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BEYOND
JILL
From
SANDMAN to KINGDOM COME, one face keeps coming back. By Andrew
Wheeler and Christopher Butcher.
One
of the things that make artist Jill Thompson so very unique is
that there are just so very many of her. Ms. Thompson has the
great honour of being one of the few creators to serve as a model
for a wonderful variety of characters. Every month in PopImage,
our Beyond feature explores one of the great mainstays of comics
fiction, such as vigilantes, femme fatales and talking animals,
and the iconic variations thereof. This month, we present a one-off
exclusive in honour of the many faces of Jill Thompson.
MADELINE
- When Edgar Allan Poe wrote the short horror story "The Fall
of the House of Usher", it was generations before Jill Thompson
was ever born. Even so, when Berkley/First Publishing launched
a series of CLASSICS ILLUSTRATED books -including ROBINSON CRUSOE,
DON QUIXOTE and MOBY DICK - it was Jill whom artist Jay Geldhof
used as the model for Madeline in his adaptation of USHER. The
character of Madeline Usher is a mad, tragic, haunting figure,
and probably the most severe and unflattering depiction of Jill
Thompson to date.
QUEEN OF THE NIGHT - Artist P. Craig Russell clearly regards
Jill Thompson as a favourite muse. He has used her as inspiration
on a number of occassions, including as a villainous scientist
in a BATMAN: ELSEWORLDS story featuring Poison Ivy. Any
time a tall, thin redhead appears in a Russell comic, it is probably
in some way inspired by Jill. In Russell's wonderful operatic
adaptations, for example, she appears as the wicked and vengeful
Salome, and as the Queen of the Night, Melisande in Eclipse's
adaptation of Mozart's THE MAGIC FLUTE.
DELIRIUM - Although rumours still persist that the original
model for Delirium of the Endless was singer Tori Amos - a close
friend to creator Neil Gaiman - she's actually a composite of
many ideas and people that Neil Gaiman had encountered. However,
the character was more frequently drawn by Jill than by any other
artist. It was therefore quite natural that Delirium should come
to look like Jill. In the words of Neil Gaiman, from the Sandman
Compendium; "[Jill] put a lot of herself into Delirium, in terms
of body language, facial expressions, and so on. ... Lots of Delirium's
mannerisms, the way she holds her body and so on, are things that
Jill does."
ETAIN OF THE SECOND LOOK - As the principle
artist on SANDMAN: BRIEF LIVES, Jill Thompson ended
up making a brief guest appearance almost by mistake. When Neil
Gaiman told Jill there would be a three-page scene in issue 43
in which a lady's house blew up, Jill decided she would use her
own house and its contents as the model. Neil took the idea a
step further, and suggested Jill draw herself as the woman, Etain
of the Second Look. In Neil's words, "Jill has a cool, unique
face".
RAGGED ROBIN - Jill denies that she was the
direct inspiration for the Invisibles' time-travelling harlequin
witch, but the original physical resemblance is striking. Robin
and Jill are both slender-faced women with auburn hair, and a
greater resemblance crept in while Jill herself was pencilling
the book. The resemblance diminished under the supervision of
later artists Phil Jiminez and Brian Bolland, but even today Robin
remains a recognisable part of the Jill Thompson catalogue.
JOKER'S
DAUGHTER
- In Alex Ross and Mark Waid's KINGDOM COME, the DC universe
is portrayed a generation hence, and includes a cast of hundreds.
In among the many faces is Jill Thompson, as the daughter of the
famed Batman villain the Joker. Jill is friends with KINGDOM
COME artist Alex Ross, and they're both alumni of the same
art school. It's also worth noting that Alex painted in Jill's
husband, 100 BULLETS author Brian Azzarello, as villain
666.
SCARY GODMOTHER - In Jill Thompson's wonderful creator-owned
children's series SCARY GODMOTHER, a little girl named
Hannah befriends the monster that lives under her bed and crosses
through her wardrobe into the Fright Side. The story of a child
who can enter into a fantasy world is a common concept, but SCARY
GODMOTHER has a Tim Burton twist, in which the creator tries
to take some of the horror out of scary things. The central figure
in the Fright Side is the eponymous Scary Godmother, a sassy,
glamourous witch, based on Jill herself. The Scary Godmother is
espescially notable because she's the only Jill Thompson-inspired
character that Jill created. The Scary Godmother is also the character
closest to Jill's own thoughts, as (being the Queen of Halloween)
she shares Jill's love of Halloween (and a good scare!).
JILL THOMPSON - The original. Jill's personal bearing is
energetic and friendly, which makes her a great person to meet
and to talk to. Her energy comes through in both the work she
does, and the characters that are inspired by her, and we're very
grateful she allowed us to do this feature. To find out more about
the real Jill Thompson, check
out our ProFile interview!
This
month's regular Beyond
feature in Gutter Press looks at the role of death gods in comics.
Andrew
Wheeler is Consultant Editor of PopImage. Christopher Butcher
is Columns Editor of PopImage.
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