Discolure is required: In the interests of full disclosure it must be stated Andy and I have worked together on a comic strip that will hopefully see print in due course. I will be unbiased, and this interview is purely for fan's of Andy's work.
Before diving into talking about his art I asked Andy to tell me a little bit about himself. As with his art, he did not disappoint. This is what he had to say: I have edited slightly here. Purely to make it easier to read.
1. "I have 3 dogs,one border collie that’s 13 named zeppelin,one small grey whippet named mouse 10, one black whippet collie lurcher named Lola 2."
2. "I love a curry with all the nuts Naan, poppa doms etc. I love Thai too. I don’t cook. Love wine. Red for winter, prosseco or white for summer, if in a pub craft ale, IPA or San Miguel."
3. "Most modern movies leave me cold. I'm not a fan of Disney franchises, to me they take classics then milk the cash cow until it barely represents the once fine franchise it was, be it Marvel or Star Wars, both are ruined by woke culture and are money over content."
4. "The Shining and American werewolf in London are my all time fav horrors I grew up from with from the age of 8. Watching Hammers' and Universal classic horrors. I'm not a fan of digital art at all and AI can eat a bag of dicks too. If not drawing or painting then playing guitar and harmonica and singing, music and art rule my world. I love metal and punk,funk,blues,folk, out of new music ie todays new music. Sleaford mods are brilliant bit like grime,garage,Brit punk, great stuff.
Andy: I hope that helps.
Paul: It certainly does! Moving onto comics I like to start at the beginning. I ask simply, what were the first comics you enoyed? Where were they from and how much did they cost?
Andy: Local newsagent/corner shop. Beano,Dandy,Whizzer 'N' Chips. Prob 20-30p kids comics.
Paul: Can you name any comic or artist that especially inspired you to become an artist yourself though?
Andy: Looney tunes cartoons made me want to draw cartoons ,Jim Davis Garfield creator /artist,Charles Schulz snoopy, Calvin and Hobbs the ones that used to come as a free mini comic back in th 80s with the Mail on Sunday made me start creating my own characters and drawing comics. When I was four we rented a hoIiday flat off an old guy that drew and one day he saw me drawing, probably kiddy scribbles. He showed me a pencil drawing of a tiger he did and it was photo realistic, it blew my mind.
Paul: You mentioned a drawing of a tiger blew your mind. Does that mean you are a fan of Calvin and Hobbs?
Andy: It was a drawing the old guy that rented out the holiday flat that drew it. Garfield, Snoopy and Calvin and Hobbs made me want to draw my own comics.
Paul: Would it be a fair guess to say you have a decent collection of books (almost a library) of the artists that inspired you?
Andy: Defo, five large boxes of DC, Marvel and 2000ad and three boxes of vintage 40s horror and sci fi comics, two shelves of graphic novels ,two shelves of books on artists and musicians.
Paul: As an artist would you descibe yourself as self taught, or have you had (for lack of a better description) a "formal" art education?
Andy: Self taught!
Paul: As an artist how do you define yourself. If at all. Are you comic artist? A caricaturist? A cartoonists? If you had to pick one which do you prefer?
Andy: I’m all of the above but if I could only do one it’s a tie between cartoonist and comic artist ,probably comic artist as it seems to come easy to me and I always love doing it, caricatures is bread and butter.
Paul: To do a caricature does it help to meet the person? Is it a little like making a portrait painting? Can you name any people you'd love to try to illustrate? The new King? Steve Bull? Tom Cruise? For random examples?
Andy: None of the above lol they’re all dicks, except Steve. Nope I do caricatures from photos as well as on the spot. I just look and draw. I would love to draw someone like Steve Tyler from Aerosmith or Keef Richards, Alice Cooper, Dave Grohl just folk I admire and would like ten mins to chat with.
Paul: So, how did you start working with the '77 crew? How did that happen?
Paul: Can you describe how you first discovered comics? What may have been the first comics that you enjoyed? How old might you have been and where were they from please?
Ian: Well I’ve always been interested in how people make art really. Since I was a small child I was always captivated by that other worldly aspect of image making, and like most kids who latched on to make believe, art for me was a part of that. I first became truly hooked on comics when I was 11. My friends elder brother had some 2000ADs lying around. I picked them up and it was Judge Dredd that captured my imagination. It was a chance encounter really, I just saw them and I wanted what he had! I discovered Dredd in the summer holidays of 1985, shortly after I started senior school and again, by chance, came into contact with kids who held the same fascination and we basically became life long friends as a result.
Paul: Would you describe yourself as a cover artist or a comic strip artist? Which label, if you had to pick one do you feel more comfortable with? I'd personally describe you as the UK's excellent answer to Alex Ross perhaps, but that is only my opinion.
Ian: Well firstly, thank you for your kind words! I’m a huge fan of Alex Ross and I wish I could agree with you on that assessment. Regarding how I see myself as either a cover artist or a comic strip artist, that’s a great question! I think that’s a head vs heart thing for me at the moment, insofar as I find covers easier to do, by and large.
Ian: I think covers can easily tap into that sense of drama or theatricality. However I find the “project” aspect to strip work and the sense of storytelling within a collaborative process, much more rewarding and more akin to an artistic statement. However I feel I’m less of a natural storyteller and find comic art more difficult. So weighing up all of that, if push comes to shove, I have to say I’m more naturally a cover artist. But my aspiration is to develop and learn as a comic strip artist.
Paul: The collaborative process between a writer and an artist is always unique. Some writer's scripts are concise and to the point and leave the artist to their own imagination. I am told this is the case with John Wagner. The other extreme might be Alan Moore whose scripts were famously incredibly incredibly detailed. In your experience what works best for you?
Ian: Well I do like information when receiving a script. I’d rather be asking to take information away rather than asking for more context. That said, I wouldn’t ever want to feel bombarded, so I’d lean slightly more to the Moore model, however this may be down to my relative inexperience with sequential art.
Ian: Aside from one occasion, I always provide quite detailed pencil drafts and I ask for the writer to tear the drafts to bits as I want to get things resolved and serve the writer’s vision as much as I can. There is definitely a collaborative process though, so I invariably I make the odd proposal, typically about the way of telling the story visually. I’ve always had a good rapport with writers so I’ve never had any disagreements. I like to come at all the scripts I get as a grown up, so I ask for honesty, especially in draft form as that’s where I can really try to gain improvement from any feedback given to me. It’s all about the story and communicating, so my artwork must serve that objective.
Paul: You mentioned storytelling as being a skill for a comic strip artist. Could I please ask who might be your favorite comics artist? I mean specifically an artist and their ability to tell a story?
Ian: Well for solely for specific strip work, if I had to pick 1 artist, it would have to be Brian Bolland for me. It’s very difficult to whittle it down to one artist and there is a list of others that inspire me from a stylistic standpoint, but with Bolland, I’m left in no doubt as to what it is he’s trying to convey. He’s a genius. He’s so skilful and meticulous and there’s never a line out of place. And he’s such a nice guy, I’ve met him once.
Paul: Could I ask please how you discovered The'77 ?
Ian: Well, I was aware of The 77, but basically didn’t have the guts to put in a portfolio submission. But I had a lot of help, initially from non other than Steve McManus, who was very kind about a Dredd sketch I posted, so I plucked up the courage and asked him for some feedback. He was so helpful and extremely generous with his time. He gave me a fantastic one page strip, which I obviously threw myself into, I mean I’d just received a script from Tharg! So I was pinching myself, and I was a tad overwhelmed I must say, but Steve was such a nice guy.
Ian: So I submitted the page and after some feedback, he suggested we should aim to get it published and he told me he was going to speak to Ben Cullis at The 77. I was thinking, that would be it. But when I saw the open invitation for submissions I made contact with Ben and he suggested I sent in a portfolio. I was expecting to receive some feedback and get told to try again in a few months, but within a couple of hours I had a reply asking me how long would it take me to do a page. Within the space if a day or so, I was speaking to Paul Goodenough. I’ve been really lucky working with The 77, they’re extremely supportive and have really invested themselves in my learning and development.
Paul: Could I ask if you would describe yourself as a fast artist? For example how long would you say a cover image might take you?
Ian: Well I would say I’m a fast artist! At least when things are working for me! I reckon if I’m “on form” I can get the general gist of a cover down within 90 minutes and I try to keep a spontaneity and looseness to my work. I am a bit of a gambler and I take a very experimental approach to what I do, I enjoy the element of risk when making images. I would say I’m fast in one regard, as I tend to work quickly once I’m warm, but I’m also slow as I don’t get the hours to work as a full time artist, as I have a day job.
Paul: In researching our interview I came across this excellent image. I am curious how it came to be. Can you tell the story behind this terrific portrait of Tom Baker's Doctor?
Ian: Well it was a private commission, I was asked to choose between 2 other characters and surprise the person. It was a joy to paint, it took me about 3 hours, I really got into it
Paul: Given your choice of Tom Baker I am cuious if you are Doctor WHo fan in general. Would that be true? Do you have a favourite Doctor? Would working on the Doctor Who comics appeal to you?
