Strange Adventures is a series of American comic books published by DC Comics , the first of which was August–September 1950, according to the cover date , and published continuously until November 1973.
97-642: Strange Adventures ran for 244 issues and was DC Comics' first science fiction title. It began with an adaptation of the film Destination Moon . The sales success of the gorilla cover-featured story in Strange Adventures #8 (May 1951) led DC to produce numerous comic book covers with depictions of gorillas. The series was home to one of the last superheroes of the pre- Silver Age of Comic Books era, Captain Comet , created by writer John Broome and artist Carmine Infantino in issue #9. A combination of
194-469: A Francis Bacon inspired "fleshy mass [dubbed "The Blobby Man"] with a typewriter" for Entropy in the UK . Having convinced Karen Berger (Editor in chief of Vertigo) and Roeberg that it was a good idea, the artist recalls that "Shelly rang up and, rather than telling me how wonderful I was, said that when she saw it she nearly lost her lunch! I was asked to turn his skin color from flesh to blue to tone him down
291-469: A "formal invitation" at an SSI meeting, which saw " Dave Gibbons , Kevin O'Neill ... [t]hen Alan Davis and Mark Farmer ," following the artists " Alan Grant "went across" and, at some point, a certain tall hairy writer from the Midlands ." In 1982, DC editor Len Wein chose Bolland to be the artist on DC's Camelot 3000 12-issue maxi-series , with writer Mike W. Barr . The story, dealing with
388-433: A bit." For the final Invisible Kingdom TPB cover, Bolland produced a cover featuring 12 small alternative Invisibles covers, which had been very time consuming. Likening the process to creating "a mini comic strip," Bolland says that "if any detail made any sense it had to be changed to something that didn't." Bolland's style includes the initial 'rough' outline stage, making it easy for the publisher (and, in some cases,
485-481: A continuity of style and imagery while the interior work underwent several changes of style and storyline. Initially, he recalls that his cover images derived directly from the script. He would find a scene from the interior art that appeared to make for a good cover, or use a hook on the cover that outlined the plot of the issue. This included the incorporation of photographs into the later covers of Morrison's tale of metafiction and deus ex machina author-input. With
582-489: A fenland farmer, and Lillie Bolland. He grew up in a small village near Boston, Lincolnshire until he was 18 years old. When American comics began to be imported into England, c. 1959 , Bolland hadn't read any comics before the age of ten, but by 1960 he was intrigued by Dell Comics ' Dinosaurus! , which developed into a childhood interest in dinosaurs of all shapes and sizes. Comics including Turok , Son of Stone and DC Comics' Tomahawk soon followed, and it
679-425: A few pages." This knowledge – "that Dave could produce a page a day... and that I was going to have to do the same" – was a shock, but proved to be "the very best kind of training ground." With comics purportedly being new to Nigeria, Bolland recalls this work being created specifically to be "really simple; six panels on a page and [all] the panels had to be numbered." Not only was this work "[t]he best way to learn
776-402: A hit..." In early 1977, Bardon agent Barry Coker called Gibbons and Bolland to the office and showed them "mock-ups from a new science fiction comic IPC was planning to publish." Gibbons joined Carlos Ezquerra in "jumping into 2000AD feet first with issue 1 (or Programme, later Prog 1)... but meanwhile [Bolland] would have to keep drawing Powerman on [his] own." Powerman dropped to
873-499: A line of comics written by Alan Moore , including a Batman Meets Judge Dredd one-off by Moore and Bolland. After watching the 1928 film The Man Who Laughs , which features a character named Gwynplaine (played by Conrad Veidt ) whose rictus grin inspired the visual design of the Joker, Bolland conceived of the 1988 graphic novel Batman: The Killing Joke . The book was written by Alan Moore to great critical acclaim, winning
970-439: A living, though. Covers are a safe place for me. If someone else's colors swamp my work then, who cares. It was only one page. I can move on... Bolland had expressed some dissatisfaction with the final book, regretting that its impending schedule for release meant he could not colour the book himself, with John Higgins instead being the colorist. In March 2008, the twentieth anniversary hardcover edition of The Killing Joke saw
1067-504: A long commitment. So, instead [a]fter Killing Joke , DC asked me to do the covers on Animal Man , and I said fine, expecting it to be maybe ten or so. I ended up doing sixty-three. It became almost habitual, and it did mean that there would at least be something new of mine out there to look at. The first 63 issues of Animal Man featuring Bolland's artwork covered the tenures of writers Grant Morrison , Peter Milligan , Tom Veitch and Jamie Delano , with Bolland's images maintaining
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#17327723511401164-513: A monthly schedule, and Coker soon got Bolland "a cover on 2000 AD in May '77 with Prog 11" (7 May 1977; signed "Bollo"). Bolland recalls of those early days that: You'll be surprised to hear that even though Judge Dredd had been in 2000AD since Prog 2 the editors weren't sure which of the interior characters would sell the comic best if that character was on the cover. Artists like me just came up with cover ideas and, if they liked them, we'd draw
