Glenn Dakin
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The cover to Abe: Wrong For All The Right Reasons |
Glenn Dakin (1960 - ) is a
British cartoonist and
author of
children's books. He was a contributor to a number of British comics magazines including
Escape and
Deadline and was part of the
British small press comics scene in the 1980s. His main creations are
Temptation and the semi-autobiographical strip
Abe.
While at college in
Manchester Dakin was drawing
Abe for his college magazine when he met
Paul Gravett who introduced him to the concept of self publishing comics in
zine form and distributing them via the mail and Gravett's
Fast Fiction service. While initially dismissive he soon became interested, corresponding with
Eddie Campbell and
Phil Elliott amongst others.
When Gravett launched
Escape Magazine Dakin became a regular contributor. He also had strips in the
Australian anthology
Fox Comics. By the late 80s he was publishing comics through the
Harrier New Wave imprint including
Paris, The Man Of Plaster and the anthologies
Gag! and
Sinister Romance.
Temptation, which had run in
Escape, found a home in
Deadline magazine and was published as a collection by
Penguin Books in 1991. Dakin collaborated with
Phil Elliott on numerous strips including
Mr Day and Mr Night,
Greenhouse Warriors and
The Man From Cancer.
Dakin was employed by
Marvel UK for a period where he wrote the comics
ClanDestine and
The Real Ghostbusters amongst others.
Dakin currently writes
children's books, develops and writes
Children's television shows for the
BBC and has a regular strip,
Robot Crusoe, in
The Sunday TimesHis
Abe strips were collected by
Top Shelf Productions in
2001 under the title
Abe: Wrong For All The Right Reasons.
Temptation was reissued by
Active Images in
2004. Both have an introduction by
Eddie Campbell.
Dakin has cited
Tove Jansson's
Moomin strip cartoons and novels as an influence for
Abe and the optimistic melancholy present in his work.
Temptation is visually inspired by
George Herriman's
Krazy Kat and
Johnny Hart's
B.C.Dakin has been cited by a number of American cartoonists, especially those connected to the publisher
Highwater Books, as a major influence on their attitudes towards comics.
*Campbell, Eddie (2001)
Alec: How To Be An Artist. Eddie Campbell Comics. ISBN 0957789637.
*Hart, Tom (2001) "The Scribbled Philosophy of Glenn Dakin"
The Comics Journal 238 71-87
*Higgins, Jez (2002) "There Is No Escape From The Deadline Of Temptation"
Borderline Magazine 7 32-37
*
Creativemedia Management CV. Retrieved Aug. 12, 2005
*
Top Shelf Productions - publisher of
Abe*
Active Images - publishers of
Temptation*
Profile on Read Yourself Raw*
Dakin Weekly Online - webcomic on
Serializer
