BIOGRAPHY:

"In Steve Bell... we have a cartoonist whose instinctive radicalism places him clearly on the side of the poor and the oppressed, and against the might of the rich and powerful. One of the most biting and successful cartoonists of his generation."
Tony Benn

"Steve Bell is the best political cartoonist we have."
Sunday Times

"Bell is the finest political cartoonist in the country, by a margin that leaves the competition mere gasping, ant-sized figures in the distance."
Guardian

"If you want to laugh and be better informed about the world, you would be stuck without Steve Bell."
Independent

"Politics take on a meaning and become vital when they touch you, for instance anyone on strike. But obviously when it's predigested turgid porridge of fact and crap that comes out of the news, it's utter rubbish. Politics is serious, but it can also be very funny and very involving and it's all very fucking important, because it's the politicians who take the decisions that affect our lives."
Steve Bell, from the Escape interview

Steve Bell (1951- ) is best known for his editorial cartoons and long running political strip If..., both of which have been appearing in The Guardian since 1981. He was voted Cartoonist of the Year in 2003.

He was born in London and grew up in Slough before studying Fine Art at Teeside College and Film-Making at Leeds University, where he gradutated in 1974. After a brief spell teaching at a secondary school in Birmingham he became a freelance cartoonist in 1977. His weekly strip Maggie's Farm appeared in Time Out and later City Limits magazines begun 1979.

He currently lives in Brighton with his wife and four children.

Interviews:
On The Media (2003)
3am Magazine (2001)
Preston SF Group (1995)
Escape #6 (1985)

Resources:
Steve Bell's Guardian Cartoons Archive
Steve Bell's Top 10 Comic Books
Steve Bell on: America
Steve Bell on: Robert Crumb
Steve Bell on: James Gillray

Reviews:
The Guardian: Apes Of Wrath

Apes Of Wrath
Methuen Publishing, 2004
Steve Bell's take on the catastrophe that is George W. Bush - from pregnant chads in Florida to peace in Iraq, gay marriages in San Francisco, and beyond. These are accompanied throughout by working sketches from Steve Bell's notebooks, original unpublished artwork, and a coruscatingly funny narrative in the voice of the strangely simian president, with a cast of other animals, including his pet Prime Minister.

"Apes of Wrath is not, however, just a collection of fun cartoons and good Bush gags. It is also a cry of fury against the Bush presidency, and what Bell names the Blair sycophancy. If Art Spiegelman's graphic book, In the Shadow of No Towers, was drawn more in sorrow than anger, Bell has taken the opposite approach. Even opponents of the president will find themselves wincing at the treatment he metes out."
The Guardian

Bell's Eye: 20 Years Of Drawing Blood
Methuen Publishing, 1999
A retrospective volume of Steve Bell's cartoons and satiric drawings which have appeared in different mediums over the years, including The Spectator, Punch and The New Statesman. It shows the work of this award-winning cartoonist and editorial artist as being among the finest satiric drawings of the twentieth century.

If... Collections:
Apes Of Wrath (2004)
Unspeakable If... (2003)
Unstoppable If... (2001)
Bell's Eye: 20 Years Of Drawing Blood (1999)
The If... Files (1997)
Twelfth If... (1996)
The Big If... (1995)
If... Bottoms Out (1993)
If... Goes Down The John (1992)
If... Kicks Butt (1991)
The Revolutionary If... (1990)
The Vengence Of If... (1989)
If... Breezes In (1988)
If... Bounces Back (1987)
The Unrepeatable If... (1986)
Another Load Of If... (1985)
If... Only Again (1984)
The If... Chronicles(1983)

Maggie's Farm:
Maggie's Farm - The Last Roundup (1987)
Further Down On Maggie's Farm (1982)
Maggie's Farm (1981)

Other Titles:
Chairman Blair's Little Red Book (2001) with Brian Homer
A Train You Never Saw (1998) with A.B. Curtiss
Waiting For The Upturn (1986) with Brian Homer
Funny Old World (1991) with Roger Woddis