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The Art of Bryan Talbot
Works by the great artist of Luther Arkwright, The Tale of One Bad Rat and, most recently, Alice in Sunderland. From illustrations, covers to comics, Talbot presents his best.
- GenresArtComicsGraphic Novels
96 pages, Paperback
First published December 1, 2007
36 people want to read
About the author
Bryan Talbot
287 books187 followersTalbot 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, 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.
Talbot has illustrated cards for the Magic: The Gathering collectible card game.
He has also illustrated Bill Willingham's Fables, 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,written under the pseudonym Véronique Tanaka. He admitted that he was the author in 2009.
In 2007 he released Alice in Sunderland, which documents the connections between Lewis Carroll, Alice Liddell, and the Sunderland and Wearside area. He also wrote and drew the layouts for Cherubs!, which he describes as "an irreverent fast-paced supernatural comedy-adventure."
His upcoming work includes a sequel to 2009's 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". It is planned as the first in a series of four or five graphic novels.
Source: Wikipedia
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, 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.
Talbot has illustrated cards for the Magic: The Gathering collectible card game.
He has also illustrated Bill Willingham's Fables, 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,written under the pseudonym Véronique Tanaka. He admitted that he was the author in 2009.
In 2007 he released Alice in Sunderland, which documents the connections between Lewis Carroll, Alice Liddell, and the Sunderland and Wearside area. He also wrote and drew the layouts for Cherubs!, which he describes as "an irreverent fast-paced supernatural comedy-adventure."
His upcoming work includes a sequel to 2009's 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". It is planned as the first in a series of four or five graphic novels.
Source: Wikipedia
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
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January 23, 2024A slim volume which would undoubtedly have felt closer to essential if it had the space and/or rights to include more than glimpses of the early, hard to find strips on which Talbot collaborated with the likes of Moore and Gaiman - set against which, elsewhere are pages devoted to reproducing the likes of Luther Arkwright, which any fan will surely have already. But such are the perils of attempting a comprehensive survey, and sometimes, especially with One Bad Rat, the making-of commentary justifies the inclusion, besides which, everything bar the outright juvenilia is of course extremely pretty (including some of what Talbot would bracket under that heading - there's an early picture of a castle that plenty of adult professional artists still couldn't match). And there are plenty of obscurities and ephemera here too; I had no idea that Talbot spent a while known for images of Adam Ant, who crops up a few times, most impressively as a space pirate. Plus, some impressively nightmarish sketches for an understandably rejected story where Bart and Homer Simpson manifest in a more realistically drawn world.
August 6, 2019
Bryan Talbot is a great comic artist. A "comic artist's artist". Technical and master craftsman like Matt Wagner, Steve Dillon, etc.
This book doesn't highlight his ability to tell a narrative in my opinion, however. Rather it's a lot of standalone pieces which don't entirely show of his skill and power.
This book doesn't highlight his ability to tell a narrative in my opinion, however. Rather it's a lot of standalone pieces which don't entirely show of his skill and power.
August 5, 2022
Recommended.
November 27, 2009
Bryan Talbot is certainly an accomplished artist, having begun his career in the early 70s as part of the UK underground comix scene and having risen to work on such titles as 2000AD, Hellblazer, Batman, and Sandman, so the respect he gets is well deserved. It is also clear, especially after flipping through this book, that Talbot has greatly refined his art over the last three decades and that he's capable of drawing or painting some very complex, detailed scenes while retaining cohesiveness.
However, I'm not a big fan of the guy's output. His style is rooted in the psychedelic fantasy and SF of underground comix from years past, stuff that I've always felt was unfortunately cheesy. The only art of his that I really enjoy is in his book The Tale of One Bad Rat, and that is likely because he worked from photo references for both characters and scenery. This survey of his artwork cemented that fact in my mind - his stuff just isn't for me.
However, I'm not a big fan of the guy's output. His style is rooted in the psychedelic fantasy and SF of underground comix from years past, stuff that I've always felt was unfortunately cheesy. The only art of his that I really enjoy is in his book The Tale of One Bad Rat, and that is likely because he worked from photo references for both characters and scenery. This survey of his artwork cemented that fact in my mind - his stuff just isn't for me.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews