After getting his first comic book art published in Brainstorm Comix in 1975, he drew the cover for 2000 AD No. 43 in 1977[4] and decided to go freelance in 1978, with an eye on becoming a comic artist. In 1981 he started getting regular work at 2000 AD, one of his early projects being the art for a Tharg's Future Shocks by Alan Moore, as well as doing covers for Marvel UK.
After this he worked steadily at 2000 AD and joined the British Invasion in the mid-eighties—notably doing the colouring on Moore's Watchmen and Batman: The Killing Joke, a job he got through colouring Steve Dillon's art on Moore's ABC Warriors story.[5] This led to more work in the American market, although he has kept working on British titles too, especially with Judge Dredd over 20 years.
Higgins is also a writer. He wrote and drew his first Future Shock at 2000 AD and did the same for Razorjack, a comic book mini-series from Com.x, which was reprinted in 2009.[5][8]
Higgins has worked in a number of different areas providing artwork for animation, film and book covers like The Cabinet of Light and The Morgaine Stories. In 2012, Higgins worked on the Before Watchmen project, drawing the serialised feature "Curse of the Crimson Corsair" which was initially written by Len Wein.[9] Higgins later became the writer of the feature as well.[10]
In 2016 he provided the art for six stamps commemorating the Great Fire of London, illustrating them in the style of a comic strip.[11]
In 2017 a collection of his artwork was exhibited at the Victoria Gallery & Museum in Liverpool, in an exhibition called Beyond Dredd & Watchmen: The Art of John Higgins.[12]
Bibliographyedit
Comics work includes:
Brainstorm No. 5 (1975)
Brainstorm Fantasy Comix No. 1: "TIT Company" (script and art, 1977)
"Monkey on My Back" (with Garth Ennis, in Judge Dredd Megazine #204–206, 2003)
"Fat Christmas" (with John Wagner, in Judge Dredd Megazine No. 227, 2005)
"What's Another Year?" (with Al Ewing, in Judge Dredd Megazine No. 292, 2009)
"Tour of Duty: The Talented Mayor Ambrose" (with John Wagner, in 2000 AD #1674–1678, 1684–1685, March–May 2010)
"Idle Hands" (with Al Ewing, in Judge Dredd Megazine No. 303, November 2010)
"Served Cold" (with Al Ewing, in 2000 AD #1718–1725, January–March 2011)
"Unchained" (with Michael Carroll, in Judge Dredd Megazine #316–317, November–December 2011)
Zoids Special #1: "A War Between Blue and Red Zoids on Planet Zoidstar" (inks, with writer Steve Parkhouse and pencils by Johnny Aldrich, Marvel UK, 1986)
^"John Higgins". Lambiek Comiclopedia. 18 May 2007. Archived from the original on 7 July 2012.
^Early Artwork: "John Higgins" (The Daredevils No. 4, April 1983)
^"2000 AD #43". Barney. Archived from the original on 23 February 2012.
^ ab"21 Questions With John Higgins". Mindlessones.com. 9 March 2009. Archived from the original on 6 September 2010.
^Auden, Sandy (16 September 2007). "John Higgins on The Hills Have Eyes graphic novel adaptation". UK SF Book News. Archived from the original on 4 November 2007.
^Brady, Matt (6 February 2008). "Riding With Jonah Hex: John Higgins". Newsarama. Archived from the original on 25 August 2009.
^Arrant, Chris (7 April 2009). "A Very Personal Vision: John Higgins on Razorjack". Newsarama. Archived from the original on 20 May 2014.
^Hyde, David (1 February 2012). "DC Entertainment Officially Announces Before Watchmen". DC Comics. Archived from the original on 2 July 2012. Retrieved 4 August 2012.
^Mullin, Pamela (6 August 2012). "Artist John Higgins to write 'The Curse of the Crimson Corsair'". DC Comics. Archived from the original on 22 February 2014.
^"Comic book stamps mark Great Fire of London anniversary". BBC News. 2 September 2016. Archived from the original on 3 January 2017.
^"Beyond Dredd & Watchmen: The Art of John Higgins 10 March 2017 – 16 December 2017". Victoria Gallery & Museum, University of Liverpool. 2017. Archived from the original on 15 April 2017.
^"The Thing from Another World and Climate of Fear". Dark Horse Comics. 1993. Archived from the original on 3 June 2012.
^"Hellblazer: Son of Man". Vertigo. 2004. Archived from the original on 20 May 2014.
^"Hellblazer: Haunted". Vertigo. 2004. Archived from the original on 30 August 2012.
^"Pride & Joy". Vertigo. 2004. Archived from the original on 20 May 2014.
^"War Stories Vol. 1". Vertigo. 2004. Archived from the original on 20 May 2014.
Further readingedit
"Interrogation: Anatomy of an Artist" (interview with Michael Molcher, in Judge Dredd Megazine No. 281, 2009)
External linksedit
Official website
John Higgins Interview, 2000ADReview, 19 April 2003