Ian: Well I’m not sure especially if I am a Dr Who Fan although I must stress I’ve always wanted to watch it! I’ve just never got around to it. I tend not to watch much telly at all! In fact I’d now need help from my kids putting the TV on! I tend to get into whatever my wife and kids watch if it grabs my attention, I think that’s why I’ve never really gravitated toward Dr Who. I was however big on Dr Who when I was a kid, and I am talking about 6 or 7. I was gutted when he regenerated into Peter Davison. So to contradict myself a little, Tom Baker is my Dr Who. I also thought Christopher Eccleston was great too, as he was a kind of “no frills” Dr in terms of appearance. He is such a good actor.
Paul: Has the advent of digital comics altered your reading habits? Do you enjoy reading on a tablet or a laptop or do you prefer the traditonal paper options?
Ian: Oh I’m very physical with regards to reading, I love the tactile quality of anything that’s in print. I’m not one for tablets. I like the comic as an object. In fact one of the few things my wife and I would ever disagree on is my acquiring more and more books and comics. I could quite happily turn my home into a library. My wife has a kindle- I don’t.
Paul: Part of a comic artist's job is attending comic conventions and meeting fans. Have you been to many, and were they fun?
Ian: I love them. I’m relatively new to that part of the role But they are real highlights for me. It’s great to meet creators and fans face to face. I’ve been to about half a dozen. I’ve met some amazing people, creators and fans alike. I’m at Lawless this year and LICAF so I’m really looking forward to them.
Paul: Have you found yourself in "awe" yet meeting any creators you admire? Also do you have any fun convention stories you're allowed to share?
Ian: Oh I’ve found myself in awe plenty of times. My first convention was Thought Bubble 2021. I was there with Paul Goodenough and he was a star, he went around and introduced me to some stellar people, including David Mack, who is one of my favourite artists, I was in complete awe on that occasion. But he was such a nice guy and was very kind about my work, as was Ram V and Zu Orzu, who’s work I have a real appreciation for as a result of discovering them.
NOTE: Above is Ian and celebrated comic writer Ram V
Ian: At Lawless last year, Steve Bull introduced me to Brian Bolland and effectively represented me by showing him my work. He was a very nice man and took time to speak to me. Bolland is an artist I’ve admired since I was a child and it was a bucket list moment meeting him and having him actually look at my work. I was extremely nervous and had Steve not been there, I doubt I’d have had the guts to speak to. I’ve also met Mick McMahon twice and John Wagner and John Higgins both briefly.
Note: Ian with writer Paul Goodenough and letterer Filippo Roncone. Plus Ian shaing his potfolio with Brian Bolland
Ian: I did have a great experience with my youngest son, Tom, who accompanied me to a London Comicon back in Feb 22. Tom is a keen artist and much more gifted than me, and it was a thrill for us both to be drawing together on Shifts table. We were very grateful that Adrian at Shift gave us the opportunity.
Paul: What does the future hold for Ian Stopforth? What might you be illustrating in perhaps five years time? Are there ambitions to illustrate any specific title or characters for Marvel or DC for example?
Ian: Well, that’s an interesting one. I must say that it is a real pleasure working with The77 and Shift. It taps into that joy I had when I first discovered comics as a kid and all involved are so passionate about what they do it’s impossible not to be swept along with it. It’s given me such a positive view of the comics industry that my first objective is to stay in that creative environment. With regards to any long term plan, I would obviously be open to anything that really challenges me. I’m currently working on a story with Paul Goodenough which is really pushing me into new visual territory, so I’m always pursuing that creative buzz.
Ian: My heart very much rules my head in that regard as I simply look for what excites me. It’s difficult to divorce any realistic ambitions from my dreams, so the opportunities I’d daydream about may not be the opportunities I’d ever get! Dredd is an obvious dream gig, and especially Judge Anderson, but rather illustrated through a more sensitive lens depicting of her humanity and world weary state of being, such as the way in which Arthur Ranson depicted her. Imagine being given a script like Satan! I did paint Batman once for fun and a gothic style incarnation of him would also be a great experience. Back in the real world, I’m just very eager to tackle anything new and thought provoking.
Paul:: My final question is simple. Is there anything you are working on currently, or that is coming out soon that you would like to shamelessly promote?
Ian: Ha ha! Oh of course there is! I’m illustrating a fantastic story written by Jo Heeley called The Lodger in This Comic is Haunted. The comic is currently on kickstarter and is on its second issue, so I would love to see that in print, there’s some wonderful creators on board for this publication. Also as a heads up I’m currently working on an Extinction 2040 prequel story with Paul Goodenough for the 77’s second annual. The latter will be out later in the year, but I’m fully immersed in this story and I’m very excited to see this in print. Paul is very inspiring to work with and he’s really delivered the goods on this latest story!
Paul: Ian, I thank you kindly for sparing me so much of your valuable time. It has been a pleasure.
Paul: I like to start at the basics. What were the first comics you really enoyed, why, and how old were you?
Matthew: My first comic was a black and white UK reprint of Stan and Jack’s X-Men #1. I was 6 or 7 I think? In fact it was like a digest book so it may have been more than one issue of that run. It wasn’t their best work from that fertile creative period, but their characters really grabbed me - the idea of that world of super-powered misfits, the colourful powers and evil villains. BUT…. it didn’t get me into comics, mainly because at that time, you just couldn’t get many comics in the UK. It wasn’t until I was 9 years old and Transformers UK issue 1 hit - that got me into comics. Again objectively not a masterpiece of a book, but the world building aspects, the mythology they’d built for the book (to sell toys admittedly) captivated me. So I sort out more UK reprints of US books, then 2000AD, then US books and now I’m scarred for life…
Robin: Okay, my first comic was probably a copy of the Beano or the Dandy, my parents ran a newsagents and would get them in every week. I'd read through them both, enjoy them, laugh at the Bash St Kids or whatever nonsense that Dennis the Menace or Desperate Dan was us to that week, and then put them back for others to buy. However, for Christmas, we would receive the old Panini annuals, and I remember, Christmas 1989, I got the Real Ghostbusters annual, which collected a lot of stories, some prose, a guide on how to make a proton pack and trap and a whole slew of Ghostbusters comics within it. I unfortunately lost it to the annuls of time over the years until my fiance recently got me a copy of that and the 1990 annual as well for my birthday. It contained stories by a whole slew of Marvel UK writers and artists, including John Freeman, David Hine, Andy Lanning, Ant Williams, Lew Stringer and more. For a 4-5 year old, this created what those who enjoy Disney's Inside Out would call, a "core memory". I remember being so excited to read it, and to make the things inside and trying to draw all the characters.
Paul: Before your first published work gentlemen, did you have many knock backs or rejection letters. For most creators it is a rite of passage.
Robin: Before I started self publishing with Madius Comics with Mike Sambrook and Nick Gonzo, and then with Matt and I crossing over stories, I had only ever sent one story off to a publisher. This was to the late Dave Evan's Futurequake. The story was called Virtual Voyeur, and I was fortunate enough to have that picked up. I've never been brave enough to pitch to the bigger boys, instead, I've been happy to self publish work via Kickstarter to get a little bit of renown out there before I ever even attempt to pitch my stories around. This is probably the cowards way, however it's worked for me! The first proper, true knockback I had though was when I was lettering. Sometimes work wouldn't be used, or I would apply for lettering jobs and not hear things, or, the biggest stinger, be told I was going to letter a project, wait to hear from the creative team, then find out someone else had lettered it. That stings, I won't lie.
Matthew: I think like a lot of UK creators I pitched a couple of Future Shocks to 2000AD, neither went anywhere (but both pitches got reworked into well received books later on). It’s always disappointing to be rejected but I think it spurred my move into self-publishing very early on. I concentrated on putting out my own books for a few years. Recently I’ve successfully pitched to Heavy Metal and for a couple of creator IPs (under NDA) and I’ve got pitches I’m waiting to hear back on from a couple of larger publishers at present. If they are reading this - I’m lovely to publish I am
Paul: So how did you talented two people actually come to decide to work together? (Can we avoid Thunder Child for this question please?)
Matthew: Well Rob is the best letterer in comics (other best letterers are available) and he’d worked on a number of my self published books. But the real answer to that question is Hell in Stalingrad. Rob will correct me if I’m wrong on the details, but he’d written the start of a Demons mets the Seige of Stalingrad story and well we both enjoy co-writing with others, so Rob asked me to take a look at it. So I rattled off 40 odd pages of death, explosions and war crimes thinking Rob would pull it to bits (he’s the history buff that I’m not) and he loved it. So we wrote the whole thing - it took £11K on Kickstarter and we went ‘Hmmm, we should do that again!”.
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Robin: Matt initially hired me as a letterer for his series Cadavers. We got on really well, chatted loads, and then I relettered his series, last exit to Brighton and a graphic novel he produced called Murder Most Mundane. We constantly threatened one another with working together, as we knew what destruction this would wrought on the space/time continuum, so to avoid that, we wrote about history.
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Matthew: Man you have a better memory than me!
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Robin: Like Matt said, I had a little idea about demons fighting soldiers, I did a history degree at uni and always wanted to use that for the basis of a comic story. I mentioned it to Matt, who then threw slews of paper, notes written on the backs of cigarette packets, his phone number on a napkin and various other bits he pieced together into a 40 odd page story, and then we tinkered, we tailored, soldiered and thankfully skipped the spying part to produce Hell in Stalingrad.
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Robin: And again, as Matt stated, we took £11k on Kickstarter, and thought... "Hmm... We should do this again..."
Paul: Can you both offer any advice to anyone that starts a Kickstarter campaign for their comics?
Robin: I don't think there's hard and fast advice for Kickstarter. There's projects on there which take thousands and, to be honest, I struggle to understand why they do, and other projects which have great creators involved and a wicked story attached which fail. Ultimately, I think it comes down to networking, getting previews of what you have together, contacting press outlets, cultivating relationships with other creatives and being active and involved within the comics community which helps get Kickstarters across the line and made. There's no golden bullet. And people who have had much more success have written about their experiences, I know Dave Cook released a book about his experience with Kickstarter and what he did to bring about the success of Killtopia, so that's definitly worth checking out if you can. I think it comes down to bravery, being loud and proud about your book and being prepared to put the work in.
Matthew: I've run 16 successful Kickstarters. My advice would be "Are you insane? " I'll pretty much echo what Rob has said here - hard work is basically the underpinnings of a KS. You can have the best book in the world, but if your rewards are badly costed, your art is poorly displayed, your pitch is wordy, your postage is off and the point of your book is not clear - you will struggle. And even if you get all of this sorted, if you don't work to promote your Kickstarter - you will struggle. Having a following, a base of fans as a creator does help, but that shouldn't deter new creators wanting to use KS to launch their careers - all crowdfunders are a great platform to get your ideas to market. If all goes to plan I'll have 6 campaigns across a number of crowdfunding platforms this year along. But it's never easy money like a lot of people seem to think, and the margins to get a book to print get harder each year. So yeah, a little insanity is helpful.
Robin: Self flagellation is a good summary of what running a Kickstarter is like, so if you're into masochism then crowdfunding is for you.
Paul: Who came up with ThunderChild? H G Well creation is obviously public domain to enjoy and has seen a slight rebirth in recent years, I'm thinking of the BBC series and The Tom Cruise effort but who created the specicific storyline you are telling?
Robin: Storyline wise, it was both of us. However, I'll let Matt tell you how we came up with the idea as he tells it better...
Matthew: We disagree on how drunk Rob was when messaging me whilst he listening to the Jeff Wayne War of the Worlds. Rob's message was basically ‘Mate!!! Thunder Child!!! We should do Thunder Child!!!’ Rob says he WASN’T drunk and I’m going for VERY. Anyway I was intrigued, being able to do a WotW story, set during the events of the Martian invasion, but with a lot of leeway to tell our own version was a really good idea. Rob had written a great opening with the HMS Thunder Child departing for its journey up the Thames but at that time had a lot of other books I was writing, so sadly I sat on it. Then this thing called the Pandemic happened and like a lot of writers I was struggling for inspiration and as an exercise for the mind I wrote this massive conflict between the ship and the Martian Tripods (which in the end became the basis for issue 3 of the book). Rob and I then decided that rather than a Graphic Novel as first envisioned, it would work best as a 3-book series and I suggest we should start in the days before Rob’s opening - when the Martian threat was just speculation. So I wrote the outline, Rob and I created the cast, dialogued out the pages, I re-dialogued the pages, Fred re-dialogued our re-dialogues, and then Kevin and Simon actually made it into a really good comic.
Robin: I wasn't drunk, just high on the concept of a comic based around the Thunder Child. I had always loved Jeff Wayne's musical version of the War of the Worlds, I used to stare at the artwork on my dad's vinyl when I was a kid, especially that image of the tripod melting the Thunder Child's valiant heart, and with the imagery and story being so in the publics mind, and thankfully it being in the public domain, meant, as Matt has said, that we were able to use the story but also tell our own. It seemed like a great idea, one where we could muse on the themes of Empire, on government responses to emergency situations, on the human spirit and also on how many things we could blow up with a Martian heat ray.
Paul: I was going to ask as a follow up question if you are both fans of the legenday LP, but I have a feeling that may be redundant now. I assume you are both fans so instead I will ask your opinions of the various adaptaions of War of The Worlds.
"Ok here's a photo of me with my pal Charlie Adlard at a signing in Birmingham. Charlie is also the Drummer in my band, Cosmic Rays. We're currently recording songs for our third album."
I quote Shane, with his permission: "I'm on the right as Charlie Adlard is one the left. I'm the fat bald one" (Those were Shane's words, NOT mine!) During the interview there may be other fun photos to enjoy.
Paul: Can you possibly say what were the very first comics you remember buying and enjoying? AND how old may you have been?
Shane: It's really hard to remember as I was so young. I read a lot of comics that were given to me or bought for me as a toddler. I was taught to read about a year before starting school so I was reading Planet of The Apes, Tomb of Dracula and Mighty World of Marvel, but also Tin Tin, Beano, and other humour stuff. I pretty much devoured anything I could get my hands on between the ages of 4 and 6. Then the first comic I bought with my own pocket money on holiday with my grandparents in Blackpool was Draedevil #123 from a spinner rack. It was an old comic even then to me, but I really enjoyed it. The longer more sophisticated stories from the British reprints and all of those cool characters just amazed me. My love of Daredevil continued and I collected the title from the early 80's through to the mid noughties.
Paul: It may sound like a weird interview question, but there is a logic to it. Are you a DC or Marvel fan? Or are you totally independent?
Paul: Jonathan you are famous for being a rather passionate comic fan, but could I ask please where it all began? What were the very first comics you recall reading? How old might you have been and where were they from?
Jonathan: The first comics I read were British weeklies, like The Beano and The Dandy. Then later Buster and Whizzer and Chips. But the first comics I really loved were American books, specifically Marvel. There were a couple of ‘junk’ shops on my High Street in Leytonstone East London that used to sell second hand comics. They had a pile of them with 3d scrawled on the cover or first page. I bought Fantastic Four, Daredevil and possibly some X Men. I still have the original copy of Fantastic Four number 3 I bought from there, minus its cover and beat up as hell. But precious to me. I got hooked and spent every penny I had on comics. For a while Marvel were not distributed here so it was tough. But I was actively buying them as a teen throughout the seventies, and those bronze age Marvels are a gas.
Paul: Do you have an opinion on the state of the comic industry in the UK. Obviously 2000AD is a constant, but have you tried reading newer titles like The '77 or Shift?
Jonathan: I bought 77 and enjoyed it. But I was never really that into 2000ad. I liked it but it came out when I was a bit older and more into music etc. So, I don’t have the same nostalgic connection to it that I do Marvel and DC.
Paul: Some years ago, I believe you part owned a comic shop with Paul Gambaccini from Radio One called Top Ten Comics in Soho in London. Could you say anything about that adventure please?
Jonathan: Paul and I embarked on this venture solely because of our love of comics. But it was a rather fraught experience. The country went into recession and imports from the USA cost more and more. Marvel also released a ton of extra books. We lost a lot of money and finally gave up. Retail is hard!
Paul: I’m interested in the BBC documentary you filmed with Neil Gaiman “In Search of Steve Ditko.” I found it quite moving and you were clearly motivated to see the project through. Could you say anything about the man himself?
Jonathan: Neil is a guest on the documentary, but really, I filmed it myself for the BBC. He happened to be in NYC meeting with DC regarding a future Sandman project that never happened. So, we interviewed him there and then because I was intending to film outside of Steve’s office, I invited him along. It was indeed a passion project for me. I am glad I made it and glad it found an appreciative audience.
Jonathan: I think I started the project with the cliched view of Steve that he was an oddball and a recluse, albeit an amazingly talented one! But over the years and having chatted to him a couple of times after the doc came out, my respect and I think understanding of him increased. Although the word gets bandied about too generously, I would consider him to be a true genius. He is unique and uncompromising and so wonderfully gifted. That plus his dedication and hard work is why he became one of the greatest individual talents in comics.
Paul: I am guessing you have been to many, many comic conventions and had the opportunity to talk to a great number of famous creators. I wonder are you still starstruck when you meet famous writers and artists? Would I be correct in saying you were fortunate enough to meet Stan Lee?
Jonathan: I met Stan once when I interviewed him for the Ditko show. I had been asked to participate in a show about him years ago but declined as I was uneasy about the credit he received that was rarely, in my opinion, fairly shared with the artists he worked with. I treasure my meetings with Don McGregor, Darwyn Cooke, Berni Wrightson, Len Wein, and the brief chats I had with Mike Ploog and Gene Colan. Overall, my fave Convention hook up has to be the magnificent Jim Steranko.
Paul: Given your experiences interviewing so many big names in the film industry, and the many writing credits that your talented wife has gained over the years, have you ever visited any movie sets of the various superhero movies fans have enjoyed over the last two decades?
