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The man known as “Old Slow Hand,Paul Brown,took up a suggestion to stop yacking about how brilliant Mike MacMahon is and do an interview.  Over to fan-boy Brown… 

It’s kind of depressing to think that 2000AD is 30 years old now. For anyone who read it from it’s inception, I tend to think that it’s the first ten years that really made such an indelible impression on the British comic book landscape, and the imaginations of it’s readers. It defined a new stylistic and artistic language specifically in British comic book art, and writing. Integral to it’s success was the stunning idiosyncratic work of a handful of artists whose names will be synonymous with it’s development. To my mind, they are Carlos Ezquerra, Massimo Bellardinelli, Brian Bolland, Dave Gibbons, Kevin O’Neill….and Mick (Mike) McMahon.  

In my own humble opinion, I happen to believe that Mick McMahon is probably the most singularly original British Comic Artist of his generation. His work has always remained fresh, vibrant, quirky, innovative. Informed with an intelligence and subtle wit, a unique visual language that constantly evolves while still remaining quintessentially, blatantly  Mick McMahon, he has produced some of the most memorable pages of artwork seen in British (and American) comics in the last 3 decades. Think of his work on Dredd (paticularly, for me, the early 80’s,& especially on the first two Dredd Annuals) , the ABC Warriors, Slaine in 2000AD, The Last American for Epic, Mutomaniac in the otherwise lacklustre Toxic.Tattered Banners  for Vertigo. He has been an enormous influence on a younger generation of British comic book artists since, and, one would hope, will continue to be so.   

Mike was incredibly kind enough to reply to a series of questions forwarded to him by Terry from myself, particularly as he is probably ridiculously busy at the moment, working on the new Tank Girl story “Carioca”, due to be published later this year. I, like many others no doubt, can’t wait ! 

PB: The look of your artwork always takes very definite stylistic shifts. Do you have a preconceived idea of a direction you want the work to go in visually, or is it simply a natural development of your style ?

 

 

MM;I find that drawing a strip for a considerable period of time leads to shortcuts/mannerisms peculiar to that particular character, so when that job finishes these ‘flourishes’ are inapproriate for a new story, so it’s back to square one. Trying to shoehorn a new project into an old ‘style’ is far more trouble that it’s worth.

 

 

 

 

PB: Why did you decide to quit drawing Dredd to draw Ro-Busters and the A.B.C. Warriors instead ? Had you got tired of the character ?

 

 

MM:No, I was still having fun with Dredd, but they asked me if I wanted a change and I said yes.

 

 

PB: What was the initial reaction to the very first of the Slaine woodcut style pages when you handed them in at the 2000AD offices ?

 

 

MM:Given my slow pace, they were just pleased to have some pages, how they were drawn was almost neither here nor there, although they were very happy with it.

 

 

 

PB: I remember once being in a queue of fanboys at a Forbidden Planet 2000AD Annual signing back in the eighties, and listening to these idiots absolutely slating your work-”oh he cant draw realistically, its all out of proportion etc.” Yet I’ve always thought your work was tremendously funny.

 

 

Do you think your work is generally misunderstood by most comic book readers ? For example, your “comeback” on Dredd, the “Howler” I thought was incredibly sophisticated visually, and very funny, yet you’ve stated that it received quite a negative response. Do you feel that sometimes people just don’t get the subtleties of your work, or they miss the visual humour ?

 

 

MM:The majority of people know nothing about art (and why should they), and are still most impressed with drawings copied from photographs. It is also true that a lot of people who read comics are not fans of the medium per se, rather they are fans of superheroes/fantasy/science fiction, and want their fix served up in a ‘realistic’ style, so the fact that there are at least a handful of people who like what I do is as surprising as it is welcome.

 

 

 

PB: Do you change the materials you use to draw a strip each time ? e.g. Your early Dredd strips seem all brush, the later ones a mixture of brush and dip-pen. Are there any specific materials you really like to use, is it simply horses for courses, or does it really not matter ?

 

 

MM:Before going digital I spent years looking for the perfect pencil/pen/paper combination that might help what was on the board to have at least a passing approximation to what was in my head. Alas, it very rarely happened – the only time it came close was the Decap Attack strips I did for Sonic the Comic.

