John Thomas Totleben
February 16, 1958 (age 65)
Erie, Pennsylvania
Area(s) Penciller, Inker
Notable works Miracleman
Swamp Thing
1963
Awards
Inkpot Award 2004
Biography
After studying art at Tech Memorial in Erie, Totleben attended The Kubert School for one year. He then spent several years working for comics editor Harry "A" Chesler, producing illustrations for the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam; which never saw print.
His first published work appeared in Heavy Metal in January 1979.
His first success in American comics, and still his best-known work, was as the inker of pencilled art by Stephen R. Bissette for the DC Comics title Swamp Thing, when the series was being written and reinvented by Alan Moore.
Totleben and Bissette joined the series (ST #17) in 1983 shortly before Moore IN ST #20. Totleben's style was unusual for the time, and is still distinctive among U.S. comics artists, for its fluid layouts and heavily detailed rendering using a combination of stippling and hatching.
He also painted covers for the series in oils and acrylic. Totleben inked the story in Swamp Thing #37 (June 1985) which introduced the John Constantine character.
Beginning in 1988, Bissette and Totleben co-created and edited the horror anthology Taboo. It showcased a wide range of writers and artists, from mainstream to semi-underground, and is best known as the original venue for the acclaimed graphic novel From Hell.
Totleben's most ambitious comics project was with Moore again, on the third volume of Miracleman (OLYMPUS), which he pencilled and inked.
Response to his art was so strong that Eclipse Comics retained him as the series' sole artist after changing artists several times in the previous volume despite delays
((JOHN Told me homself that the Double-Splash
DESTRUCTION SCENE in MM #15 (Which I used to own) took JOHN over a month to execute))
caused by his newly diagnosed eye disease, USHER Syndrome #2 which manifested as retinitis pigmentosa. John only has 5% peripheral vison and gets sever migrane headaches after drawing for an hour.
Totleben's art was praised as
"one of the premier exemplars of the entire superhero genre."
Though Totleben's eye condition has made him legally blind, it has left his central vision clear enough for him to continue working in his usual style, but much more slowly. He has illustrated a number of titles for DC and Marvel Comics, and worked on Moore's satirical Image Comics series 1963, in which he was described as "'Jaunty' John", the blind "inker without fear".
Awards and nominations
1985: Won Kirby Awards for "Best Art Team" (with Bissette), "Best Single Issue" (for Swamp Thing Annual #2), "Best Cover" (for Swamp Thing #34)
1985–1987: Won Kirby Award for Best Continuing Series (for Swamp Thing)
1986–1987: Nominated for Kirby Award for "Best Art Team" (with Bissette)
1986: Nominated for "Favourite Artist (inker)" Eagle Award
2004: Won Inkpot Award