Jonathan: I have visited a few movie sets over the years but am not really a fan of doing that. Everyone there has a job to do and its quite stressful for them and I don’t like to feel like I’m getting in the way. Also, it can spoil the movie for you a bit. I was on set for several of the key moments for the Kingsman film and Kicks and quite a few Bond movies. When you watch the movie, the reality of your memory clashes with what’s onscreen and takes you out of the moment. So, although I still occasionally do visit sets when friends in the business invite me, it is not something I am especially keen on.
Paul: You ventured into writing you own comics for a time. Your Series America’s Got Powers with Bryan Hitch was very well received. How did the series come about and are you likely to write more comics in the future?
Jonathan: I have had three series published. Turf, with Tommy Lee Edwards, AGP with Bryan Hitch and Revenge with Ian Churchill. I wrote another series that I started to work on with Tommy Lee, The Golden Age, but I felt unable to continue working with him. I bought the art he had completed for it, so have the whole first issue here. But whether or not I will return to that or different projects I don’t know. I enjoyed the experiences, and it is fun being a tiny footnote in the world of comics. But time and life is precious and I have other things I need or want to do first.
Paul: As a comic fan you are quite famous. I wonder though what would you describe as the "Crown Jewel" of your collection that you are proudest of?
Jonathan: I am lousy at picking favourites. That’s why I try to avoid taking part in lists or shows that feature them - its why I've always turned down going on Desert Island Discs even though it is nice to be asked. Yet some of my original art brings me great pleasure. To hold original pages by Kirby, Ditko, Steranko, Billy Graham, Rich Buckler, Gene Colan, Barry Smith, Michael Kaluta, Berni Wrightson, Frank Frazetta, John Romita, Möbius and many other of the greats I grew up adoring is a constant thrill.
Paul: I have one simple and silly final question if I may. If you could have one superhero power what might it be?
Jonathan: In the real world I think being super smart like Tony Stark or Reed Richards or Brainiac would be useful. In the world of comics, I’ll take anything that’s going apart from Archery. Never really understood the appeal of Hawkeye of the Green Arrow. Once you’re quivers empty then you might as well go home.
Paul: Thank you for your time, Jonathon. It is appreciated.
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Paul: I like to start by asking how your relationship with comics began? Can you recall the very first comics you enjoyed reading? How old might you have been and where might they have been purchased from?
Andrew: not to be different for the sake of being different, but I think McMahon and Jock have inspired me to be ‘different’ - I’ve just not had the guts to jump all in and go really crazy yet, but I think the next episode of Jubilee will see a huge shift in style, tone and delivery. I think from all art and illustration, I’m generally inspired to explore and innovate - sadly I don’t get to spend as much time at the drawing board as I like, so progress can seem for many months, glacial !!!.
Paul. What was the very first comic you remember buying or especially enjoying?
Stephen: That would have to be an Iron Man strip reprinted in the UK comic called FANTASTIC in around 1966. I would have been 10 or 11 at that time, and I’d been reading comics for several years prior to that-- but it wasn’t until I saw the Gene Colan and Jack Abel artwork on that strip, printed in glorious black and white, that I was hooked. It was the first time I’d seen Iron Man/Tony Stark about to die if he didn’t recharge his suit-- and the realism of the artwork, which was not something that most Marvel comics had at the time, really added to the feeling of jeopardy and suspense. After seeing those pages, there was no going back for me. I was comics fan for life.
Stephen: A few issues later, the Iron Man series in FANTASTIC ended (as they’d caught up with the original American series), so I set out to track down more artwork by this mystery artist (the British reprints had no creator credits) in the imported Marvel comics that sporadically appeared on market stalls and newsagent’s spinner racks. And so began my lifelong love of Gene Colan’s comics work, which never disappointed, no matter which character he worked on. And those pages that began it all for me still look as incredible now as they did way back then.
Paul: Could you explain how you first became published?
Stephen: My first published work as a professional (as in, I was paid for it, rather than, it looked like it was done by someone who knew what they were doing-- which I certainly didn’t at that stage) was in a UK comic magazine devoted to stories about the current craze of the early 80’s-- CB radio-- and was called 10-4 Action. A friend of mine’s mother, saw a small ad in her local newspaper seeking a comic artist, and thought of me—so a small act of kindness and a stroke of luck got me into the comics biz!
Stephen: I was given the job of writing and drawing a 10 page strip every month for 10-4 Action, telling the exploits of the CB Super-Heroes Big Boy and Foxy Lady. Don’t blame me for the terrible names—they were dreamed up by the larger-than-life editor/publisher who went by the unlikely name of Todd Slaughter, (who also happened to be the president of the Elvis Presley Fan Club of Great Britain). The page rate wasn’t great, but it was fun to see my work in WH Smiths for the first time. Prior to that, I’d had a fair bit of work published in the fanzines Comics Unlimited and BEM, and in the independent semi-pro magazine Graphixus (which also featured early work by Brian Bolland and Garry Leach), but they were all done strictly for the pleasure of seeing your work in print rather than for any remuneration, so they probably don’t count.
Paul. How did your relationship with the transformers comics begin?
Stephen: After 10-4 Action went the way of all short-lived crazes, I began writing and drawing a strip for Swiftsure, an anthology comic that featured a new generation of wannabe comic artists, many of whom went on to be pros (Kev Hopgood, Mike Collins, Jeff Anderson, Cliff Robinson, Mark Farmer, Richard Starkings, etc). My strip, Jim Dandy In The Underworld, had been selected by a young Alan Moore for publication, and I naturally sent out copies of my work on this to the main British publishers. John Tomlinson at Marvel UK liked my inking style, and clearly put in a good word for me with the other editors there, which led to my inking a few Zoids strips in the Spider-Man and Zoids comic.
Stephen: That in turn led to me inking Steve Yeowell on Thundercats, and eventually to inking Jeff Anderson on the UK Transformers weekly comic. From there I began drawing covers for the comic and I was hooked up as inker with a certain penciller by the name Andrew Wildman. To be honest, I would have been happier staying on Thundercats, as I preferred the super-hero vibe that it had. But I guess it turned out alright in the long run!
Paul: It may sound like a silly question, but, once you started working on the Transformers did you start to enjoy it?
Stephen: Thanks mainly to the people I was lucky enough to work with, it did become quite a fun job. Simon Furman’s scripts were always entertaining, sometimes comic, and frequently epic. It was nice to be working on something that felt like it had longevity to it (and little did we know just how long-lived it would be!), unlike all the short, self-contained stories I’d done on Thundercats. With its star-spanning storylines and enormous cast of characters, Transformers felt like our own version of the Marvel Super-Hero universe.
Stephen: Art wise, I was fortunate to be paired off first with Jeff Anderson, whose pencils were very ‘tight’; that’s to say, he’d done all the hard work, adding the details you would sometimes need to add as an inker when working with other pencillers. Jeff had previously inked his own pencils on Transformers, and really knew what worked. So initially, I tried to add a little of Jeff’s inking style to my own. My style up to this point, such as it was, had been heavily influenced by the clean, detailed inking style of Brian Bolland (particularly on his Judge Dredd strips for 2000AD), so that fed into my approach to inking Transformers too. There are a lot of shine effects and general mark-making in those early strips that are a deliberate attempt by me to ink like Bolland.
Stephen: When I started inking Andrew (Wildman’s) pencils shortly after, I felt like I had my own way of inking those pesky ‘bots (and couldn’t really imagine inking them any other way by this point), and so, I pretty much applied that style carte blanche to Andrew’s work. There was never any danger of overwhelming his pencils with my inks, as his style was so distinctive and original, and always shone though no matter who inked him. The dynamism, emotional punch and above all, the humanity he gave to the assorted Autobots and Decepticons probably has a lot to do with why he’s still one of the best-loved Transformers artists, even 35 years later, and certainly someone whose work I still enjoy inking.
Paul: You are clearly passionate about the subject, could you point toward a particular cover or page or storyline you are especially proud of? As it were a point where you can say you got it absolutely right.
Stephen: If I gave the impression that I ever reached a point where I got it ‘absolutely right’ I need to correct that—it’s the drive to ‘get it right next time’ in the face of that slight sense of failure I always get when I see my latest work in print that keeps me going onto the next comics job. I know it’s one of those cliches about artists that they’re never happy with their work, but in my case it’s true. Having said that, there was certainly a point where I began to feel confident in my approach-- where I knew what I needed to do when it came to inking Transformers (though of course I could have been deluding myself!) But maybe I can illustrate this gaining of confidence with a couple of Transformers covers I penciled and inked for Marvel UK:
The first is #141, published November 1987.
Stephen: Looking at the back copies I have, it appears that it was drawn very early in my run, possibly even before I inked Jeff Anderson (though I think I can see Jeff’s influence in it). To me, though it has nice colors by John Burns Jr (I think), my line work is clean but quite flat and tentative, showing my inexperience in dealing with giant robots.