1261-427: A recreated cover from an alternate angle to shed new light on an initially inconsequential image. Bolland's covers adorn the whole second and third volumes of Grant Morrison 's The Invisibles and his depictions of the main characters are widely reprinted as the definitive images, despite them all having been realised by other artists – and often drawn by several before Bolland entered the picture. With this title,
1358-441: A science fiction hero was in 1947 with the relatively short-lived Radar . A far longer lasting French comics magazine would be the small-format Meteor , published from 1953 through 1964; its main feature was Les Connquerants de l'espace (The Conquerors of Space). Subsequent notable French science fiction include publications like Métal Hurlant and authors like Enki Bilal (e.g. The Nikopol Trilogy ) and Moebius . With
1455-421: A science fiction theme was Zig et Puce au XXIème Siècle (Zig & Puce In The 21st Century), originally serialized in a French Sunday newspaper before being published as an album in 1935; this was one of the many adventures of the teenage characters Zig and Puce first created in 1925. The first French science fiction comics story that was not geared toward the adolescent audience was Futuropolis , serialized in
1552-565: A second location in London, Bolland "did ads for both of them." Bolland was among the first British comics creators to work in the American comics industry, spearheading the so-called " British Invasion " in 1979/80. Bolland recalls that his big break came when Joe Staton attended the Summer 1979 Comicon, and, needing somewhere to work on Green Lantern while in the UK, arranged to stay with
1649-566: A story he has written that holds the key to saving the Earth from alien invasion. In a rare acknowledgement of the rest of the DC universe in Strange Adventures , one panel mentions Gardner Fox having previously met the Flash in the iconic Silver Age story " Flash of Two Worlds ". Strange Adventures #180 (September 1965) introduced Animal Man in a story by Dave Wood and Carmine Infantino. The character
1746-658: A third design going unpublished. Bolland also contributed "A Miracle of Elisha " to Knockabout Comics ' Old Bailey OZ Trial Special , written because Old Testament history had piqued the interest of Bolland when living near the British Museum . This page was later reprinted in the Outrageous Tales From the Old Testament volume, which included works from Moore , Hunt Emerson , Gaiman , Gibbons , and Dave McKean , although Bolland's name
1843-711: A variety of inspirations, Bolland credits his eventual pursuance of art as a hobby and then vocation to a primary school art teacher. Growing up as an only child with parents that had no interest in art, literature, or music, he embraced the late 1960s pop culture explosion of pirate radio stations, experimental music , recreational drugs, psychedelia , Oz Magazine , " dropping out " and other aspects of hippy culture epitomised by underground comix such as Robert Crumb 's Zap Comix . Having taken both O-Level and A-Level examinations in art, Bolland spent five years at art school beginning in 1969, learning graphic design and art history . Learning to draw comics, however,
1940-533: A wave of anti-comic feeling stirred-up among parents and educators by Dr. Fredric Wertham 's book Seduction of the Innocent threatened to drive them out of business. In spite of opposition, science fiction in comics continued in the U.S. through the 1960s with stories for children and teenagers, and began to return to the adult market again in the late 1960s with the wave of hippy underground comics . Japanese manga also featured science fiction elements. In
2037-584: Is based on A complete history of American comic books . Brian Bolland Brian Bolland ( / ˈ b ɒ l ə n d / ; born 26 March 1951) is a British comics artist . Best known in the United Kingdom as one of the Judge Dredd artists for British comics anthology 2000 AD , he spearheaded the ' British Invasion ' of the American comics industry, and in 1982 produced the artwork alongside author Mike W. Barr on Camelot 3000 , which
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#17327723511402134-433: Is cover-dated November 1999 to February 2000. In 2004, Strange Adventures was again revived, in modified format, as the six-issue limited series JSA Strange Adventures , which presented a new Golden Age Justice Society of America story incorporating fantasy-fiction themes. It was written by Kevin J. Anderson , with art by Barry Kitson and Gary Erskine . The miniseries is cover-dated October 2004 to March 2005, and
2231-604: Is now far more commonly seen as 'just' a cover artist – although he notes that he has never decided to actually solely create covers, having merely explored other jobs from strip work. He admits that he works slowly, and consequently finds covers easier to supply than whole story artwork. He also noted simply that he began to focus on covers simply because they were the assignments he was offered. He adds that for artists like him that are well known for covers, editors will usually ask for pin-ups instead. Bolland has contributed covers – in many cases to complete runs/arcs – to comics since
2328-535: The Animal Man , Wonder Woman , and Batman: Gotham Knights superhero comic book series. In 1996, he drew and self-penned a Batman: Black and White story, "An Innocent Guy". For DC's Vertigo imprint, Bolland has done covers for The Invisibles , Jack of Fables , and a number of one-shots and miniseries . In addition to interior and cover art, Bolland has also produced several comic strips and pin-ups as both writer and artist. His most notable are
