Chris Weston has been announced as cover artist for the Kickstarter Exclusive Paperback Edition of Dan Dare: First Contact from B7 Comics, the project approaching its crowdfunding target on Kickstarter.
In the works is a brand-new launch for Dan Dare: the first volume in a three-book graphic novel saga, written by Alex de Campi with art by Marc Laming, coloured by Michael Woods, created with the full blessing of the rights holders, The Dan Dare Corporation.
The publisher has also teased upcoming reveal of the cover artist for the Hardback Edition very soon.
The publisher of indie titles Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies and the graphic novels Hancock: The Lad Himself and Mr Jones’s Smoking Bones, an imprint of B7 Media, also added a Limited Edition A2 Poster of Chris’ cover – just 100 copies available, as an Add-on.
“Dan Dare has always been one of my favourite characters, mostly for the way he helped me to bond with my late father, who enjoyed reading The Pilot of the Future’s adventures in Eagle,” says Chris. “However, I don’t think my Dad ever really wrapped his head round the 2000AD version, unfortunately. Thus, he was delighted to buy me the Dragon’s Dream reprints of the Eagle strip when they were reprinted in the early 1980s; just to show me what he considered to be the ‘real’ Dan Dare: the one drawn beautifully by Frank Hampson.
“I’ve drawn various Dan Dare covers and commissions over the years and one of these pieces became the only work of my art that my Dad hung on his wall… and it’s still there today (but now sadly only enjoyed by my Mum). I think you could say that I have a familial and sentimental attachment to the character.
“Marc and Alex have generously given me another chance to draw my favourite space hero for their upcoming graphic novel Dan Dare: First Contact. I can’t wait to get started on the variant cover and will do my utmost to match Marc’s amazing artwork; quite the challenge!
“The real judge will still be my Dad, even in spirit, but I know that whatever we cook up together, he’ll be pleased to see his favourite comic book character is still venturing out into The Great Beyond.”
Chris Weston has been a professional comic strip artist since 1988. After studying for a year with Don Lawrence (artist of Storm and the original artist on “The Rise and Fall of the Trigan Empire” for Ranger and Look and Learn), Chris secured his first paid job for 2000AD, drawing Judge Dredd, a character he regularly returned to right up to the present day.
Chris worked on several series for 2000AD, his favourite being the gruesome “Indigo Prime: Killing Time”, co-created with John Smith. “Canon Fodder”, written by Mark Millar, followed this. Chris worked again with Millar on an issue of DC Comics Swamp Thing, his first work for an American comic book publisher.
Thus began a long sequence of work for Vertigo and DC Comics, as Chris drew The Invisibles, Starman, Garth Ennis’ War Stories: Johann’s Tiger, Enemy Ace, JSA, Lucifer, The Authority and Time Breakers.
He went on to co-produce two critically acclaimed creator-owned series: The Filth and Ministry of Space. The former was a mind-bending paranoid thriller written by Grant Morrison; the latter a limited series written by Warren Ellis, which saw Britain winning the Space Race. Chris then drew his first series for Marvel: Fantastic Four: First Family, followed by The Twelve, a twelve-issue limited series written by J. Michael Straczynski.
In 2008, Chris began to produce concept art and storyboards for films. Amongst a variety of movie productions, he worked on The Book of Eli and an unmade live action adaptation of Akira, both for director Albert Hughes. More recently, he worked as a costume designer on Star Wars: The Last Jedi.
Chris now juggles his time between drawing Judge Dredd, film work and a growing line of silkscreen print commissions. He continues to provide covers for various publishers, including Flash Gordon, for Mad Cave; Redcoat, for Image Comics, and 2000AD publisher, Rebellion, including, for example, his covers for their The Trigan Empire hardback collections.
He was the artist on Paranoid Gardens by Gerard Way and Shaun Simon, published by Dark Horse Comics, in 2024, and is currently working on completion of “Megatropolis Book 2” for Judge Dredd Megazine, written by Kenneth Niemand, with colourist, Antonietta Saulino, following the passing of Dave Taylor.
• The Dan Dare: First Contact Project is here
If you have already booked this project and selected the Paperback Edition as a Reward or Add-On at any point in the campaign, it will have Chris’s cover
• Check out B7 Comics titles on the B7 Media Store
- About the Author
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John is the founder of downthetubes, launched in 1998. He is a comics and magazine editor, writer, and Press Officer for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He also runs Crucible Comic Press.
Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine and Overkill for Marvel UK, Babylon 5 Magazine, Star Trek Magazine, and its successor, Star Trek Explorer, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics; and has edited several comic collections and graphic novels, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”, and Hancock: The Lad Himself, by Stephen Walsh and Keith Page.
He’s the writer of comics such as 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.
Categories: British Comics, British Comics - Current British Publishers, British Comics - Graphic Novels, Comics, Creating Comics, downthetubes Comics News, downthetubes News
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