Mike McMahon (comics)
Encyclopedia
Michael McMahon is a British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 comics
Comics
Comics denotes a hybrid medium having verbal side of its vocabulary tightly tied to its visual side in order to convey narrative or information only, the latter in case of non-fiction comics, seeking synergy by using both visual and verbal side in...

 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 work on 2000 AD characters such as Judge Dredd
Judge Dredd
Judge Joseph Dredd is a comics character whose strip in the British science fiction anthology 2000 AD is the magazine's longest running . Dredd is an American law enforcement officer in a violent city of the future where uniformed Judges combine the powers of police, judge, jury and executioner...

, Sláine
Sláine (comics)
Sláine is a comic hero from the pages of 2000 AD - one of Britain's most popular comic books.Sláine is a barbarian fantasy adventure series based on Celtic myths and stories which first appeared in 1983, written by Pat Mills and initially drawn by his then wife, Angela Kincaid. Most of the early...

and ABC Warriors
ABC Warriors
ABC Warriors is a long-running 2000 AD comic strip written by Pat Mills, which first appeared in prog 119 in 1979 and continues to run today. Art for the opening episodes was by Kevin O'Neill, Mike McMahon, Brett Ewins, and Brendan McCarthy - who between them designed the original seven members of...

, and the mini-series The Last American
The Last American
The Last American is a four-issue comic book mini-series released by Marvel's Epic imprint in 1990. It was written by John Wagner and Alan Grant with art by Mike McMahon.-Publication history:Wagner wrote the first two parts and Grant the last two...

.

His influences include Victor de la Fuente, Hugo Pratt
Hugo Pratt
Hugo Eugenio Pratt was an Italian comic book creator who was known for combining strong storytelling with extensive historical research on works such as Corto Maltese...

, Gino d'Antonio, Don Lawrence
Don Lawrence
Donald Southam Lawrence was a British comic book artist and author.Lawrence is best known for his comic strips The Rise and Fall of the Trigan Empire in the British weeklies Ranger and Look and Learn and the Storm series, first published in the Dutch weekly Eppo...

, Joe Colquhoun
Joe Colquhoun
Joe Colquhoun was a British comics artist best known for his work on Charley's War in Battle Picture Weekly. He was also the first artist to draw Roy of the Rovers.-Biography:...

 and Harvey Kurtzman
Harvey Kurtzman
Harvey Kurtzman was an American cartoonist and the editor of several comic books and magazines. Kurtzman often signed his name H. Kurtz, followed by a stick figure Harvey Kurtzman (October 3, 1924, Brooklyn, New York – February 21, 1993) was an American cartoonist and the editor of several comic...

.

Career

Judge Dredd
Judge Dredd
Judge Joseph Dredd is a comics character whose strip in the British science fiction anthology 2000 AD is the magazine's longest running . Dredd is an American law enforcement officer in a violent city of the future where uniformed Judges combine the powers of police, judge, jury and executioner...

was created for IPC
IPC Media
IPC Media , a wholly owned subsidiary of Time Inc., is a consumer magazine and digital publisher in the United Kingdom, with a large portfolio selling over 350 million copies each year.- Origins :...

's new science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...

 comic
Comics
Comics denotes a hybrid medium having verbal side of its vocabulary tightly tied to its visual side in order to convey narrative or information only, the latter in case of non-fiction comics, seeking synergy by using both visual and verbal side in...

 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...

in 1977 by writer John Wagner
John Wagner
John Wagner is a comics writer who was born in Pennsylvania in 1949 and moved to Scotland as a boy. Alongside Pat Mills, Wagner was responsible for revitalising British boys' comics in the 1970s, and has continued to be a leading light in British comics ever since.He is best known for his work on...

 and artist Carlos Ezquerra
Carlos Ezquerra
Carlos Sanchez Ezquerra , who has also worked under the alias L. John Silver, is a Spanish comics artist who works mainly in British comics and currently lives in Andorra...

, but problems in pre-publication led to both creators walking out, and the first published story was written by Peter Harris and Pat Mills
Pat Mills
Pat Mills, nicknamed 'the godfather of British comics', is a comics writer and editor who, along with John Wagner, revitalised British boys comics in the 1970s, and has remained a leading light in British comics ever since....

, and drawn by an inexperienced young artist called Mike McMahon. Mills, who was editor at the time, chose McMahon because he could do a passable imitation of Ezquerra's style, but the more he drew the more his own style emerged. His drawings became more angular and less organic than Ezquerra's; where Equerra's line was fluid, McMahon's was sharp. Before long Wagner returned to his creation, and McMahon became the character's most regular artist. Other artists, such as Ian Gibson
Ian Gibson (artist)
Ian Gibson is a British comic book artist, best known for his 1980s black-and-white work for 2000 AD, especially as the main artist on Robo-Hunter and The Ballad of Halo Jones, as well as his long run on Judge Dredd.-Biography:...

 and Brian Bolland
Brian Bolland
Brian Bolland is a British comics artist, known for his meticulous, detailed linework and eye-catching compositions. Best known in the UK as one of the definitive Judge Dredd artists for British comics anthology 2000 AD, he spearheaded the 'British Invasion' of the American comics industry, and in...