2425-502: The Eisner Award for Best Graphic Album, and has been regarded as one of the all-time best Joker stories, and one of the greatest Batman graphic novels ever. Director Tim Burton has named The Killing Joke as an influence for his 1989 film adaptation of Batman , specifically the origin of the Joker. It would also prove to be highly influential on future Batman and Joker stories, though it has also been met with criticism for
2522-520: The Express owned the rights to the strip, they were not printing it," but since it had a strong European following, these new episodes (Bolland believes) "got collected in anthologies in French and Spanish," but not in the UK except briefly in "the fanzine Eureka ." In 1985, as a known fan, Bolland was approached by Nick Landau to select stories and draw covers for two Titan collections of the strip, with
2619-492: The Fighting Fantasy book Appointment with F.E.A.R. In 1977, Bolland was approached by Syd Jordan to ghost some episodes of Jordan's newspaper strip Jeff Hawke , after fellow fandom-pro artist Paul Neary had already done a fair number of them. Bolland drew 13 episodes, and "Syd touched up some of the faces, a few details here and there, to make them look a bit more like him." By this point, "although
2716-550: The " direct market " of fans and collectors. For editor Julius Schwartz , Bolland drew covers around which writers would craft stories, which included two Starro covers for Justice League of America No. 189 and 190 and Superman No. 422 (Aug. 1986). Among his earliest interior work for DC was a chapter in Justice League of America No. 200 (March 1982) alongside Joe Kubert , Carmine Infantino , Gil Kane , Jim Aparo , George Pérez , and Dick Giordano . This gave
2813-507: The "Captain Comet" feature with the "gorilla craze" was presented in issue #39 (December 1953). Other notable series included Star Hawkins which began in issue #114 (March 1960) and the Atomic Knights which debuted in issue #117 (June 1960). In "The Strange Adventure That Really Happened" in issue #140 (May 1962), real life comics creators editor Julius Schwartz and artist Sid Greene struggle to make writer Gardner Fox recall
2910-488: The (post-Morrison) move of Animal Man to DC's new 'Mature Readers' imprint Vertigo , Bolland notes that the covers moved to full color paintings with issue No. 57. These of his covers were "a mixture of ink linework, color washes, airbrush and then, eventually, areas painted in poster color by my wife, Rachel," which ultimately saw her have significant input on some covers, with Bolland acknowledging that some of his final Animal Man covers were mostly her work. Describing
3007-461: The 1950s, Osamu Tezuka 's Astro Boy was one of the first major manga that centered around science fiction. In the following decades, many other creators and works would follow, including Leiji Matsumoto (e.g. Galaxy Express 999 ), Katsuhiro Otomo (e.g. Akira ) and Masamune Shirow (e.g. Appleseed and Ghost in the Shell ). In the UK, the publication of Eagle gave a platform for
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3104-579: The 1967 for "Best New Strip" ("Deadman" by Drake and Infantino). In 1999, DC Comics' Vertigo imprint released a four-issue mini-series reviving the Strange Adventures title and concept. It featured stories written by Brian Azzarello , Brian Bolland , Dave Gibbons , Bruce Jones , Joe R. Lansdale , John Ney Rieber , Robert Rodi , Doselle Young and Mark Schultz . Artists included Edvin Biuković , Richard Corben , Klaus Janson , Frank Quitely , James Romberger , and John Totleben . The miniseries
3201-399: The 1990s, with his photo-realistic work on the titles for which he works as the primary external reference image. Bolland now draws on a computer, eschewing pencil and paper. He cites the influence of Dave Gibbons , who was himself enthusiastic about the capabilities of computers. Noting also that some colorists were increasingly using computer effects on a whim, he decided if he did not do
3298-613: The 2022 Hugo Awards , the series received an award in the Best Graphic Story category. In 2019, WarnerMedia and Greg Berlanti , the producer of The CW 's Arrowverse , wanted to produce a "super hero anthology" series under the title Strange Adventures for the streaming service HBO Max . The series had reportedly been in development previously for the DC Universe streaming service. In August 2022, Kevin Smith , who
3395-788: The Arts . While at art school, Bolland drew and self-published a couple of fanzines and his work was published in British underground magazines Frendz , International Times and OZ . In 1971, his friend Dave Harwood entered printed mass production with his RDH Comix , for which Bolland provided a cover (featuring Norwich Cathedral ). Also in 1971, Time Out – an underground magazine rapidly reinventing itself into "the biggest weekly listings magazine in London" – gave Bolland his first compensated work producing an illustration of blues guitarist Buddy Guy . While in Norwich , Bolland produced
3492-702: The Bollands. Staton called his editor Jack Harris and told him that Bolland, a big Green Lantern fan, would like to draw a Green Lantern cover; Harris agreed. He drew several covers for DC Comics , starting with Green Lantern No. 127 (April 1980), as well as some fill-in stories. These stories included, in 1980-1981, "Certified Safe" in Mystery in Space and "Falling Down to Heaven" in Madame Xanadu , DC's first attempt at marketing comics specifically to
