He is best known as the creator of The Adventures of Luther Arkwright and its sequel Heart of Empire. [edit] Biography Talbot began his comics work in the underground comix scene of the late 1960s. In 1969 his first work appeared as illustrations in Mallorn, the British Tolkien Society Magazine, followed in 1972 by a weekly strip in his college newspaper. He continued in the scene after leaving college, producing Brainstorm Comix, the first three of which formed The Chester P. Hackenbush Trilogy (a character reworked by Alan Moore as Chester Williams for Swamp Thing). He started The Adventures of Luther Arkwright in 1978. It was originally published in Near Myths and continued on over the years in other publications. It was eventually collected together into one volume by Dark Horse. Along with When the Wind Blows it is one of the first British graphic novels. In the early to mid-eighties he provide art for some of 2000 AD's flagship serials, producing 3 series of Nemesis the Warlock, as well as strips for Judge Dredd and Sláine. The Tale of One Bad Rat deals with recovery from childhood sexual abuse. Talbot moved to the American market in the 1990s, principally for DC, on titles like Hellblazer,[1] Sandman and Batman. He also produced the art for The Nazz by Tom Veitch and worked with Tom's brother Rick Veitch on Teknophage, one of a number of mini-series he drew for Tekno Comix. He has also illustrated Bill Willingham's Fables,[2] as well as returning to the Luther Arkwright universe with Heart of Empire. He has also worked on The Dead Boy Detectives. In 2006, he announced the graphic novel Metronome, an existential, textless erotically-charged visual poem,[3][4] written under the pseudonym Véronique Tanaka. He admitted that he was the author in 2009.[5] In 2007 he released Alice in Sunderland, which documents the connections between Lewis Carroll, Alice Liddell, and the Sunderland and Wearside area.[6] He also wrote and drew the layouts for Cherubs!, which he describes as "an irreverent fast-paced supernatural comedy-adventure."[7] His upcoming work includes Grandville, which Talbot says is "a detective steampunk thriller" and Paul Gravett calls it "an inspired reimagining of some of the first French anthropomorphic caricatures".[7] It is planned as the first in a series of four or five graphic novels.[8][9][10] [edit] Bibliography Comics work includes: - The Adventures of Luther Arkwright (various publishers: 1978-1989, ISBN 1-56971-255-7)
- Brainstorm: The Complete Chester P.Hackenbush and Other Underground Classics (Alchemy Publications, 1982, ISBN 0-9508487-0-0 reprinted 1999, ISBN 0-9508487-1-9)
- Tharg's Future Shocks: "The Wages of Sin" (with Alan Moore, in 2000 AD #257, 1982)
- Ro-Busters: "Old Red Eyes is Back" (with Alan Moore, in 2000AD Annual 1983, 1982)
- Nemesis the Warlock (with Pat Mills):
- "The Gothic Empire (Book IV)" (in 2000 AD #390-406, 1984-1985)
- "Vengeance of Thoth (Book V)" (in 2000 AD #435-445, 1985)
- "Torquemurder (Book VI) Part 1" (in 2000 AD #482-487, 1986)
- "Torquemurder (Book VI) Part 2" (in 2000 AD #500-504, 1986-1987)
- Sláine: "The Time Killer" (with Pat Mills, in 2000 AD #431, 1985)
- Judge Dredd:
- One-Off:
- "Alien Enemy" (with script and pencils Mike Matthews, in 2000AD Sci-Fi Special 1987)
- "Memento" (in 2000 AD prog 2002, 2001)
- The Tale of One Bad Rat (Dark Horse, 4-issue mini-series, 1995, ISBN 1-56971-077-5)
- Batman: Dark Legends (reprints Legends of the Dark Knight #39 - 40, 50, 52 - 54, 1996, ISBN 1-85286-723-X)
- The Dreaming #9-12 (writer, with artists Dave Taylor (#9) and Peter Doherty (#10-12), DC, February-May, 1997)
- Heart of Empire: Or the Legacy of Luther Arkwright (Dark Horse, 9-issue limited series, 1999, ISBN 1-56971-567-X)
- Hellblazer Annual #1 (Hellblazer Annual story: "The Bloody Saint", interior art only.)