, followed his lead, putting their own spin on the way McMahon was developing the character and his world.

McMahon's early work was characterised by a quick, spontaneous approach that verged on the messy. His figures were lean and loose, his pen lines thrown down with verve and energy, and hatching was done with a fully charged brush. He drew the bulk of the first long-form Judge Dredd story, "The Cursed Earth", with the slower, more meticulous Brian Bolland
Brian Bolland
Brian Bolland is a British comics artist, known for his meticulous, detailed linework and eye-catching compositions. Best known in the UK as one of the definitive Judge Dredd artists for British comics anthology 2000 AD, he spearheaded the 'British Invasion' of the American comics industry, and in...

 contributing occasional episodes.

In 1979 McMahon took some time off from Dredd to draw Pat Mills
Pat Mills
Pat Mills, nicknamed 'the godfather of British comics', is a comics writer and editor who, along with John Wagner, revitalised British boys comics in the 1970s, and has remained a leading light in British comics ever since....

's robot disaster squad Ro-Busters
Ro-Busters
Ro-Busters is a British comic story that formed part of the original line-up of Starlord. Similar in premise to that of the Thunderbirds television series, it was created by writer Pat Mills and was drawn by Carlos Pino and Ian Kennedy initially, before Starlord's merger with 2000 AD...

and its spin-off ABC Warriors
ABC Warriors
ABC Warriors is a long-running 2000 AD comic strip written by Pat Mills, which first appeared in prog 119 in 1979 and continues to run today. Art for the opening episodes was by Kevin O'Neill, Mike McMahon, Brett Ewins, and Brendan McCarthy - who between them designed the original seven members of...

, alternating with Kevin O'Neill
Kevin O'Neill (comics)
Kevin O'Neill is an English comic book illustrator best known as the co-creator of Nemesis the Warlock, Marshal Law , and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen .-Early career:...

 and others, and under O'Neill's influence his work became tighter and his figures chunkier. He returned to Dredd the following year for the next long story, "The Judge Child
Judge Child
The Judge Child was an extended storyline in the 2000 AD comic strip Judge Dredd that ran from issues 156 to 181 in 1980. It introduced a character with the same name...

", with a different, more considered style, and rotated with Bolland and Ron Smith
Ron Smith (artist)
Ron Smith, born 1924, is a retired British comic artist whose career spanned almost almost fifty years, during which time he built a solid reputation as one of the most popular and well respected illustrators working in his field....

. Writers John Wagner
John Wagner
John Wagner is a comics writer who was born in Pennsylvania in 1949 and moved to Scotland as a boy. Alongside Pat Mills, Wagner was responsible for revitalising British boys' comics in the 1970s, and has continued to be a leading light in British comics ever since.He is best known for his work on...

 and Alan Grant gave McMahon the spookier, more atmospheric episodes to draw, and he responded with subtle lighting, texture and composition effects.

Following "The Judge Child" his art took a high contrast black and white direction, and in colour stories in annuals, explored patterns of flat colour. In 1981, when he began the Judge Dredd story "Block Mania", which he was slated to draw all nine episodes of, his drawings were tight and precise with well-defined areas of black and white. They looked fantastic, but they were taking an increasingly long time to draw, especially with all the crowd scenes the scripts called for, and McMahon bowed out after only two episodes. The story was completed by Smith, Steve Dillon
Steve Dillon
Steve Dillon is a British comic book artist, from Luton, Bedfordshire, best known for his work with writer Garth Ennis on Hellblazer, Preacher and The Punisher.-Biography:...

 and Bolland, and was followed by the 26-part "Apocalypse War", Carlos Ezquerra's triumphant return to the character he created, which he drew solo.

McMahon moved to Mills' new Celt
Celt
The Celts were a diverse group of tribal societies in Iron Age and Roman-era Europe who spoke Celtic languages.The earliest archaeological culture commonly accepted as Celtic, or rather Proto-Celtic, was the central European Hallstatt culture , named for the rich grave finds in Hallstatt, Austria....

ic barbarian
Barbarian
Barbarian and savage are terms used to refer to a person who is perceived to be uncivilized. The word is often used either in a general reference to a member of a nation or ethnos, typically a tribal society as seen by an urban civilization either viewed as inferior, or admired as a noble savage...

 fantasy
Fantasy
Fantasy is a genre of fiction that commonly uses magic and other supernatural phenomena as a primary element of plot, theme, or setting. Many works within the genre take place in imaginary worlds where magic is common...

, Sláine, another story with a fraught pre-publication history, and all but disappeared from publication for nearly two years (He did draw a couple of stories for Doctor Who Magazine
Doctor Who Magazine
Doctor Who Magazine is a magazine devoted to the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who...

during this time). When he did return in 1983, it was with a radically different style, all sinuous figures, tangled pen lines, and incompletely filled in areas of black. Freed from sterile science fiction environments, he went to town on texture and tone, lashed together technology and gloriously organic backgrounds.