Stephen: By #254, published January 1990, having inked Jeff’s work for a couple of years, and with my first inks over Andrew’s pencils under my belt, the inking is more solid and three-dimensional, and the shine effects are more stylized. Overall, it’s just more confidently inked—and pretty much the same as I ink Transformers to this day.
Paul: Has technology altered the way you approach your own artwork at all? Has it affected the way you produce art?
Stephen: Technology has massively affected the way I approach art, with the main exception being Transformers comics, which I still always ink by hand on Bristol board. Though even here I’m usually working on a blueline printout of the pencils that I may well have only ever seen as a digital file, and most of the final clean-up on the inks (whiteout corrections and some highlights, etc.) will be done in Photoshop.... For comics where I handle all the artwork, I tend to pencil digitally (where there are endless opportunities to ‘noodle’ with the art till it starts to look right). Sometimes I draw it so tightly that the art doesn’t need inking, and sometimes I end up inking a printout of the digital pencils, just because I enjoy ‘proper’ inking. Then the colour art will always be in Photoshop—so there isn’t a day that I don’t work digitally at some point.
Paul: It sounds to a layman like myself like quite a steep learning curve.
Stephen: It all began when many of the pencillers I worked with regularly began to take jobs in video games or storyboarding for films—this was in the late 1990’s when comics work from big publishers was generally getting harder to come by—so when the chance to work as an artist/animator for a small London studio that had just been bought by Sony came up, I took it. That was quite a baptism of fire, having previously only taken a few night classes in the basics of digital art. The studio was creating ‘Messagemates’, those annoying animated ‘e-cards’ that were briefly popular before computer viruses put people off downloading the .exe files we used.... From there it seemed quite natural to move into video games, working as a concept artist for various publishers, full-time for around 12 years, on titles like SpongeBob Squarepants, Doctor Who, Barbie and Reservoir Dogs. And in all that time I never did any hand-drawn artwork in my day job—it was all digital. So, yes, technology has had quite a profound effect on my working methods. There’s nothing more enjoyable than working in pen and ink on paper, but for all sorts of practical reasons, in most cases, digital tends to be the best option.
Paul: You mentioned you worked on Reservoir Dogs for the Playsation. I enjoyed that game. Can you say anything about that experience?
Stephen: It was two solid years of hard work, but definitely a career highlight in terms of my video game work. I was involved from the initial pitch right through to the end of the concept stage, working on production art, storyboards, character design, game mechanics and environments. As the only concept artist on the project, everything that appeared in the game, be it characters, props or environments, had all been drawn by me before it was built by the 3D artists.
Stephen: The game didn’t quite turn out as intended, though. We had hoped that Tarantino would give it his blessing—we even made a video for him, showing how much respect we would show his creation—but he wanted nothing to do with it. Then we gradually lost the rights to the likenesses of most of the main characters (with the notable exception of Michael ‘Mr. Blonde’ Madsen). But by that point I’d already moved on to SpongeBob Squarepants, which certainly made a nice change from all the violence!
When the game was finally released, it was the only time that a video game I’d worked on was featured in the window of Game shops throughout the land, and one of those official ‘cheat’ books was published, which featured lots of my concept art—which would have been nice if they’d credited my work!
Paul: Going back to comics. Do you describe yourself as an inker by trade? Do you enjoy pencilling? Or even having your pencils inked by someone else?
Stephen: I suspect that I’m like most inkers, in that I never set out for that to be my ‘trade’. As I mentioned earlier, it’s probably Marvel UK editor John Tomlinson that I have to blame for that ‘career choice’, seeing the way I inked my own pencils and suggesting I might like to consider inking work if any became available. I soon discovered how much fun it was to ink someone else’s pencils--though I can’t say the poor pencillers would always have felt the same! I’ve been lucky to have mostly inked pencils that needed more than the skill of a ‘tracer’ to complete, sometimes even working as ‘embellisher’, or ‘finished artist’ over ‘breakdowns’ (very loose line drawings, somewhere between a layout and full pencils), where a fair bit of the actual drawing is done in the inks. It would be very dull to just be a ‘line follower’, but inking the stuff I get to work is usually a lot of fun.
ABOVE: Stephen's ink finishes over Rurik Tyler's breakdowns for Marvel U.S.' GI Joe
Stephen: And there are good, practical reasons why inking suits me—I am a very slow penciller and a relatively speedy inker, so financially, it makes a lot of sense for me to do the latter. Plus, objectively speaking, my pencils aren’t as good as the pencillers I ink—so the finished work we do together tends be better than what I could produce on my own; and on rare occasions, maybe even better than what the penciller could have produced if they’d inked their own work. Though I would stress that I believe the vast majority of pencillers are also their own best inkers—it’s just that a separate inker can provide a new set of eyes, fix the odd bit of anatomy or perspective, and possibly add a lighting effect or rendering style that improves the final art.
Stephen: As far as being inked another artist, I’ve had very few occasions where that was the case. From memory, I can only recall Paul Marshall and Simon Coleby (who both went on to do great artwork for 2000AD) inking my pencils, and in both cases, they did a good job with what they had to work with – though to some extent, in subtle ways, the artwork no longer felt like mine. So, I can certainly understand how other pencillers may feel when they’re on the receiving end of my inks!
Paul: Covid slightly ruined the convention scene, but in general is that a part of your job you enjoy? Meeting fans and signing your work? Is that a fun part of being a comic artist?
Stephen: I don’t actually get invited to that many conventions. I suspect that some organizers view inkers as the equivalent of drummers in rock bands and see them as unlikely to have anything interesting to say about the creative process—they’re probably right! Plus, I do prefer conventions that are close enough to home to avoid having to stay in hotels. So, living in London, The London Film and Comic Con is ideal for me and definitely the convention I’ve attended most often.
Stephen: I know some fellow comics pros who bemoan the ‘good old days’ when conventions were all about comics, but I love the atmosphere of today’s big shows-- the razzmatazz of the cosplayers, and the thousands of genuinely diverse visitors, just happy to be their wild and wacky selves in a non-judgmental space. I really enjoy doing sketches, and chatting to people passing by, who are always so friendly. The only downside is how exhausting it is and losing my voice by the end of every convention.... I wouldn’t say I actually have ‘fans’ who come to meet me at conventions, but of all the stuff I’ve worked on over the years, it’s always the Transformers comics that fans bring to be signed the most. They love to discuss random TF things with me, too—which, as they all seem to have an encyclopaedic knowledge of Transformers, and I certainly don’t, can be a challenge sometimes. But it’s always nice to hear that I played a small part in their happy childhood memories.
Paul: Do you have any fun convention stories to share? Have you ever had a "I cannot believe I have met a hero feeling"?
Stephen: I’m not sure I can think of any specific, fun convention stories—certainly none that are fit to share in polite company!
Paul: Fair enough. I think. (Sadly.)
Stephen: I do have a little ritual that I perform at every convention though: I put the first ‘warm-up’ sketch I draw on the first day of the event (usually of Spider-Man, as I was inker on several Spider-Man series for Marvel US) to one side. Then, when the first kid who comes by with their family stops and looks amazed at the artwork on my table, I ask them if they like Spider-Man. When say ‘yes’, as they always do, (though sometimes only after some prompting from their mum or dad)—I present them with my Spidey sketch as a gift. As most families that attend conventions seem to be there mainly to meet their favourite movie actors from the latest computer-generated Marvel movie, it’s my small way of bringing the magic of ‘proper’, hand-drawn comics to the next generation.
Paul: Do you experience any hero worship at 'cons?
Stephen: In terms of hero worship, pretty much every writer and artist from my childhood and youth create that reaction in me. So, it often comes down to who I’m placed next to on the convention floor. Sitting next to John Wagner at a Showmasters convention in Brighton was unreal, as I remembered how his early Judge Dredd stories had kept me reading comics when Marvel and DC were in the doldrums. Even though, since then, I had actually inked a few of his Judge Dredd stories, in that moment, I reverted a total, awestruck fan-boy. At least when I was sitting next to David Lloyd at another convention, I was able to appear quite nonchalant on the surface, thanks to our mutual involvement in his Aces Weekly digital comic. But inside my head, I just kept thinking, ‘I’m talking to the co-creator of V For Vendetta like a fellow professional-- there must be some mistake!’
Stephen: My biggest regret though, when it comes to meeting heroes was the time that Neal Adams was a fellow guest at the London Film and Comic Con, and I just couldn’t pluck up enough courage to go over and say hello. He was just too big a hero—right up there with Gene Colan in terms of his artistic talent and influence upon my work—that I knew I wouldn’t be able to speak. I would have liked to have told him how seeing his artwork on X-Men #57 changed my life-- now, sadly, with his recent passing, I won’t get another chance to do that.
Paul: Do you have any creator owned project of your own you would like to pursue?
