John Higgins (comics)

For other people of the same name, see John Higgins (disambiguation).

John Higgins
Born	1949 Walton, Liverpool, UK
Nationality	British
Area(s)	Writer, Penciller, Inker, Colourist
Notable works	Watchmen Batman: The Killing Joke Razorjack
Official website

John Higgins (born 1949) is an English comic book artist and writer. He did significant work for 2000 AD, and he has frequently worked with writer Alan Moore, most notably as colourist for Watchmen.

Biography

John Higgins was born in Walton, Liverpool. After leaving school when he was 15, he joined the army and, on leaving, spent some time in a commune in Wiltshire. He returned to Liverpool and, in 1971, resumed his studies at Wallasey College of Art where, in 1974, he qualified in technical illustration, allowing him to get a job as a medical illustrator at the Royal Marsden.

After getting his first comic published in Brainstorm in 1975, he drew the cover for 2000 AD #43 in 1977 and decided to go freelance in 1978, with an eye on becoming a comic artist. In 1981 he started getting regular work at 2000 AD, one of his early projects being the art for a Tharg's Future Shocks by Alan Moore, as well as doing covers for Marvel UK.

After this he worked steadily at 2000 AD and joined the British Invasion in the mid-eighties, notably doing the colouring on Moore's Watchmen and Killing Joke a job he got through colouring Steve Dillon's art on Moore's ABC Warriors story. This led to more work in the American market, although he has kept working on British titles too (especially with Judge Dredd over 20 years).

Most recently he has provided the art for Greysuit with Pat Mills, as well as working with Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti on The Hills Have Eyes: The Beginning and Jonah Hex #28.

In addition to providing the art, Higgins is also a writer. He wrote and drew his first Future Shock at 2000 AD and did the same for Razorjack, a comic book mini-series from Com.x, which was reprinted in 2009.

Higgins has worked in a number of different areas providing artwork for animation, film and book covers like The Cabinet of Light and The Morgaine Stories.

Bibliography

Comics work includes:

• Brainstorm #5 (1975)
• Brainstorm Fantasy Comix #1: "TIT Company" (script and art, 1977)
• Graphixus #5 "Barbarian" (1978)

• Battlestar Galactica:
  • Battlestar Galactica Annual (art on various stories, Grandreams, 1978)
  • Mission Galactica Annual (art on various stories, Grandreams, 1980)

• Tharg's Future Shocks:
  • "Together" (script and art, in 2000 AD #108, 1979)
  • "The Last Rumble of the Platinum Horde" (with Alan Moore, in 2000 AD #217, 1981)
  • "Salad Days" (with Alan Moore, in 2000 AD #247, 1982)
  • "Horn of Plenty!" (with Kelvin Gosnell, in 2000 AD #248, 1982)
  • "The Bounty Hunters" (with Alan Moore, in 2000 AD #253, 1982)
  • "No Picnic" (with Alan Moore, in 2000 AD #272, 1982)
  • "Car Wars" (with Peter Milligan, in 2000 AD #434, 1985)
  • "Project Salvation" (with Peter Milligan, in 2000 AD #436, 1985)

• One-Off:
  • "Last Thought" (with Steve MacManus, in 2000 AD #202, 1981)
  • "Hot Item" (with Alan Moore, in 2000 AD #278, 1982)

• Joe Black (with Kelvin Gosnell):
  • "Joe Black's Tall Tale!" (in 2000 AD #241, 1981)
  • "The Hume Factor" (in 2000 AD #252, 1982)
  • "Joe Black's Big Bunco" (in 2000 AD #56, 1982)

• Time Twisters (with Alan Moore):
  • "Einstein" (in 2000 AD #309, 1983)
  • "The Startling Success of Sideways Scuttleton" (in 2000 AD #327, 1983)

• Grailquest (with James Herbert Brennan):