After his last work on Sláine in 1984, McMahon did another of his vanishing and evolving acts. He re-emerged in 1991, after a long illness that prevented him from drawing, with The Last American
The Last American
The Last American is a four-issue comic book mini-series released by Marvel's Epic imprint in 1990. It was written by John Wagner and Alan Grant with art by Mike McMahon.-Publication history:Wagner wrote the first two parts and Grant the last two...

, written by Wagner and Grant, for Marvel Comics
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...

's Epic
Epic Comics
Epic Comics was a creator-owned imprint of Marvel Comics started in 1982, lasting through the mid-1990s, and being briefly revived on a small scale in the mid-2000s.- Origins :...

 imprint, and another radical change in drawing style. The Last American is Ulysses Pilgrim, a disgraced US Army officer placed in suspended animation on the eve of a nuclear war and authorised to restore order after it - but when he's revived he discovers there's nothing to restore order to. For four issues he searches in vain for survivors, accompanied by three slightly deranged robots, and struggling not to succumb to despair. McMahon's art is blocky, all straight, edgy lines and enclosed, flat areas of deep, vivid colour, stylised yet straight-faced, perfectly straddling the low-key realism of the story and Pilgrim's increasingly desperate mental state.

Since then he has worked in computer game design and his work in comics has been sporadic. A couple of Hellraiser
Hellraiser
Hellraiser is a 1987 British and American horror film based upon the novella The Hellbound Heart by Clive Barker, who also wrote the screenplay and directed the film. Hellraiser explores themes of sadomasochism and morality under duress and fear. The film spawned a series of sequels...

stories, an Alien Legion
Alien Legion
Alien Legion is a science-fiction comic-book series and associated titles created by Carl Potts, Alan Zelenetz, and Frank Cirocco for Marvel Comics; Epic Comics imprint in 1983...

one-off, the unfinished Mutomaniac in the short-lived weekly Toxic!
Toxic!
Toxic! was a British weekly comic book published by Apocalypse Ltd. A total of 31 issues were published from March 28-October 24, 1991.-History:...

, a handful of Judge Dredd-related stories, and a daring futuristic Batman
Batman
Batman is a fictional character created by the artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger. A comic book superhero, Batman first appeared in Detective Comics #27 , and since then has appeared primarily in publications by DC Comics...

 story in Legends of the Dark Knight
Legends of the Dark Knight
Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight, commonly referred to as simply Legends of the Dark Knight is a DC comic book featuring Batman. It was launched in 1989 with the popularity of the Batman movie, following on from Frank Miller's Batman: Year One...

, saw him progressively simplify and flatten his style, then find new ways of introducing depth in Sonic the Comic
Sonic the Comic
Sonic the Comic, known to its many readers as STC, was a UK children's comic published fortnightly by Fleetway Editions between 1993 and 2002...

, the miniseries Tattered Banners for 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 Vertigo imprint, a return to ABC Warriors
ABC Warriors
ABC Warriors is a long-running 2000 AD comic strip written by Pat Mills, which first appeared in prog 119 in 1979 and continues to run today. Art for the opening episodes was by Kevin O'Neill, Mike McMahon, Brett Ewins, and Brendan McCarthy - who between them designed the original seven members of...

and a short Batman Black and White back-up story. During this time, he also produced two truly superb, visually striking and stunning 6 page strips for the Marvel UK/Panini fully originated fortnightly comic Rugrats
Rugrats
Rugrats is an American animated television series created by Arlene Klasky, Gábor Csupó, and Paul Germain for Nickelodeon. The series premiered on August 11, 1991, and aired its last episode on June 8, 2004....

(he would have been commissioned to draw more, but sadly the comic was canceled). His latest work, a Judge Dredd episode, appeared in 2000AD prog 1539. McMahon's work never sits still, but frequently goes beyond comics fans' stylistic comfort zones.

Mick is currently working on Tank Girl
Tank Girl
Tank Girl is a British comic created by Jamie Hewlett and Alan Martin. Originally drawn by Jamie Hewlett, it has also been drawn by Rufus Dayglo, Ashley Wood, and Mike McMahon.The eponymous character Tank Girl drives a tank, which is also her home...

- Carioca, a six part mini series with Tank Girl CoCreator Alan Martin
Alan Martin
Alan Martin could refer to:*Alan Martin , Former Australian rules footballer*Alan Martin , English footballer*Alan Martin , Scottish goalkeeper...

for Titan Books.

Mick McMahon's work has informed over 30 years of British Sci Fi design, and he is referenced by many influential artists as an inspiration including Mike Mignola
Mike Mignola
Michael Joseph "Mike" Mignola is an American comic book artist and writer who created the comic book series Hellboy for Dark Horse Comics. He has worked for animation projects such as Atlantis: The Lost Empire and the adaptation of his one shot comic book, The Amazing Screw-On Head.-Career:Mignola...

, Jamie Hewlett
Jamie Hewlett
Jamie Christopher Hewlett is an English comic book artist and designer. He is known for being the co-creator of the comic Tank Girl and co-creator of the virtual band Gorillaz.-Biography:...

and 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"...

.

External links

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