First Prog: 900 (on the cover); 950 (interior strip)
Latest Prog: 1431 (on
the cover); 1422 (interior strip)
First Meg: 2.65
(aka issue 85, on the cover) 2.80 (aka issue 100, interior strip)
Latest Meg: 3.47 (aka
issue 150)
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| I don't care how much it's riffing on that one Daredevil cover by Frank Miller, this is for real one of my favourite ever Megazine covers. So dynamic! |
Total appearances: 88
(of which 65 are on the cover)
Creator credits:
Outlaw
The Space Girls
Other art credits:
Judge Dredd
Judge Dredd/Batman
Judge Dredd/Batman
Notable character creations:
Outlaw, while a much
better strip, has very much faded in obscurity. The Space Girls, which is
borderline unreadable, has managed to slip into notoriety. And in fact, there
was nothing wrong with Brashill’s basic character designs for the five heroes,
especially when you think how un-sexualized four of them were compared to their
real-world counterparts. Comics may have a sorry history of misogyny, but they
got nothin’ on the pop music industry.
Notable characteristics:
Big round faces. HUGE
muscles. Shininess. Pretty ladies, who may or may not be showing a little bit more flesh than is required.
Giving Dredd a round chin, or, rather, his usual square jaw but with a round chin on the front.
Giving Dredd a round chin, or, rather, his usual square jaw but with a round chin on the front.
Overt comedy. Not all
the stories Brashill worked on were out-and-out comedies (e.g. the horror story
of in the Year 2120, but they cartoon-y style Brashill uses really emphasizes
the way that comics are to be charming and funny, even when they’re telling
darker stories.
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| Yes, this is a story about child soldiers, and it's hilarious. Words by John Wagner |
On Jason:
Flick through the
Cover Zone on Barney, or enjoy one of the
2000AD cover montages on Youtube, and you can’t help
but notice the way Jason Brashill* dominates the back half of the 90s. Like
Cliff Robinson before him (and indeed after him), Brashill is, in Tharg’s eye
anyway, a cover artist first and foremost, and only occasionally unleashed on
strip work.
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| Shiny and muscley right from the get-go! |
Unlike Robinson,
Brashill’s style really isn’t like anybody else’s (although I do often mix it
up with contemporary artist and I think friend Jim Murray). Partly for that
reason, I invariably associate his style as the dominating look of the late 90s
in 2000AD, aka the David Bishop years. And in my defence, Bishop took enough of
a shine to the man that he was the glue that held together Prog 1000, a
milestone Prog if ever there was one.
Not content with
gracing the cover, Brashill also provided pin-ups for each of the strips
within, as well as designing the look of brand-new character Outlaw, and
drawing that series’ opening episode. There’s a lot of Brashill in Prog 1000,
is what I’m saying.
Despite this, Brashill
didn’t get to draw very many actual strips across his 10-year tenure with
Tharg, even though he was on the cover a lot.
Mostly he worked on
Judge Dredd, as befits someone who likes to tackle mayhem and violence with a
comedic bent.
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| That's some LooneyTunes level ultraviolence right there, with that sheen of 2000AD gore. Words by John Wagner |
His earliest efforts,
while not quite there with the draughtsmanship, are full to bursting with vim
and brio, and a level of 10-year-old glee.
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| Some amazing paintwork on the texture, slightly curious posing on the man. Words by Pat Mills |
It made sense that
he’d be the artist picked to develop hot new satire, the Space Girls. A series that only ran for five episodes, it
actually sat in the Prog for ten weeks, as Brashill’s designs for each Girl
graced the Output page. David Bishop, who commissioned and planned but didn’t
actually write the strip is very keen to take all the blame. I suspect that’s
fair. I also don’t blame him for trying, and certainly Brashill put a lot of
effort into costumes and characterization. It just ended up feeling more like a
Viz strip than a 2000AD one.
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| Five characters in search of a story Words by John Tomlinson |
Outlaw, by contrast, was a good fit for 2000AD in its basic tone. It’s a
Western set on an alien world, based around the noble art of the gunfight – a
cinematic tradition that works well in comics form, especially in a strip you
can get lots of different artists to draw. I kinda liked it at the tie, and was
looking forward to a second series that never came. If anything, it’s real
problem was that it arrived hot on the heels of Sinister Dexter – and basically everything that was good about Outlaw – the art, the constant string of
weirdo baddies, the Tarantino-esque shootouts – was all done either the same or
better in that strip.
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| Super glorious panel layout here, and a real atmosphere of terror and grief. Words by Paul Neal |
With subsequent
efforts, Brashill got better at the technical stuff, but in terms of style it’s
all about the colouring and the texture. I’m pretty sure there was a switch
from actual paints to digital paints at some point. Certainly his later efforts
have that digital sheen to them; I think it suits his basic style better than
the ‘real’ paint versions of old.
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| Simple, painted Words by John Wagner |
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| Shinier, digitaller Words by Alan Grant |
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| Shiniest, digitallest Words by John Wagner |
Based on the way his
style evolved, I was not at all surprised to learn that Brashill soon stopped
doing comics and started doing design / art work for computer games – in
particular Left 4 Dead (Haven’t played it but I gather it’s rather popular).
Anyway, that’s quite
enough of me rambling on. Let’s get to the good bit: a string of excellent
covers from one of 2000AD’s premiere cover art stars…
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| You know you'd buy these in a heartbeat if they were real! |
Phase 2: 2000AD is a magazine now...
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| Another one for the ages! |
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| I love how DeMarco looks super-pissed off about being exploited to sell comics |
Phase 3: more shinierer than ever before!
More on Jason Brashill:
A somewhat out of date 'where are they now' segment is about as much as I could find that covered his 2000AD time
Personal favourites:
Judge Dredd: Language Barrier; in the Year 2120; Christmas Angel; Apetown; After the
Bombs
*How to pronounce his
name? David Bishop clearly calls him Brash-ill on his recent Thrillcast &
Mega City Book Club interview. Simon Pegg refers to him as Braaa-hill on the
Spaced DVD. I remain none the wiser.