1. The Castle of Darkness (1984)
2. The Den of Dragons (1984)
3. The Gateway of Doom (1984)
4. Voyage of Terror (1986)
5. Kingdom of Horror (1986)
6. Realm of Chaos (1987)
7. Tomb of Nightmares (1987)
8. Legion of the Dead (1987)

• ABC Warriors: "Red Planet Blues" (colours, short story, with writer Alan Moore and art by Steve Dillon, in 2000 AD Annual 1985, 1984)

• Judge Dredd:
  • "Crime Call" (with John Wagner/Alan Grant, in Judge Dredd Annual 1986, 1985)
  • "Beggars' Banquet" (with John Wagner/Alan Grant, in 2000 AD #456, 1986)
  • "Letter From a Democrat" (with John Wagner/Alan Grant, in 2000 AD #460, 1986)
  • "The Exploding Man" (with John Wagner/Alan Grant, in 2000 AD #471, 1986)
  • "Russell's Inflatable Muscles" (with John Wagner/Alan Grant, in 2000 AD #480, 1986)
  • "Phantom of the Shoppera" (with John Wagner/Alan Grant, in 2000 AD #494-495, 1986)
  • "On the Superslab" (with John Wagner/Alan Grant, in 2000 AD #504, 1986)
  • "Revolution" (with John Wagner/Alan Grant, in 2000 AD #531-533, 1986)
  • "Oz" (with John Wagner/Alan Grant, in 2000 AD #564-565, 1987)
  • "Last of the Bad Guys" (with John Wagner, in Judge Dredd Annual 1988, 1987)
  • "The Blob" (with Alan Grant, in Judge Dredd Mega Special 1988)
  • "Joe Dredd's Blues" (with John Wagner/Alan Grant, in 2000 AD Annual 1989, 1988)
  • "Breakdown on 9th Street" (with John Wagner, in 2000 AD #620-621, 1989)
  • "The Shooting Match" (with John Wagner, in 2000 AD #650, 1989)
  • "Ex-Men" (with Garth Ennis, in 2000 AD #818, 1993)
  • "Scales of Justice" (script and art, in 2000 AD #884-885, 1994)
  • "Casualties Of War" (with John Wagner, in 2000 AD #900, 1994)
  • "Caught Short " (with John Wagner, in 2000 AD #953, 1995)
  • "My Son the Hero" (with John Wagner, in 2000 AD #955, 1995)
  • "Generation Killer" (with John Wagner, in 2000 AD #1212, 2000)
  • "Citizen Sump" (with John Wagner, in Judge Dredd Megazine #4.12-4.12, 2002)
  • "Monkey on My Back" (with Garth Ennis, in Judge Dredd Megazine #204-206, 2003)
  • "Fat Christmas" (with John Wagner, in Judge Dredd Megazine #227, 2005)
  • "What's Another Year?" (with Al Ewing, in Judge Dredd Megazine #292, 2009)
  • "Tour of Duty: The Talented Mayor Ambrose" (with John Wagner, in 2000 AD #1674-1678, 1684-1685, March-May 2010)
  • "Idle Hands" (with Al Ewing, in Judge Dredd Megazine #303, November 2010)
  • "Served Cold" (with Al Ewing, in 2000 AD #1718-1725, January-March 2011)
  • "Unchained" (with Michael Carroll, in Judge Dredd Megazine #316-317, November-December 2011)

• Zoids Special #1: "A War Between Blue and Red Zoids on Planet Zoidstar" (inks, with writer Steve Parkhouse and pencils by Johnny Aldrich, Marvel UK, 1986)
• Watchmen (colours, with Alan Moore and art by Dave Gibbons, DC Comics, 1986)

• Freaks:
  • "Freaks" (with Peter Milligan, in 2000 AD #542-547, 1987)
  • "Faces" (art and co-authored with Mindy Newell, in 2000 AD #1412-1419, 2004)

• Batman: The Killing Joke (colours, with Alan Moore, and art by Brian Bolland, DC Comics, 1988)
• Doctor Who: "Follow that TARDIS!" (with John Carnell, Doctor Who Magazine #147, 1989)

