EXTRACTS: Illustrators issue 22 © 2018 The Book Palace (96 PAGES in Full edition)

2 Introduction Dave Gibbons recalls the early years of his career working with one of the nicest agents in the business. It’s amazing to think that, at one time, the UK comics industry was such that several people were able to make a good living as artists’ agents. Temple Art, near Chancery Lane represented Ron Embleton, Don Lawrence and Mick McMahon amongst others. I was represented by Bardon Press Features, near Farringdon Street, who also had Carlos Ezquerra, Brian Bolland and many others. Bardon’s name was an amalgamation of Barcelona and London, the partners being Barcelona-based Jordi Macabich and London’s Barry Coker. Barry had started in comics working on editorial for Amalgamated Press, later Fleetway, a major publisher of the day andMacabich was a well-connected Spanish artist. Many Spanish and Italian artists worked on British comics back then and the translation and delivery service, not to mention personal relationships with editors made an agent highly desirable. Barry represented me from my very earliest days as a professional and I doubt I would have made my career without his assistance. While I knew a few people at Fleetway, and had got some work lettering other people’s art, my drawing at the time wasn’t good enough for regular work. Barry had good relations with the other publishing mainstay of British comics, DC Thomson, who were based up in Dundee, Scotland. Though I had a tenuous Dundee connection, I had no chance of getting work there, starting from cold. Like agents in any field, I suspect that Barry got me in there on the back of his other, more seasoned, artists. However it happened, I found myself with as much work as I could handle. The pay wasn’t that good and the scripts weren’t particularly well-written (I later discovered most of them were office re-writes of older text serials) but the work was regular, without deadline and provided a great place to practice my skills, such as they were. Every week or so, I’d take pencilled pages in to Barry, he’d give them the once over and give me back the pages I’d taken in a previous week that had been off to DC Thomson and back. Usually there would be notes attached; suggestions of how to reframe a picture for better effect or a request to show something more clearly; “We must clearly see the key is in the lock.” Or “We need to see the reaction of the other character.” It was the closest you could come to a correspondence course in how to draw comics. Nothing fancy or artsy, just plain practical advice on how to get across the essential information to best tell the story. I’d make the changes, ink the pages and drop them off with Barry on my next trip. He’d invoice, take his cut and pay me out. Being paid to learn seemed like a good deal to me. A year or two into this pleasant arrangement, Brian Bolland joined Bardon on my recommendation and he and I worked together on Powerman . I’d actually assemble and letter the covers in Barry’s outer office. A few years later, I told Barry that I’d heard about a new science fiction comic, which became 2000AD , that I thought would be a good place for me to try and get some work. Sure enough, Barry arranged for me to meet the editor, Pat Mills, and we took the bus across