Hewligan's Haircut

Hewligan's Haircut
Cover to the collected edition of Hewligan's Haircut Art by Jamie Hewlett
Publication information
Publisher	Originally IPC Media (Fleetway) until 1999, thereafter Rebellion Developments
First appearance	2000 AD #700 (1991)
Created by	Peter Milligan (writer) Jamie Hewlett (artist)

Hewligan’s Haircut is a comic series created by Peter Milligan and Jamie Hewlett that appeared in 2000 AD in 1990. The title character’s name is a blend of Hewlett and Milligan.

The series is a surreal comedy. Hewligan, an inmate of an insane asylum, gives himself a haircut with a pair of plastic scissors only for an inexplicable hole to appear in his huge pompadour, causing an apocalyptic bending of reality. The plot takes the form of a madcap interdimensional quest for Hewligan and his reality-warping companion Scarlet O’Gasmeter to set things straight.

Writing about Hewligan’s Haircut for Time, Douglas Wolk remarks that as with “Milligan’s other comics, the idea of madness is a license to pour anything and everything onto the page”. Wolk cites MAD comics as a major antecedent of Hewlett’s artwork, which incorporates a self-conscious mishmash of techniques and reference points, including fanzines, collage, Dada, cubism and pop art.