JOHN M. BURNS (1938 - 2023)

John Burns, who died on December 29th, aged eighty five, was one of Britain's greatest and most prolific comic strip artists. He was one of a very small group of artists who contributed to both versions of  EAGLE. For the original version he illustrated the famous Wrath of the Gods strip, which joined EAGLE from Boys' World in 1964. He also illustrated episodes of the non fiction series 'Bids for Freedom' and 'Roving Reporter'. For the 1980s EAGLE he illustrated 'The Fists of Danny Pike', 'Dolebusters' and a 'Dan Dare' adventure. But EAGLE forms just a small part of his contribution to comics. His work in comics began with illustrations for Girl's Crystal and School Friend in the 1950s. After completing his National Service, he illustrated strip versions of several classic novels for D.C. Thomson. He illustrated 'Wulf the Briton' for Express Weekly in 1961 and then several strips and story illustrations for EAGLE's companion paper Robin, 'Kelpie the Boy Wizard' for Wham! and in the late sixties and early seventies, many strips for the TV based comics TV 21, Lady Penelope, Countdown and TV Action. He subsequently contributed many strips for the long running TV based magazine  Look-In. He is well known on the continent for the Dutch sword and sorcery strip Zetari.

Excelling in both black and white and colour work, he also drew many newspaper strips, including 'The Seekers' for The Daily Sketch, 'The Tuckwells' for The Sunday Citizen, 'Jane' and 'Girl Chat' for The Daily Mirror, 'George and Lynne' for The Sun, 'Danielle' and 'Smythie' for The Evening News, 'Julia' for the German newspaper Bild and briefly, 'Modesty Blaise' for the Evening Standard. In recent years he became a major contributor to 2000 A.D. weekly, illustrating 'Nicolai Dante', 'Sinister Dexter', 'The Order' and 'Judge Dredd'. He also illustrated 'The Bendatti Vendetta' for the Judge Dredd Megazine.   

John had been in poor health for some time, finally retiring from illustration earlier this year. I was fortunate enough to meet him and his wife, Julia in 2005 at the Bristol Comic Expo and he kindly drew this pencil sketch of Arion, the hero of 'Wrath of the Gods' for me. Our condolences to Julia and his family. He will be greatly missed. 

Steve Winders

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO JOHN M.BURNS

Congratulations to John M. Burns on his eighty fifth birthday. John is one of a small group of artists who contributed to both the original EAGLE and the 1980s version. Over a sixty year career he has produced a massive amount of impressive comic strip work. For EAGLE in the 1960s he illustrated episodes of Roving Reporter, Bids for Freedom and the final six episodes of Wrath of the Gods, which joined EAGLE when it absorbed Boys' World in October 1964. He had illustrated this famous colour strip for Boys' World since July 1963, when he took over from Ron Embleton and he produced seventy two episodes in total. For the 1980s EAGLE he illustrated The Fists of Danny Pike, Dolebusters and a Dan Dare adventure. His other work includes Wulf the Briton for Express Weekly in 1961, which he also took over from Ron Embleton, several strips for EAGLE's companion paper Robin, Kelpie the Boy Wizard for Wham!,many strips for the TV based comics TV21, Lady Penelope, Countdown, TV Action and Look -In, The Seekers for The Daily Sketch, Jane and Girl Chat for The Daily Mirror, George and Lynne for The Sun, Julia for the German newspaper Bild, Nicolai Dante, Sinister Dexter The Order and Judge Dredd for 2000 A.D. and The Bendatti Vendetta for the Judge Dredd Megazine. John has also illustrated comic strip versions of several classic novels.

  

IN AND OUT OF THE EAGLE 25

Congratulations to 2000 A.D. weekly which celebrates its impressive 45th anniversary this February. It was the comic which brought back Dan Dare after a seven year break following the end of his repeated adventures in Lion. However it was a rather different Dan than the one that EAGLE readers remembered. Having been seriously injured in an encounter with the Mekon, Dan was placed in suspended animation until his wounds could be healed and returned with a new face to the much changed world of 2177. Initially featuring artwork by Massimo Belardinelli, who drew two eleven part serials about Dan's battle with the Biogs on Jupiter and an encounter with the Mekon on a planet close to a Black Hole, the strip was taken over by Dave Gibbons who drew most of the long Space Fort saga about Dan's expedition to the 'Lost Worlds' and the whole Crystal of Life story, where he again faced the Mekon. Unfortunately 2000 A.D.'s merger with Tornado which necessitated the dropping of some strips to allow some Tornado characters to be included curtailed Dan's adventures with him being chased by Earth's security forces after being framed by the Mekon. Although there were plans to complete his story with a plot that would have involved him travelling back in time to prevent the incident in which he received the serious injuries, thereby allowing him to resume adventures in his original form, it never happened and his next appearance was in a revived EAGLE in 1982, when the stories focused on his great great grandson. 

Although Dan Dare was the lead strip at the launch of 2000 A.D., M.A.C.H. 1 a strip inspired by the then popular TV series The Six Million Dollar Man was initially the most popular strip, but it was soon overtaken by Judge Dredd, about a future lawman in a giant city which is still hugely popular and has spawned two feature films. Over the years 2000 A.D. has featured many other successful strips, including Strontium Dog, ABC Warriors, Rogue Trooper, Slaine and Nikolai Dante. 

There were many links between the 1980s EAGLE and 2000 A.D. Pat Mills, who created 2000 A.D. wrote the first long Dan Dare story for the 1980s EAGLE and John Wagner, who created Judge Dredd contributed to this story. Alan Grant, Gerry Finley-Day, Alan Hebden and Tom Tully also wrote for both publications. Several artists, including Carlos Ezquerra, Mike Dorey, John M. Burns, John Ridgway and David Pugh, also contributed to both, with Tom Tully and John M. Burns having worked on the original EAGLE as well, where Tom Tully wrote Heros the Spartan and John Burns illustrated Wrath of the Gods. 

2000 A.D. produced two Dan Dare Annuals (for 1979 and 1980) based on their version of the character, with the first chronicling the story of how the original Dan received his injuries and became the 2000 A.D. version in a strip drawn by Trevor Goring. These annuals also included repeats of U.F.O. Agent strips from the 1960s EAGLE, while the 1979 and 1980 2000 A.D. Annuals included repeats of Guinea Pig strips from EAGLE. Three strips from 2000 A.D., M.A.C.H. 1, M.A.C.H. Zero and Ant Wars, were later reprinted in the 1980s EAGLE.