Paul Johnson (comics)
# Paul Johnson (comics)

Paul Johnson (born 13 October 1958) is a British comic book artist.

## Biography

Paul Johnson orbited the peripheries of the British comic book industry in the early 1980s, self-publishing and appearing in short-lived publications such as Pssst! and Escape. His first major comics work was the graphic novel London's Dark but he came to international attention when he painted the art on The Road to Nowhere, the fourth and final chapter of The Books of Magic mini-series, written by Neil Gaiman and released by DC/Vertigo in 1993.

Johnson worked abroad for Marvel Comics (Interface, Hellraiser, Children of the Voyager), DC Comics (Mercy, Invisibles, Legends of the Dark Knight) and Dark Horse Comics (Aliens) before working in Britain's home-grown industry for Crisis, 2000 AD, and the Eaglemoss publication Spinechillers.

In 2000 Johnson was awarded a grant by the Arts Council of Great Britain to run a series of comic book workshops with Ed Hillyer (also known as Ilya) at Great Ormond Street Hospital, resulting in the publication of Hospitales, which was distributed free of charge in hospitals across the UK.

In addition to his interest in comics, Johnson wrote regularly for the IPC music magazine Uncut from 1999 to 2004.

Influenced by the work of European comics artists such as Moebius (Jean Giraud), Hugo Pratt, Alberto Breccia and Lorenzo Mattotti, Johnson struggled to find work that interested him as most commercial publishers failed to make the jump from producing superhero comics to the more esoteric genres of their continental counterparts.

Disillusioned with the opportunities available to him, Johnson retrained as an acupuncturist and herbalist. He is now in private practice and lectures regularly at LCTA, England's largest college dedicated to teaching Traditional Chinese Medicine. He is the chief presenter on How To Locate Acupuncture Points - The Definitive DVD, released in 2008.

