John McCrea
Encyclopedia
John McCrea is a comic book
artist
best known for his collaborations with writer Garth Ennis
.
.
He broke into American comics in 1993, drawing Ennis's run on DC Comics
's The Demon, followed by its spin-off, Hitman
, from 1996 to 2001, on which McCrea developed a versatile drawing style equally at home with goofy humour, action, and subtle characterisation. Hitman issue 34 won the Eisner Award
for best single issue in 1999. His wilder, more exaggerated cartooning found an outlet with Dicks, a mini-series spinning off from For a Few Troubles More into more outrageous dialect, sexual and toilet humour, published by Caliber
in 1997, with a sequel, Dicks II, from Avatar
in 2002.
Since Hitman finished he has drawn a variety of characters for DC, Marvel
, Dark Horse Comics
, 2000 AD
and others. Recent work includes Herogasm a limited series spun off from Garth Ennis' The Boys.
On April 9, 2011 McCrea was one of 62 comics creators who appeared at the IGN
stage at the Kapow! convenntion in London to set two Guinness World Records
, the Fastest Production of a Comic Book, and Most Contributors to a Comic Book. With Guinness officials on hand to monitor their progress, writer Mark Millar
began work at 9am scripting a 20-page black and white Superior comic book, with McCrea and the other artists appearing on stage throughout the day to work on the pencils, inks, and lettering, including Dave Gibbons
, Frank Quitely
, John Romita Jr., Jock
, Doug Braithwaite
, Ian Churchill
, Olivier Coipel
, Duncan Fegredo
, Simon Furman
, David Lafuente
, Sean Phillips
and Liam Sharp
, who all drew a panel each, with regular Superior artist Leinil Yu creating the book's front cover. The book was completed in 11 hours, 19 minutes, and 38 seconds, and was published through Icon on November 23, 2011, with all royalties being donated to Yorkhill Children's Foundation.
Comic book
A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...
artist
Artist
An artist is a person engaged in one or more of any of a broad spectrum of activities related to creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse is a practitioner in the visual arts only...
best known for his collaborations with writer Garth Ennis
Garth Ennis
Garth Ennis is a Northern Irish comics writer, best known for the Vertigo series Preacher with artist Steve Dillon and his successful nine-year run on Marvel Comics' Punisher franchise...
.
Career
In 1988, after a few years of drawing television and toy tie-ins, he illustrated Ennis's debut, the political series Troubled Souls, in Crisis, as well as its sequel, the farce For a Few Troubles More. He later illustrated the series Carla Allison in DeadlineDeadline magazine
Deadline was a British comic magazine published between 1988 and 1995.Created by 2000 AD stalwarts Brett Ewins and Steve Dillon, Deadline featured a mix of comic strips and written articles targeted at older readers...
.
He broke into American comics in 1993, drawing Ennis's run on DC Comics
DC Comics
DC Comics, Inc. is one of the largest and most successful companies operating in the market for American comic books and related media. It is the publishing unit of DC Entertainment a company of Warner Bros. Entertainment, which itself is owned by Time Warner...
's The Demon, followed by its spin-off, Hitman
Hitman (comics)
Hitman is a fictional character, a superpowered hitman in the DC Comics Universe. The character was created by Garth Ennis and John McCrea and first appeared in The Demon Annual #2 and then received his own series by Ennis and McCrea lasting 61 issues.-Background:Hitman chronicles the exploits of...
, from 1996 to 2001, on which McCrea developed a versatile drawing style equally at home with goofy humour, action, and subtle characterisation. Hitman issue 34 won the Eisner Award
Eisner Award
The Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards, commonly shortened to the Eisner Awards, and sometimes referred to as the Oscar Awards of the Comics Industry, are prizes given for creative achievement in American comic books. The Eisner Awards were first conferred in 1988, created in response to the...
for best single issue in 1999. His wilder, more exaggerated cartooning found an outlet with Dicks, a mini-series spinning off from For a Few Troubles More into more outrageous dialect, sexual and toilet humour, published by Caliber
Caliber Comics
Caliber Comics or Caliber Press was an American comic book publisher founded in 1989 by Gary Reed. Featuring primarily creator-owned comics, in the next decade Caliber published over 1300 comics and ranked as one of the America's leading independent publishers...
in 1997, with a sequel, Dicks II, from Avatar
Avatar Press
Avatar Press is an independent American publisher of comic books, founded in 1996 by William A. Christensen, and based in Rantoul, Illinois.Avatar initially published only mini-series; however, they have since begun to branch out...
in 2002.
Since Hitman finished he has drawn a variety of characters for DC, Marvel
Marvel Comics
Marvel Worldwide, Inc., commonly referred to as Marvel Comics and formerly Marvel Publishing, Inc. and Marvel Comics Group, is an American company that publishes comic books and related media...
