TONY LUKE - Producer, Director, Manga Artist

TONY LUKE (Director Of Animation) originally founded Renga Studios in 1995 to develop characters and concepts created by himself and writer Alan Grant and other collaborators for the emerging new media markets of satellite TV and internet broadcasting. A trained stop-motion animator, Tony stepped sideways into comics during the industry's boom period of the mid-90's, bringing his manga and anime influences with him.

His first big break was in 1988 with the original version of Dominator, a bi-weekly black-and-white photomontage strip running in the pages of rock mag Metal Hammer, which detailed the exploits of an inter-dimensional masked demon-rocker battling otherworldly evil forces whilst trying to secure a record deal. Guest stars appearing in the strip included Ozzy Osbourne, Anthrax and Zodiac Mindwarp.

In 1990, the prolific 2000AD writer Alan Grant approached Tony to co-write a project with him for Marvel Comics' Japanese market: Psychonauts. Drawn by artist Motofumi Kobayashi, the series was the first manga story ever to be published simultaneously in Japan and the US. Whilst attending the 1991 San Diego Comics Convention, Tony was approached by Japanese publishing giant Kodansha to create a manga series for their million-selling Comic Afternoon title, which featured such influential series as Oh! My Goddess and Gunsmith Cats. With Alan on script duties, Tony illustrated the revamped adventures of Dominator in full colour, with top editor Hiro Morita (recently of Akira) overseeing the project. Dominator's success generated t-shirts, posters and a very special crossover manga episode with Tsuyoshi, of the TV anime series Get A Grip! Tsuyoshi, whose own series appeared in Comic Afternoon's sister title, the weekly Comic Morning. Nearly 1.5 million readers read the ensuing clash in what was the world's first crossover between an established manga/anime chara and a UK-created comic character...

Tony took a rest from Dominator in 1995 to concentrate on scripts and art for 2000AD and the Judge Dredd Megazine, and to draw the 12-episode Hellkatt for Manga Entertainment's Guyver monthly VHS/comic package. He also dived into the world of digital illustration, having been recommended the Apple Mac by industry luminaries Buichi Terasawa (Takeru, Cobra) and Dave McKean (Mr. Punch, Cages).

As well as directing several music promos over the years for bands including Wolfsbane, Urusei Yatsura and The Hunters Club, Tony directed the stop-motion sequences for Archangel Thunderbird, a 30-minute pilot for the Sci-Fi Channel, in 1998. The show was released under the Renga banner and gained unexpectedly high viewing figures during its run; it was also the first time Tony worked with Doug Bradley, who remains an active co-creator and participant in Renga's productions. 'A T-Bird' also featured the kaiju designs of Yasushi Nirasawa, whom Tony had first met in 1996 whilst working at Kodansha.

The surprise success of Archangel Thunderbird led Tony and Alan to consider revamping Dominator for an animated movie in 2000, with the added impetus of huge price crashes in the computer software and hardware markets meaning that Renga (now re-christened as Renga Media Ltd.) would be able to produce the animation 'in-house', without interference from third-party production companies. A deal with the Sci-Fi Channel in 2001 enabled the production to go ahead, and the rest was history...

Tony and Renga Media have been profiled in a number of publications such as SFX, Imagine, Meltdown, Bizarre, Animerica and Kaleidoscope. TV exposure has included spots on the BBC (Jonathan Ross' Manga! special) and Channel 4 (Sick and Twisted), with Emma B presenting a longform profile in the mid-May edition of ITV movie show ScreenTime. Other coverage has appeared, of course, on the Sci-Fi Channel and various internet sites.

Tony does occasionally manage to get some time off, and can usually be found working on his own musical scores and DJing at metal and alternative clubs. He continues to illustrate when time allows, and has exhibited at several galleries and exhibitions around the world. He has also lectured at the manga and anime seminars organised by the Japan Foundation, and in May 2004 completed the first of the Dominator specials, A Brief History Of Hell, before taking his first vacation in five years. 2005 saw him direct the crossover Dominator short with the Heavy Metal Magazine team, as well as preparing the next full-length Dominator movie. He has also created the covers for the Neil Gaiman comic Neverwhere with Glenn Fabry for DC Vertigo Comics.