Collins moved to
Wales from London in 1985, switching career from law, to illustrate comics full time. He married Karen Collins and they have three daughters, and a granddaughter. Collins currently lives in Cardiff. He is the grandson of
Military Medal-winning
World War I soldier
Thomas Guinane.
UK comics In the mid-to-late 1980s, Collins wrote and drew strips for
Marvel Comics United Kingdom division, amongst them;
Spider-Man,
Transformers,
Doctor Who, and
Zoids. He also worked on the celebrated UK weekly comic
2000 AD drawing
Judge Dredd,
Sláine and
Rogue Trooper, as well as writing various
Future Shocks. Collins illustrated the six-issue limited series
Laser Eraser and Pressbutton for
Eclipse Comics, illustrating the work of Pedro Henry (aka
Steve Moore). He also did the art for a number of Axel Pressbutton stories which ran in Eclipse's
Miracleman series.
US comics He was hired in the 'Second Wave' of British artists lured to the United States in the late 1980s. Through the 1990s, he worked primarily for
DC Comics on their key titles –
Batman,
Superman,
Flash,
Teen Titans,
Wonder Woman, and the
Justice League. He also drew a series of licensed comics for the company, using various
TSR, Inc./
Dungeons & Dragons characters. A brief spell at Marvel saw Collins working on
Uncanny X-Men (Key issue: #266, the first appearance of
Gambit). Collins also wrote and drew a strip for the
Weekly World News, as well as co-creating the series
American Gothic with
Ian Edginton for
2000 AD. Outside of comics Collins has painted covers to a monthly series of downloadable
Star Trek novels, the
Starfleet Corps of Engineers, and works as a storyboard artist for both animation and live-action TV and movies. Major work recently published is a 135-page adaptation of
Charles Dickens'
A Christmas Carol for
Classical Comics. His regular
Doctor Who collaborators, inker
David Roach and colour artist James Offredi, worked with him on the book, with the script writer being
Sean Michael Wilson. The graphic novel was chosen as one of the Top Ten Graphic Novels of the year by
The Sunday Times and has gone on to sell well across by the UK and US, with several foreign language versions also coming out. For BBC Books he illustrated
The Only Good Dalek — the first graphic novel from the publisher, written by longtime
Doctor Who author
Justin Richards, and a sequel/prequel to the TV episode "
Victory of the Daleks," The Dalek Project.
Unusual and unique work He wrote and designed the first Welsh language graphic novel –
Mabinogi in association with Cartwyn Cymru in 2001, and is the first UK artist to produce a series of
graphic novels for Norway with
Gunnar Staalesen, featuring his celebrated private eye,
Varg Veum. He works as a key illustrator for Welsh language school books using the comic strip medium, aimed at reluctant learners. He supplied art for a number of cards in the
Harry Potter Trading Card Game.
Film and TV As well as comics work, Collins is a storyboard artist for children's TV shows, primarily the
BAFTA winning ''
Hana's Helpline, and live-action film. He also storyboarded on the film Ultramarines: A Warhammer 40,000 Movie and on the television shows Doctor Who, The Witcher and Sex Education''. ==Bibliography==