When I first encountered Bisleys work in Slaine the Horned God in 2000AD I was blown away. I couldn't get enough of him I bought up as much of his stuff I found and tried to copy his painting style. Nothing popped off the page like Bisley did. Judgement on Gotham was another fantastic work: I don't think anyone had seen Batman like this:
After this though Biz got caught up with Kevin Eastman of Ninja Turtle fame and went down the gurgler. Kevin Eastman is the worst thing that ever happened to Simon Bisley. Melting Pot, Body Count, FAKK2, Fistfull of Blood, Simon Coldwater and countless poorly proportioned pinups have, in my opinion, been a stain on what started off a fabulous career. Images like these blow me away.
I still have kept up with what Biz has been doing for the past 2 decades and it took me a long time to stop buying his work. I have since sold or given away everything from this time but I have now come across his recent work on Hell Blazer and am about to open up my wallet again.
As far I can tell the reason that things are looking up again is that he's been given a script with some substance and characters that aren't all tits and muscle. His new style may have something to do with his return to form, I'm not sure but I'm looking forward (almost drooling) to getting my hot little mits on the collected trade of Biz's run on Hell Blazer.
3 comments:
It's all too easy to slag off a master like Biz when he goes off in other directions, but when he's 'on', he's 'ON'... and one can't call anyone crap when he's done work like Slaine.
Also, the guy has biceps like his drawings, so you gotta respect a man like that!
I fear a man with biceps like that!
I don't slag Bisley lightly. It is considered. I realise the pressure he must have on him and just how much he must be worth when performing at full capacity but frankly I believe a lot of his Eastman years was just bad and we forgave him because of things like Slaine etc.
Just because you do great work one day doesn't mean you can't do crap the next. And visa versa
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