Art For Art’s Sake # 356: The Magnificent UK Work Of Mick Austin

Oh, the wonders of comics art, so incredible, spanning the generations, and here at Art For Art’s Sake we celebrate it all…

Matt Wagner homages Brian Bolland‘s Camelot 3000 #1 cover for a commission:

Modesty Blaise by Jim Holdaway

Paul Smith – Doctor Strange, from the August published Artist’s Edition from Act 4.

Corto Maltese and the Dragon Lady by Félix Meynet

John McCrea

Seth — Marvel Silver Age villains — for the 2013 Doug Wright Awards Fundraising Art Auction.

Daniel Warren Johnson

Valkyrie paper doll by Trina Robbins

Paul Roman Martinez – Celebrating Bill Finger, without whom Batman would just be an idea in Bob Kane‘s head.

Staz Johnson — Michael T Gilbert‘s Mr Monster

Alan Davis – Mastermind entry for the Marvel Fact Files #149 (2016)

Kevin Nowlan

Kev Crossley posted this:

‘One of the more demanding commissions I had during the Covid Times… Issue 9 of Warrior magazine.. a publication I’d never even heard of before I was asked to do this! The original artist (Mick Austin) painted his version so recreating that in black and white ink was … a challenge! I opted to use my own digitally constructed dot matrix as base texture for the graphics and space background, but apart from that, (and a bit of printed guide for the lettering, a font for which I also digitally created, trying to remain faithful to the original magazine’s…) … everything here is hand inked. Phew. If I’d known at the start how long this would take to do I would HAVE to have charged double the fee…. but then it never would have been commissioned.. so… here we are! (I do rather love it, so everyone was happy!)’

Well, aside from someone not knowing anything about Warrior, one of the seminal UK comics of the ’80s that introduced us to Marvelman, V For Vendetta, Axel Pressbutton, The Bojeffries Saga, and so much more, this is a great commission…

All of which made me do one of those deep dives into the work of Mick Austin…

Starting off at Marvel UK in 1981, Austin worked for Marvel UK, Warrior, 2000 AD, and Doctor Who. After this, it was off to other fields, working as a features artist at The Sunday Times, a few men’s magazines (as they were called), and then off to the world of fine art.

And here’s that cover to Warrior #9 (1983)

Warrior # 7 (1982)

 

Warrior # 15 – Laser Eraser and Pressbutton

Warrior #16

Warrior #21

Marvelman Special

The Vision — The Incredible Hulk #24 (UK — 1982)

Spider-Man Comic Weekly (UK) #510

Spider-Man (UK) #544

2000 AD Prog 618 (1989)

And Austin’s art on Judge Anderson, ‘Leviathan’s Farewel;l, one of the most beautiful and affecting pieces, written by Alan Grant. If you want to read more, here’s my take on that.