| Eddie Campbell | |
|---|---|
 Eddie Campbell at the 2008 San Diego Comicon | |
| Born | (1955-08-10)10 August 1955 (age 70) Glasgow, Scotland, UK |
| Nationality | Scottish |
| Area | Artist |
Notable works | Bacchus From Hell Alec |
| Awards | UK Comic Art Award, 1991 Eisner Award, 1993, 2000 Harvey Award, 1995 Ignatz Award, 1997, 2010 Inkpot Award, 1998[1] Eagle Award, 2000 |
| Spouse | Audrey Niffenegger |
| Children | 3 |
| https://www.eddiecampbelldammit.com | |
Eddie Campbell (born 10 August 1955) is a British comics artist andcartoonist. He was theillustrator and publisher ofFrom Hell (written byAlan Moore), and the creator of the semi-autobiographicalAlec stories collected inAlec: The Years Have Pants, andBacchus (a.k.a.Deadface), a wry adventure series about the fewGreek gods who have survived to the present day.
His scratchy pen-and-ink style is influenced by theimpressionists, illustrators of the age of "liberated penmanship" such asPhil May,Charles Dana Gibson,John Leech andGeorge du Maurier, and cartoonistsMilton Caniff andFrank Frazetta (particularly hisJohnny Comet strip). Campbell's writing has been compared to that ofJack Kerouac andHenry Miller.[2]
Campbell has won almost every award the comics industry bestows, including theEisner Award, theHarvey Award, theIgnatz Award, theEagle Award, and theUK Comic Art Award.
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Campbell made his earliest attempts atautobiographical comics in the late 1970s withIn the Days of the Ace Rock 'n' Roll Club[3] (1978–1979). This evolved intoAlec, with the character of Alec MacGarry standing in for the author. Campbell self-published these early comics in theamateur press associationBAPA and then as short-run photocopied pamphlets in London in the early 1980s, selling them at conventions and comic marts and viaPaul Gravett's "Fast Fiction" market stall. When Gravett foundedEscape Magazine, Campbell was one of the artists featured.
In 1984 Escape publishedAlec, a slim collection of his semi-autobiographical stories. This was followed by two further collections,Love and Beerglasses (1985) andDoggie in the Window (1986).
While inAustralia (where he moved in 1986), Campbell published a number of comics with the new British publisherHarrier Comics. These included theone-shotsBy The Time I Get To Wagga Wagga (1987), andAce (1988), as well as his firstBacchus comics (see below). WithGlenn Dakin andPhil Elliott, he helped found Harrier's alternative-flavored New Wave imprint.[4]
In 1990 all threeAlec volumes were collected, together with some unpublished material, asThe Complete Alec byAcme Press/Eclipse Comics.[4] The collection won the 1991UK Comic Art Award for Best Graphic Novel Collection.[5] In 2000 this material was republished asThe King Canute Crowd.
Two further slim volumes,The Dead Muse (1990) andLittle Italy (1991) appeared throughFantagraphics Books.
Graffiti Kitchen, which Campbell considers the highpoint of the series,[citation needed] was published byTundra in 1993, andThe Dance of Lifey Death followed in 1994 fromDark Horse Comics.
Campbell then followed up these works by self-publishing two larger works.Alec: How To Be An Artist (2000), a study of the art form and of Campbell's own artistic journey, andAfter The Snooter (2002), in which Campbell appears to have laid Alec McGarry to rest. Both works were originally serialised within hisBacchus series, but were reworked upon collection.The Fate of the Artist, in which Campbell's family and friends investigate his disappearance, undermining the image of himself he had presented in his previous autobiographical works, was published byFirst Second Books in 2006.Alec: How to Be an Artist was nominated for theHarvey Award for Best Graphic Album of Previously Published Work in 2000.
In 2007 Campbell spent some time serving as acourt illustrator in Australia.[6]
All theAlec stories, with the exception ofThe Fate of the Artist, were published in one volume,Alec: The Years Have Pants by Top Shelf Productions in 2009 (ISBN 978-1-60309-025-4). this was followed in 2012 by the publication ofThe Lovely Horrible Stuff (Top Shelf), a continuation of the autobiographical theme which playfully investigates our relationship with money.
