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The Naked Artist...And Other Comic Book Legends
The book you've all been waiting for! Comic Book Legends is an outrageous collection of the unreported exploits of comic creators, the stories only usually told late at night between the hallowed walls of convention pro bars! Eisner Award winner Bryan Talbot brings you the anecdotes, funny, shocking and downright weird, told about your favorite comic writers and artists, from Simon Bisley to Neil Gaiman, from Grant Morrison to Jeff Smith!
128 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2007
3 people are currently reading
30 people want to read
About the author
Bryan Talbot
286 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 - 5 of 5 reviews
March 16, 2023
this is an entertaining read as one of Britain's greatest comic artists tells tales out of school concerning his friends and acquaintances in the UK and US comic industries, with tales of drunken debauchery concerning some of the main figures in the industry. Nothing too salty though, and no one gets hurt.
December 26, 2012
We got this as a Christmas gift from some fellow geek friends, and it was clearly pointed in my direction. Talbot offers an entertaining, light-hearted collection of anecdotes, mostly from throughout the 90s. That's fine, because that means these are the guys who came up while I was thoroughly immersed in comicdom, and a few of them are folk whose work I've followed since. Emerson's caricaturish illustrations strike the perfect tone for Talbot's down-the-bar recountings.
Not a great book, but a fun one, and pretty required reading for those who (like me) fell in love with comics in the late 80s/early 90s.
Not a great book, but a fun one, and pretty required reading for those who (like me) fell in love with comics in the late 80s/early 90s.
July 14, 2014
My daughter, knowing what a comic book history fan I am, gave me this book yesterday for my birthday and once I started reading it, I couldn't put it down!
Lots of fun, behind the scenes stories in here about comic book writers, artists, publishers and editors. Many, if not most, of them are British or European talents so there were some I was not familiar with, but these stories made a nice introduction to those I did not previously know.
This had been on my Amazon Wish List for a long time, so I'm doubly grateful to my daughter for choosing this for my gift. Thanks Princess!
Lots of fun, behind the scenes stories in here about comic book writers, artists, publishers and editors. Many, if not most, of them are British or European talents so there were some I was not familiar with, but these stories made a nice introduction to those I did not previously know.
This had been on my Amazon Wish List for a long time, so I'm doubly grateful to my daughter for choosing this for my gift. Thanks Princess!
March 12, 2014
I'm currently reading this, but don't give it a full five stars as the stories I have read so far aren't as juicy as the ones I've heard.
March 26, 2016
This was a fun look at the anecdotes where comic creators come across insane situations. It was set up in a very casual manner, like a comic pro telling stories at a bar.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews