Art For Art’s Sake # 159 – Elementary, It’s John Watkiss…

by Richard Bruton

Art For Art’s Sake – all that is good and beautiful in the world of comics art for you. And this week, we’ll have an extended look at the magnificent art of John Watkiss.

But let’s begin with this from Lucy Knisley – ‘Guess Who, Mom Edition’

Alison Sampson – art from The Department of Truth #16:

“Well, DOT #16 is out today. I hope you like it – warnings for nudity, smoking, sex, and some truly exceptional coloring from Jordie Bellaire. It’s also my “Fuck Cancer” special. Enjoy.'”

Marguerite Sauvage – Black Cat

Steven Austin – Dredd, Chopper, and Anderson doing her thing

Shaky Kane – The girl with the tank

Jonathan Edwards – The Clash

Doctor Strange – Frank Brunner commission

Batman – Steve McNiven

A classic from Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez

John Tyler Christopher – stunning promo for Empyre

Enrico Marino –

Steve Rude – Peter Parker, MJ, Gwen…

Harvey Kurtzman – Frontline Combat #4

Chris Bachelo – Hellboy

Alan Weiss – Howard the Duck

Tim Sale – Jessica Jones

Joshua Middleton – Batgirl

And we shall end this time with John Watkiss (28 July 1961 – 20 January 2017), a sublime Brit artist whose comics work, although never plentiful, was always the most exquisite thing.

I think I first noticed his work and fell in love with it with Ring Of Roses, written by Das Petrou, a 4-issue series published by Dark Horse in 1992, then republished by Titan in 2015. An alternate reality with a Catholic Church in control, diminishing the realm of science and keeping the modern-day world at the level of post-WWII technology. It’s a magnificent murder mystery, social treatise and strange sci-fi all in one go, and full of Watkiss’ stunning artwork, all those ink-black, super thick lines dominating every single page.

Watkiss was a prolific storyboard artist and designer for movies and TV, working with Derek Jarman, Ridley Scott Associates, Francis Ford Coppola, Dreamworks, Twentieth Century Fox and Disney on the likes of Sherlock Holmes, Sky Captain and The World of Tomorrow and concept art for The Walking Dead.

It was in the mid-’80s when Watkiss switched from fine art and ad work to comics – and work for ACME Press, including the comics Kiss of Death and The Last Kiss.

This from Bambos Georgiou –

“In 1987 at ACME Press somehow we hooked up with John Watkiss who was starting to make a name for himself and just about to get married. He had produced something with Das Petrou (maybe Ring Of Roses) which was being shopped around, but also had a whole bunch of self contained horror stories that he’d drawn. These were in a kind of Warren black & white style, and I remember I was reluctant to publish because we couldn’t pay anything except a royalty from the meager profits we were making at the time. We added dialogue to the already drawn strips and published two issues of KISS OF DEATH. I provided dialogue for MIXED GRILL in issue 2, this was John’s favourite meal whenever we met for breakfast in a greasy spoon.

‘The last time I saw John to speak to was in his studio in London when he’d been commissioned to paint The Bible. He was an incredible ball of energy who was always fun to be around and had a very definite opinion about art and was always very, very funny.”

Success led to work for US comics, including his US debut on Gaiman’s Sandman #39 (1992) and Ring of Roses, with Das Petrou. After this came Conan The Barbarian for Marvel Comics, 4-issues of James Bond for Dark Horse, four issues of Vertigo’s Sandman Mystery Theatre, plus a 3-part Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight. Time away from comics with film storyboarding and concept art followed, although he made a slight return to comics for a 13-part Deadman, followed by the 8-part series, Trigger.