Unsurprisingly perhaps, after my nod at The Trigan Empire last week, the next in my series of Comicbook Gods is the wonderful Don Lawrence.
DON LAWRENCE (1928-2003)
Up-front I have to say I can’t stand painted artwork for comic books. Fortunately Don Lawrence was concerned with something else entirely. Look at his body of work and you’ll see it consists almost exclusively of two narratives namely The Rise and Fall of the Trigan Empire and Storm. Even then, and discounting Karl the Viking as a minor diversion, but for a dispute over finances he might never have left The Trigan Empire at all! For a ‘comic book’ artist that’s some focus, and even perhaps puts Frank Hampson’s work on Dan Dare into its shadow? It hardly falls into the category of what we know as ‘comics’. European certainly, but hardly ‘graphic novels’ either. I guess its all part of what makes comics worth talking about. Some things just go outside what we are used to. Don Lawrence not only stretches the envelope, he jots his own name and address on the back and mails it to himself!
Of course Don cut his teeth on many more strips in the early days, even having a stint on Marvelman for Mick Anglo! Westerns and historical epics followed before he began a ten year run on the adventures of Trigo, Brag, Janno and Peric on the planet Elekton.
After realising he was not fully financially appreciated in Britain, he moved to Holland and began the first of twenty-three volumes of Storm, which went on to sell millions across Europe and around the world. Shame on you Britain! So great was his star in Europe that he was actually made a Knight of the Order of Oranje-Nassau by the Dutch in 2003.
Don has a fantastic site dedicated to his work and his life (www.donlawrence.co.uk) and it is the place to go, so I won’t waste space here. I’ll just add one little note of my own. Don was never obvious. In the fantasy realms that he dealt with his paintings always had a wonder about them. His characters and creatures rarely inhabited dark gothic shadows – they were always caught in bright sunlight, colourful, bold and imaginative, but also comic and knowing. Although his figures looked real in the detail he somehow managed to put them through another more subtle filter of his own. Of course, in the early days he had to be capable of being a hack, but in everything since he started to chart the rise and fall of Trigo and his brothers, he delivered quality plus+. The plus being style. That which makes it impossible to confuse him with anyone else.
Don suffered a few health problems including losing the sight in his right eye, before he died aged 75. Considering the body of work he left behind and the influence he has had on several generations of comicbook artists and illustrators, I’d say he managed to pack a fair amount in. Looking at his work as a kid I used to think it was impossible that anyone could draw so well. I’ve not changed my mind.
