John McCrea

Infobox Comics creator

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imagesize =
caption = John McCrea at F.A.C.T.S. 2008
birthname =
birthdate = 1966
location = Belfast, Northern Ireland
deathdate =
deathplace =
nationality = Northern Irish
area = Penciller, Inker
alias =
notable works =
awards =
website = http://dspace.dial.pipex.com/town/way/xmi94/index.shtml

John McCrea (born 1966 in Belfast, Northern Ireland) is a comic book artist best known for his collaborations with writer Garth Ennis.

Biography

His earliest work was influenced by John Byrne and Alan Davis. 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", in a realistic style, using acrylic paints and mixed media, but its sequel, the farce "For a Few Troubles More", showed him moving a more cartoony direction, a trend which continued with his occasional series "Carla Allison" in Deadline.

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 miniseries 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.

Bibliography

Comics work includes:

* "Fast Forward" (with Hilary Robinson, in "2000 AD" #615, 1989)
*"Troubled Souls" (with Garth Ennis, in "Crisis" #15-27, 40 & 46, 1989-1990)
* "Wyrmwood" (with Malachy Coney, in "Crisis" #29, 1989)
* "Her parents" (with Mark Millar, in "Crisis" #31, 1989)
*"Chopper": "Earth, Wind and Fire" (with Garth Ennis, in "Judge Dredd Megazine" #1.01-1.06, 1990)
*"Judge Death": "Masque of the Judge, Death" (with Si Spencer, in "Judge Dredd Mega-Special" #4, 1991)
*"Middenface McNulty": "Wan Man an' His Dug" (with Alan Grant and Tony Luke, in "Judge Dredd Megazine" #1.15-1.20, 1991-1992)

*"Judge Dredd":
** "The Craftsman" (with Garth Ennis, in "2000 AD" #817, 1993)
** "Last Respects" (with Gordon Rennie, in "2000 AD" #1389, 2004)
** "Placebo" (with Rufus Dog, in "2000 AD" #1405, 2004)

*"The Demon" #40,42-48,50,52-60 (with Garth Ennis, DC Comics, 1993-1995)

*"Hitman" (with Garth Ennis, 60 issues, DC, specials: Annual #1, issue #1,000,000, 1996-2001)
**"Hitman" (tpb collects #1-3 + "The Demon Annual" #2 + Batman Chronicles #4, 1997 ISBN 1-56389-314-2)
**"10,000 Bullets" (tpb collects #4-8, 1998 ISBN 1-56389-404-1)
**"Local Heroes" (tpb collects #9-14 + Annual #1, 1999 ISBN 1-56389-509-9)
**"Ace of Killers" (tpb collects #15-22, 2000 ISBN 1-56389-614-1)
**"Who Dares Wins" (tpb collects #23-28, 2001 ISBN 1-56389-718-0)
**uncollected: 29-33, 1,000,0000, 34-60
**"Hitman/Lobo: That Stupid Bastich!" (one-shot, 1999)
**"JLA/Hitman" (2-issue mini-series, DC, 2007, ongoing)

*"Dicks" (with Garth Ennis, 1997-2005)
*"Preacher Special; Tall in the Saddle" (1 issue, with Steve Dillon, DC/Vertigo 1999)
*"Wonder Woman Annual" vol. 2 #8 (with Doselle Young, DC, 1999)
*"Superman 80-Page Giant": "How To Be A Super-Hero" (with Garth Ennis, DC, 1999)
*"Jenny Sparks: The Secret History of the Authority" (with Mark Millar, 5-issue mini-series, Wildstorm, 2000, ISBN 1-56389-769-5)
*"Bart Simpson's Treehouse of Horror" #7: "In Springfield, No-One Can Hear You Scream" (with Garth Ennis, 2001)
*"Star Wars Tales": "Trooper" (with Garth Ennis & Jimmy Palmiotti, in #10, 2001, collected in "Star Wars Tales, Volume Three", Dark Horse Comics, 2003, ISBN 1569718369)
*"The Monarchy" (with Doselle Young, 12 issues, Wildstorm, 2001-2002)
*"Superboy" #92-100
*"Spider Man's Tangled Web" #1-3: "The Coming of the Thousand" (with Garth Ennis, 2001, tpb, 2002 ISBN 0-7851-0803-3)
*"Spider-Man": "Get Kraven" (pencilsm with Ron Zimmerman, and inks by James Hodgkins, 5 issues, Marvel, 2002)
*"Hulk Smash!" (with Garth Ennis, Marvel, 2 issues, 2001, collected in tpb "Incredible Hulk Vol. 7: Dead Like Me", August 2004, ISBN 0785113991)
*"Sinister Dexter" "Vircade" (with Dan Abnett, in "2000 AD" #1431, 2005)
*"The Atheist" (with Phil Hester, Image Comics, 2005)
*"The 99" (with Fabian Nicieza, Teshkeel Comics, 2007-ongoing)
*"Theseus battling the Minotaur" (one-shot, Lerner Publishing Group)

References

* [http://www.2000adonline.com/?zone=droid&page=profiles&choice=JOHNM 2000 AD profile]
* [http://marvel.com/catalog/?artist=John%20Mccrea John McCrea on Marvel.com]
* [http://www.lambiek.net/mccrea_john.htm John McCrea] at Lambiek's Comiclopedia

External links

*official|http://dspace.dial.pipex.com/town/way/xmi94/index.shtml
* [http://www.2000adreview.co.uk/features/interviews/2005/mccrea/mccrea1.shtml McCrea interviewed by fellow artist PJ Holden at 2000ADReview]