Brian Bolland’s unpublished “Jeff Hawke” cover offered for sale

By John Freeman on July 6, 2021

BritComicArt always has some terrific British comic art on offer, recently adding some fantastic work by Paul Neary and Alan Davis. Another new to market item is the pencil art for an unpublished Jeff Hawke collection by Brian Bolland.

This is the prelim for a planned third volume of the Jeff Hawke collection from Titan Books, but was cancelled.

Titan Books first published two collections of Jeff Hawke stories by Sydney Jordan and Willie Patterson in the 1980s, riding on the success of the company’s Judge Dredd and other 2000AD collections. Both collections were reprinted in 2008.

As noted in The Art of Brian Bolland, it was Brian Bolland who suggested which strips should be included to publisher Nick Landau.

Overlord, first published in 1986, (ISBN 978-0907610359) collects “Overlord”, “Survival”, “Wondrous Lamp” and “Counsel for the Defence”. It was reprinted in February 2008 (ISBN 1-84576-597-4)

The Ambassadors, also first published in 1986 (ISBN 978-0907610755) collects “The Ambassadors”, “Pastmaster”, “The Immortal Toys”, “The Gamesman” and “A Test Case”. It was reprinted in July 2008 (ISBN 1-84576-598-2)

Presumably, sales of the Jeff Hawke collections were disappointing, so plans to publish a third collection under the umbrella title, “A Test Case”.

Titan Books 2008 hardback collector’s’ format editions were issued alongside their similar hardback Dan Dare and Charley’s War collections, and in tandem with other collections of Daily Express strip favourites “Modesty Blaise” and “James Bond”.

Brian later finished the cover for “A Test Case” for a feature article for illustrators magazine, and last year he also shared the completed colour version with fans on The Brian Bolland Appreciation Society on Facebook.

“I drew the pencil rough in the 1980s,” said Brian. “I thought it would be enjoyable to finish it here in April 2020.”

• Check out the unpublished Jeff Hawke collection by Brian Bolland on BritComicArt

• Jeff Hawke collections – British and Italian – on AmazonUK (Affiliate Link)

• The Art of Sydney Jordan / The Art of Jim Holdaway (illustrators Special) – available from publisher Book Palace | AmazonUK

• illustrators Special 6: Brian Bolland – available from publisher Book Palace | AmazonUK

• The Jeff Hawke Club is online at www.jeffhawkeclub.co.uk

John Freeman

The founder of downthetubes, which he established in 1998. John works as a comics and magazine editor, writer, and on promotional work for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He is currently editor of Star Trek Explorer, published by Titan – his third tour of duty on the title originally titled Star Trek Magazine.

Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine, Babylon 5 Magazine, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics. He has also edited several comic collections, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”.

He’s the writer of “Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies” for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs” with Dave Hailwood.