200610060246
Al Columbia is one of the more mysterious figures in comics, although it’s more mystique than reality. Part of the mystery stems from his involvement in Big Numbers, Alan Moore’s unfinished story of contemporary life in Northhampton, UK. Two issues, illustrated by Bill SIenkiewicz, were published by Tundra. When Sienkiewicz dropped out, (his art for the third issue was rejected) his then-assistant Columbia took over the project. According to legend, Columbia drew the fourth issue, but then destroyed the art, and dropped out of sight. (There’s more about the matter at this rather confusing web page.) For someone who “disappeared” Columbia kept doing the odd comic here and there — THE BIOLOGIC SHOW and a contribution to BLAB! While plenty of people know and like Columbia — we seem to recollect that Eric Reynolds was his rommate for a while — he remains one of those “What ever happened to…” figures, especially on the Comics Journal message board, where threads about his whereabouts regularly appear.

Well, now there is Al Columbia.com. Maybe some of these questions will be answered. Or maybe even more will be raised…
[Above image taken from Comic Art Collective.]

1 COMMENT

Comments are closed.