Bryan Talbot

Bryan Talbot (born 24 February 1952) is a British comic book artist and writer, best known as the creator of The Adventures of Luther Arkwright and its sequel Heart of Empire. He collaborated with his wife, Mary M. Talbot to produce Dotter of Her Father's Eyes, which won the 2012 Costa biography award.

Early life
Bryan Talbot was born in Wigan, Lancashire on 24 February 1952. He attended Wigan Grammar School, the Wigan School of Art, and Harris College in Preston, Lancashire, from which he graduated with a degree in Graphic Design.

Career
Talbot 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.

Talbot 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 into one volume by Dark Horse Comics. 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 three series of Nemesis the Warlock, as well as occasional strips for Judge Dredd. His 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 Comics, on titles such as Hellblazer, Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight, and Dead Boy Detectives. Talbot collaborated with Neil Gaiman on The Sandman and provided art for the "Fables & Reflections", "A Game of You", and "Worlds' End" story arcs. He drew The Nazz limited series which was written 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 illustrated Bill Willingham's Fables, as well as returning to the Luther Arkwright universe with Heart of Empire.

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. Talbot turned down an offer to appear in character as Tanaka for an in-store signing of the work.

In 2007 he released Alice in Sunderland, which documents the connections between Lewis Carroll, Alice Liddell, and the Sunderland and Wearside area. He 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.

Awards and recognition

 * 1985 Eagle Award for Favourite Character for Torquemada, from Nemesis the Warlock
 * 1988:
 * Eagle Award for Favourite Artist (British)
 * Eagle Award for Favourite New Comic, for The Adventures of Luther Arkwright
 * Eagle Award for Favourite Character (UK), for Luther Arkwright
 * Eagle Award for Favourite Comic Cover, for The Adventures of Luther Arkwright
 * 1993 a couple of Eagle Awards, for The Tale of One Bad Rat
 * 1996 Eisner Award for Best Graphic Album: Reprint, for The Tale of One Bad Rat
 * 1999 Haxtur Award, for Best Long Comic Strip for The Tale of One Bad Rat
 * 2000 Inkpot Award
 * 2007:
 * Nominated for "Award for Favourite Comics Writer/Artist" Eagle Award
 * Nominated for "Favourite Original Graphic Novel" Eagle Award, for Alice in Sunderland
 * 2008: Nominated for "Best Painter or Multimedia Artist (interior art)" Eisner Award.
 * 2009 Talbot was given an Honorary Doctorate of Arts by University of Sunderland in July 2009, the first time this has been done for a comic book artist.
 * 2010: Nominated for "Favourite Original Graphic Novel Published During 2009" Eagle Award for Grandville
 * 2012 Talbot was awarded an Honorary Degree of Doctor of Letters on 17 July 2012 by Northumbria University in recognition of his lifetime's work in the graphic novel field.
 * 2012: Winner of the Costa biography award for Dotter of Her Father's Eyes, with Mary Talbot.

Interviews

 * British Comics Month – Bryan Talbot speaks, Forbidden Planet, 26 July 2006
 * Curioser and curioser – Bryan draws on Alice, Sunderland Echo, 17 March 2008