Judge Dredd Megazine #292
John has produced the lead story and the cover for this month's Judge Dredd Megazine (issue #292, dated 05 Jan 2010).

The Dredd story - "What's Another Year?" - is a cracker of a tale written by the always-impressive Al Ewing (who also wrote Tempest in the same issue), with pencils and inks by John, and colours by John and S.J. Hurst.

The issue also features two other strips (Tank Girl and Judge Dredd: The Lost Cases), interviews with Neil Gaiman and John Ridgeway, a feature on Frank Miller's Daredevil, and round-ups of new comics and new movies... Plus a free two-sided Judge Dredd poster and a free comic containing the first half of Dave Gibbons' and Will Simpson's classic Rogue Trooper: War Machine! All this for only £4.99! Go on - treat yourself!

Razorjack's live debut at BICS went better than I could have imagined, the finished head (which we picked up from the sculptor Nigel Booth on the way to Birmingham for our first public presentation) was mind-blowing.

Here was Razorjack in all her rictus grinning glory, her dead-looking, white-fleshed head exuding a sense of menace and evil that was palpable.

Nigel had brought this "thing" alive! Now I like to think of us as the Young Frankenstein brothers: He bought my baby to life! As that great scientist Dr Frederick von Frankenstein (pronounced "Fronkensteen"), once said, "Alive! It's alive! It's alive!"

We had help from other midwives for our monstrous birth, part of Nigel's team: Jonathan Saville (costume builder and prop construction), Helly McGrowther (costume and fabrication) and Kelly Fox - hair specialist.

Lisa was our young and beautiful actress who performed Razorjack, walking in a "slinky and sensuous way" and got many admiring glances, with compliments such as the above, or, "impressive legs", or "oh my god, cover that child's eyes, he'll have nightmares" - the best comments I could have wished for. Her bodyguard Rob dressed as Mr Kahn. And got comments such as "he's tall". A superb job well done.

The Com.x presence was handled perfectly by Sally, a great turnout at our booth, seeing new faces and regulars coming up to say hi. The collected Razorjack graphic novel is still selling like hot cakes, and we are getting positive feedback from everyone who has read it. It was a great show well run, with a real buzz and sense of energy in comics and British comics in particular, with a lot of small press with quality books to show and sell. We talked to the guys from Accent UK and Insomnia Publications, and saw some really impressive portfolios. Small press seems to be alive and well. Check out all their stuff.

Following Saturday's announcement of The Razorjack Project - see Postcards from Alternity - we're excited to announce another new aspect to the approaching Razorjack line: author Michael Carroll will be penning an original Razorjack novel! Carroll is the award-winning author of sixteen published books, including the New Heroes series of Young Adult superhero novels (known as the Quantum Prophecy series in the USA), dozens of short stories, and has had numerous comic strips published in the likes of 2000 AD, Zarjaz, FutureQuake and Solar Wind.

RAZORJACK - Blood Red Sky: our exclusive preview track, "Steam Bitch" by Kevin Jones, is now available as an MP3 file for those users having problems with the .m4a format.
And to make it even easier: we now also have a MySpace page for the Razorjack soundtrack!

Judge Dredd Megazine #287
Meet Darren Dead returns - finally! - in the latest issue of Judge Dredd Megazine with the first part of "Eats, Shoots & Kills", written by Rob Williams and drawn by John, with colours by John and SJ Hurst.

The character first appeared in an introductory tale Judge Dredd Megazine #240 (dated January 2006), but hasn't been seen since - until now!

The issue also contains an article on Com.x which features a nice mention of Razorjack.

World Tour - Additional Australian Date!
John will be giving a talk for art students at the Art College at Queensland University in Brisbane on the Monday August 10th. John describes it as a "talk about the perils of self-publishing and how being a comic artist is the best job in the world."

The up-to-date list of forthcoming events:

More dates to be announced soon!

In other news:
Razorjack continues to make a big impression on the good folks in media-land... Interview / article in Times On-Line. Many thanks to author Michael Scott for the link!

And thanks to John himself, here's a better look at the screenprint and one of the finished paintings for the Foruli Deluxe Box-Set edition of Razorjack...

Razorjack Special Editions
Razorjack fans... Hold onto something secure because this is going to blow you away...!