3589-640: The Central School of Art's Galloping Maggot , the college newspaper. In 1972, Bolland attended the British Comic Art Convention at the Waverley Hotel in London, and met several influential figures in the current British comics scene, including Dez Skinn , Nick Landau , Richard Burton , Angus McKie and – crucially – Dave Gibbons . Bolland and Gibbons became firm friends. After finishing his college course, Bolland
3686-579: The Dark Knight Detective. Drawing inspiration from a cover by Alex Toth , and intended as an homage to the Silver Age Batman , Bolland wrote in 2006 that "If anyone were to ask me what is the thing I've done in my career that I'm most pleased with, it would be this." Approached by Batman-editor Mark Chiarello , Bolland was asked whether he would like to draw Batman covers for a new title, Batman: Gotham Knights . Excited by
3783-538: The Law Died ", " The Judge Child Quest " and " Block Mania ". As the Dredd stories rose in popularity, they "were moved so they started on the middle pages" with a colour double-page spread, which Bolland "always struggled with" finding it "very difficult... [trying] to fill that space most effectively." Ultimately the weekly deadlines meant that Bolland was unable to produce all episodes of the epic storylines himself, and
3880-430: The art chores on The Cursed Earth were split between Bolland and Mike McMahon . Bolland's early work on Judge Dredd was much influenced by McMahon, a talented newcomer whose idiosyncratic style was fuelling the interest in the new character. Bolland thought McMahon was "terrific, the real ideas man on Dredd," but noted that McMahon's approach was "very impressionistic ," while the "average comics reader, certainly at
3977-413: The art of good covers, Bolland remarks that [y]ou really have to be constantly thinking of ways that the image on the cover will intrigue and lure in the potential punter. It helps to try and imagine your cover is in a whole bank of thirty or more and you need it to stand out. Coincidentally, when a time travel story arc saw Bolland's work coincide with the plot in such a way that he was able to produce
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4074-419: The artist his "first stab at drawing Batman ." Bolland felt that "after my cover [ GL #127] worked out the people at DC turned their gaze on London... and particularly on the group of artists at 2000AD who had been weaned on the DC characters." He recalled that, "after I was settled in at DC, scouts from that company came to our " Society of Strip Illustration " meetings to win over a few more of us," making
4171-463: The artist remarks the complicated subject matter necessitated his "working a lot of strange symbolism and subliminal messages into the cover designs" to create "an image that puzzles to a degree and is layered with elements of surrealism ." Asked to take over from Sean Hughes on the covers for volume two by editor Shelly Roeberg, Bolland found her to be an ideal editor, effusive with praise and specific in requirements. Generally, Bolland recalls she
4268-505: The backwards N enough to keep it from that day on. Camelot 3000 had lengthy delays between its final issues. Bolland recalled that he and DC spoke often about how long the series would take to complete, and because the series was inked by other artists, he started off enthusiastically working on issues. As the series continued, however, Bolland became increasingly meticulous, always trying to improve upon his pages. The added details he introduced into his artwork caused significant delays in
4365-543: The basic building blocks of our "Art form". And there were the Europeans... Moebius , Manara , Breccia . Later the Filipinos— Alex Niño , Nestor Redondo , Alfredo Alcala , all were inspirational. None of this stuff was to be found in the art schools. During my five years in three art schools I never learnt a single thing about comics from any of my tutors. Bolland studied graphic design at Norwich University of
4462-480: The brand " Eagle Comics ". Bolland provided many of the covers for these compendium issues. Bolland "drew the first three episodes of the Judge Death story over the winter of 1979–80," as "just another villain in just another excellent John Wagner script." He does not "remember doing any sketches to get him right," the "outfit was described somewhat in the script... and details of it were heavily inspired by
4559-425: The colouring himself, the effects would produce covers that didn't resemble his work. Starting in 1997, Bolland bought a lot of software and spent ten frustrated months learning the ropes and ultimately finding the liberating ability to adapt his now-solely-onscreen artwork. He states categorically that, in his opinion, drawing on his Wacom tablet is no different from drawing on a pad of paper. Having fully embraced
4656-709: The comics magazine Junior in 1937-1938; the pseudo-sequel Electropolis followed in 1940. When the Nazi occupation forces banned the import of Flash Gordon into France, Le Rayon U (The U Ray) was created as replacement in the magazine Bravo which had been running the former. Other French science fiction comics which debuted in 1943 include Otomox , featuring a powerful robot, serialized in Pic et Nic , and L'Épervier Bleu (The Blue Hawk), serialized in Spirou magazine. The first French comics magazine exclusively featuring
4753-759: The company's publishing output. When the project was revived a year later, the title was changed to Time Warp and the series was in the Dollar Comics format. Continuing features in Strange Adventures included: The series was nominated and awarded several awards over the years, including Alley Awards in 1963 for "General Fantasy", in 1965 for "Best Regularly Published Fantasy Comic", in 1966 for "Best Fantasy/SF/Supernatural Title", in 1967 for "Best Cover" (for issue #207 by Neal Adams ), in 1967 for "Best Full-Length Story" ("Who's Been Lying in My Grave?" in issue #205 by Arnold Drake and Carmine Infantino ), and
