There are few artists who exemplify the anarchic, irreverent and anti-authoritarian British take on the comic book the way Steve Dillon does. Born in London and raised in Luton, Dillon died in New York in 2016, at the age of 54, following complications arising from a ruptured appendix. What remans is a remarkable body of work that includes the seminal UK comic magazine Deadline, which he co-founded; his illustrations on a fan-favourite run of Hellblazer, the Alan Moore-created comic that follows British chaos magician John Constantine; and most notably, the critically acclaimed Preacher, which he co-created with famed comics writer Garth Ennis.
First published by the US company DC in 1995, Preacher told the story of Jesse Custer, a small-town minister who is accidentally possessed by the offspring of an angel and a demon, and who goes on the road with his ex-girlfriend and an Irish vampire, searching for a solution to his problem. The comic ran for five years and was followed by a TV series starring Dominic Cooper, on which Dillon was executive producer.