 

 

 

 

 

 

PB: Can you tell us a bit about your time working for Toxic and the Mutomaniac strip. Had Pat Mills written the whole story, and if so, is there a chance it could ever see the light of day? Couldn’t 2000ad get hold of it maybe. For me, it was the only thing worth looking at in the comic.

 

 

MM;A horrible experience that will never be repeated. The start of my falling out of love with comics.

 

 

PB:I remember watching an animated stories of the Bible that you had done the concept designs for I believe, for I think BBC Wales. It looked fantastic. How did this come about, and is animation something you’d be interested in working in again ?

 

 

 

MM:That was great fun. The director was Derek Hayes,  I’d done concept work for his animation company in the late seventies (the project never got off the ground), and he wanted me to design all the characters and props for the Elijah episode of the BBC Bible in Animation series. But even better was that the animation would use my then current style, very angular and ‘clean’, which meant that I had to design the characters exactly as they would appear in the film. A lovely job!

 

 

PB: What did you make of the Stallone Dredd film ? Did you have any involvement in the conceptual design ? I remember being really annoyed they’d gone for this awful Bladerunner look, when in the Dredd strips & covers you drew around the early eighties, it always looks sunny, there are birds flying around, it looks an enjoyable metropolis to live in funnily enough. I think that would have been a more interesting visual contrast/contradiction, rather than the obvious bleak,dark look they always go for.

 

MM:I had no involvement. I rarely enjoy films based on comics and this was no exception.

 

 

PB: How did you get involved in the gaming industry as a concept designer ? Was it due to a lack of opportunities in comics at that time, or a desire to give up comics entirely , and do something new ?

 

 

MM:I love computer games, I had lost interest in comics, so I applied to some games companies for a ‘proper’ job, and I was lucky enough to be taken on by Climax in Brighton. I didn’t actually do a lot of concept work, I was doing 3D environments which was much more interesting, it was all new and exciting. I worked in the business from 2002 until 2007, loved every minute.

 

PB : What is/was Heavy Plant ?

 

MM:This is a strip created by Russell Uttley, a nice man I worked with at Com.X. It’s about giant construction machines that run amok (what else?). I designed the machines/main characters for the book, but lack of finance meant that it has still not got off the ground, a shame as it would have been a lot of fun.

 

 

PB: It was really terrific to see you back on Judge Dredd recently (showing them how it should be done !).Are there likely to be more Dredd strips from you in the near future ? In which case, I just might start looking at 2000AD again.

 

MM:I have no idea to be honest. That Dredd story took me a long time, not very economic. I was very happy with a couple of the pages,

PB: You did a very short stint on Batman for DC, Is there any major comic book character out there you’d like to draw, or wish you had come up with ?

 

 

MM:Not really. I would have loved to have drawn Miller’s 300, though it wouldn’t have been anything compared to what the great man did with it. I do have a hankering to take a crack at Hell Boy, but other than that I would prefer to work on new stuff.

 

 

PB: Of all your work, which pieces have given you the most enjoyment to work on, and which do you think have worked best in their execution, have been the most creatively satisfying.

 

 

MM:As mentioned above, I was pleased with my work on Decap Attack, I actually felt like I knew what I was doing.

 

 

PB: I loved your  criticism of plagarists in 2000ad, “The Bloodsuckers “. Why did 2000 edit yours and Brian Bollands’ pages ? Also, have you ever met any of the people who have blatantly stole from you, and confronted them about it ?

 

 

MM:That whole thing was bizarre to say the least, I still can’t believe that they commissioned all that angst. Plagiarism isn’t something I ever lost sleep over, but it seemed a fair target when pat Mills asked me to do a one-off page for whatever special issue it was. Changing the pages was just another aspect of the general wrongheadedness of the project.

 

 

PB: Finally, why has Rufus Dayglo got loads of your artwork, when I am so much more of a fan of your work than he is ! ?

 

MM:Beats me – there’s plenty left if you want to take him on

 

PB : Thank you Mr McMahon, it’s been an honour and a privilege !

 

MM:You’re welcome.

 

 

Fin