Roger Langridge
Encyclopedia
Roger Langridge is a New Zealand
-born comics
writer
/artist
/letterer
, currently living in Britain
.
series The Straitjacket Fits (written by David Bishop
), a surreal, hallucinatory, convention-bending strip set in an insane asylum with a cast of characters who by the end had realised that they were in a comic strip
and had burst out from the edge of the frame.
His cartoony art proved perfect for the series, and he has continued to work for the Megazine, in addition to a series of comedy books dedicated to his Buster Keaton
-inspired character Fred the Clown, which he wrote and drew as a webcomic
before self-publishing the material as small press
titles. These were collected as a single volume by Fantagraphics Books
in 2004. His work on Fred the Clown was nominated for two Eisner Award
s, a Harvey Award
, a Reuben Award and an Ignatz Award. Langridge also does illustration work.
He has also provided artwork for Shaenon Garrity's Smithson webcomic
.
Langridge has provided the Fin Fang Four, with Scott Gray, first for Marvel Monsters, then a series of short stories and in late 2008 as a digital comic on Marvel Digital Comics Unlimited
.
He is the cartoonist for Boom! Studios The Muppet Show
(2009).
Also illustrated for Doctor Who magazine. He provided one panel humorous images for the Review section. Roger also provides a weekly illustration for the UK TV magazine Inside Soap.
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
-born comics
Comics
Comics denotes a hybrid medium having verbal side of its vocabulary tightly tied to its visual side in order to convey narrative or information only, the latter in case of non-fiction comics, seeking synergy by using both visual and verbal side in...
writer
Writer
A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....
/artist
Artist
An artist is a person engaged in one or more of any of a broad spectrum of activities related to creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse is a practitioner in the visual arts only...
/letterer
Letterer
A letterer is a member of a team of comic book creators responsible for drawing the comic book's text. The letterer's use of typefaces, calligraphy, letter size, and layout all contribute to the impact of the comic. The letterer crafts the comic's "display lettering": the story title lettering and...
, currently living in Britain
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
.
Biography
Langridge originally came to public prominence most notably with the Judge Dredd MegazineJudge Dredd Megazine
Judge Dredd: The Megazine is a monthly British comic magazine, launched in October 1990. It is a sister publication to 2000 AD. Its name is a play on words, formed from "magazine" and Dredd's locale Mega-City One.-Content:...
series The Straitjacket Fits (written by David Bishop
David Bishop
David Bishop is a screenwriter and author. Born in New Zealand, he was a UK comics editor during the 1990s, running such titles as the Judge Dredd Megazine and 2000 AD, the latter between 1996 and the summer of 2000....
), a surreal, hallucinatory, convention-bending strip set in an insane asylum with a cast of characters who by the end had realised that they were in a comic strip
Comic strip
A comic strip is a sequence of drawings arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions....
and had burst out from the edge of the frame.
His cartoony art proved perfect for the series, and he has continued to work for the Megazine, in addition to a series of comedy books dedicated to his Buster Keaton
Buster Keaton
Joseph Frank "Buster" Keaton was an American comic actor, filmmaker, producer and writer. He was best known for his silent films, in which his trademark was physical comedy with a consistently stoic, deadpan expression, earning him the nickname "The Great Stone Face".Keaton was recognized as the...
-inspired character Fred the Clown, which he wrote and drew as a webcomic
Webcomic
Webcomics, online comics, or Internet comics are comics published on a website. While many are published exclusively on the web, others are also published in magazines, newspapers or often in self-published books....
before self-publishing the material as small press
British small press comics
British small press comics, once known as stripzines, are comic books self-published by amateur cartoonists and comic book creators, usually in short print runs, in the UK. A "small press comic" is essentially a zine composed predominantly of comic strips. The term emerged in the early 1980s to...
titles. These were collected as a single volume by Fantagraphics Books
Fantagraphics Books
Fantagraphics Books is an American publisher of alternative comics, classic comic strip anthologies, magazines, graphic novels, and the adult-oriented Eros Comix imprint...
in 2004. His work on Fred the Clown was nominated for two Eisner Award
Eisner Award
The Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards, commonly shortened to the Eisner Awards, and sometimes referred to as the Oscar Awards of the Comics Industry, are prizes given for creative achievement in American comic books. The Eisner Awards were first conferred in 1988, created in response to the...
s, a Harvey Award
Harvey Award
The Harvey Awards, named for writer-artist Harvey Kurtzman and founded by Gary Groth, President of the publisher Fantagraphics, are given for achievement in comic books. The Harveys were created as part of a successor to the Kirby Awards which were discontinued after 1987.The Harvey Awards are...
