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Home ¦ Features ¦ Steve Parkhouse Part 4

21st November 04 Back to Part 3

Big Dave

Anybody who didn't get the joke in Big Dave must be a few sandwiches short of a picnic. I mean - it ain't rocket science. It was just three people having a laugh. What's to get? I think what really pissed them off was that it wasn't their beloved science fiction. The pole, as they say, was so far up their keisters, they didn't know how to bend in the breeze.

The Mark Millar/Grant Morrison period of 2000AD has come infor much criticism these days - what was your impression of working with them at the time?

It was a breath of fresh air. The old school had been strutting their stuff for about a thousand years. People are so conventional. My image of a 2000AD reader is like someone who listens to Desert Island Discs on Radio 4 but has a tattoo just in case they get found out. Using the medium for a bit of satire was a brilliant manoeuvre. It was much more in the spirit of true science fiction than kneepads and big guns. Science fiction has always been
controversial and contentious and largely satirical. The genre has now been swamped by the trappings of fetishism.

Some of Mills and Wagner's early stories were highly politicised and extremely potent because of it. They obviously knew their history and they knew science fiction. They covered just about every cliche and tenet that the genre had to offer.

Luke Kirby

Also for 2000AD you took over artistic duties for the 'Luke Kirby' strip, written by Alan McKenzie. Did you enjoy working on this as a change of pace from the more humorous strips you had been known for? Were you aware of the friction created between 2000AD editorial and John Ridgeway over his replacement from the strip?

I enjoyed Luke Kirby a lot. For reasons I've stated above, it was an opportunity to set characters in real landscape. I've been described as a rural artist- and that's a fair observation. I'm much happier in an organic environment than a mechanical one. I like drawing people in natural situations, with tangible backgrounds. It doesn't always work with readers, because people invariably demand pyrotechnics all the time. I think it's something to do with their dwindling attention span. Or collapsing brain cells or something. Probably an environmental issue. I wasn't aware of any friction between editorial and John at the time. But I knew he wasn't happy with being replaced. John thought the strip was his baby - which is always a mistake.

You've drawn a few 'Judge Dredd' strips and a 'Sinister Dexter' story for 2000AD: did you enjoy drawing these strips, and is it hard depicting characters that have been drawn by so many artists already?

No I did not enjoy Dredd or Sinister Dexter. I'm not really a 2000AD man. I've never really found a niche there. Dredd is an impossible character to draw and I hate him like poison. You've got to be really into that fetish stuff to enjoy rendering the agonising detail. Artists like Cam Kennedy make it look so easy, probably because they've had the chance to create a kind of shorthand. But I struggled with Dredd and finally gave up. I ain't drawing Dredd again. Life's too short. Sinister Dexter was a trial that became too ponderous to sustain. I just didn't get it. Other artists have done amazing work on those characters - but they wouldn't perform for me. It's just not the right slot, I guess.

The Sandman (Pencils by Michael Zulli)

The work I did on Neil's story was just an inking job. I was chosen for my "illustrative line" I'm told. Basically, I found myself working like crazy to contain Michael Zulli's manic pencilling. He pencils like a spider on speed. The line just kind of rushes around all over the page, only occasionally making sense. He doesn't draw, he weaves. Sometimes like a drunk down a midnight street - and sometimes like a sober spinster. It was a bizarre experience. But I got a postcard from Neil which was really nice. It was crammed full of tiny writing - which would have given a graphologist a field day. The Dreaming was mostly all my own work and I enjoyed it at the time. My approach was fairly straightforward: stick to the script and try not to miss the deadlines. Vertigo were good to work for. I got on very well with the female editors. They brought something quite special to the whole
approach of making comics.

You drew one of the most memorable issues of Grant Morrison's The Invisibles (vol. 1, #12), depicting the life story of a henchman killed by the heroes in the previous issue. Did you enjoy drawing a story at such a tangent to the rest of the narrative, and what was your approach to working on an already established series such as this?

The Invisibles

I didn't pitch for it all. Alisa Kwitney just asked me to do it. Alisa is a published novelist in her own right - and her Dad was a very, very famous science fiction writer. When somebody like that asks you to do something you don't turn it down. I liked Muktuk. Terry liked my Muktuk. The Comics Journal said it was the best thing DC published that year. But I don't think it sold very well. The fans just weren't ready for a Siberian shaman.

You do a variety of freelance illustration work, such as illustrations for How to Write and Sell Comics (written by Alan McKenzie) and your work for Daedelus studios. Do you enjoy this type of work as much as your comics work, or is it more a case of something that pays the rent?

It pays the rent. But I like Alan and Chris, too. They're my partners and friends. I'd be lost without them. I'm much more into storytelling than just static illustrations. But the energy required to sustain something like a graphic novel is formidable. Sometimes you just have take it easy and knock out a score or so of one-offs. Mind you - we've had some scary moments with deadlines at Daedalus. Panic is the norm.

You've worked on titles such as Scatterbrain (Red Erchie written by Keith Young) for Dark Horse. How do you find them to work for as publishers?

Totally hopeless. My editor, Scott Allie, is the original absent-minded professor. But there's something endearing about them, too. I always find myself saying Yes - even though I know I'll get paid months late and nothing will go to plan. I have to put in a word for Matt Dryer at Dark Horse. He's a prince and a gentleman. I won't hear a word against him.

The Milkman Murders (view larger version)

Joe was a fan of Big Dave. We worked on a Hellboy story together and I just loved his writing. He's a total pro and a great guy. I love him. Joe wrote the Milkman Murders with someone like me in mind. When I was asked to do it I just said yes. About fourteen times. I knew where Joe was coming from even before the script arrived. He's a young guy, and he was upsetting a few people just like Grant had. I like that. Apparently some of the execs at Dark Horse hated the book, presumably because it was dark and un-American. I liked that even more. Especially at this moment in history. I decided that this story needed the whole nine yards. Do I mean that? Is that some kind of gridiron term? I just set out to make every character as grotesque as possible - something like the tradition of Cruikshank and those early satirical artists. It allowed my natural tendencies to just flow. Scott Allie knew that it wouldn't work properly with half measures - so we all got down in the mire and let rip. Scott was convinced that we were all sick and I'm not going to argue. But it was fun, too.

Have you been pleased by the positive critical and reader reaction that there has been for the series, both for the story itself and the exemplary colour art?

Yes. It was my first major digital job and I think I got away with it.

Go to part 5