bit parts

Spot Campbell's pals. This isn't something I go looking for, but at the same time I enjoy it when it comes up. I'm talking about the odd occasion when I draw a few pages in a superhero comic-book published by Marvel or DC. Just counting off the top of my noodle, I think I've appeared in maybe thirteen individual books from the 'big two', including a complete art and writing job, a 2-issue art job and a 4-issue writing job, and assorted guest spots of three, five and eight pages. Here are a couple of panels that have similarities in that the two writers each kindly allowed me a crowded bar scene and I took the liberty of putting all my pals in it. First one is page 1, panel from an Orion five page back-up scripted by Walt Simonson. Far left, that's White doing the goggles effect when he plays 'dambusters', a game in which you hum the theme tune of the old Dambusters war movie and then pretend you're the bomber flying in low to cripple the Mohne dam in May 1943. The dam is a beer jug on the floor and the bomb is a 50 cent coin clenched between the buttocks. If you can't picture it, ask hayley campbell; I have heard that she brought the house down recently in London with a demonstration during a dinner party attended by several comedy writers (email her for bookings).


Left to right you can also see Staros, Minty Moore, Evans tipping the dancer, and me and Mullins. Pete Mullins chipped in on this job for me. The two dancing girls were drawn by him. This was in 2001. In the same year I drew an 8-page guest spot in X-men #400. Joe Casey successfully wrote me into the special issue in such a way that I didn't have to draw a superhero, if you don't count Wolverine with his shirt off. In the villain's history in flashback there's an old-time scene in the bar of a gentlemen's club. I'm on the left, White's behind the bar. Mullins is wearing a bow-tie and Evans is just arriving.


When you have to draw a bunch of people in a crowd scene it's useful to use people you know just to get a sense of assorted personalities in order to avoid falling back on stock types. Otherwise, it's self indulgence and this is a blog.