, a Reuben Award and an Ignatz Award. Langridge also does illustration work.
He has also provided artwork for Shaenon Garrity's Smithson webcomic
Webcomic
Webcomics, online comics, or Internet comics are comics published on a website. While many are published exclusively on the web, others are also published in magazines, newspapers or often in self-published books....
.
Langridge has provided the Fin Fang Four, with Scott Gray, first for Marvel Monsters, then a series of short stories and in late 2008 as a digital comic on Marvel Digital Comics Unlimited
Marvel Digital Comics Unlimited
Marvel Digital Comics Unlimited is an online service by Marvel Comics which distributes past issues of their comics via the Internet. Launching on November 13, 2007, the service has thousands of issues in its archive.-History:...
.
He is the cartoonist for Boom! Studios The Muppet Show
The Muppet Show (comics)
The Muppet Show is comic book based on the Variety TV series The Muppet Show and featuring Jim Henson's The Muppets. The series is written and drawn by Roger Langridge and published by Boom! Studios.-Reception:...
(2009).
Comics
Comic work includes:- Razor #8 Associates in "Searching" (with writer Cornelius Stone (1988)
- Art d'Ecco (with Andrew Langridge, in Art d'Ecco #1-4, Fantagraphics, 1990–1992)
- Zoot! (with Andrew Langridge - six issue series, Fantagraphics, 1993–1994)
- Knuckles the Malevolent Nun (with co-creator Cornelius Stone, in Knuckles #1 & 2, 1991 and A1 (Series 1) #5, 1991)
- "Frankenstein Meets Shirley Temple" (in A1 (Series 2) #1-4, 1992)
- Judge DreddJudge DreddJudge Joseph Dredd is a comics character whose strip in the British science fiction anthology 2000 AD is the magazine's longest running . Dredd is an American law enforcement officer in a violent city of the future where uniformed Judges combine the powers of police, judge, jury and executioner...
:- "Sponts A-Go-Go" (with Chris Standley and Paul PeartPaul PeartPaul Peart is a British comic artist who has done some work for 2000 AD.-Bibliography:*Judge Hershey: "Down Time" *Slaughterbowl...
, Judge Dredd Lawman of the Future #14, 1996) - "Medusa" (with Alan BarnesAlan Barnes (writer)Alan Barnes is a British writer and editor, particularly noted for work in the field of cult film and television.-Biography:Barnes served as the editor of Judge Dredd Megazine from 2001 until December 2005, during which time the title saw a considerable increase in the number of new strip pages. ...
and Paul PeartPaul PeartPaul Peart is a British comic artist who has done some work for 2000 AD.-Bibliography:*Judge Hershey: "Down Time" *Slaughterbowl...
, Judge Dredd Lawman of the Future #19-20, 1996)
- "Sponts A-Go-Go" (with Chris Standley and Paul Peart
- The Straitjacket Fits (with David BishopDavid BishopDavid Bishop is a screenwriter and author. Born in New Zealand, he was a UK comics editor during the 1990s, running such titles as the Judge Dredd Megazine and 2000 AD, the latter between 1996 and the summer of 2000....
):- "The Straitjacket Fits" (in Judge Dredd MegazineJudge Dredd MegazineJudge Dredd: The Megazine is a monthly British comic magazine, launched in October 1990. It is a sister publication to 2000 AD. Its name is a play on words, formed from "magazine" and Dredd's locale Mega-City One.-Content:...
#1.09-1.20, 1991–1992) - "The Final Fit" (in Judge Dredd Yearbook 1993 1992)
- "The Straitjacket Fits" (in Judge Dredd Megazine
- Fred the Clown, Les Cartoonistes Dangereux, 1999.
- "The Story of a Nut Gone Bad..." (in Flinch #13, DC, 2000)
- Fred the Clown #1-5, self-published, 2001-2002.
- BatmanBatmanBatman is a fictional character created by the artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger. A comic book superhero, Batman first appeared in Detective Comics #27 , and since then has appeared primarily in publications by DC Comics...