4850-504: The cover and they would write a one-page text story based on it to go inside. These early covers of mine fall into that category. Other covers followed for nearly a third of the first 30 progs, as well as stand-alone pages and some inking duties on Gibbons' Dan Dare . Already familiar with Nick Landau (acting editor), when another artist dropped out, Bolland was called directly to complete a Judge Dredd story in Prog 41 (3 Dec 77) and soon
4947-453: The covers cluttered and the paper quality crude. His appreciation of the artwork of Jack Kirby , he says, only materialised much later. He did however enjoy UK comics, including newspaper strips such as Jeff Hawke by Syd Jordan and Carol Day by David Wright , and Valiant which featured Mytek the Mighty by Eric Bradbury and Steel Claw by Jesus Blasco . Despite such
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#17327723511405044-533: The covers look different in some way, and when DC decided to number the issues backwards [from 12 to 1; to count down to the Millennium ], that set me thinking. I remember seeing Peter Greenaway 's film Drowning By Numbers , in which they had these numbers placed subtly in every scene, and I really liked that idea. So I began to include elements of the issue number... always trying to think of ways to hide it, or make it an integral design element. The covers for
5141-537: The final issues of the limited series, causing issues #8–11 to be released on a quarterly rather than monthly status, and the final issue to be cover dated nine months later than the penultimate issue. Bolland drew a pinup for Superman No. 400 (Oct. 1984) and its companion portfolio. In 1986, Bolland was one of several artists who contributed pages to the anniversary issue Batman No. 400 (Oct. 1986), his offering featuring villains Ra's al Ghul and Catwoman . Around this time, Titan Books were trying to launch
5238-578: The first episodes of an adult Little Nemo in Slumberland parody entitled Little Nympho in Slumberland , and when he moved to the Central School of Art and Design in London in 1973, he continued to produce (mostly full-page) Little Nympho strips for a 50-copy fanzine entitled Suddenly at 2-o-clock in the Morning. He also contributed a smaller, strip entitled "The Mixed-Up Kid" to
5335-510: The first two Camelot 3000 covers, he chose to ignore [the Andru design] completely and come up with my own unapproved design. Len Wein rejected it and told me to do the Ross Andru one. Grudgingly I drew the number one cover that made it onto the issue – but as a protest I reversed the letter N in my signature as a code to remind myself that my "artistic integrity" had been despoiled. I liked
5432-839: The future artist to "trawl... round some of the more remote backstreet newsagents" for comics to store on an overflowing wooden bookcase he'd built in school. As early as 1962, aged 11, Bolland remembers thinking that " Carmine Infantino 's work on the Flash and Gil Kane 's on Green Lantern and the Atom had a sophistication about it that I hadn't [previously] seen." He would later cite Kane and Alex Toth as "pinnacle[s] of excellence," alongside Curt Swan , Murphy Anderson , Sid Greene , Joe Kubert , Ross Andru , Mike Esposito , Nick Cardy , and Bruno Premiani , whose influences showed in his "early crude stabs at drawing comics." The young Bolland did not rate Marvel Comics as highly as DC, feeling
5529-647: The gore" for his first Hammer horror adaptation – although he found much of the "blood painted out" in the printed version. From the 1970s to the present, Bolland has also produced one-off pieces of artwork for use as record (including one for The Drifters in 1975 ), paperback book (including the UK Titan editions of George R. R. Martin 's Wild Cards anthologies ) and magazine covers (including Time Out and every major comics publication). He continued to produce work for fanzines, including for Nick Landau's Comic Media News , and Arkensword and even "drew
5626-491: The hazard cards" for a board game called Maneater . He later "got to know the Games Workshop guys, Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone ," and produced various "games related drawings" including a cover or two for Fighting Fantasy Adventure Game Books, and RPG scenario pamphlets. His cover work for Games Workshop includes the role-playing game Golden Heroes and its only adventure Legacy of Eagles , and
5723-474: The highstreet," opening the first Forbidden Planet comics shop, for which Lake asked Bolland to produce the now-famous "People like us shop at... FORBIDDEN PLANET" adverts. Bolland's artwork would also feature on the shop's plastic bags, as well as T-Shirts and "covers for their SF, comic and TV & film catalogues," among other places. Later, when a branch of Forbidden Planet was opened in New York, and at
5820-517: The idea of a 2000 AD continuity between characters," Bolland seeing this as a "strength... hav[ing] one great new idea each week." Soon, though, the writers began to craft serials, and Bolland's distinct abilities with subtle facial expressions, dramatic lighting and the dynamic composition of page layout made him the perfect choice to draw the ongoing sagas, starting with " The Lunar Olympics ". Bolland contributed artwork to such Judge Dredd story-arcs as " Luna Period ", " The Cursed Earth ", " The Day