The success ofKevin Eastman andPeter Laird'sTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtles led to a short-lived explosion of black and white independent comics in the mid-1980s. Campbell joined in, creating the seriesDeadface for Harrier Comics, telling the story ofBacchus, god of wine and revelry, and the few other Greek mythological figures who have survived to the present day. Harrier published eight issues ofDeadface and two issues of a companion comic,Bacchus. Campbell then began publishing short Bacchus stories in a number of anthologies, such as the British anthologyTrident published byTrident Comics, and the American anthologyDark Horse Presents published byDark Horse Comics. Dark Horse reprinted the Harrier series asImmortality Isn't Forever in 1990 and a selection of the short stories asDoing the Islands With Bacchus in 1991. Campbell continued to produce Bacchus stories for Dark Horse until 1995 as a series of miniseries. The entire Bacchus saga is to be published in two 500-page volumes by Top Shelf Productions (Vol. 1ISBN 978-1-60309-026-1, Vol. 2ISBN 978-1-60309-027-8).[7]
Beginning in 1989, Campbell illustratedAlan Moore's ambitiousJack the Rippergraphic novelFrom Hell, serialised initially inSteve Bissette'shorror anthologyTaboo. Moore and Bissette chose Campbell as illustrator for his down-to-earth approach which gave the story a convincing realism and did not sensationalise the violence of the murders. AfterTaboo foldedFrom Hell was published in instalments by Tundra and thenKitchen Sink Press, until the epilogueDance of the Gull-catchers saw print in 1998.
Under the influence ofDave Sim, Campbell foundedEddie Campbell Comics and began self-publishing in 1995, after the film rights toFrom Hell were optioned.[citation needed] The monthly seriesBacchus reprinted and completed the story begun inDeadface, as well as carrying new and reprintedAlec stories. He went on to collect bothAlec andBacchus as a series of graphic novels. He also published the collected edition ofFrom Hell, and comics adaptations of two of Alan Moore'sperformance art pieces,The Birth Caul andSnakes and Ladders.
After the cancellation ofBacchus, Campbell published two issues ofEddie Campbell's Egomania magazine, in which he began to serialise another work,The History of Humour. Facing an increasingly indifferent market for his work, and the collapse of his US distributor, Campbell ended his publishing imprint in 2003 after releasing the second issue ofEgomania.
After his self-publishing ceased, Campbell signed withFirst Second Books. As well asThe Fate of the Artist, a continuation of the Alec series, First:Second published two other works by Campbell. June 2007 saw the publication ofThe Black Diamond Detective Agency, Campbell's adaptation of an as-yet unmade screenplay by C. Gaby Mitchell. Set in the closing months of 1899, it features the eponymous private detective agency investigating a conspiracy to blow up a train, and their prime suspect's efforts to find the truth.
In January 2008, First Second Books published Campbell's collaboration with Dan Best,The Amazing Remarkable Monsieur Leotard. The work follows the life of circus performers and historical figures as they wander in and out of history. It was enthusiastically received by critics withAin't It Cool News saying "Something truly amazing and fun does indeed occur in this book."[8]
Campbell's next works were for Top Shelf. 2009 saw the publication of the life sized omnibusAlec: The Years Have Pants. The book collected Campbell's Alec work to date with the exception ofFate of the Artist. the omnibus edition also included new material. In 2010The Playwright, a collaboration with Daren White, was published. This reworked strips the pair had previously published in the Australian anthologyDee Vee, expanding the scope of the story-line and bringing it to conclusion.
In 2012 Top Shelf publishedThe Lovely Horrible Stuff in collaboration with Knockabout Press, a continuation of Campbell's autobiographical works. Campbell has evolved his art style, using colour, collage and photo-shop to create art whichThe Guardian describe as having " a surreal, scruffy elegance".[9][10]
A collection of the "Dapper John" stories originally created in the late 1970s, along with an original cover, a new interview and other features, was published as aniPad app in December 2011 by digital publisher Panel Nine. In 2012 Top Shelf released two collections ofCampbell's Bacchus series.
Campbell moved toBrisbane, Australia in 1986 with his then-wife Annie where he lived for thirty years.[11][12]
Campbell is married to author and artistAudrey Niffenegger[13] and currently lives in Chicago.[14] Campbell's adult daughterHayley Campbell (from his previous marriage)[11] is a writer and radio journalist.[15]
| Preceded by | Hellblazer writer 1994 | Succeeded by |
