Kevin Nowlan

AMERICAN COMIC book artist Kevin Nowlan is renowned for style, wit and visual flair.

The following is a brief profile on Kevin Nowlan by David Hopkins, the manager of Birmingham's very own Nostalgia & Comics, along with minor input by Paul H Birch.

Kevin Nowlan has always stood out in the comic book world for having a distinctive art style that combines a stirring sense of realism with a strong element of design.

Born in 1958, this self-taught artist began contributing illustrations and covers for The Comics Journal and other magazines. His first sustained comics run was the mature fairytale drama Grimwood's Daughter serialised in Dalgoda and published by Fantagraphics in the mid-80s.

Thereafter, sagely advised by Terry Austin, Marvel began offering him assignments on Moonknight and Dr Strange, books that suitably impressed their buying readership.

Nowlan took on other assignments at Marvel, DC and Dark Horse developing his art style to the point where he became in great demand as an inking and finishing artist. While he doesn't care for this latter trade description there is no doubt the completed pages always result in a distinguished class act.

Work of note of this nature featuring Nowlan includes Superman/Aliens, Star Wars: Dark Force Rising and Aliens: Salvation.

The artist is renowned for producing highly praised cover art and contributed character design work to Batman: The Animated Series. He was also one of Alan Moore's collaborators on the ABC series Tomorrow Stories, co-creating the Jack B. Quick character. These short strips more than showed off his versatility and ability to inject a strong humorous element into his work.

Kevin Nowlan has been described as "an artist's artist" he is also an artist that readers of quality comics admire!

Visit Nostalgia & Comics at 14-16 Smallbrook Queensway in Birmingham's city centre and purchase great comics by Kevin Nowlan and others.