Stephen: The short answer is probably ‘no’. Pretty much every creator-owned comics idea I’ve ever come up with is available to buy/read digitally already.... In Aces Weekly, I have a Watchmen-style super-hero tragedy called ‘Just Force’; a medieval anti-hero called ‘Maledict, Lord Of Misrule’; and a chinless wonder in a light-hearted romp through class inequality, called ‘Jim Dandy in the Underworld’; and several other shorter try-outs for characters that never went anywhere! People can check them out in volumes 4,6,9,13,19,20 and 28, at http://www.acesweekly.co.uk/volumes for a very reasonable price!
Paul: I didn't know you'd done so many.
Stephen: I also have two creator-owned projects on Comixology and Amazon Kindle:
‘Kinki Aggro, Sex Criminologist’—a sci-fi social satire and whodunnit combined. https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B09QFGN6YD
‘Zombie & Son’-- Downton Abbey meets Night of The Living Dead by way of Oliver Twist! https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B09QDWMD9K
It’s not that I wouldn’t like to do more of my own stuff, but I don’t have the free time, or the finances needed to do a lot of work upfront that may never make any money. And I don’t really have any ideas that are screaming at me to get them down on paper either... In recent years I’ve been happy creating artwork on a work-for-hire basis, helping new writers realize their publishing ambitions. The one that I can talk about is a 100-page full-colour graphic novel that was published in 2020 by Markosia. It’s an exciting, gory satire with a disturbing commentary on fame and the toxic side of the online world, called ‘Stay Alive’, written by James Harberson and Mackie Wildwood. https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B09QDWMD9K
Paul: What does the future hold for Stephen Baskerville?
Stephen: Well, apart from a regular stream of private commissions, most of my time is being taken up with another work-for-hire project with a first-time writer. I can’t really say much about it yet, but I’ve already drawn 140 full-colour pages of some of the most challenging artwork I’ve ever done, for this time-spanning adventure, and I’m having a lot of fun along the way. I do have one other future project which will probably be of more interest to anyone out there who likes Wildman & Baskerville Transformers artwork, (with extraordinary colours by JP Bove). We’ve been working on ‘something’ Transformers, which again, I can’t talk about yet, but should be revealed soon. Sorry to be so secretive!
Paul: I am Intrigued to say the least. I am sure all of your fans will look forward to what you have planned. Thank you for your time and the interview.
UPDATE: The secret project Stephen mentioned were the Royal Mail Transformer stamps.
https://shop.royalmail.com/special-stamp-issues/transformers?fbclid=IwAR0bPe5vAfPfWtUBykJDCaw62CJtvXR4Z8IhXZDzB60W09x3Qt_eCCjZG50
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Paul: May I start by asking the earliest comic you recall from your childhood that you especially enjoyed? Or the comic you first bought for yourself?
Andrew: My earliest memory of comics is reading a British pre-school comic called PLAYHOUR. Some great characters in there such as 'Bunny Cuddles, the funny bunny who loves eating jam'. Then it was on to classic UK comic, THE DANDY along with football and war comics. But the discovery of Marvel Comics at the age of about 7 was a game-changer. I still have many of those first Marvels such as AVENGERS #44. Drawn by John Buscema, it blew me away and was what made me want to someday have a career as a Comic Book Artist.
Paul: You're known to most fans as a Transformers artist. Was that your first published work?
Andrew: My first published work was not Transformers. As far as I can remember it was for a He-Man comic published by London Editions, a Manchester based publishing company. I also did a BRAVESTARR comic for them and then moved to Marvel to work on Thundercats, some covers before then starting in Transformers.
Paul: We have to talk about Transformers though. How did you get the first professional Transformers job? And we're you already a fan of the Toys?
Andrew: While working on Thundercats I sometimes used to mail the pages in and sometimes used to take a trip to London and deliver them by hand. It was always great to visit the bustling Marvel UK offices. On one such occasion I dropped the Thundercats pages with Steve White, the Thundercats editor when the guy sitting at the desk next to him looked at my work and asked me if I wanted to draw the book, he was working on called Transformers. To be honest, I didn’t really know what it was. I also didn’t want to draw robots as I was on my own journey towards drawing superheroes for Marvel and Transformers felt like a backward step. But I was young and needed income, so I said yes. That person was Simon Furman and so began a long association with him and those “robots.”
Paul: Out of sheer curiosity because you are pretty well known for the Transformers comics do you have a big collection of the toys? If so, do you use them for reference for your art?
Andrew: I have a movie version Optimus Prime that I was given but other than that, no other toys so a no to the second part of your question. Plenty of other reference out there.
Paul: Which is your favourite transformer to draw?
Andrew: Favourite Transformer to draw has varied over the years. It used to be Galvatron as he had a more human physique, as does Kup. Any of the Transformers with faces are easier to get expression with. But I guess it will always be Optimus Prime. He is so familiar and even though he doesn’t have a face, I found a way to get a lot of emotion in those eyes.
Paul: I used to like Ratchet. The medical Transformer robot. Can you talk at all about your working relationship with Simon Furman and how much story influence you might have had over the years?
Andrew: When I met Simon back in, what, 88? he was 'the boss'. He was writing and editing the Transformers book. My first issue (I think) was a Christmas story. I put a lot into it. Detail and subtle references etc. After I had sent the pages in, I got a phone call from him. And he pulled it apart finishing by saying, 'make some changes and corrections, if you can't then I guess Baskerville can save it'. WTF?! thought I.
Andrew: So, I made the changes. And of course, he was absolutely right. The requested changes made the strip so much better. From then on, our working relationship was great. By the time we were coming towards the end of the Marvel US run we would chat about what could be done with it. Sadly, it was cancelled. We did work together on some other stuff such as 'The War Within' for Dreamwave and others. We got back together for ReGeneration One and that was more of a collaboration. Definitely written by Simon but we did chat a lot about it and float ideas…… And of course, there was our short-lived project THE ENGINE. An online comic book that was groundbreaking at the time. Still stands up well as a concept. I would love to do it as a graphic novel but we have now followed different paths.
Paul: Thank you, that so neatly brings me onto my next question. What is your opinion or experiences of online comics or comics being read on tablets or devices? How do you prefer your art to be appreciated? Is it on paper or on a screen?
Andrew: Personally, I prefer comics and graphic novels printed…. The Engine was done at a time when CoolBeans were developing web comics. One of the things I liked was that you could do interesting things online and have links and sound etc. But eventually I was torn between the question of, 'Is it moving comics or is it just rubbish animation?' The only real advantage of digital comics is that it saves trees and its instant easy distribution with no printing costs. Also, colours are vivid. But as with anything online, its not 'real'. and feels even more disposable than the printed version.
Paul: Can I ask what does the future hold for Andrew Wildman? Are there any creator owned projects on the horizon?
Andrew: I rarely do any commissioned comics work these days. There are a couple of Transformers images coming soon. One for IDW and some for a very special commission. My work these days is as a storyboard artist for TV and film. I do boards for Children’s animates tv shows and for live action TV and film. I have recently finished the boards for a Netflix movie of LUTHER, starring Idris Elba.
Andrew: Comics are a great narrative medium, so I keep my hand in with some creator owned work. A few years ago, I created my own graphic novel, HORIZON. It is very different from any of the work I did in mainstream comics although it does have some robots in it. Think Alice in Wonderland meets The Matrix meets Paperhouse. Currently I am work my way through a seven-part sci-fi comic book series called OXYGEN. I guess you could say that one The Martian meets Moon meets 2001. These books take a long time as they are a labour of love that I have to fit in when I can. All info about these projects and all other Wildman stuff at apwildman.com
Paul: Thank you for your time and your wonderful answers Andrew.
Over some weeks during his busy schedule, I chatted to my old mate Liam Sharp. He is an ex-Brighton boy after all. He originally hailed from Derby despite his love of living on the other side of the world these days. Although who knows when things could possibly change?
Paul: What first interested you in working in comics? Was there a Eureka moment? Was there a love of art before comics?
Liam: The truth is I can't recall a time of not loving comics, and there was never really any separation in my mind between what people consider capital 'A' Art, or fine art or illustration or comic art. It was always pretty obvious that doing any of these was and is not for the faint hearted!
Paul: Well said Liam
Liam: I would say, though, that for a long time I really thought I was going to be a book cover illustrator, like Boris Vallejo, or Frazetta, or any number of those masters of sci-fi and fantasy illustration. Comics and that kind of work bled into each other in my mind, and I loved to paint, so it made sense. But really the Eureka moment for me would have to be meeting Don Lawrence and realizing that it was going to be an actual, real job, not just a teen fantasy.
Paul: What was the very the first comic you recall reading?
Liam: I think it may have been a Gene Colan’s Daredevil featuring the Stiltman... That, or an issue of Mad magazine! But there are a few I remember. Star Wars weekly was the first (and only) comic I subscribed to... amazing back-up stories curated by Paul Neary it turned out.
Paul: How did you first come to know The Mighty Tharg? What are your memories of your first published pages for 2000AD?
Liam: That was all down to Don Lawrence. Once he realized he was not yet quite ready to hand over the baton, and I knew I didn't really want to be a clone of Don - which I most certainly was not good enough to be anyway at that time - he very graciously helped me get a portfolio together to show 2000ad. He had me do some straight-up copies of Brian Boland, and some other art in that vein, and along with my Storm copies and assorted other bits and bobs he handed me their phone number and had me call them up.