Standard Edition

A hand-bound 96-page book in a hand-made slipcase, accompanied by a hand-pulled 8-colour screenprint. Each book & print is signed by John Higgins.

• Publication date: 30th June 2009
• ISBN-13: 978-1905792047
• Dimensions: 265 (h) x 175 (w) x 10 (d) mm
• Price £150
• Limited to 45 copies

Deluxe Edition

A hand-bound 96-page book in a hand-made solander case, accompanied by an original painting by John Higgins & a hand-pulled 8-colour screenprint with 24-carat gold leaf. Each book, painting & print signed by John Higgins.

• Publication date: 30th June 2009
• Dimensions: 285 (h) x 190 (w) x 25 (d) mm
• Price £250
• Limited to 15 copies!

The books can be ordered from most good bookstores, or on-line: the Standard Edition is available from Amazon.co.uk but the Deluxe Edition is only available from Foruli Publications.

World Tour Continues: USA, New Zealand, Australia!
John's world signing tour - which started in Orbital Comics in London early 2009 and then took in the Bristol Comic Con - is now heading overseas!

First stop is San Diego Comic Con, July 24th to 28th. John will be signing at the Splash Page Comic Art booth, row 4400.

On Saturday August 1st, John will be signing at Heroes For Sale, 277 Karangahape Rd, Auckland, New Zealand, from 10:00am.

Then on to Australia the following week, with a signing at Ace Comics & Games, Level 2, 121 Queen Street, Brisbane, on Sunday 9th August starting at 12.00 midday.

John says that he is very much looking forward to seeing all who turn up to say hi - remember to mention to him that you read the news here first!

Judge Dredd Megazine #285
Bagged with this month's issue is Judge Dredd: The John Higgins Collection, featuring four Dredd tales - three of which have never before been reprinted!

Orbital Signing
The signing in Orbital Comics on 18th of April was very well attended: John wishes to thank everyone for their patience in what ended up as a long but enjoyable afternoon for him and promises to ensure he sees everyone who attends any signings no matter how long it takes.

Bristol Comic Convention
Early in May, John attended his first Bristol comic convention in far too long and found it had changed - for the better, in his opinion - to a very friendly and enjoyable gathering of like-minded people: "The attendees have an enthusiasm and appreciation of comics that was impressive and they were all - without exception - young, good-looking and clean-shaven individuals; except for the ones with beards." John's signing at Com.X's table for the weekend was very well attended: "To sit with the Com.X crew was a joy, a very professional and friendly company to work with, look out for the com x gang at future gatherings and say hi to them."

Razorjack: Reviews and Interviews
John reports he is getting a little tired of talking about himself...! Since the launch of the collected Razorjack in May he has immersed himself in a round of promotion for this, his most personal project to date, and jokes that he has done "not as many interviews as I would like!" Of course, having kept quiet for most of his career, John has found a lot to talk about. The book has received a number of very favorable reviews, one of which from Craig Taylor in The Guardian has given John a new Tee shirt to wear...

All of the interviews have been personal and individual to each interviewer... John says "the erudite and completely different questions have given me an opportunity to explore different aspects of Razorjack and my career to date. My answers have surprised me at times... Even the Watchmen questions and subsequent answers have been enlightening!" Consider that Watchmen has been talked about and dissected over the last two decades by some of the best commentators in the business, but rarely by John who was actually involved in its creation!

Since 2005, and because of his involvement with the digital "remastering" of the colour for the Absolute Watchmen, John has had a personal and creative interest in Watchmen that he felt had eluded him up till that time, as he says in detail in these and up-coming interviews. So check them out. (If there are any links you think we're missing, please let us know.)

For John 2009 is the Year of Razorjack: there are a number of projects related to the comic that he is excited about and we will keep you informed as they unfold. So "Look to the skies!" (or this website) for more details!

Upcoming...
John's next convention will be San Diego Comic Con in July: come along and say hi, he is looking forward to seeing you there!

Thoughts on Razorjack:
"John Higgins sickens me. He can write, pencil, ink and colour all seemingly effortlessly. Had he just performed neuro-surgery on a young child this morning too, I would not be at all surprised."
-- Mark Millar Writer of The Authority, Wanted, The Ultimates, Civil War, Kick-Ass.

