John Smith (comics writer)


John Smith is a British comic book writer best known for his work on the weekly anthology 2000 AD and its spin-off title Crisis, particularly the Indigo Prime, Devlin Waugh and New Statesmen serials.

Career

Smith's earliest published work appeared in the DC Thomson's science fiction comic Starblazer in the mid-1980s. Soon after, he became a regular contributor for 2000 AD and followed up with the political superhero serial New Statesmen for 2000 ADs spin-off title Crisis.
Many of Smith's series created for 2000 AD shared the same continuity under the umbrella of Indigo Prime, a multi-dimensional organisation that policed reality, recruiting recently dead people as its agents. The original run of Indigo Prime stories ended with "Killing Time", in which agents Winwood and Cord pursued a demon that had hitched a ride on a Victorian time machine, one of the legitimate passengers of which turned out to be Jack the Ripper. Other contributions to 2000 AD include Revere, a post-apocalyptic occult story with art by Simon Harrison, and Firekind, an anthropological science fiction story involving alien cultures and dragons, illustrated by Paul Marshall. Perhaps the best-known character created by Smith is Devlin Waugh, a flamboyantly gay exorcist, assassin, and vampire working for the Vatican of the future, co-created with artist Sean Phillips and published in 2000 ADs sister title Judge Dredd Megazine. In addition to his own creations, Smith has also contributed stories for the long-running serials Rogue Trooper and Judge Dredd.
Smith has also briefly worked in the American market. For DC Comics, he wrote an issue of Hellblazer and an 8-part mini-series Scarab, which began life as a revamp of Doctor Fate. In the early 2000s, Smith wrote a run of Vampirella comics for Harris.

The Smithiverse

Examples of John Smith's cross-referencing of characters throughout his oeuvre include:
  • Renegade Indigo Prime agents Fervent and Lobe originally appeared in Tyranny Rex. Although, at that point, Indigo Prime had only appeared in a single Future Shocks installment, "A Change of Scenery", Smith stated he always considered the stories taking place in the same world:
  • Characters from Pussyfoot 5 originally appeared in Devlin Waugh.
  • The character Mr. Cheetl originally appeared in Firekind, while Mr. Vathek, another member of the Chadarisq-Khan species, appears in Pussyfoot 5.
  • Two members of Indigo Prime, Dazzler and Creed, appear in Scarab #7.
  • Winwood and Cord appear in the last few pages of Dead Eyes, uploading Danny's soul into a cloned body after the human race in his home universe are killed.

    Style and influences

Smith's work, told in an elliptic, fractured narrative style reminiscent of Iain Sinclair or the cut-up technique of William S. Burroughs, is characterised by intricate, sometimes obscure plots and an interest in taboos and the occult.
Other notable influences include Michael Moorcock, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Alan Moore and Noël Coward.