Paul: Who was your Tharg?
Liam: Richard Burton, the editor, agreed to look over my portfolio at King's Reach Towers, and that was it. I went down there, showed my wares, and landed myself a pin-up. That led to a second, and then a Future Shock, and then my first Dredd. Amazing times! I was so excited. Not long after that I moved from Eastbourne to London. I had met Andy Lanning at The Society of Strip Illustrators in Battersea and he invited me to join him and Brian West in a studio just off Upper Street in Islington, so that's what I did. I rented a flat in Finsbury Park with a couple of school mates, and suddenly everything started to feel like a real, grown-up life. I look back at that time in wonder. There have been an awful lot of ups and downs since then!
Paul: For 2000AD I think you maybe always remembered for P J Maybe. I don't know how closely you follow the Prog, but did you ever suspect the character would have such an impact on the world of Judge Dredd. Do you have any memories of that first P J Maybe story in particular?
Liam: I had no idea - until UKCAC, I'm guessing 1989. Frank Plowright used to do an introductory ceremony, with all the guests appearing on stage in the auditorium they had there. I wandered out and he whispered "I'm sorry, I don't know who you are..." I said no worries at all and introduced myself, saying I had drawn the P.J Maybe story for 2000ad. He repeated that... and I got the first of only three standing ovations I've ever had in my life! I was shocked!
Paul: Well, that’s pretty cool.
Liam: I just wasn't expecting it, having no idea it had caught the public's attention like that. Amongst ourselves as artists we were all talking about other stuff, like Zenith or Simon Bisley's ABC Warriors and Slaine. I didn't ever feel in that league, so it really blew my mind! It turned out P.J. had become one of the most popular Dredd villains ever. Pretty wonderful. On top of that I was starting to meet and become friends with everybody. John Higgins was always incredibly kind about my work. Steve Dillon was everybody's big brother, and I also hung out a few times with Bret Ewings and Pete Milligan. Dougie Braithwaite was a great friend, and soon Glenn Fabry would be too. I adored those days. It was just amazing being a part of this incredible collective of talent. I really miss those days. Nothing can replace that.
Paul: You mentioned Steve Dillon, who is obviously greatly missed. Are there any particular memories of the gentleman you can share?
Liam: Trying to keep up with him and Garth one time in New York. On about pint six or seven I was a good pint behind, and Steve was just chugging them like they were all his first. I said, "Sorry to let the side down chaps, but there's no way I can keep up with you at this point...." Steve just said, "That's alright mate, you're just not match fit." It still makes me chuckle.
Paul: That’s funny.
Liam: On a more poignant note, I saw him on the last night of NYCC a year before he died. It was just the two of us, and he was not in great shape. He was very frail and had, had to stop drinking alcohol, but he still loved pubs, so it was tomato juice. To be fair alcohol had stopped having much effect on him a long time earlier, so it wasn't that different, or so he said. His voice was very quiet, but he was still the same old Steve, still just as sharp, and still with that twinkle in his eye. I'm just thankful I had those last few hours with him to myself, though obviously I had no way of knowing that it would be the last time I would see him. It's still pretty hard to take in. The only thing you could almost say was a good thing that came out of his passing was that it brought almost all of that old 2000AD, late 80's era crew of creators all together again for the first time in decades. His memorial gathering was truly wonderful, and very moving. I wish we could find a better reason to do it again some time.
Paul: After 2000AD you moved on to work for American publishers. Can you compare at all the experience of working for Tharg, and then into what must have been quite a different environment? How did Marvel compare to 2000AD?
Liam: It was entirely different. For a start, Paul Neary, the Editor in Chief, was a creator first - a very funny writer, and a wonderful artist and (famously) inker. He had a much lighter touch and brought us into the Marvel UK building in very much a bullpen kind of style. He was also inclusive when it came to developing content, so we all had a say in that too - throwing around ideas, developing potential new properties... it was insanely exciting, and it felt like you mattered, like you had a voice. I adored working for 2000AD, and there was always greatness in those pages, but at Marvel UK I felt a whole different level of creative involvement from the ground up. I've not really experienced anything quite like that since - though to be fair DC has come pretty close in the last six years.
Paul: Madefire was a pretty impressive endeavour with a huge remit. Can you explain at all how it came about and what the goals were?
Liam: It grew out of Mam Tor, where I had been talking to a large number of creators about the potential in digital comics, and how we might be able to create something that could be read online but not easily pirated, that would cut out the cost of print and potentially reach a wider audience globally than print could. The initial issue was how to avoid piracy since copying online documents is so easy. At first there was a lot of reticence about digital comics - everybody thought it would be the end of print - but I saw it as a gateway. I'm a print guy, always have been and always will be, but if we could just get people seeing the comics, like they had back in the days when comics were in every corner store, then maybe we could begin to regrow the industry through different means. It was a simple enough idea, but the initial mission got quickly lost as we grew, and as shareholders and corporate meetings started to control the direction of the company, after which it became a kind of lab for what was possible, as well as a digital app builder for other companies. I ended up leaving a few years in as I felt completely disillusioned by it and was desperate to get back to writing and drawing my own stories - which had been the original intention of the company from the start: to provide a platform for people like me to make their stories.
Paul: I have to ask about your time with DC. Your art on Wonder Woman was a revelation in many ways for the character I feel. It seemed like a sudden burst of creativity.
Liam: Well, you have to bear in mind - I had been at Madefire for, I think, four years by then, and had done very little art compared to everything that came before! The switch to being an exec at a start-up was pretty extreme, but one thing I hadn't expected was how much I would miss drawing, and how much it would kind of back-up inside me. When that opportunity presented itself, everything came bursting out... it was like a valve had been released! But there was more to it than that. I knew that this was a major opportunity to do work that would actually be seen, you know? It was a bona fide comeback. I never dreamed I would get that chance again, so I grabbed the bull by both horns and went for it - falling in love with the character in the process.
Paul: After Wonder Woman came the incredible Brave and the Bold, and then after that the insanely well received Green Lantern. It was critically adored and a huge success in regard to sales. If I had to criticise at all, I just wish there was more of it. Would you say it was the perfect collaboration?
Liam: I adored drawing The Brave and the Bold, which was a passion project - material I've wanted to do a comic about for almost as long as I can remember! Those Irish myths are so rich and vivid! I think it's become more widely appreciated with each passing year now. The Green Lantern, though, was something else! I've wanted to work with Grant for a very long time, and we'd talked about various ideas, but nothing had come to fruition. When the chance came I jumped at it, and certainly from my perspective it was a perfect collaboration, because Grant gave me everything I love in a comic. The chance to be creative, daring, epic and a little bonkers - in the best way! I still miss it. Grant's such a lovely person and it was a joy collaborating with him. We both got kind of gleeful doing it, like a couple of kids. I think we pulled off something really rare in the mainstream. There was no ongoing title on the shelves quite like it.
Paul: An interview with Liam Sharp is not complete without mention of The Hulk. Your approach to the Hulk is loved. Do you still sketch him for fun?
Liam: I wish I had better memories of that time. The world was kind of my oyster after the success of Death's Head II, and I had done the Spider-Man clone story, and a Venom mini-series. The Hulk had always been one of my absolute favourites, and I had really enjoyed Peter David's writing prior to my coming onboard. But it got off to a rocky start right from the off. I spoke to Peter and he asked what I liked and didn't like, and I said I loved sci-fi and fantasy, and didn't like cars and suburban interiors. He said that unfortunately that's precisely what Gary Frank had been doing so he'd have a think about it, and in the end made him a mechanic in Florida. I was also fighting some huge personal demons back then and was filled with self-doubt. I just couldn't decide how to approach it and got in a mass- kind of throwing everything and the kitchen sink at it stylistically. I was focusing too much on what it looked like, and struggling under the weight of it in the shadow of Gary, Dale Keone, and McFarlane... I was deeply unhappy. And Peter wasn't a fan of what I was doing either. I wasn't able to communicate my misgivings and people didn't really understand depression back then in the way they do now. I felt like a deer in the headlights, and like everything was slipping through my fingers. And the work I was doing was hugely dividing the audience. It got a lot of hate - which didn't help! It was the start of a long, dark period in my career that I'm only just now getting my arms around. That said, whenever I do cons it is The Hulk I sign the most, and it seems that a good many people did actually love the run. You know what they say about 20/20 hindsight? I have long wished I could have another crack at the character. I'd love to see what I could do with him now! As for drawing him for fun - I have done a few times, yes. And my kids all love him too - particularly my daughter Matylda. He’s, her favourite.
Paul: It is only fair to end an interview by asking if there is any current work you would like to promote. I suspect there might be.
