Dave Gibbons
| Dave Gibbons | |
| Biographical information | |
| Born: | April 14, 1949 |
|---|---|
| Died: | N/A |
| Nationality: |  British
|
| Occupation: | Artist and Cover artist |
| Website: | N/A |
Dave Gibbons (born April 14, 1949) is a British writer and artist of comics.
Biography
IPC Comics
Gibbons broke into British comics by working on horror and action titles for both DC Thomson and IPC. When 2000 AD was set up, Gibbons was brought in as an Art Director. He also drew one of the original strips in Prog1, "Harlem Heroes", as well as the occasional "Future Shock". After the first year he began illustrating "Dan Dare", a cherished project for Gibbons who had been a fan of the original series.
He was also known, by sight but not by name, to readers of the short lived IPC title Tornado. Much as 2000 AD was “edited” by the alien Tharg, Tornado was “edited” by a superhero, Big E, who also worked on the magazine in his alter-ego, Percy Pilbeam. These characters appeared in photos within the comic, and both Big E and Pilbeam were portrayed by Gibbons for the entire 22 issue run of Tornado before it was subsumed into 2000 AD.
Doctor Who
After leaving 2000AD, Gibbons became the lead artist on Doctor Who Weekly/Monthly, drawing the main comic strip for most of the issues from #1 until #69.
The 'Doctor Who Storybook 2007' (released Christmas 2006) features a story called 'Untitled' which includes the name Gibbons in a list of great artists of Earth history.
DC Comics: the 1980s
Gibbons was one of the British comic talents identified by Len Wein in 1982 and was hired to draw Green Lantern for DC.
He is best known in the US for collaborating with Alan Moore on the 12-issue limited series Watchmen, now one of the best-selling graphic novels of all time. Gibbon’s work in Watchmen is notable for its regular grid of nine panels on a page as well as its intense narrative and symbolic density (some symbolic background elements were suggested by Moore, others were created by Gibbons).
Recent work
Gibbons’ most recent complete work (2005) is a black and white graphic novel, The Originals, which he scripted as well as drew. Published by Vertigo, the work is set in the near future, but draws heavily on the imagery of the Mods and Rockers of the 1960s.
His recent projects include the DC Comics six-issue limited series The Rann/Thanagar War (which ties into the recently released seven-issue Infinite Crisis limited series) and Green Lantern Corps: Recharge. Gibbons also provides the cover artwork for Albion, the Wildstorm six-issue limited series plotted by Alan Moore and written by his daughter Leah and her husband John Reppion. Gibbons also wrote an Albion spin-off Thunderbolt Jaxon, with art by John Higgins.
More recently Gibbons is doing covers for Kurt Busiek and Fabian Nicieza's run on Action Comics issues #841-843. He's also writing Green Lantern Corps, which is currently a part of the Sinestro Corps storyarc, inspired by a Green Lantern story written by Alan Moore in the 1980s.
The Phantom
Gibbons' work on The Phantom is limited to inking the covers of DC Comics' Phantom mini-series, pencilled by Joe Orlando.
Early in his career, Gibbons worked with Phantom writers Norman Worker and Donne Avenell on the comic "Powerman" which was produced for a Nigerian comic book. He also drew "The Saint" for Semic Press in the 1970's, but never worked on their production of Phantom stories.
In 2009, Gibbons was guest speaker at the Lee Falk Memorial Bengali Explorers Club's 21st dinner, which coincided with Supanova, aswell as the ChronicleChamber.com Meet Up 2009. For this occasion, Gibbons had produced three exclusive drawings of The Phantom with characters from Watchmen (Rorschach, The Comedian and the original Night Owl), which were auctioned off to raise money for charity.
Non-comics
Works other than comics include providing the background art for the 1994 computer game Beneath a Steel Sky, aswell as several covers for music albums.
Phantom work by Dave Gibbons
Covers
Awards
Gibbons has won several awards:[1]
- The 1987 Jack Kirby Award for Best Finite Series (Complete in 1986) for Watchmen with Alan Moore
- The 1987 Jack Kirby Award for New Series for Watchmen with Alan Moore
- The 1987 Jack Kirby Award for Best Writer/Artist (Single or Team) for Watchmen with Alan Moore
He has also received nominations for other awards:
- The 1986 Jack Kirby Best Single Issue nomination for Superman Annual #11 (1985) with Alan Moore
- The 1987 Jack Kirby Best Single Issue nomination for Watchmen #1 with Alan Moore; another nomination for Watchmen #2 with Alan Moore.
References
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