Barker, Jim
Entry updated 6 January 2025. Tagged: Artist, Fan.
(? - ) Scots artist active in Fandom since the mid-1970s, contributing many cartoons to Fanzines including Maya (there often illustrating humorous essays and speeches by Bob Shaw) and occasionally Ansible and Vector. Some early work was signed with the anagrammatic pseudonym J Mike Barr. His own fanzines included Dead Hedgehog (two issues 1980, 1983) and Helpmaboab (5 issues 1983-1984). Two popular strips for British Science Fiction Association publications were "Half-Life" scripted by Chris Evans, about the woes and rare triumphs of the struggling sf author Elmer T Hack, most instalments being assembled as The Best of Elmer T Hack (graph coll 1979); and "The Captive", a fannish Parody of The Prisoner (1967-1968) in which the Captive (a Barker lookalike) forever schemes to escape the eternal Convention chaired by a succession of Number Twos; some episodes were guest-scripted by contemporaries, including David Langford. Though continuing to contribute occasionally to fanzines, Barker has since the mid-1980s focused on his career as a professional artist and humorous cartoonist, which continues to the present day. In 2013 he received the Rotsler Award for life achievement in fanzine artwork.
Professional work on the borders of sf includes illustrating Wendy Goucher's Nettie series of instructional texts on Internet safety and security for young readers, beginning with Nettie in Cyberland (2020 chap). [DRL]
Jim Barker
born
works
- The Best of Elmer T Hack (Blantyre, Scotland: British Science Fiction Association, 1979) with Chris Evans [coll: graph: pb/Jim Barker]
links
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