And speaking of Greysuit: only four episodes in and already the strip has featured on two covers of 2000 AD - both drawn by John himself!

John Higgins - with Sally Hurst - has designed logos and character illustrations for a film proposal called DEMENTAMANIA by Anis Shlewet (the name was changed after the designs were completed). It is a twisted and horrific modern-day parable about a worker drone who listens to that dark voice inside...

The long-awaited trailer for Watchmen is now on-line!

Also, the movie's website has been given a huge update, complete with new pics!

On Saturday July 5th John will be in Methven's Bookshop, Worthing, West Sussex.

John will be signing copies of Watchmen, The Hills Have Eyes, Razorjack and one of the multitude of titles he has done in his career. A great opportunity to find hard-to-come-by back issues of his work, Worthing is also hosting the 2008 International Birdman Festival that weekend: a fun family day at the sea - and comics - check it out!

Methven's Bookshop
22-26, South St, Worthing, West Sussex, BN11 3AA
11.00 - 15.00, Saturday 5th of July 2008

Newsarama.com has just posted an interview with John about his upcoming work on DC's Jonah Hex (written by John's Hills Have Eyes collaborators Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti).

John also managed to find time to give me advance notice on some of his upcoming work - more details to follow when the time is right!

The visit to Inverness produced one of those strange, almost unearthly coincidences.... I arrived in Inverness early on Friday afternoon and decided to explore the city. The first shop I entered was a charity shop (such a place is always a good port-of-call for the seasoned book-hunter), where I spotted a Mission Galactica Annual from around 1980.

I was already the proud owner of the Battlestar Galactica Annual that's packed with comic strips drawn by John, but I'd never seen the Mission Galactica Annual before - I didn't even know it existed - so I picked it up "just in case"... Within seconds I was gibbering like an idiot: Like its predecessor, the MG annual is full of illustrations by a certain Mister John B. Higgins!

The relevant data has, of course, now been added to the ever-growing Bibliography. We're at a staggering 378 different entries now, but I'm sure that there are even more great discoveries waiting in the wings!

A note from the webmaster: The Bibliography has just undergone a complete overhaul. Among other features, we've now added something that was sorely missing from the previous version: a Search function!

As always, the bibliography is an on-going project. John's produced an incredible amount of work over the past thirty-two years and as you can imagine there are things even he's forgotten about; if you can help to fill in any of the missing details please get in touch!

Technical note: some of the beta-testers using the Safari web-browser have reported problems with the 'Back' button when using the bibliography. Unfortunately this is an inherent problem with Safari and not the bibliography itself. We're currently trying to find a solution to the problem; as soon as we do, we'll let you know.

Fox Atomic's website has an excellent 13-minute "making of" video featuring interviews with writers Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray, colourist Dennis Calero and, of course, our very own John Higgins...

Update 2007 11 16: For those who are having trouble accessing Fox Atomic's website, the video is also available on MySpaceTV.

We've just added a useful new function to the Bibliography: a list of the other creators with whom John has worked. Selecting a name from the list will display all of projects on which they've collaborated.

Visit the Studio Shop for your chance to own the original artwork for the acclaimed comic-book prequel to the hit movie!

Also available in the Shop:

John is currently working on a Jonah Hex one-off for DC comics, written by Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray, with whom John also worked on the recent The Hills Have Eyes: The Beginning graphic novel. Jon writes: "Jimmy and Justin are a pleasure to work with. The script has the same confident visual breakdown as The Hills, on which I really enjoy working, and dialogue that echoes the 'otherwordly-ness' of the HBO award-winning Deadwood series. It gives this classic DC character a maturity that I find exciting and adds a depth to Hex's twisted version of 'Western Justice'." No publication date confirmed yet, but more news when we have it.

On the subject of The Hills Have Eyes: The Beginning: John talks about the book on the UKSF Book News website.

Dan Dare

John has just painted a cover for issue 2 of Virgin Comics' up-coming Dan Dare comic book series, written by Garth Ennis and illustrated by Gary Erskine with regular covers by Garry Leach. "Garth has written a mature Dare being asked once again to save the Earth. Each issue will have an alternative cover. Garth told me, 'Do the painting you've always wanted to do of Dare.' This took me back to my collection of original Eagles to a classic Frank Hampson story called Rogue Planet, from which I plundered the wonderful Hampson designs." Publication date to be confirmed.