Liam: I'm currently working on a huge epic called StarHenge, book one - six issues for Image. If it does well enough, I'll be back for more. It's a sci-fantasy across time, and kind of Terminator meets The Green Knight. Loads of cultural references to my home here in CA, in Walnut Creek, as well as Brighton in Sussex, and obviously Stonehenge... it's my Arthurian saga told in a completely new and unique way. I'm insanely proud of it. 🙂 After that I'm doing X-O Manowar with B Cloonan and Michael Conrad, and I have stuff even lined up for after that, but I'm not allowed to talk about it! 🙂
Paul: What does the future hold for Liam Sharp?
Liam: Ha! BIG question that one! I sincerely hope my creator-owned title does well because my dream is to write and draw a lot more personal material of my own invention. Of course, I love the icons, and I don't want to ever completely stop working with them - at least not for now! - but it's a truism that as we get older, we become more focussed because we start to get a real sense of the limits on the time that lies ahead of us - if we're lucky! Knowing that makes you start to consider what you actually want to do and how long that might take. I had hoped to one day direct a movie, but I'll settle for the shorts I did at this point. I miss being in a band and would dearly love to record an album, but again, I WAS in a few bands, so if I have to give that dream up so be it. My focus has become writing and drawing comic stories. I hope I get to paint on canvas again at some point - the time and freedom to paint is a luxury I long for - and I have more novels up my sleeve, but it all comes down to time, and how hard you push yourself. I've been pushing hard for a good six years now, and there's only so long you can maintain that level of output, so I also hope I can slow down just a smidgeon because I'm not as young as I was!
Paul: PLEASE one final question. Can I ask about your STAR in Derby in the UK. It is your hometown. What does that mean to you?
Liam: It IS my hometown, yes. They have done a whole walk around the town - like the one in Hollywood. There's me, John Hurt, Florence Nightingale, and even Lara Croft because she was created at Derby's Core Design studio! It was, and is, a HUGE honour. I've still not seen it in person yet... I'm oddly nervous about it! Maybe next time I'm over I'll take a walk down to it. It's a beautiful design!
It has been my great pleasure to talk to Lyndon Webb recently about his artwork, his work with SHIFT magazine and life in general. Instead of a photo he asked me to use a piece of artwork to represent himself. I also learned his ideal holiday destination would be San Diego, I do wonder if it is just a coincidence there is a certain comic convention there. He also mentioned that he once he fell asleep through a whole live Peter Gabriel concert!
Paul: Lyndon may I thank you for your time and simply start by asking a simple question. What was the first comic you recall buying and enjoying? And perhaps how old you might have been?
Lyndon: As a lot of men my age, my earliest comic memories were Commando then 2000AD, but they were probably bought for me. The comic that sticks in my mind, but not the first one I bought, would be Uncanny X-Men 205 with that incredible art by Barry Windsor Smith. Breathtakingly good. I would have been 18 for that one, I was probably around 13 when I bought my first comics, 2000AD of course.
Paul: Were you interested in creating your own art before discovering comics? Or did comics inspire you?
Lyndon: I always drew from a very early age. Way before comics. I’m probably more influenced by films
Paul: In which case could you say which comic artists have influenced you most? A lot of your art is black and white, would Steve Yeowell's Zenith work or Frank Miller's Sin City have influenced your style at all?
Lyndon: The first artists would have been Bolland, Cam Kennedy and McMahon. Then onto Miller and mostly Mike Mignola. Heavy blacks look cool and can cover many a screw up being as I ink traditionally. When you're 95% into a piece and either mess up the inking or notice some horrific bit of drawing. Out comes the brush.
Paul: Which artists would you say occasionally inspire you to colour your art?
Lyndon: I love the colour work of Arthur Ranson, Bill Sienkiewicz and Dave Stewart. I don't think any of them inform the way I colour my art. The Shift Yearbook was the first time I've had a colourist. I would never have met the deadline so Adrian got Lee Milner to step in. I can't express how much I appreciate their hard work.
Paul: As an artist how do you like to be described? As an illustrator (doing single pieces) or as a comic artist doing strip work? Which are you more comfortable with?
Lyndon: I think as a comic book artist. It covers everything. I'm very happy, now, doing covers, pin ups or sequential
Paul: You're known on social media for your excellent illustrations. How did your relationship with SHIFT begin?
Lyndon: I think Adrian asked me to produce a pin up for issue 6. He sent PDFs of the first issues and basically gave me the pick of the stories to produce an illustration from. Dega stood out for me. I drew and inked one, hated it and did another
Paul: Are you allowed to say what future projects you have lined up for SHIFT?
Lyndon: I've got a 2-part sequel to Perfect Shot. First part 'Muscle Memory' is in Volume 2 Issue 2.
Paul: I am curious to ask your opinion. I think it would be fair to say technology has altered the way comics are read and created. Especially from an artist's point of view I am told this is true. Do you work digitally and use computers or are you quite traditional?
Lyndon: I tried many moons ago when they first came out. But just didn't really enjoy it. Nowadays it's just the printed variety.
Paul: But you have no objection to people reading things like Perfect Shot digitally? Or do you prefer your art to be appreciated on paper?
Lyndon: I don't really care how people read it as long as I'm paid. Hehe. To be fair, I get digital previews from Adrian, and I don't have a problem reading them that way.
Paul: Do you enjoy conventions? Obviously, the last couple of years have been difficult because of COVID, but generally is that a part of your job you enjoy?
Lyndon: I loved the conventions before lockdown. I love Lawless, this year will be my 3rd one. I also had a great time at Bedford NICE in 2019. The camaraderie between professionals and the ones below that level i.e., me, is truly special. It's a special moment when one seeks you out to chat or look at your work. Or when you’re sat next to a legend for 2 days and they treat you as a true equal.
Paul: Can you share any fun convention stories at all?
Lyndon: My first Lawless, 3 students, very early in the day came to my table. Leader (in a Matrix coat) asked if I could draw anything. I said I'd give it a go. Could I draw a dictator on a tricycle? Not my thing really. He then held a ten pound note in my face "does this change your mind?" my response was "well, I can shove it up your arse" I then suggested he should go to the next room and ask Simon Bisley.
There's also been people just taking photos of my work, going through my portfolio. At Bedford I asked one guy to stop, he smiled, then in the most unsecretive manor set his phone to video and continued. I lost my rag and politely told him to eff off. On the nice side, just hanging out in a bar and drinking coffee and just shooting the breeze with absolute legends is great.
Paul: But would you say most fans are pretty cool and nice?
Lyndon: They're on the whole pretty great. Chatty and very supportive.
Paul: You mention it is nice shooting the breeze and chilling with legends. Can you name drop at all? Have you had a “I can't believe I've just met him/her" moment?
Lyndon: Well, my table neighbour at Bedford was Clint Langley. I can't tell you how lovely it was sitting next to him for 2 days. He gifted me some art at the end of it. I was told months later that he'd mentioned me at another con in a very nice way. Chilling with the likes of Fabry, Steve Austin and others at Lawless was very cool.
Paul: Many artists branch out into writing their own stories. Is that something you prefer the idea of, or do you like the challenge of working from a writer's script?
Lyndon: I sometimes find scripts quite limiting. The joy of Simon Furman's script for Secret History was this is the dialogue, and this happens pages 1-3, then this on 4-6 etc. Perfect Shot and all the sequels, will end up as one long story, is written, drawn, inked and coloured by me. The lettering is done by the phenomenal Robin Jones.
Paul: Can your fans eventually look forward to a Perfect Shot collected book to enjoy?
Lyndon: Absolutely. I've talked about it with Adrian. Each episode is designed in a way that I can add extra pages into each one and still keep the flow and pace. It'll be a director’s cut if you will but also have the final chapter that won't have been published beforehand.
Paul: That certainly sounds like something I'd like to read.
Lyndon: Thanks. I have pitched some suggestions for pin up artists to join in as well.
Paul: You mentioned Secret History with Simon Furman. He is legendary for his Transformers work. How did that collaboration occur?
Lyndon: Just got bullied into it by Adrian, haha. Had just finished Perfect Shot and Adrian asked if I wanted to do it. I think he said that Simon was interested in working with me, which was nice. To be honest, I didn't really know who he was. Didn't read Transformers or Death's Head etc. I knew I wouldn't hit the deadline, so Adrian offered a colourist. It was hard going but I'm happy with the results, especially after Lee did his magic
Paul: Are there any creator owned comics or ideas that we could look forward towards?
Lyndon: Way down the line, but not for a while.
Paul: It sounds like you may have a few potential ideas for the future. So, for our final question, can I please ask? "What does the future hold for Lyndon Webb?"
Lyndon: There's a GN that I've had in mind since the late 80's, which I rework every few years. There's a mini story prequel that I included in a self-published anthology I did back in 2010. Who knows when I'll get around to it? As for the future, who knows. Open to offers. I hope I'll continue with Shift. There's a couple of covers that I've done for Luke Cooper. There'll be a Techno Freak pin up later this year and hopefully something for Peter Duncan's next publication. I'm in talks with Weird Comix for something next year, essentially, I'm just hoping for a 2000AD or Megazine cover or strip
Paul: Lyndon, thank you for your time and your answers.
Lyndon: My pleasure.
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