Eddie Campbell (born 10 August 1955) is a British comics artist and cartoonist. He was the illustrator and publisher of From Hell (written by Alan Moore), and the creator of the semi-autobiographical Alec stories collected in Alec: The Years Have Pants, and Bacchus (a.k.a. Deadface), a wry adventure series about the few Greek gods who have survived to the present day.
Campbell made his earliest attempts at autobiographical comics in the late 1970s with In the Days of the Ace Rock 'n' Roll Club[3] (1978–1979). This evolved into Alec, with the character of Alec MacGarry standing in for the author. Campbell self-published these early comics in the amateur press associationBAPA and then as short-run photocopied pamphlets in London in the early 1980s, selling them at conventions and comic marts and via Paul Gravett's "Fast Fiction" market stall. When Gravett founded Escape Magazine, Campbell was one of the artists featured.
In 1984 Escape published Alec, a slim collection of his semi-autobiographical stories. This was followed by two further collections, Love and Beerglasses (1985) and Doggie in the Window (1986).
While in Australia (where he moved in 1986), Campbell published a number of comics with the new British publisher Harrier Comics. These included the one-shotsBy The Time I Get To Wagga Wagga (1987), and Ace (1988), as well as his first Bacchus comics (see below). With Glenn Dakin and Phil Elliott, he helped found Harrier's alternative-flavored New Wave imprint.[4]
In 1990 all three Alec volumes were collected, together with some unpublished material, as The Complete Alec by Acme Press/Eclipse Comics.[4] The collection won the 1991 UK Comic Art Award for Best Graphic Novel Collection.[5] In 2000 this material was republished as The King Canute Crowd.
Two further slim volumes, The Dead Muse (1990) and Little Italy (1991) appeared through Fantagraphics Books.
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, and After The Snooter (2002), in which Campbell appears to have laid Alec McGarry to rest. Both works were originally serialised within his Bacchus 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 by First Second Books in 2006. Alec: How to Be an Artist was nominated for the Harvey Award for Best Graphic Album of Previously Published Work in 2000.
In 2007 Campbell spent some time serving as a court illustrator in Australia.[6]
All the Alec stories, with the exception of The Fate of the Artist, were published in one volume, Alec: The Years Have Pants by Top Shelf Productions in 2009 (ISBN978-1-60309-025-4). this was followed in 2012 by the publication of The Lovely Horrible Stuff (Top Shelf), a continuation of the autobiographical theme which playfully investigates our relationship with money.
The success of Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles led to a short-lived explosion of black and white independent comics in the mid-1980s. Campbell joined in, creating the series Deadface for Harrier Comics, telling the story of Bacchus, god of wine and revelry, and the few other Greek mythological figures who have survived to the present day. Harrier published eight issues of Deadface and two issues of a companion comic, Bacchus. Campbell then began publishing short Bacchus stories in a number of anthologies, such as the British anthology Trident published by Trident Comics, and the American anthology Dark Horse Presents published by Dark Horse Comics. Dark Horse reprinted the Harrier series as Immortality Isn't Forever in 1990 and a selection of the short stories as Doing 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. 1 ISBN978-1-60309-026-1, Vol. 2 ISBN978-1-60309-027-8).[7]
Beginning in 1989, Campbell illustrated Alan Moore's ambitious Jack the Rippergraphic novelFrom Hell, serialised initially in Steve Bissette's horror anthology Taboo. 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. After Taboo folded From Hell was published in instalments by Tundra and then Kitchen Sink Press, until the epilogue Dance of the Gull-catchers saw print in 1998.
Self-publishing
Under the influence of Dave Sim, Campbell founded Eddie Campbell Comics and began self-publishing in 1995, after the film rights to From Hell were optioned.[citation needed] The monthly series Bacchus reprinted and completed the story begun in Deadface, as well as carrying new and reprinted Alec stories. He went on to collect both Alec and Bacchus as a series of graphic novels. He also published the collected edition of From Hell, and comics adaptations of two of Alan Moore's performance art pieces, The Birth Caul and Snakes and Ladders.
After the cancellation of Bacchus, Campbell published two issues of Eddie 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 of Egomania.