John will be attending the 5th Belgrade International Comics Showroom convention from the 25th to 30th of September 2007. Previous guests have included Brian Bolland, Jean-Marc Thevenet (ex-director of Angouleme International Comics Festival), Adrian Smith and Olivier Ledroit (both of whom have worked with Pat Mills for French publishers). This year, the guests will be Igor Kordej (Kordey) and John Higgins.

John hopes to meet many new friends and to discover the state of comics in this part of Europe that has been more or less closed to the rest of Europe for the last part of the Twentieth century.

For more information, see the convention's website.

The Studio Shop is currently off-line, pending some updates and additions! Please check back soon - we promise it'll be worth your while!

"A Delta-class assassin, John Blake is a governmental agent - a Greysuit - conditioned by his masters to have augmented speed and strength. But could a glitch in his programming make him remember who he was?
"Not a slave. Not a living weapon. Not government property. A human being..."

Over on the Features page you'll find links to an interview with John about his days as an illustrator for gamebooks, and an article about Watchmen that John wrote for an Italian tribute book.

If you're a fan of the cult horror movie The Hills Have Eyes, then check the Gallery to see some samples of John's artwork for the upcoming graphic novel, The Hills Have Eyes: The Beginning, written by Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray.

We have a limited number of very rare Watchmen Portfolios, signed by Alan Moore, Dave Gibbons and John Higgins.

Also available are the three issues of John's Razorjack series, complete with concept drawings, comments and articles.

More items will be available soon, including original artwork! Keep watching...

Greysuit: starting in April 2007 in 2000 AD, Greysuit is a new strip written by Pat Mills and drawn by John Higgins. Interviewed on the always-informative 2000AD Review website, Mills says, "A Greysuit is the authentic name used to describe a British 'Man in Black'. Very moody and sinister." Later on the same site: "It was and is a joy to work on for John, making a complete change from aliens, mutants and superheroes which he still loves to work on, but a change is as good as a rest, so they say."

The Hills Have Eyes: The Beginning: Inspired by the forthcoming sequel to the remake of the classic movie, this is a graphic novel written by Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray. John writes: "I am up to my eyeballs in The Hills Have Eyes graphic novel for Fox Atomic, I have thankfully always worked hard - as in 'a six-and-a-half relaxed days a week' week - but on this it is a serious seven days a week with no relaxation, no nights on the beer."

Meet Darren Dead: John is hoping to get back to the story of Darren Dead (the opening episode of which was printed in Judge Dredd Megazine #240 (January 2006). The series was due to be published in 2006 but writer Rob Williams was, according to 2000 AD Review, "distracted by becoming a father". Congratulations to Rob from all here at JBH Towers, and here's hoping you get a chance to put fingers to keyboard in the near future!

More information on these and other works coming soon... And for those who have been waiting: this site's Studio Shop will be up-and-running in a matter of days!

The comic is "from the worlds of Albion" and revives (or, rather, updates) the old, long-forgotten British superhero who first appeared 1949. The comic also features an article on the original version of the character by Mr. Gibbons.

John, being the "hard-bitten cynical pro" that he is, says he is not that easily impressed any more but "the script Dave has written for Thunderbolt Jaxon for Wildstorm has given me the opportunity to draw scenes and situations I have been wanting to draw since the first day I got into the comic business. All the elements that appear within this story bring together many of my enthusiasms and interests, the Early Northern European cultures and Mythology which Dave has intertwined within a modern British setting gives a depth and background in an imaginative and original way that I find inspiring."

With this series and Meet Darren Dead (see below), John feels he is doing some of the best work of his career and is into one of his most enjoyable and creative periods that has reignited his enthusiasm for comic illustration and considering he is "such a hard-bitten cynical old pro" that is saying something!

THUNDERBOLT JAXON

Written by Dave Gibbons; Art by John Higgins; Cover by Gibbons

Jack, Billy and Saf are three ordinary, adventurous kids who make a startling discovery: a mystical Norse relic from the fourth century. All is well as they take their newly found treasure home, ever so pleased with themselves, with not a clue as to the remarkable events they will soon ignite - including the rebirth of legendary British hero Thunderbolt Jaxon!

