View source for John McCrea (comics)

{{Short description|Comic book artist from Northern Ireland}}
{{Other people|John McCrea}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2020}}
{{EngvarB|date=January 2020}}
{{Infobox comics creator
| name          = John McCrea
| image         = John McCrea 2008.jpg
| imagesize     =
| caption       = McCrea at [[F.A.C.T.S.]] 2008
| birth_name    =
| birth_date    = {{birth year and age|1966}}
| birth_place   = [[Belfast]], Northern Ireland
| death_date    =
| death_place   =
| area          = Penciller, Inker
| alias         =
| notable works = ''[[Hitman (DC Comics)|Hitman]]''<br>''[[The Boys (comics)|The Boys]]'' {{small|(''[[Herogasm]]'', ''[[Highland Laddie (comic book)|Highland Laddie]]'', and ''[[The Big Ride#Barbary Coast|Barbary Coast]]'')}}
| awards        =
| website       = {{url|https://www.johnmccrea.co.uk}}
}}
'''John McCrea''' (born 1966) is a comic book artist best known for his collaborations with writer [[Garth Ennis]].

==Career==
In 1989, after a few years of drawing television and toy tie-ins, he illustrated Ennis's debut, the political series ''Troubled Souls'', in ''[[Crisis (comic)|Crisis]]'', as well as its sequel, the farce ''For a Few Troubles More''. He later illustrated the series ''Carla Allison'' in ''[[Deadline (comics magazine)|Deadline]]''.

He broke into American comics in 1993, drawing Ennis's run on [[DC Comics]]'s ''[[The Demon (comics)|The Demon]]'', followed by its spin-off, ''[[Hitman (DC Comics)|Hitman]]'', from 1996 to 2001, on which McCrea developed a versatile drawing style equally at home with goofy humour, action, and subtle characterisation. Hitman issue 34 won the [[Eisner Award]] for [[Eisner Award for Best Single Issue/One-Shot|Best Single Issue]] in 1999. His wilder, more exaggerated cartooning found an outlet with ''Dicks'', a mini-series spinning off from ''For a Few Troubles More'' into more outrageous dialect, sexual and toilet humour, published by [[Caliber Comics|Caliber]] in 1997, with a sequel, ''Dicks II'', from [[Avatar Press|Avatar]] in 2002.

Since ''Hitman'' finished he has drawn a variety of characters for DC, [[Marvel Comics|Marvel]], [[Dark Horse Comics]], [[2000 AD (comics)|2000 AD]] and others. Recent work includes ''[[Herogasm]]'' and ''[[Highland Laddie (comic book)|Highland Laddie]]'', limited series spun off from Garth Ennis' ''[[The Boys (comics)|The Boys]]'', and ''The Boys'' story arc ''[[The Big Ride#Barbary Coast|Barbary Coast]]''.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20090320031138/http://www.newsarama.com/comics/030917-Herogasm-McCrea.html A Quick Herogasm Check-In with John McCrea], [[Newsarama]], 18 March 2009</ref><ref>[http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=20548 John McCrea Talks Herogasm], [[Comic Book Resources]], 25 March 2009</ref>

On 9 April 2011, McCrea was one of 62 comics creators who appeared at the [[IGN]] stage at the Kapow! convention in London to set two [[Guinness World Records]], the Fastest Production of a Comic Book, and Most Contributors to a Comic Book.<ref name=IGNGuinness>[http://comics.ign.com/articles/116/1161812p1.html "Kapow! '11: Comic History Rewritten On The IGN Stage"]. [[IGN]]. 14 April 2011</ref><ref>[http://community.guinnessworldrecords.com/_Guinness-World-Records-at-Kapow-Comic-Con/blog/3454984/7691.html "Guinness World Records at Kapow! Comic Con"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110415004929/http://community.guinnessworldrecords.com/_Guinness-World-Records-at-Kapow-Comic-Con/blog/3454984/7691.html |date=15 April 2011 }}. [[Guinness World Records]]. 9 April 2011</ref>

In 2012, he started work on the Mars Attacks! 50th anniversary relaunch of the ongoing comic, written by [[John Layman]] and published by [[IDW Publishing|IDW]]. He also contributed 15 new cards to the [[Mars Attacks|Topps MA!]] Heritage set and exclusive variants for the set.

While pencilling and inking the MA! comic, he has also found time to pencil and ink issue 49.1 of ''[[Deadpool (comic book)|Deadpool]]'' for Marvel, ''Warpaint'' (written by [[Phil Hester (comics)|Phil Hester]]) for UK based Strip Magazine and ''Progenitor'' (also written by Hester) for [[David Lloyd (comics)|David Lloyd]]'s bold new online only publishing adventure ''Aces Weekly''.

