Colin Wilson (born 31 October 1949) is a New Zealand comic book artist. He is known for his detailed artwork which he used in 2000 AD stories like Rogue Trooper and Judge Dredd. According to Andy Diggle, the 2000 AD editor who got him back to the title in the late nineties and has worked with him since, "no one ... draws near-future military hardware like him". Wilson has also had success in the French comics (coined "bande dessinées" – BD – in French) field, working on his own title Dans l'Ombre du Soleil, as well as having a run on the well-established Blueberry series. David Bishop, another 2000 AD editor says that Wilson is "a true rarity, a comics artist whose work has been acclaimed in America, Britain and most especially in Europe."

Biography

Born in Christchurch, Wilson received his formal training as an artist at Christchurch School of Art in 1967–1968. Working as an illustrator, he started his own fanzine, Strips, in 1977. Originally meant as a showcase for Wilson's own comics, Strips soon hosted many New Zealand comics and revived the New Zealand comic scene. In 1980, he first moved to London and did work for 2000 AD, working on Judge Dredd and Rogue Trooper before moving with his fiancée and later wife Janet Gale on a tourist visa to firstly Amsterdam, the Netherlands in 1982, subsequently to Brussels, Belgium in 1984, before settling a year later for a longer haul in the Provence, France. In Belgium, Gale started out her own comics career as colorist, at first only for the creations of her future husband, but at a later point in time for other (European) comics artists as well. After he became noticed for the debut "Raël" outing of his first BD science fiction series Dans L'Ombre du Soleil for French publisher Glénat, Wilson was selected to continue the art for the western series La Jeunesse de Blueberry (Young Blueberry) by its original creators Jean-Michel Charlier and Jean Giraud in person. In 1997, the Wilson/Gale couple left France and relocated to Melbourne, Australia, and it was from there that he continued his work for Europe and 2000 AD, took on new commissions for the US comics market, as well as eventually making his Francophone BD market comeback. Upon his departure from France to Australia, he drew a long story for Italian western comics character Tex Willer, written by Claudio Nizzi and published by Sergio Bonelli Editore in 2000. His later works for the US comics market included Point Blank, written by Ed Brubaker, and Star Wars: Invasion, written by Tom Taylor. The violent and gritty nature of Point Blanc came at a personal cost for Wilson however, as it heralded the end of both his marriage and his two decades old professional partnership with wife and colorist Janet Gale. In 2008, Wilson made a successful comeback on the Francophone BD market when he was contracted by Casterman to provide the art for the mini-series Du Plomb Dans La Tete (written by Matz), and from 2011 onward by publisher Delcourt to do so likewise for several of their series. On 14 October 2008, Variety reported that his graphic novel Du Plomb Dans La Tete, also known as Headshot, had been acquired by Warner Brothers. It was adapted into the 2012 film Bullet to the Head.

Comics

With the exception of Los Angeles, all other work Wilson had created for the Francophone BD market, has been released in multiple other languages in Europe as well, beyond French alone. His UK/US work is usually readily available through internet retailers, such as Amazon.

Other

Apart from his work on comics listed above, Colin Wilson has also done a lot of work as an illustrator, doing covers, illustrations and sketches for many different projects. This also includes work on role-playing games like:

Awards

Sources

Interviews