First Second and Top Shelf
After his self-publishing ceased, Campbell signed with First Second Books. As well as The Fate of the Artist, a continuation of the Alec series, First:Second published two other works by Campbell. June 2007 saw the publication of The 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 with Ain'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 omnibus Alec: The Years Have Pants. The book collected Campbell's Alec work to date with the exception of Fate of the Artist. the omnibus edition also included new material. In 2010 The Playwright, a collaboration with Daren White, was published. This reworked strips the pair had previously published in the Australian anthology Dee Vee, expanding the scope of the story-line and bringing it to conclusion.
In 2012 Top Shelf published The 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 which The Guardian describe as having " a surreal, scruffy elegance".[9][10]
iPad
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 an iPad app in December 2011 by digital publisher Panel Nine. In 2012 Top Shelf released two collections of Campbell's Bacchus series.
Personal life
Campbell moved to Brisbane, Australia in 1986 with his then-wife Annie where he lived for thirty years.[11][12]
Campbell is married to author and artist Audrey Niffenegger[13] and currently lives in Chicago.[14] Campbell's adult daughter Hayley Campbell (from his previous marriage)[11] is a writer and radio journalist.[15]
Awards
1991 UK Comic Art Award for Best Graphic Novel Collection for The Complete Alec
Vol 2: The Gods of Business (Eddie Campbell Comics, 1995) – with Ed Hillyer
Vol 3: Doing the Islands with Bacchus (Dark Horse Comics, 1991)
Vol 4: The Eyeball Kid – One Man Show (Eddie Campbell Comics, 1998) – with Ed Hillyer; reprints from Cheval Noir
Vol 5: Earth, Water, Air, Fire (Eddie Campbell Comics, 1998) – with Wes Kublick; reprints from Deadface: Earth, Water, Air, and Fire
Vol 6: The 1,001 Nights of Bacchus (Eddie Campbell Comics, 2000) – reprints the 1993 Dark Horse TPB of the same name
Vol 7/8: The Eyeball Kid Double Bill Eddie Campbell Comics, 2002) – with Wes Kublick; reprints "The Eyeball Kid" stories from Dark Horse Presents #76-84, 94-99 (Aug. 1993–July 1995)
Vol 9: King Bacchus (Eddie Campbell Comics, 1996) – with Pete Mullins
Vol 10: Banged Up (Eddie Campbell Comics, 2001) – with Pete Mullins and Marcus Moore
Bacchus Omnibus Volume 1 (Top Shelf Productions, 2015)
Bacchus Omnibus Volume 2 (Top Shelf Productions, 2016)
The Goat Getters (IDW and the Library of American Comics, 2018)
From Hell: Master Edition (colourized and revised; Top Shelf Productions, 2020)
Notes
^"Inkpot Award". Comic-Con International: San Diego. 6 December 2012.
^Yang, Sam (October 1991). "A Loaf of Bread, A Jug of Wine and Eddie Campbell". The Comics Journal. 1 (145): 58–87.
^Campbell, Eddie. "And here it is! This exists only as an app!", personal blog (11 December 2011): "In the Days of the Ace Rock'n'Roll Club was a book, or an ongoing series of 7-page stories which I drew between March 1978 and March 1979."
^ abYang, Sam. "A Loaf of Bread, A Jug of Wine and Eddie Campbell," The Comics Journal #145 (Oct. 1991), p. 59, 78.
^"British Awards Announced," The Comics Journal #142 (June 1991), p. 17.
"The Comics Journal Message Board Thread". The Comics Journal Message Board: NYTimes Mag Article 7/11/04 – within which Eddie Campbell formulated his Graphic Novel Manifesto). Retrieved 1 May 2005. [dead link]
"The Eddie Campbell Interview". (September, 2004) Graphic Novel Review in Depth – The Eddie Campbell Interview – Sidebar – Eddie Campbell's (Revised) Graphic Novel Manifesto. Archived from the original on 4 April 2005. Retrieved 1 May 2005.
"The Eddie Campbell Interview". (January, 2005) Campbell and Dirk Deppey discuss "comic book culture" vs. "graphic novel culture". Archived from the original on 5 May 2006. Retrieved 17 April 2006.
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