Wildstorm Universe, 32 pages, Color, $2.99 US

On Sale February 1, 2006

John writes: "I've wanted to work with Rob for quite a while. We've been talking over ideas ranging from American westerns to Alien Superheroes, and with Rob's strange and twisted mind-set the ideas have always been 'interesting'... But with this character I think Rob has surpassed 'interesting', and it's one I hope that has some of the best attributes readers have come to expect from the alien and wonderful 2000 AD universe."

John, being the "hard-bitten cynical pro" that he is, is not that easily impressed any more. He adds: "for me as an artist to look forward to starting work at the drawing board every day shows how strong a script Rob has written.

"Rob also has written one of the best punch-lines I have ever had the privilege to be the artist for, which I obviously cannot tell you much more about except to say the character had to wait over fifty years to express it".

Here's Rob's first description of the title character:

... chubbiness is gone, he's skin and bones, and his skin is thin and hanging off him, making him look kind of ghoulish although he essentially still looks human. As a star he's going to play off his dark, mysterious image so i reckon dark lennon sunglasses (he doesn't want to scare people by showing them his eyes), a hat to hide his now whispy hair and maybe a long dark coat that's virtually a cloak. He's going to want to look mysterious, rather than overt, and the less skin he shows the more he can hide his deadness from the general public - after all, he's a celebrity, and he's the grumpiest fucker in the world. you would be too if you were dead but still alive.

I have just finished the last page of Watchmen colouring on Thursday.

DC production have allowed me so much input all the way down the line; I went in for two days to do a final check on all the colour before it went to the printers, I then went in Thursday and signed off on each page from the printers' proofs and caught a couple of things even at this late stage.

No other comic production - as far as I know - has ever had such a (colour) artist's input so close to press.

The great thing has been for me to see it all collated in sequence; before it went off to the printers I caught so many things and was changing stuff (albeit minor stuff) just because they gave me such access.

One thing amongst many that I feel we improved on is the News agent's street corner, just because I finally had an over view of the whole story and art which I never had the first time around.

Watchmen, probably the most famous graphic novel of all (and an inspiration to a whole generation of comics artists and writers), is currently undergoing a transformation prior to its rerelease this coming autumn (or "fall", if you're American).

Written by Alan Moore, drawn by Dave Gibbons and coloured by John Higgins, Watchmen was first released as a twelve-part "maxi-series" starting in September 1986. A paperback collecting all twelve issues was released around a year later, as the series came to an end. To this day, the Watchmen graphic novel remains one of DC's best-selling titles.

A special edition of the graphic novel - containing an extra 48 pages - was released by Graphitti, and it's this on which the Absolute Edition will be based. The package is being designed by original artist Dave Gibbons, and will be completely re-coloured by John Higgins.

John tells me:

Digital re-colouring: I am keeping it within the template I had set up for the colouring all those years ago, as there is only one Watchmen colour methodology in my mind, which is what I have tried to stick to.

Just because the computer technology now gives a million more choices, the integrity of colour story-telling has not changed. Its purpose is to support the multi-layered story-telling that Alan had written and Dave had illustrated with his supreme visual depiction of the world of Watchmen.

My job was/is to give graphic emotional colour to the story, and to enhance scene change and movement, to clarify detail. This last point, I think, is the most important part of my job, as the complexity and the detail is so impressive.The texture and depth Dave achieved in Black and White line is monumental.

"Everything is looking really good, crisper and more vibrant than ever and it's great to be working with John again."

The cover is by John and Len O'Grady, and the comic's editorial focusses heavily on the new series, describing it thus:

...the big news this week is the zarjaz return of a story last seen way back in 1987. Freaks, written by Peter Milligan and illustrated by John Higgins, was a short six-part series that ran in Progs 542-547 and dealt with the fear and prejudice you Earthlets exhibit towards anyone that looks different from yourselves. Its protagonist, the narcissistic Muswell Hill-dwelling Carl Woolf, cared only for his image and reputation - so when he was snatched by aliens from the plabnet Kakkak in a bid to learn more about mankind, he suddenly became the repulsive outsider. Framed for murder by the warmongering General Stunal, he escaped from captivity, with the aid of the beautiful - by Kakkakian standards - Kilquo, and in the process discovered that humans and Kakkaks are all part of the same cosmic family. Carl's experience on Kakkak unleashed a latent telekinetic ability that had been smothered by living on Earth, and as the pair fled back to Eighties London, Kilquo wondered what powers she would develop away from her homeworld...

