Brian Lewis

Brian Moncrieff Lewis (3 June 1929 – 4 December 1978)[1] was a British science fiction illustrator, comics artist, and animator. In the 1950s, he illustrated covers for pulp magazines like New Worlds, Science Fantasy, and Science Fiction Adventures. In the 1960s, he drew adventure comic strips for Tiger, Boys’ World, Hurricane, and Eagle. He also used a more cartoony style to draw humor comic strips for Wham!, Smash, Cor!!, and Buster. In the 1970s, Lewis focused on comics adaptations of television and horror film properties.

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Biography

Lewis served in the Royal Air Force, and became involved in science fiction fandom in the early 1950s.

His first professional illustration was for the Radio Times, and he began contributing to New Worlds in 1954, painting forty covers for the magazine. He also painted 21 covers for Science Fantasy, 19 for Science Fiction Adventures and a few for Digit Books between 1957 and 1962.[1] His work was characterised by strong colours laid on thickly, and was influenced by surrealists Paul Klee and Max Ernst and illustrator Richard Powers.[2]

His first work in comics was the strip Magna Carta for Lone Star in 1959.[1][3] In the early 1960s, he drew adventure strips Jet Ace Logan, The Suicide Six, Paddy Ryan, Memorable Moments in Sport, and The Destroyer from the Depths for Tiger; Captain Condor for Lion; John Brody[1] and Brett Million[3] for Boys’ World; Planet Z for Hurricane; and The Guinea Pig[1] and Mann of Battle[3] for Eagle. He also used a more cartoony style to draw Pest of the West and Georgie’s Germs in Wham!,[1] and Space Jinx and Charlie’s Choice for Smash.[4] He also drew the illustrations for a Supercar storybook.

Around 1966, he moved into animation, working on films such as Yellow Submarine.[1] In the late 1960s and 70s, he drew comics adaptations of television properties for TV21, Countdown,[3] and TV Action.[4] He illustrated horror adaptations for Dez Skinn‘s House of Hammer (including most covers for that series), as well as illustrating a number of episodes of the ongoing feature Van Helsing’s Terror Tales. This latter work led to commissions for Warren Publishing‘s Vampirella in the USA.[3] He also continued his illustration work with Tomboy in Cor!! and Buster,[5] and Mark Strong in Look-in. In 1978, he had a brief stint on Dan Dare in 2000 AD, drew two strips in the Van Der Valk annual, and produced some technical illustrations for Harry Harrison‘s book Mechanismo: An Illustrated Manual of Science Fiction Hardware.

Death

He died on 4 December 1978. His final published work appeared in Halls of Horror vol. 3, #5 (issue #29) (1984), a story originally produced in 1978.

Awards

Lewis was nominated for “Favourite British Artist” in the 1978 Eagle Awards.[6]

Bibliography

Jet Ace Logan, from Tiger, 1961

Comics

Illustrations

References

  1. ^ Jump up to:a b c d e f g h i Steve Holland, Brian Lewis, Bear Alley, 3 June 2008
  2. ^ Jon Gustafson and Peter Nicholls, The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction
  3. ^ Jump up to:a b c d e Fco. Javier Alcázar Guijo, Brian Lewis, el Británnico Olvidado, Tebeosfera (in Spanish)
  4. ^ Jump up to:a b Alan Clark, Dictionary of British Comic Artists, Writers and Editors, The British Library, 1998, p. 93
  5. ^ Gent, Mike. “The Story of Cor!!,” DownTheTubes.net. Retrieved Feb. 12, 2021.
  6. ^ The source for this and the other 1978 winners is Previous Winners: 1978, at the official Eagle Awards website, archived at the Wayback Machine. (Retrieved 9 September 2018.)
  7. ^ Stringer, Lew. “Moon Madness in 1966,” Blimey! The Blog of British Comics (July 20, 2009).

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