• Death's Head (with Simon Furman):
  • "Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling!" (Death's Head #5, Marvel UK, 1989)
  • "Clobberin' Time!" (pencils, with inks by Geoff Senior, Death's Head #5, Marvel UK, 1989)
  • "Keepsake" (The Incomplete Death's Head #4-5, 1993)

• World Without End (with Jamie Delano, 6-issue mini-series, DC, 1990)

• The Thing from Another World (with Chuck Pfarrer, 2-issue mini-series, 1991–1992, Dark Horse Comics, collected in Thing from Another World and Climate of Fear, 1993, ISBN 1-87857-485-X)

• The Spider (with Mark Millar and David Hine, in 2000 AD Action Special, 1992)
• Mutatis (with Dan Abnett/Andy Lanning, 3-issue mini-series, Epic, 1992)
• Scarlet Witch (with Dan Abnett/Andy Lanning, 4-issue mini-series, Marvel Comics, 1994)
• Batman: "Storm" (with Andrew Donkin and Graham Brand, Legends of the Dark Knight #58, DC Comics, 1994)
• What If...? #65: "What if Archangel fell from grace?" (pencils, with Simon Furman and inks by Martin Griffiths, Marvel Comics, 1994)
• Blood Syndicate #24: "Things Fall Apart" (pencils, with Ivan Velez Jr. and inks by Bobby Rae, Milestone Media, 1995)
• Chopper: "Supersurf 13" (with Alan McKenzie, 2000 AD #964-971, 1995)
• Vector 13: "Case Two: Trinity" (with Simon Furman, in 2000 AD #989, 1996)

• Hellblazer #129-139:
  • Son of Man (with Garth Ennis, Vertigo, 1998–1999, tpb collects #129-133, 2004, Titan Books, ISBN 1840238305, DC Comics, ISBN 1-4012-0202-0)
  • Haunted (with Warren Ellis, Vertigo, 1999, tpb collects #134-139, Titan Books, ISBN 1840233621, DC Comics, ISBN 1-56389-813-6)

• Razorjack (script and art, 2-issue mini-series, Com.x, 2001, tpb, 100 pages, March 2009, ISBN 1607438178)
• Pride & Joy (with Garth Ennis, 4-issue limited series, Vertigo, tpb, 2003 ISBN 1-4012-0190-3)
• War Story: "D-Day Dodgers" (with Garth Ennis, one-shot, Vertigo, 2001, collected in tpb War Stories: Volume 1, 2004, ISBN 1-84023-912-3)
• Identity Disc (pencils, with Robert Rodi and inks by Sandu Florea, 5-issue mini-series, Marvel Comics, 2004, tpb, ISBN 0-7851-1567-6)
• Thunderbolt Jaxon (with Dave Gibbons, 5-issue mini-series, 2006, Wildstorm, tpb, 2007, ISBN 1401212573)

• Meet Darren Dead (with Rob Williams):
  • "Meet Darren Dead" (in Judge Dredd Megazine #240, 2006)
  • "Eats, Shoots & Kills" (in Judge Dredd Megazine #287-289, 2009)

• The Hills Have Eyes: The Beginning (with Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray, Fox Atomic Comics, 2007, ISBN 97800061243547)

• Greysuit (with Pat Mills):
  • "Project Monarch" (in 2000 AD #1540-1549, 2007)
  • "The Old Man of the Mountains" (in 2000 AD Prog 2009 and #1617-1624, 2008–2009)

• Jonah Hex #28 (with Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray, DC Comics, February 6, 2008)

References

• John Higgins at the Grand Comics Database
• John Higgins at the Comic Book DB
• John Higgins at Barney
• "Interrogation: Anatomy of an Artist" (interview with Michael Molcher, in Judge Dredd Megazine #281, 2009)

External links

• Official website
• John Higgins Interview, 2000ADReview, April 19, 2003