5917-595: The invention of the Internet, a number of science fiction comics have been published primarily online. Among the earliest science fiction webcomics was Polymer City Chronicles , which first appeared in 1994. Other notable comics include Schlock Mercenary , and Starslip Crisis . A science fiction graphic novel is a full-length book that uses images necessarily to depict a story of a fictional nature that explores different/future time lines, theoretical societies, technology and/or both. The first recorded usage of
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#17327723511406014-411: The latter style. Bolland drew all bar a couple of Walter's adventures, which appeared between Progs #50–61; #67–68 and #84–85 (with Ian Gibson drawing the first two episodes and Brendan McCarthy the last two), and says that he "was usually able to complete one in a day." He namechecks "the great Don Martin " as an artist he "shamelessly ripped off" for the human supporting characters, drawing most of
6111-454: The launch of Dan Dare in 1950. Dan Dare and other comics in Briton at this time were aimed at children and they were printed on newsprint. Magazines on the other hand were aimed at adults and were printed on better glossier paper these magazines were mostly in black and white. Starting in the mid-sixties, The Trigan Empire , drawn by Don Lawrence (who would later go on to create Storm )
6208-559: The look of Kevin O'Neill 's Nemesis the Warlock . Bolland was, he acknowledges, "by far the slowest of the rotating Judge Death artists," opting to "take as long as I needed and do a half-way decent job" rather than rushing. For the sequel, a "massive (for me) 30 pages," 2000 AD 's editorial banked one-off stories to give Bolland long enough to draw it all. When Nick Landau began (in 1981) Titan Books ' reprints of Judge Dredd material, he "used this story non-chronologically" to begin
6305-413: The look of the character and contributing to the highest-profile early storylines, Bolland also created the look of two of the wider Dredd universe's most enduring characters: Judge Death (and the other three Dark Judges ) and Judge Anderson . Later, Landau's Titan "decided they could repackage the Judge Dredd stories in an American comic format with new covers and sell it to America," and did under
6402-466: The opportunity, he remarks that a misunderstanding resulted in his being unaware of the first issue being scheduled, resulting in Dave Johnson drawing No. 1 instead, and Bolland joining at issue No. 2. Bolland's first two covers were coloured by editor Chiarello, but from issue No. 5 to No. 47 (his last) they were coloured by the artist himself. As his run progressed, the cover art on Gotham Knights
6499-581: The pages in Chiswick , 1978. In between Dredd assignments Bolland drew horror strips for Dez Skinn 's House of Hammer , having been introduced to the comic through another of the "fanboy in-crowd," Trevor Goring , who drew "a comic strip version of the movie Plague of the Zombies ," and asked Bolland to ink it. Soon, Bolland was asked to draw " Vampire Circus " (dir. Robert Young , 1972; comic version scripted by Steve Parkhouse ), and "pile[d] on
6596-410: The release of the artwork as Bolland intended it, and is completely recoloured by Bolland himself. The book made The New York Times Best Seller list in May 2009. In 1996, Bolland wrote and drew the story "An Innocent Guy" for the anthology Batman: Black and White , in which an otherwise normal inhabitant of Gotham City documents his plan to carry out the ultimate perfect crime and assassinate
6693-578: The return of King Arthur to save England from an alien invasion in the year 3000, not only the largest body of work in a single series by Bolland – and his only attempt to draw a monthly title – but was also the first maxi-series from DC or any other publisher. Bolland was not familiar with the Arthurian legends, and initially conceived Merlin as a comical character. The series was graced with considerable media hype, and Bolland found himself invited to San Diego Comic-Con and other conventions. Bolland
6790-622: The semi-autobiographical humour strip Mr. Mamoulian and the whimsical rhyming strip The Actress and the Bishop . All strips of both projects were included in the Bolland Strips! collection book, published in 2005. In 2006, he compiled the art book The Art of Brian Bolland , showcasing all of Bolland's work to date and also his work as a photographer. Brian Bolland was born in Butterwick, Lincolnshire , England, to Albert "A.J." John,
6887-498: The series became a supernatural-fantasy title beginning with issue #202, for which it received a new logo. Deadman's first appearance in Strange Adventures #205, written by Arnold Drake and drawn by Carmine Infantino , included the first known depiction of narcotics in a story approved by the Comics Code Authority . The "Deadman" feature served as an early showcase for the artwork of Neal Adams . With issue #217,
6984-519: The series. Landau spent time paginating the book at Bolland's flat, and discovered that "[s]ome stories started or ended on the wrong page thereby leaving blank pages," as it was set to be "in effect, the first book exclusively of my work" the artist "gladly offered to add three full page pictures for the Cursed Earth volume and a new back cover for the first Judge Dredd volume. Walter the Wobot
7081-681: The simple rules of comic book storytelling," but "better still, it was going someplace where nobody I knew could see it." He "drew around 300 pages of that very straightforward, simple-to-follow work, and I guess the storytelling flowed naturally from that." Even so, he "was always struggling to get the last eight or ten pages finished," and was occasionally helped by friends, both from his "Norwich School of Art days," Gibbons and future- 2000 AD and League of Extraordinary Gentlemen artist Kevin O'Neill . Bolland writes that starting with Powerman he "found regular employment drawing comics, one of which, Judge Dredd , in 1977–80, turned out to be quite