, Dark Horse Comics
Dark Horse Comics
Dark Horse Comics is the largest independent American comic book and manga publisher.Dark Horse Comics was founded in 1986 by Mike Richardson in Milwaukie, Oregon, with the concept of establishing an ideal atmosphere for creative professionals. Richardson started out by opening his first comic book...
, 2000 AD
2000 AD (comic)
2000 AD is a weekly British science fiction-oriented comic. As a comics anthology it serialises a number of separate stories each issue and was first published by IPC Magazines in 1977, the first issue dated 26 February. IPC then shifted the title to its Fleetway comics subsidiary which was sold...
and others. Recent work includes Herogasm a limited series spun off from Garth Ennis' The Boys.
On April 9, 2011 McCrea was one of 62 comics creators who appeared at the IGN
IGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
stage at the Kapow! convenntion in London to set two Guinness World Records
Guinness World Records
Guinness World Records, known until 2000 as The Guinness Book of Records , is a reference book published annually, containing a collection of world records, both human achievements and the extremes of the natural world...
, the Fastest Production of a Comic Book, and Most Contributors to a Comic Book. With Guinness officials on hand to monitor their progress, writer Mark Millar
Mark Millar
Mark Millar is a Scottish comic book writer, known for his work on books such as The Authority, The Ultimates, Marvel Knights Spider-Man, Ultimate Fantastic Four, Civil War, Wanted, and Kick-Ass, the latter two of which have been adapted into feature films...
began work at 9am scripting a 20-page black and white Superior comic book, with McCrea and the other artists appearing on stage throughout the day to work on the pencils, inks, and lettering, including Dave Gibbons
Dave Gibbons
Dave Gibbons is an English comic book artist, writer and sometime letterer. He is best known for his collaborations with writer Alan Moore, which include the miniseries Watchmen and the Superman story "For the Man Who Has Everything"...
, Frank Quitely
Frank Quitely
Vincent Deighan, better known by the pen name Frank Quitely, is a Scottish comic book artist. He is best known for his frequent collaborations with Grant Morrison on titles such as New X-Men, We3, All-Star Superman, and Batman and Robin, as well as his work with Mark Millar on The...
, John Romita Jr., Jock
Jock (artist)
Mark Simpson, known by the pen name Jock, is a British comics artist, best known for his work in 2000 AD and on The Losers.-Career:...
, Doug Braithwaite
Doug Braithwaite
-Career:Braithwaite started out working on British comics, like 2000 AD and A1, but is best known for his Marvel Comics work on the Earth X sequels, Universe X and Paradise X , as well as for The Punisher Kills the Marvel Universe and Punisher: MAX #13-18, with Garth Ennis...
, Ian Churchill
Ian Churchill
Ian Churchill is a British comic book artist, who has mostly worked in the American comic book industry.-Career:Churchill's early work included stints on Supergirl, Uncanny X-Men as well as the Deadpool: Sins of the Past limited series, in addition to a lengthy stay on Cable, the latter gaining him...
, Olivier Coipel
Olivier Coipel
Olivier Coipel is a French comic book artist, known for his work on books such as House of M, Legion of Super-Heroes andThor.-Career:...
, Duncan Fegredo
Duncan Fegredo
Duncan Fegredo is a British comic book artist born in Leicester in 1964.-Career:Fegredo first managed to get into comics after showing his portfolio around UKCAC in 1987 and meeting Dave Thorpe. Together they worked on a strip for a short lived British magazine called Heartbreak Hotel...
, Simon Furman
Simon Furman
Simon Christopher Francis Furman is a comic book writer, particularly associated with of a number of notable Transformers comics for Marvel UK, Marvel US, Dreamwave, and most recently, IDW...
, David Lafuente
David Lafuente
David Lafuente is a Spanish-born comic book artist. As of 2009 he works for Marvel Comics as the artist for Ultimate Comics: Spider-Man. He currently resides in London.-Career:Lafuente was discovered by Marvel Editor C.B...
, Sean Phillips
Sean Phillips
Sean Phillips is a British comic book artist.He is best known in the American comic book industry for his work on DC Comics' Sleeper, WildC.A.T.s, Batman and Hellblazer.-Career:...
and Liam Sharp
Liam Sharp
Liam Roger Sharp is a British comic book artist, writer and publisher.-Early life:Liam Sharp was born in Derby at St. Mary's Hospital to parents Roger and Linda Sharp. He has a younger sister, Kerry, and younger brother, Rien. He went to School at Brackensdale Junior then infants school, before...
, who all drew a panel each, with regular Superior artist Leinil Yu creating the book's front cover. The book was completed in 11 hours, 19 minutes, and 38 seconds, and was published through Icon on November 23, 2011, with all royalties being donated to Yorkhill Children's Foundation.
Interviews
- John McCrea interview by PJ Holden and Richmond Clments, 2000 AD Review, May 11, 2005
- John McCrea, hitman and madman, Broken Frontier, November 7, 2008