John Hinkleton where foreart thou?

[therev]

I can shed abit of light.
I used to live in Canterbury and in one of the little flea maket/stall places i came across someone selling pages and PAGES of his stuff (all 2000AD), i got chatting and it was his Dad!

His family lived locally (Herne Bay or some simlar dull seaside town on the south east coast) and his Dad told me he now worked in the computer games industry. This was about 1998 I think. He seemed a tiny bit weird about John Hinkleton as if the art work was worthless junk and at the same time "classic".
He would only sell 2 pages for ?15 (which i could afford being poor at the time) and not split them.

Personally i quite liked his stuff, remined me of the darkness Kev O'neil has.

[Floyd-the-k]

I like his stuff in the EE, although I can see Gordon R`s point - it is a bit grotesque. When we see Dredd riding his bike from above he looks a lot like the spider thingy
  I`d like to see more of his stuff. Like a lot of `good at grotesque` artists, not too much though.

[Art]

And thats actually pretty restrained compared with some of the Nemesis stuff...

(not sure light pastel is the best colour scheme for his work though)

[Mangamax]

Yeah, got my page from his dad too.
There was one he had from the Two Torquemada's which was the big splash page of the Cathedral.
He said John was having problems getting it to look right so he did it for him.
And looking at it close up it was pretty evident it was a cut-n-paste jobbie and in a totally different style.
Wish i'd got it now.

[+rufus+]

John's dad actually sold his work without telling John, which I know really upset him. Strange family dynamic etc.
I haven't seen John since 2000, he'd done Zombie World with Pat, and really wanted to do more stuff for 2000ad, but as Gordon said, had put a few noses out of line.
 He did some great sample pages of Slaine, which were absolutely great! Sadly vetoed by a formerTharg.
 He was working part time in a pub, he did me a great Nemesis pic, which I've put up on my original art page.
I'd love to get in touch with him again, he was a good mate.
I'll scan in his Mean Machine story to at some stage,it's mental. He wasn't the clearest artist, but his anarchic power really worked with Pat's stories,I'd often laugh out loud at his psychomonstrosities!
Rufus

[Byron Virgo]

That's terrible if he's not even working in design or drawing anymore.

I had to say that, although I enjoyed parts of his Nemesis stories, I found I was enjoying Mills' changing take on the series less and less (although his sense of humour remained unchanged). However, I always enjoyed Hicklenton's stuff, kind of like the way you might enjoy sticking your finger in an open wound. I don't mean that in an uncharitable way, but his art always had an almost tangible opressive, disturbing quality for me.

As for his changing stuff that writers had written: I can see how that can be constued as poor technique, an it is, but clearly he was someone in need of a more creative output. To my mind, the best strips are those in which the union between artist and writer is a true partnership, with input from both sides on all aspects of a strip. This is clearly the kind of nurturing environment Hicklenton needed. It'd be a pity to think that we won't see his art again, and neither will anyone else, because a few people took against him. Sometimes it's better to help someone learn how to work in a particular field than just dismiss them completely.

[Mangamax]

Funny innit how here John is being celibrated for his radical take on all things 2K related and yet Siku was villified for lesser tampering with the "norm" not too long ago.
If he'd done his Judge Eagle with a 2 foot long beak a la John i reckon he'd have been crucified before now.

[+rufus+]

True, I always felt people would come to appreciate John's work, and Siku's. Although both have done stuff that made me wince,that was always the great thing about 2000ad, we had innovative artists.
I'd really love to see John do more 2000ad work.
Rufus

[Byron Virgo]

I'd agree. The great thing about any anthology comic is the amount of variety, not just in stories and characters, but in artistic styles as well.

[opaque]

I think his artwork suited the Nemesis era he did.
It was a change in direction that needed something else.

[jont]

I think the difference is that John puts a lot of effort in to his pages and if there is a critisism it's that it's over detailed.

Siku's art on the other hand was seen by many to be so minimal as to be lazy. Not neccicarily true, but you have to admit that his style backfired on him.

[therev]

Sorry for me Siku's are just SUCKED on the last Dredd story.
It seemed lazy and half baked.

Got to admit OVERALL I'm not a big fan of his work (in fact I stopped getting the Meg when it was that African story a couple of years ago but that was more to the fact the whole issues were dull) but have to say when I met him at a Dreddcon he was very nice and a good artist it's just his style doesn't float me boat.

Hinkleton was more up my alley but his art did get abit too involved sometimes but I'll alaways love the Nemesis issues where Torque' ends up with a hedgetrimmer as a sword. GREAT scripting and geta artwork (ie: bllody great mean looking fantasy bloke holding "girly" hedgetrimmer istead of the usual blooody great sword).
If he's left the comic industry or not drawing anymor it would be a real shame.

[mrsdeadstock]

I've heard some idle but quite intrusive gossip on this subject recently, so for those of you who still appear to find it of interest I would like to draw a line under this thread.

John Hicklenton's father sold a number of his images a very long time ago but, contrary to some opinions, with John's full permission.  John's father recently passed away and is greatly missed by his family, who are very close.  I have married into a wonderful, intelligent, funny and united family dynamic and consider myself extremely fortunate.

John is fiercely back in the arena and soon to be published.  You'll love it.

Mrs Deadstock

[House of Usher]

Well done Mrs Deadstock for dredging up two-year-old thread to draw a line under it. I for one was grateful for the opportunity to review the thing in its entirety without having to do a search for it first.

[Marbles]

Holy necro-post!

Still, good to hear JH is drawing again - I hope he can get something in 2K again, loved his stuff (& Siku's).