7178-479: The technology, Bolland has also produced a number of lessons/tutorials on his official website demonstrating his complex techniques. He states that, while this leap means that he no longer produces any paper-based artwork (a profitable sideline for many artists who sell on their original work to collectors), he was certain on abandoning pen and paper. Bolland recalls that, in the wake of The Killing Joke , he received plenty of work offers, but didn't feel ready to make
7275-505: The term, according to the Oxford English Dictionary (OED), is in 1978 by Will Eisner : "A contract with God: and other tenement stories... A graphic novel", though graphic novels existed for years prior. While predating the term, a graphic novel based on science fiction, Astro Boy , by Osamu Tezuka , was published in 1951, starring a childlike robot Astro Boy who was activated in the year 2003. The following list
7372-415: The third volume of The Invisibles were done using a computer, in part because Vertigo had requested "painted" covers and Bolland felt that line and flat color wouldn't suffice. The experimental nature of the twelve covers was assisted by the fact that neither Bolland or Roeberg saw the issue script. For the trade paperback covers, Bolland "was determined to make each one weirder than the last," and so created
7469-401: The time, does tend to prefer realism." Bolland therefore states that he "aped Mike's genius... and then reinterpreted [Dredd] in a style which actually borrowed a lot from the work of the American artists," retaining McMahon's "granite-jawed" look but bringing a level of realism and fine detail to the character, which Mark Salisbury says "finally cemented the iconic image." As well as honing
7566-593: The title gained another new logo and began reprinting stories of Adam Strange and the Atomic Knights, among other stories. Several Strange Adventure stories were also reprinted in some of DC Comics' later anthologies such as From Beyond the Unknown . In 1978, DC Comics intended to revive Strange Adventures . These plans were put on hold that year due to the DC Implosion , a line-wide scaling back of
7663-414: The violence inflicted on the character Barbara Gordon . Speaking circa 2000, Bolland said that since The Killing Joke he has only drawn comics that he also wrote. Six years later he clarified that Since then I haven't wanted to draw comics that anyone else has had a hand in. I'd rather not work on a story I haven't written myself or one that will ultimately be colored by someone else. I have to earn
7760-404: The writer) to "sign off" on his designs. In the case of The Invisibles , however, although Morrison officially had final approval on cover art, Bolland described him as generous to the work Bolland came up with. In selected cases, however, Bolland would ask for ideas, and in one specific case " Shelly [Roeberg] , the editor... did once relay that Grant wanted an arm coming out of the water holding
7857-462: Was DC Comics ' first 12-issue comicbook maxiseries created for the direct market . Bolland illustrated the critically acclaimed 1988 graphic novel Batman: The Killing Joke , an origin story for Batman supervillain the Joker , with writer Alan Moore . He gradually shifted to working primarily as a cover artist, producing the majority of his work for DC Comics. Bolland created cover artwork for
7954-437: Was allowed to pick between two inkers, but opted to ink his covers himself. Bolland was uncomfortable with having a third party ink his pencils, and later admitted that he put a high level of detail into his art for the series to leave as little room as possible for the inker to creatively reinterpret his work. However, he was satisfied with the finished results. Reacting indignantly to being presented with Ross Andru layouts for
8051-402: Was an android with a speech impediment who served as Judge Dredd's personal servant robot. Created for comedic relief , Bolland notes that "[t]he great thing about the Judge Dredd strip was it's [sic] ability to slide seamlessly between gritty sci fi adventure, nasty gothic horror , spoofery , all the way to daft comedy." Walter's solo adventures – "Walter the Wobot, Fwiend of Dwedd" – were
8148-497: Was an art he self-taught, with Bolland eventually writing a 15,000-word dissertation in 1973 on Neal Adams – an "artist [his teachers] had never heard of." He would later recall: It was during this time that I discovered the sheer range of comics and their history. All the British stuff I'd missed was there to be discovered. I found the American greats, Foster , Herriman , Alex Raymond and Winsor McCay ... Noel Sickles , Milt Caniff , Roy Crane , had all, I discovered, put down
8245-626: Was based on a story published that year in Amazing Stories . It was quickly followed by others in the genre, such as Flash Gordon , Brick Bradford , and the British strip Dan Dare . This influence spread to comic books , in which science fiction themes became increasingly more popular; one title was Planet Comics . With the introduction of Superman , the superhero genre was born, which often included science fiction elements. EC Comics had success and popularity in publishing science fiction comics of increasing complexity. However,