UK publishers

  • Starblazer :
  • * "Head Hunter"
  • * "Timeslay"
  • 2000 AD :
  • *Tharg's Future Shocks:
  • ** The Best of Tharg's Future Shocks includes:
  • *** "Time Enough to Tell"
  • *** "Video"
  • *** "A Change of Scenery"
  • *** "No Exit"
  • *** "One Man's Meat"
  • *** "The Osmotic Man"
  • *** "Opening Moves"
  • *** "Earthsong"
  • *Tyranny Rex:
  • ** "In His Image"
  • ** "Under Foreign Skies"
  • ** "Untitled"
  • ** "Soft Bodies"
  • ** "Systems of Romance"
  • ** "Untitled"
  • ** "Shadowground"
  • ** "Touched by the Hand of Brendan"
  • ** "A Twist in the Tale"
  • ** "Bitter Fruit"
  • ** "Deus Ex Machina", Paul Marshall and Richard Elson
  • ** "The Comeback"
  • *Rogue Trooper: "Cinnabar" collected in Rogue Trooper: Tales of Nu-Earth Volume 4
  • *Inside Moves
  • *Order of the Beast
  • *Indigo Prime:
  • ** The Complete Indigo Prime collects:
  • *** "Fervent and Lobe: The Issigri Variations"
  • *** "Indigo Prime"
  • *** "Winwood and Cord: Downtime"
  • *** "Fegredo and Brecht: How the Land Died"
  • *** "Fervent and Lobe: Holiday on Ice"
  • *** "Almaranda: Solstice"
  • *** "Winwood and Cord: Killing Time"
  • ** "Requiem"
  • ** "Weird Vibes"
  • ** "The Loa in the Machine"
  • ** Indigo Prime: Anthropocalypse includes:
  • *** "Everything and More"
  • *** "Anthropocalypse"
  • ** "Perfect Day"
  • ** "A Dying Art, Parts 1 and 2 "
  • *** The storyline was continued and finished by Kek-W.
  • *Danzig's Inferno
  • *Rogue Trooper :
  • ** "Hollow Town"
  • ** "Enfleshings"
  • ** "Shock Tactics"
  • *Revere
  • *Doctor Sin: "The Strange Case of the Wyndham Demon"
  • *Tales from Beyond Science collected in Tales from Beyond Science
  • *Robo-Hunter: "Something for the Weekend, Sir?" collected in Robo-Hunter: The Droid Files Volume 2
  • *Tales from Mega-City One: "Animal House"
  • *Firekind
  • *Slaughterbowl
  • *Judge Dredd:
  • ** "Hate Inc." collected in Judge Dredd: The Restricted Files Volume 3
  • ** "Roadkill" collected in Judge Dredd: The Complete Case Files Volume 20
  • ** "Darkside" collected in Judge Dredd: The Complete Case Files Volume 25
  • ** Judge Dredd: The Complete Case Files Volume 32 includes:
  • *** "Survivor Type"
  • *** "New Model Phoord"
  • ** "Meatmonger " collected in Judge Dredd: The Complete Case Files Volume 38
  • ** "Jumped"
  • *Strontium Dogs: "Fast Breeder"
  • *Vector 13 : "Case Three: Graven Images"
  • *Pulp Sci-Fi: "Feast of Skin"
  • *Pussyfoot 5:
  • ** "Fast Breeder"
  • ** "Alien Sex Fiend!"
  • *A Love Like Blood collected in Storming Heaven: The Frazer Irving Collection
  • *Leatherjack collected as Leatherjack
  • *Dead Eyes collected in Indigo Prime: Anthropocalypse
  • *Cradlegrave collected as Cradlegrave
  • *Tharg's Terror Tales:
  • ** "Blackspot"
  • ** "Night Shifts"
  • Crisis :
  • *New Statesmen and Duncan Fegredo
  • ** The serial was first reprinted as an American format 5-issue limited series titled New Statesmen
  • ** Collected as The Complete New Statesmen
  • *Straitgate
  • Judge Dredd Annual '91: "Tales from Mega-City One: Resyko"
  • Revolver Romance Special: "Still Life"
  • The Comic Relief Comic
  • Judge Dredd Megazine :
  • *Strange Cases: "Skin Games"
  • *Devlin Waugh:
  • ** Devlin Waugh: Swimming in Blood collects:
  • *** "Swimming in Blood"
  • *** A Judge Dredd story featuring Devlin Waugh:
  • **** "Brief Encounter"
  • *** 2000 AD: Judge Dredd Mega-Special #6: "A Love Like Blood"
  • *** Several long-form installments originally published in Judge Dredd Megazine's sister title 2000 AD:
  • **** "Chasing Herod"
  • **** "Reign of Frogs"
  • **** "Sirius Rising"
  • *** "Mouthful of Dust"
  • ** Devlin Waugh: Red Tide collects:
  • *** 2000 AD: Judge Dredd Yearbook '94: "Body and Soul"
  • *** "Red Tide"
  • *** Another Judge Dredd story featuring Devlin Waugh:
  • **** "Bite Fight!"
  • *** "Vile Bodies"
  • *** "All Hell"
  • *** "Innocence and Experience"
  • *Judge Dredd:
  • ** Judge Dredd: Heavy Metal Dredd includes:
  • *** "Mort Rifkind Rises Again"
  • *** "The Big Hit"
  • *** "Monkey Beat"
  • ** Judge Dredd: The Complete Case Files Volume 19 includes:
  • *** "The Jigsaw Murders"
  • *** "Ladonna Fever"
  • ** Judge Dredd: The Complete Case Files Volume 24 includes:
  • *** "The Ballad of Cindy Crawlskin"
  • *** "Killing Grounds"
  • *** "Mondo Simp"
  • ** "Fetish" collected in Judge Dredd: The Complete Case Files Volume 26
  • ** "Old Wounds"
  • *Judge Karyn: "Skin Games"
  • *Holocaust 12 :
  • ** "Skyfall"
  • ** "Storm Warning"
  • *Tales from the Black Museum:
  • ** "Burn!"
  • ** "Feeders and Eaters"
  • *Strange and Darke collected in Brit-Cit Noir
  • Red Stains: "Passion"

    US publishers

  • Tales of Terror #11: "Perfect Vision"
  • DC Comics:
  • *Hellblazer #51: "Counting to Ten" collected in John Constantine, Hellblazer Volume 6
  • *Scarab #1–8
  • Marvel:
  • *Ultraforce vol. 2 #2: "The Phoenix Resurrection: Red Shift, Part 7"
  • *X-Men Unlimited #35: "Triptych" collected in New X-Men Companion
  • Vampirella vol. 2 :
  • * "Fear of Mirrors" collected in Vampirella Masters Series Volume 3: Mark Millar
  • * "Hungry Ghosts"
  • * "Pantha" collected in Vampirella Presents: Tales of Pantha
  • * "Wilding Sanction, Parts 1 and 2 " and Manuel García
  • ** The storyline was continued and finished by Ben Raab.
  • * "Blood and Roses"