A lifetime of comics

Most people give up comics when they reach their teens, thinking that they're too old for them or because they're distracted by other interests. Perhaps they never really had a deep interest in the medium and were only aware of children's comics, so it's quite understandable that they'd move on. 

Some of us were different. Like most of you who'll be reading this, comics struck a chord with me in the same way that music or sport evokes a passion in musicians or athletes at an early age. I started reading comics regularly in January 1964 when my mum bought me a copy of The Dandy. (See here for that story.) It soon followed with The Beano, TV Century 21, Sparky, Wham!, Smash! and countless others. I've read comics of some sort for practically every day since. I was an only child and when not playing with my toys or my pets I was happy to sit quietly and read comics. I also created my own comics but I'd only show them to my immediate family. (See here for that story.)

One of my childhood attempts at comics. 1969.

 

I soon found out that comics had existed long before I was born when my Grandad told me that he'd read Illustrated Chips around 1900. Also, a schoolfriend gave me a load of Marvel comics that included Fantasy Masterpieces that reprinted Captain America strips from the 1940s. I became as fascinated with the history of comics as much as I became intrigued by all the different art styles and formats. Comics had me hooked at a very early age.

My family didn't have a lot of money but comics were a cheap form of entertainment and one that certainly fascinated me. I couldn't afford all the comics every week that were plentiful in the 1960s obviously so I'd often drop some to replace them with new ones, or go back to previous favourites. By doing this I think I must have tried every title that was available at the time. 

When I was asked at school what career I wanted I felt that working in comics was unrealistic. Here I was, a kid from a council estate, with no art qualifications, living in an industrial town, so I put aside my comics ambitions as a childish fantasy and stopped drawing. Besides, the careers advisor only ever encouraged the class to join the army or work in a factory. My head teacher told me he thought I'd be suited to working in a departmental store. None of those options appealed to me in the slightest. I felt pretty lost and aimless really. My dad had suddenly passed away then too, so I was still numbed by that.

By the age of 16 (in 1975 to put it into context) I felt it was time to move on from children's comics such as Beano, Whoopee!, and Buster, but I carried on buying comics for slightly older readers such as Action and all the Marvel UK output, as well as a mixture of various American comics. 2000AD became an immediate favourite too. I was also buying loads of comics fanzines at the time as well. Having left school and taken an office job I had my own money to spend wisely... even though most of it went on comics as well as the more expected pursuits of pubs, records, and cinema.

I didn't even know that comics fandom existed until I discovered fanzines (via an advert in the Marvel UK comics). For a few years I'd kept quiet about "still reading comics at my age" for fear of ridicule. If anyone at work asked me what I read I just said "science fiction", (although I'd only read a few SF books). Discovering fanzines and comic fandom opened up a whole new world! I got talking to some comic fans at a Birmingham Comic Mart in 1979 which led to them inviting me to their weekly Saturday pub-meets. Then my first comics convention in 1979. 

I was also contributing to fanzines by then, having rekindled my ambitions to work in comics. (Yes, my abstinence from drawing only lasted about 18 months thankfully.) I started buying kids' comics again, but this time looking at the art and writing from a creative perspective, using them as reference to develop my own style.

After various clashes with my work colleagues I actually hated my office job by this point, and the whole 9 to 5 routine, so in February 1980 I quit. I was nearly 21 and suddenly jobless, but determined to break into comics. My former work colleagues told me I'd end up as a "useless drop out". 

I was still living with my mum at the time and she'd always been very supportive and encouraged me to stick to my ambition. The rejections were piling up and publishers such as IPC, DC Thomson didn't want me, but I carried on trying to improve my skills. By the early 1980s I'd become friends with a few people in the industry thanks to the monthly Westminster Comic Marts. It was there in April 1983 where Alan Moore encouraged me to try Marvel UK. One company I hadn't thought of submitting anything to, but Alan introduced me to his editor, Bernie Jaye, and she asked me to send some ideas in. 

My first published cartoon. (Daredevils No.7, 1983).

I waited... and nothing happened. Expecting another rejection I asked Bernie at the next Mart what she'd thought of the What If cartoons I'd sent her. "Oh I loved them" she replied. "We're starting to use them from the next issue". The comic was The Daredevils, which ran reprints of Frank Miller's Daredevil strips alongside brand new Captain Britain stories by Alan Moore and Alan Davis. Good company indeed! I was on cloud nine and the first thing I did after that Westminster Mart was run to the nearest phone box to call my mum with the news.

Those Westminster Comic Marts of the 1980s are special memories, as were the lunchtime visits to the nearby Westminster Arms. Practically everyone back then who worked for 2000AD, Marvel UK, Warrior, Knockabout, Escape and other comics would attend along with fanzine creators and comic collectors. As Dave Gibbons mentions in his anecdotal autobiography Confabulation, there was no heirarchy. Pros and fans side by side, being mates, having a laugh, establishing good friendships.

The Westminster Arms, where comics people met in the 1980s.

 

That was 40 years ago and from then on work in comics came along regularly and hopefully my skills improved accordingly. My career began on that day in 1983, thanks to Alan Moore and Bernie Jaye, two of life's good people to whom I've always been grateful. In fact I'm grateful to everyone who's helped me along the way; every editor, colleague, friend, and reader, for their support, and that includes friends outside of comics as well as within. I've also tried to encourage others along the way and I hope that's been of help.

Combat Colin, my favourite creation.

 

I've never been competitive, never seen the need to put the other person down to achieve my aims. What will be will be, due to my own efforts and creativity and being in the right place at the right time. I have no tolerance for envy or resentment. Not everything works out of course and, yes, you can allow yourself some time for disappointment, but then you have to get back up and carry on. For as long as you're able to. Then at least you can say you gave it your best shot.

When I started writing this post I'd intended it to be a short piece but it seems to have snowballed into a mini-memoir. I hope you've managed to get through it! Thanks for following this blog and for your interest in my work. It's always appreciated.

A cover for The77 from a couple of years ago.

 

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