Now, seventeen years later, we are about to find out as John Higgins and Mindy Newell take up the story. A celebrated actress, Kilquo can morph her physical shape, allowing her to blend in with the other humans - but she is being watched by authorities interested in what her talents could benefit them...

In Faces, nothing is what it seems behind the façade...

The official press release:

Identity Disc #1 (of 5)
Written by Robert Rodi. Pencils by John Higgins. Inks by Sandu. Cover by Tony Harris.
When six of Marvel's most violent and cunning villains join forces, the fate of every hero in the world is at stake. Sabretooth, Bullseye, the Juggernaut, Deadpool, Sandman and the Vulture -- are forced to work together by a mysterious agent who somehow knows every dark and dirty secret in their violent lives. Their mission: to retrieve the nearly priceless Identity Disc -- purported to contain the true identities, the home addresses and even the credit reports of every hero in the Marvel Universe. To obtain the disc, hidden deep in the bowels of a practically impenetrable A.I.M. terrorist base, this agent will need an army. Or six super-villains. But how long can these psychopaths work together before the chaos begins?
32 PGS./MARVEL PSR .$2.99
UPC: 5960605581-00111

You can find three pages of this stunning artwork in the Gallery!

Showing full colour artwork from John's career (covers from The Thing from Another World and interior art from the Judge Dredd stories), and Black and White line art from his Marvel, DC and 2000 AD work.

Please come and support art in the community of Bayonne, NJ. And if you do, let John know and you can buy him a pint of Guinness at Kapps bar on Broadway and 27th.

To contact John Higgins (to let him know you're coming!), click here.

He elaborates: "When I have time I must do a blow by blow account of how I went from one commissioning phone call, through character design, story boards and multiple editorial decisions to produce 22 pages of print-ready art within six weeks!

"It should be impossible but we did it!"

John is also doing an event to tie in with the launch of the jeans, in the Levis store Regents Street, London, on 13th, 20th and 27th September: "With my beautiful assistant Jenna (Higgins) I will be painting a 6ft by 24ft mural, to publicise the launch and also to preview the second comic they are planning on doing. I am looking forward to painting characters and stuff from A Bold New Breed issue 2. The mural I haven't planned in detail yet but I suppose it will cover Darkness demons multiplying, radioactive mutants, flesh-eating zombies and chainsaw-wielding Manga horrors! And probably cute furry things too!" Click here for some images from a similar event that took place in Holland.

Had our second regular creator get-together last night. It was a nice surprise to see Garth Ennis, especially considering he lives in New York now. Plus John Higgins, Dave Gibbons, David Lloyd, Glenn Fabry, Antony Johnston and others.

Saw some of Fabry's artwork from his forthcoming Thor mini. Really beautiful stuff, a return to the glory days of his Slaine linework.

All in all, top night. Especially the bit where Fabry went home wearing Gibbons's jacket. Heh.

Enough name-dropping. Need Nurofen.

We creator types clearly don't get out much, so John Higgins and I decided to re-invigorate the semi-regular creator piss-ups that he initiated something like 15 years ago. It's now a regular, monthly, creators-only free-for-all, and the first sesh kicked off last Thursday. A few people who said they'd try and make it dropped out at the last minute, so I was really worried I'd end up being left sitting in the pub on my own like a nae mates...

Fortunately, the whole thing turned out to be a roaring success! Antony Johnston and myself were the first to arrive, soon followed by Rufus Dayglo, John Higgins and Mike Carey, Simon Furman, Chris Weston, Robbie Morrison and Mark Chapman, plus numerous other folks whose names I never did pick up... or at least retain (damn booze!). Fun was had, bullshit was swapped, beer was drunk, and the world was generally put to rights.

Looks like next month's shindig will be even bigger. Hopefully it'll become a British comics institution. That's the plan, anyway...

Love and Cuddles,
Mike Carroll, a.k.a. The WebMaster!
(written like that because it makes me sound like a superhero!)