He returned to DC briefly in 2013 through their Vertigo imprint for an 8 pager (written by [[Neil Kleid]]) for their one shot ''[[Ghosts (comics)#2012 one-shot|Ghosts]]''. He returned again, this time to mainline DC Comics, for miniseries ''Section 8'', based on supporting characters of ''Hitman''. ''Section 8'' also marks his reunion with ''Hitman'' writer [[Garth Ennis]] and the team's return to the series.

==Bibliography==
* "Fast Forward" (with Hilary Robinson, in ''[[2000 AD (comics)|2000 AD]]'' No. 615, 1989)
* ''Troubled Souls'' (with [[Garth Ennis]], in ''[[Crisis (comic)|Crisis]]'' #15–27, 40 & 46, 1989–1990)
* "Wyrmwood" (with [[Malachy Coney]], in ''[[Crisis (comic)|Crisis]]'' No. 29, 1989)
* "Her parents" (with [[Mark Millar]], in ''[[Crisis (comic)|Crisis]]'' No. 31, 1989)
* ''[[Chopper (Judge Dredd character)|Chopper]]'': "Earth, Wind and Fire" (with [[Garth Ennis]], in ''[[Judge Dredd Megazine]]'' #1.01–1.06, 1990)
* ''[[Judge Death]]'': "Masque of the Judge, Death" (with [[Si Spencer]], in ''Judge Dredd Mega-Special'' No. 4, 1991)
* ''[[Middenface McNulty]]'': "Wan Man an' His Dug" (with [[Alan Grant (writer)|Alan Grant]] and [[Tony Luke]], in ''[[Judge Dredd Megazine]]'' #1.15–1.20, 1991–1992)
* ''[[Judge Dredd]]'':
** "The Craftsman" (with [[Garth Ennis]], in ''2000 AD'' No. 817, 1993)
** "Last Respects" (with [[Gordon Rennie]], in ''2000 AD'' #1389, 2004)
** "Placebo" (with Rufus Dog, in ''2000 AD'' #1405, 2004)
** "Harvey" (with [[John Wagner]], in ''2000 AD'' #2024-2029, 2017)
* ''[[The Demon (comics)|The Demon]]'' #40,42–48,50,52–60 (with [[Garth Ennis]], DC Comics, 1993–1995)
* ''[[Hitman (DC Comics)|Hitman]]''  (with [[Garth Ennis]], 60 issues, DC, specials: Annual #1, [[DC One Million|issue #1,000,000]], 1996–2001)
** ''Hitman'' ([[Trade paperback (comics)|tpb]] collects #1–3 + ''[[The Demon (comic)|The Demon]] Annual'' No. 2 + [[Batman Chronicles]] No. 4, 1997 {{ISBN|1-56389-314-2}})
** ''10,000 Bullets'' ([[Trade paperback (comics)|tpb]] collects #4–8, 1998 {{ISBN|1-56389-404-1}})
** ''Local Heroes'' ([[Trade paperback (comics)|tpb]] collects #9–14 + Annual No. 1, 1999 {{ISBN|1-56389-509-9}})
** ''Ace of Killers'' ([[Trade paperback (comics)|tpb]] collects #15–22, 2000 {{ISBN|1-56389-614-1}})
** ''Who Dares Wins'' ([[Trade paperback (comics)|tpb]] collects #23–28, 2001 {{ISBN|1-56389-718-0}})
** uncollected: 29–33, 1,000,0000, 34–60
** ''[[Hitman (DC Comics)|Hitman]]/[[Lobo (DC Comics)|Lobo]]: That Stupid Bastich!'' ([[one-shot (comics)|one-shot]], 1999)
** ''[[JLA/Hitman]]'' (2-issue [[Limited series (comics)|mini-series]], DC, 2007, ongoing)
* ''[[Dicks (comics)|Dicks]]'' (with [[Garth Ennis]], 1997–2005)
* ''[[Preacher (comics)|Preacher Special; Tall in the Saddle]]'' (with [[Steve Dillon]], one-shot, DC/Vertigo 1999)
* ''[[Cruel and Unusual (comics)|Cruel and Unusual]]'' (pencils, with authors [[Jamie Delano]]/[[Tom Peyer]] and inks by [[Andrew Chiu]], [[Vertigo Comics|Vertigo]], 4-issue mini-series, 1999)
* ''Wonder Woman Annual'' vol. 2 #154–155 (with [[Doselle Young]], DC, 2000)
* ''[[Superman]] 80-Page Giant'': "How To Be A Super-Hero" (with [[Garth Ennis]], DC, 1999)
* ''[[Jenny Sparks: The Secret History of the Authority]]'' (with [[Mark Millar]], 5-issue mini-series, [[Wildstorm]], 2000, {{ISBN|1-56389-769-5}})
* ''[[Bart Simpson's Treehouse of Horror]]'' #7: "In Springfield, No-One Can Hear You Scream" (with [[Garth Ennis]], 2001)
* "[[Trooper (comic)|Trooper]]" (with [[Garth Ennis]] & [[Jimmy Palmiotti]], in [[Star Wars Tales 10|''Star Wars Tales'' #10]], 2001, collected in ''Star Wars Tales, Volume Three'', [[Dark Horse Comics]], 2003, {{ISBN|1-56971-836-9}})
* ''[[Monarchy (comic book)|The Monarchy]]'' (with [[Doselle Young]], 12 issues, Wildstorm, 2001–2002)
* ''[[Superboy (comic book)|Superboy]]'' #92–100
* ''[[Spider-Man's Tangled Web]]'' #1–3: "The Coming of the Thousand" (with [[Garth Ennis]], 2001, [[Trade paperback (comics)|tpb]], 2002 {{ISBN|0-7851-0803-3}})
* ''[[Spider-Man]]'': "Get Kraven" (pencils with [[Ron Zimmerman]], and inks by [[James Hodgkins]], 5 issues, Marvel, 2002)
* ''[[Hulk|Hulk Smash!]]'' (with [[Garth Ennis]], [[Marvel Comics|Marvel]], 2 issues, 2001, collected in [[Trade paperback (comics)|tpb]] ''Incredible Hulk Vol. 7: Dead Like Me'', August 2004, {{ISBN|0-7851-1399-1}})
* ''[[Sinister Dexter]]'' "Vircade" (with [[Dan Abnett]], in ''2000 AD'' #1431, 2005)
* ''[[The Atheist (comics)|The Atheist]]'' (with [[Phil Hester (comics)|Phil Hester]], [[Image Comics]], 2005)
* ''[[The 99]]'' (with [[Fabian Nicieza]], [[Teshkeel Comics]], 2007-ongoing)
* ''[[Theseus battling the Minotaur]]'' ([[one-shot (comics)|one-shot]], [[Lerner Publishing Group]])
* ''[[The Boys (comics)|The Boys]]'': ''[[Herogasm]]'', ''[[Highland Laddie (comic book)|Highland Laddie]]'', and ''[[The Big Ride#Barbary Coast|Barbary Coast]]'' (with [[Garth Ennis]], mini-series, [[Dynamite Entertainment]], 2009-2011)