8342-596: Was collected in trade paperback in 2010. Jim Starlin wrote an eight-issue limited series called Strange Adventures which focused on Adam Strange , Bizarro and Captain Comet , which started in May 2009. This series continued the "Aberrant Six" storyline, as well as plot developments from the Rann/Thanagar Holy War and Countdown to Adventure . This series was collected in trade paperback in 2010. An 80-page Strange Adventures #1, an anthology one-shot, with short science fiction and fantasy stories
8439-534: Was commissioned by future- Titan Distribution and Forbidden Planet co-founder Mike Lake (who was "working there at the time") c. 1976. As well as the DTWAGE adverts, Bolland and most of his peers also contributed artwork to advertise, and/or feature in programme booklets for the UK Comicon , starting c. 1976 . In 1978, Nick Landau, Mike Lake and Mike Luckman "took their comic distribution business into
8536-407: Was established as a regular artist on the series. "From that point on," writes Bolland, "either he [Landau] or his successor Steve MacManus called me direct whenever they wanted me to do a Dredd story." Dredd stories started as traditional UK comic stories, i.e. "six-page one-offs... [Writers] Pat Mills and John Wagner seem[ing] to spurn the American comic idea of continuing stories or, worse,
8633-456: Was excited for his ideas, although Morrison had approval on all designs as the series creator. Finding that he had a rapport with, and the trust of, his editor, Bolland thinks that these factors led to some of his most experimental work. Newly embracing the use of a computer, Bolland cites The Invisibles Vol 2 No. 11 as his earliest computer-assisted piece of artwork. For the third series, we [Bolland and Morrison] talked about trying to make
8730-479: Was featured in Look and Learn . In the 1970s, publications, such as 2000 AD , featured a selection of regular stories putting a science fiction spin on popular themes, like sports or war. Its success spawned a number of spin-offs in imitators like Tornado , Starlord , and Crisis , none of which lasted more than a few years, with the earlier titles being merged back into 2000 AD . The first French comic with
8827-663: Was hit with "the stark reality of unemployment" and on the advice of Gibbons joined art agency Bardon Press Features. He soon found work doing a number of two-page strips for D.C. Thomson resulted, but Bolland would refer to this period as his "lowest time." Bardon did however produce a client called Pikin which was "planning a bi-weekly comic about an African superhero," Powerman , which was to be sold in Nigeria . Gibbons and Bolland were to draw alternate issues, with Bolland first drawing Powerman No. 2. Bolland recalls that "soon Dave had drawn his entire story and I had produced just
8924-461: Was increasingly done by Chiarello and other artists, and Bolland's first ideas for covers were rejected more often. Eventually, Bolland was told that he'd be done on the title within a few issues, but after discovering that upcoming covers featured Bane prominently (and not the Joker or Penguin as he had been hoping for some time), Bolland offered to leave immediately. Although his forays into interior artwork are almost universally acclaimed, Bolland
9021-462: Was left off the cover. Bolland produced a considerable amount of advertising work, initially because his agent "Barry Coker kept putting advertising jobs my way," including a number of ads for " Palitoy 's Star Wars toys." He also drew some of the earliest pieces of advertising artwork for the science fiction and comic shop Dark They Were, and Golden-Eyed , which ran in various fanzines , convention programmes, and magazines such as Time Out and
9118-609: Was released with a July 2011 cover date . Contributing writers and artists include Peter Milligan , Scott Snyder , Jeff Lemire , Brian Azzarello , Eduardo Risso , Paul Pope , and Paul Cornell . A new Strange Adventures series was written by Tom King with Mitch Gerads and Doc Shaner. The series was released in March 2020, under the DC Black Label imprint. The limited series ran for 12 issues, ending in October 2021. For
9215-458: Was revived by writer Grant Morrison in 1988. Writer Bob Haney and artist Howard Purcell created the supernatural character the Enchantress in Strange Adventures #187 (April 1966). The Enchantress appears in the 2016 live-action movie Suicide Squad , portrayed by Cara Delevingne . Initially a science fiction anthology title with some continuing features starring SF protagonists,
9312-631: Was this burgeoning comics collection that would help inspire Bolland to draw his own comics around the age of ten with ideas such as "Insect League." He recalls that "[s]uperheroes crept into my life by stealth," as he actively sought out covers featuring "any big creature that looked vaguely dinosaur-like, trampling puny humans." These adolescent criteria led from Dinosaurus! and Turok via House of Mystery to " Batman and Robin [who] were [often] being harassed by big weird things, as were Superman , Aquaman , Wonder Woman [etc]," Bolland recalled. Soon, family outings to Skegness became an excuse for
9409-642: Was writing the script with Eric Carrasco, said that the series was cancelled. Science fiction comics Publication of comic strips and comic books focusing on science fiction became increasingly common during the early 1930s in newspapers published in the United States. They have since spread to many countries around the world. The first science fiction comic was the gag cartoon Mr. Skygack, from Mars by A.D. Condo , which debuted in newspapers in 1907. The first non-humorous science fiction comic strip, Buck Rogers , appeared in 1929, and
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