: "Auteurism" (with John ArcudiJohn ArcudiJohn Arcudi is an American comic book writer, best known for his work on The Mask and B.P.R.D., and his series Major Bummer.-Career:Arcudi worked for Malibu Comics upon its founding in 1986, working on its Eternity line...
, in Legends of the Dark KnightLegends of the Dark KnightBatman: Legends of the Dark Knight, commonly referred to as simply Legends of the Dark Knight is a DC comic book featuring Batman. It was launched in 1989 with the popularity of the Batman movie, following on from Frank Miller's Batman: Year One...
#162-163, DC, 2003) - "Abe SapienAbe SapienAbraham "Abe" Sapien is a fictional character in the comic book series Hellboy, created by Mike Mignola. He takes his name from "Icthyo sapiens," the fanciful species designation chosen for him by his colleagues in the 19th-century Oannes Club, and from Abraham Lincoln, on whose assassination date...
Star of the B.P.R.D." (with John ArcudiJohn ArcudiJohn Arcudi is an American comic book writer, best known for his work on The Mask and B.P.R.D., and his series Major Bummer.-Career:Arcudi worked for Malibu Comics upon its founding in 1986, working on its Eternity line...
, in Hellboy: Weird TalesHellboy: Weird TalesHellboy: Weird Tales is a Dark Horse Comics bimonthly eight-issue comic book limited series that offered a variety of guest writers and artists the chance to give their own take on the Hellboy characters created by Mike Mignola whilst he was in Prague working on the first Hellboy movie...
, #4, Dark Horse, 2003) - Whatever Happened To?: "Cookie" (with Simon SpurrierSimon SpurrierSimon Spurrier is a British comics writer, who has previously worked as a cook, a bookseller and an art director for the BBC.Getting his start in comics with the British small press, he went on to write his own series for 2000 AD, like Lobster Random, Bec & Kawl, The Simping Detective and Harry...
, in Judge Dredd Megazine #2.17, 2004) - Fett Club (with Kevin RubioKevin RubioKevin Rubio is an American filmmaker, best known for his Star Wars parody film Troops.Rubio studied theater and photography throughout his high school years in California, and made his directorial debut at the age of 17 with a stage adaptation of Robert Redford’s Ordinary People...
, in Star Wars Tales 24, Dark Horse, 2005) - A story in the Bizarro World anthology, DC, 2005.
- Marvel Monsters: "Fin Fang Four" (with Scott Gray, 2005)
- "Moleman's Christmas" (with Shaenon Garrity, in Marvel Christmas Special #1, Marvel, 2006)
- "How Fin Fang Foom Saves Christmas " (with Scott Gray, in Marvel Christmas Special 2006 #1, Marvel, 2007)
- "Return of the Fin Fang Four: Shrink Rap" (with Scott Gray, in Avengers Giant-Size #1, Marvel, 2008)
- The Muppet ShowThe Muppet Show (comics)The Muppet Show is comic book based on the Variety TV series The Muppet Show and featuring Jim Henson's The Muppets. The series is written and drawn by Roger Langridge and published by Boom! Studios.-Reception:...
(Boom Studios, 2009) - ThorThor (Marvel Comics)Thor is a fictional superhero who appears in publications published by Marvel Comics. The character first appeared in Journey into Mystery #83 and was created by editor-plotter Stan Lee, scripter Larry Lieber, and penciller Jack Kirby....
: The Mighty Avenger (Marvel, 2010) - Muppets Presents: Family Reunion (Marvel, 2011)
Collections
Collections:- Knuckles the Malevolent Nun 1: No More Mrs. Nice Nun, with Cornelius Stone, Antipodes Publishing, 2003.
- Fred the Clown, Fantagraphics Books, 2004.
- The Louche and Insalubrious Escapades of Art d'Ecco, with Andrew Langridge, Fantagraphics Books, 2006.
Also illustrated for Doctor Who magazine. He provided one panel humorous images for the Review section. Roger also provides a weekly illustration for the UK TV magazine Inside Soap.
External links
- Personal blog
- A bibliography by the author himself
- Online comics at WebComicsNation and at Modern Tales
Interviews
- Interview with Futureal Studio
- An Interview With Roger Langridge, The Comics Reporter, 16 October 2005