==Awards==
* 1998 [[Eisner Award]] for Best Single Issue (for ''Hitman #34: Of Thee I Sing'')

==Trivia==
John McCrea also had a drawing of [[Toyah Willcox]] as a [[Judge (2000 AD)|Judge]] printed in 2000AD for a Dredd readers' art page in prog 310.

==Notes==
{{Reflist}}

==References==
* {{gcdb|type=credit|search=John+McCrea|title=John McCrea}}
* [http://www.2000ad.org/?zone=droid&page=profiles&choice=JOHNM John McCrea] at 2000 AD online
* [http://marvel.com/catalog/?artist=John%20Mccrea John McCrea] on Marvel.com
* [http://lambiek.net/artists/m/mccrea_john.htm John McCrea] at [[Lambiek]]'s Comiclopedia

==External links==
* {{official website|http://www.johnmccrea.co.uk}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20050206170720/http://dspace.dial.pipex.com/town/way/xmi94/index.shtml Old site]
* {{comicbookdb|type=creator|id=703|title=John McCrea}}

===Interviews===
{{More footnotes|section|date=April 2009}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20050524210122/http://www.2000adreview.co.uk/features/interviews/2005/mccrea/mccrea1.shtml John McCrea interview] by [[PJ Holden]] and Richmond Clments, 2000 AD Review, 11 May 2005
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20081112073510/http://www.brokenfrontier.com/lowdown/details.php?id=1555 John McCrea, hitman and madman], Broken Frontier, 7 November 2008

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:McCrea, John}}
[[Category:1966 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Comics artists from Northern Ireland]]
[[Category:Writers from Belfast]]
[[Category:People educated at Sullivan Upper School]]
[[Category:Male writers from Northern Ireland]]
[[Category:Artists from Belfast]]