Style and Influence
Pat Mills describes Wagner's writing as "romantic but not emotional". His depictions of violent action, from "Darkie's Mob" to "Judge Dredd" to A History of Violence, are unsentimental and laced with mordant humour. Other strips, like "Robo-Hunter", "Ace Trucking Co." and "The Balls Brothers", reveal a more overt comedy side to his writing. He is well known for writing terse scripts, described by artist Dave Gibbons as "exciting telegrams". He says he doesn't think visually, but rather "in terms of plot developments dialogue", preferring to leave the visual decisions to the artist.
Described by Warren Ellis as "probably the single most influential writer in British comics", Wagner is named as an influence by writers such as Alan Grant, who says he "taught me almost all I know about comic writing", Garth Ennis, Andy Diggle and Rob Williams. Alan Moore was inspired by the work of Wagner and Pat Mills in 2000 AD to try and express his ideas in mainstream comics. Wagner's own influences include the comics of D. C. Thomson & Co. of the 60s and 70s. Outside of comics, authors he admires include John Steinbeck, Patrick O'Brian and Michael Connelly.
Read more about this topic: John Wagner
Famous quotes containing the words style and/or influence:
“Many great writers have been extraordinarily awkward in daily exchange, but the greatest give the impression that their style was nursed by the closest attention to colloquial speech.”
—Thornton Wilder (1897–1975)
“The talk shows are stuffed full of sufferers who have regained their health—congressmen who suffered through a serious spell of boozing and skirt-chasing, White House aides who were stricken cruelly with overweening ambition, movie stars and baseball players who came down with acute cases of wanting to trash hotel rooms while under the influence of recreational drugs. Most of them have found God, or at least a publisher.”
—Calvin Trillin (b. 1935)