- The Dead Boy Detectives (with Ed Brubaker, Vertigo, 4 issue mini-series, 2001)
- "Nightjar" (with Alan Moore, in Alan Moore's Yuggoth Cultures and Other Growths #1, Avatar, 2003)
- Fables: Storybook Love (with Bill Willingham, Vertigo, 2004, ISBN 1-4012-0256-X)
- Alice in Sunderland (graphic novel, Jonathan Cape, April 2007, ISBN 978-0-224-08076-7)
- The Naked Artist: Comic Book Legends. Calumet, Illinois: Moonstone. ISBN 1-933076-25-9. http://www.wowio.com/users/product.asp?BookId=4528.
- Cherubs! (with Mark Stafford, graphic novel, 104 pages, Desperado Publishing, November 2007, ISBN 0979593999)
- The Art of Bryan Talbot (96 pages, NBM Publishing, December 2007, ISBN 1-561635-12-X)
- Metronome (as Véronique Tanaka,[5] 64 pages, NBM Publishing, May 2008, ISBN 1-561635-26-X)
- Grandville (graphic novel, 104 pages, Jonathan Cape, ISBN 0224084887, October 2009, Dark Horse Comics, ISBN 1595823972, November 2009)
[edit] Awards and recognition Talbot was given an Honorary Doctorate of Arts by University of Sunderland in July 2009, the first time this has been done for a comic book artist.[12] - ^ Irvine, Alex (2008), "John Constantine Hellblazer", in Dougall, Alastair, The Vertigo Encyclopedia, New York: Dorling Kindersley, pp. 102–111, ISBN 0-7566-4122-5, OCLC 213309015
- ^ Irvine, Alex (2008), "Fables", in Dougall, Alastair, The Vertigo Encyclopedia, New York: Dorling Kindersley, pp. 72–81, ISBN 0-7566-4122-5, OCLC 213309015
- ^ A Graphic Poem (Online), Down The Tubes
- ^ Metronome sequence, Lying in the Gutters, Comic Book Resources
- ^ a b "Shaved her leg and then he was a she", Forbidden Planet blog, April 14, 2009
- ^ Robertson, Ross (March 27, 2007). "News focus: Alice in Pictureland". Sunderland Echo. http://www.sunderlandtoday.co.uk/ViewArticle.aspx?ArticleID=2181289&SectionID=1512. Retrieved 2007-03-29.
- ^ a b Bryan Talbot: An Artistic Wonder From Wearside, interview with Paul Gravett
- ^ Manning, Shaun (June 12, 2009). "Bryan Talbot Talks “Grandville”". Comic Book Resources. http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=21570. Retrieved 2009-06-12.
- ^ Arrant, Chris (July 2, 2009). "The Grandville Tour: Talking to Bryan Talbot". Newsarama. http://www.newsarama.com/comics/070902-Grandville.html. Retrieved 2009-09-16.
- ^ Lamar, Andre (July 2, 2009). "Bryan Talbot: Creating an Anthropomorphic Thriller in that Ol' Steampunk Style". Comics Bulletin. http://www.comicsbulletin.com/features/124651454089703.htm. Retrieved 2009-09-16.
- ^ 2008 Eisner Award Nominees Named (press release), Newsarama, 14 April 2008
- ^ University honour for comic book artist, Sunderland Echo, July 18, 2009
[edit] References [edit] External links [edit] Interviews - The Life of Bryan, Comics Bulletin, June 16, 2000
- British Comics Month - Bryan Talbot speaks, Forbidden Planet, 26 July 2006
- Talbot Deconstructs Alice and Lewis, Publishers Weekly, 21 November 2006
- Engraving the Void and Sketching Parallel Worlds: An Interview with Bryan Talbot, ImageTexT, Winter 2007
- The Many Layers of Bryan Talbot, Comics Bulletin, 21 August 2007
- Curioser and curioser – Bryan draws on Alice, Sunderland Echo, 17 March 2008
- The road from Wigan Pier: Bryan Talbot talks with Pádraig Ó Méalóid, part one and part two, Forbidden Planet blog, October 1, 2009
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