BOLLAND, Brian (John)

(1951-)

   UK COMIC-book artist highly regarded for his smooth line and meticulous, sculptural drawing style. His first strip work appeared in the underground magazine Oz in 1971. In 1975-7 he drew Powerman, a Black SUPERHERO, for the Nigerian market, his episodes alternating with those by Dave GIBBONS, and then he began producing covers for 2,000 AD. His most lasting contribution to date has been his development of JUDGE DREDD: BB's first Judge Dredd strip appeared in 2,000 AD \#41 (26 Nov 1977), and in all he drew 40, the last appearing in \#244 (26 Dec 1981); he also provided a run of 40 covers for Eagle Comics's 2,000 AD and Judge Dredd reprints 1983-6.He began to produce cover artwork for DC COMICS with Green Lantern \#127 (Apr 1980). For DC he also drew a number of short sf strips as well as a 12-issue series, Camelot 3,000, Dec 1982-Apr 1985. He produced Batman - The Killing Joke (graph 1988), a very successful 48pp quality comic book written by Alan MOORE. Since then he has concentrated on artwork for covers, including 48 (to early 1992) for Animal Man and those for the Titan Books editions of the WILD CARDS graphic novels in 1991.He has also written and drawn 48 12-panel strips featuring Mr Mamoulian, a mournful middle-aged man with a hangdog expression who seems to be permanently seated on a park bench. These have been published in the UK in Escape as well as in Spain (Cimoc), Sweden (Pox) and the USA (Cheval Noir). Of his other strip, The Actress and the Bishop, written in rhyme, only two sections have appeared (in A1).

   RT

   See also: ILLUSTRATION.