Monday 28 March 2011

GIMME FIVE! - Boo Cook






Today we have Boo Cook, all round top bloke and fantastic visualist, producing some brilliantly original art for Judge Anderson just lately. Yep, i'd love to see him work on Halo Jones too.
Go Boo:

1. WHAT COMICS DID YOU READ WHEN YOU WERE A NIPPER?
Ever since i was really young, my Grandpa decided to send me a comic each week from Stevenage - he figured he wouldn't have anything much to leave us in way of a Will so he gave us this cool gift while he was still around to see us enjoy it. He basically ended up leaving me a massive stack of comics and an unbridled passion for the medium, which i'm sure you'd agree is worth way more than dosh!
I started off with him sending me Toby Comic when i was 4 - my older brother consistently got sent Tiger Comic, which had it's moments but was a tad 'sporty' for me. From Toby i think i went onto the Beano comic, and onto Look-In from there, which i got for quite a while. Then on my 10th christmas i got the 1982 2000AD annual which turned my appreciation of comics upside down. After a brief dabble with Starlord, i moved onto 2000AD full time and have been getting it weekly ever since.

2. AND THE FAVOURITE ONE OF THOSE?
So, my favourite childhood comic would have to be 2000AD hands down - Eagle and Scream had their moments, and Look- In even ran some tasty/weird strips, but nothing could match the crazed imagination evident in 2000AD - my brain sucked it up like a sponge.

3. FAVOURITE CHARACTER?
My favourite character in 2000AD has always been and still is, Johnny Alpha. Sometimes i wonder if it should really be Wulf Sternhammer, but i think i'll stick with Johnny. 'Sandy sci-fi' is my favourite genre and nobody does it better than Carlos. Plus the sense of design in Strontium Dog, the outlandish characters and immense scope for story telling made it a bottomless pit of epic brilliance, which i'm very pleased to say, is still in evidence in the Prog.

4. FAVOURITE ARTIST?
Trying to nail down one favourite artist from my childhood is pretty impossible - i'd have to give the accolade to a conglomerate of artists acting as one, and it's probably no big surprise to discover that the many headed art beast would consist of : Carlos Ezquerra, Brian Bolland, Mike McMahon, Cam Kennedy, and Brendan McCarthy. These are the artists who have probably influenced and inspired me the most, and i'm still blown away by their efforts now.

5. If "THEY" DECIDED TO BRING IT BACK, WHAT STRIP WOULD YOU MOST LIKE TO WORK ON?
Well, the Strontium Dog strip is thankfully still going strong and remains firmly in the capable hands of it's creator (and his son), so much as i would love to draw Johnny and Wulf, i would have to respectfully leave it to the master! That said , Judge Dredd has always been a close second favourite in my mind, and it's been an immense pleasure to have worked on him from time to time, and is something i will never tire of.
If 'they bought it back' i would be more than happy to help Alan Moore wrap up the Halo Jones saga...

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