Posted in: Comics | Tagged: Matt Howarth, rip
Matt Howarth, Creator Of Savage Henry And Post Bros Has Died, Aged 72
Matt Howarth, Creator Of Savage Henry And Those Annoying Post Bros. Has Died, Aged 72 #RIP
Matt Howarth, comic book creator and publisher, known for his dense, surreal science-fiction worlds, music-infused narratives, and pioneering independent comics, has died at the age of 72. The news was announced today by Eli Schwab of Cosmic Lion Productions, the publisher with whom Matt Howarth has most collaborated in recent years.
Matt Howarth
Matt Howarth
Matt Howarth
Matt Howarth co-founded Howski Studios in 1969 before beginning self-publishing in the mid-1970s, starting with the early graphic novel Afternoon in the Sun in 1976. His experimental serial Changes appeared in Heavy Metal magazine in 1980 alongside artists such as Moebius, Philippe Druillet, and Enki Bilal, creators he deeply admired. He later contributed the first review of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles to Heavy Metal and provided early pin-up work for the TMNT comics.
His best-known ongoing series was Those Annoying Post Bros., launched in 1985 from Vortex Comics and later Rip Off Press and MU Press, following the regenerating, dimension-hopping brothers from the chaotic Bugtown. Then there was Savage Henry in 1987 that centred on an alternate-reality guitarist whose stories featured authorised cameos by The Residents, Hawkwind, Moby, Ash Ra Tempel, Klaus Schulze, Foetus, Wire and Conrad Schnitzler. Other notable works included Keif Llama: Xeno-Tech, Bugtown, Star Crossed, Particle Dreams, with contributions to DC, Dark Horse, Fantagraphics, Antarctic Press, and TMNT-related stories such as The Haunted Pizza, as well as extensive self-published digital comics, graphic novels, and prose via Bugtown Mall. In later years, he continued creating new material, produced over a hundred digital and print publications, including titles for Cosmic Lion Productions such as The Termite Mound and A Slice of Spy, with additional unpublished work planned for release.
Matt Howarth
Matt Howarth
Matt Howarth
He was also busy living his best life, working with musicians, telling me, “I’ve also been doing a selection of collaborations with musicians (a longtime ambition of mine) in which a comic strip by myself comes on the CD as a PDF file, while the band’s music is a sort of loose soundtrack for the story. So far, I’ve done this with a variety of musicians (mostly from the electronic and alternative genres), like Klaus Schulze, Bill Nelson, Arthur Brown, Radio Massacre International, Quarkspace, Conrad Schnitzler, Hugh Hopper, Legendary Pink Dots, and more.”
When I was self-publishing in the early nineties, DC Comics Sales VP Patty Jeres told me that my work reminded her of Matt’s, something I took as a deep honour, even more when I discovered that Patty Jeres was Matt’s editor at Vortex. Influenced by Philip K. Dick, H.P. Lovecraft, Steve Ditko, Bernie Wrightson, Moebius, and Philippe Druillet, Howarth’s intricate linework, interlocking multi-reality plots, and genre-blending approach made him a singular voice in independent comics for more than five decades. As he himself put it: “It may stop, but it never ends.”
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