BRITISH COMICS NOW! As mentioned at Broken Frontier earlier this year six British/UK-based comic creators will be attending this year’s Toronto Comic Art Festival (TCAF) as part of the British Comics Now initiative from the Lakes International Comic Art Festival (LICAF), and funded by Arts Council England, The Adlard Foundation and The British Council. To mark this at BF we’ll be looking to shine some spotlights on the practice of the six artists involved. Joining us today is Martin Simpson whose mythologically-themed graphic novel NORD was nominated in the 2023 Broken Frontier Awards in the Best Artist category. We chat with Martin about Norse legends, finding your place in the comics community, and evolving artistic styles…
ANDY OLIVER: Can you give us some information to begin with on your artistic background and your route into comics? What is it about the medium that most appeals to you as a storytelling form?
MARTIN SIMPSON: Pretty much like everyone who is interested in comics, I was endlessly drawing pictures and writing stories at a very young age. I was first introduced to comics by my Uncle and was instantly hooked. It was like finding some magical medium that combined the two things I loved (drawing and writing stories) into one.
Later on in further education, I focused on studying illustration to degree level but fell to earth with a bump after graduation. I struggled to make a living as an illustrator but did manage to gain employment as a Graphic Designer where I unhappily remained (working mainly in advertising) for around ten years. All during this time, I was freelancing as an illustrator on the side to stay sane. Eventually, I was able to make the freelancing work full-time.
Around five or six years ago, I decided to take the plunge and start making comics. Mainly because I had so many stories rolling around in my head and I needed to start getting them out! I also thought the style I’d developed as an illustrator might look a little unusual/different when applied to the making of comics. I began very slowly… making short stories at first, some of which were published in a variety of anthologies. One short I did (called ‘The Needleman’) went down very well with the publisher Soaring Penguin Press. This ultimately lead to them publishing my first book NORD. That only came out about six months ago… so I very much feel like I’m still new to this business really.
What I love about comics is how just a few people (or even just one person) can create a complete vision of something, totally untainted by ‘committee thinking’ and pretty much free of budgetary constraints too. Outside of the novel, I’m not sure there is any other medium that offers that amount of control and lack of compromise to the telling of a story.
AO: Last year NORD gained you a Broken Frontier Award nomination. For readers yet to discover the book how would you describe its premise? And what drew you to the world of Norse mythology?
SIMPSON: I was absolutely bowled over by the Broken Frontier Award nomination! It was beyond encouraging… can’t thank you guys enough for the recognition!
As for the premise, well… NORD essentially uses Nordic mythology (something I have been instinctively drawn to for as long as I can remember) to tell a universal story about a great Norse King who is tricked (by Loki) into going on a futile quest to destroy ‘Death’ itself. It’s written in a manner that hopefully evokes the feel of a genuine Nordic myth… perhaps one that you could imagine might already exist… and I’ve incorporated many of the tropes and archetypes from some of my favourite Norse stories.
The book is constructed using three different forms of narrative. The first part is illustrated prose, it then transitions into a kind of picture book before finally becoming something more like pure comics in the last third. The format of the book itself is also geared towards feeling like a hybrid between a picture book and a graphic novel.
As for Norse mythology itself… I think it’s such a wonderful and incomplete beast. Most of it appears to have been lost to the mists of time as the culture that spawned these fantastical tales used a chiefly oral tradition of storytelling that recorded precious little in the written word. What little has survived stems from only two 13th Century sources! I think it’s this ‘incompleteness’ that really helps spark the imagination and makes Norse Mythology wonderfully ripe for reinvention (and reinterpretation) in a myriad of different ways.
AO: Outside of the mystical and the otherworldly NORD touches on some more relatable ideas. What were some of those more universal themes that you were looking to explore in its pages?
SIMPSON: NORD is a broadly mythical story… so I felt free to try and explore really huge themes (preoccupations of mine really). I think people instinctively understand that a myth, fairy tale or fable is supposed to be metaphorical or allegorical… maybe they even expect them to be.
So NORD is about a person’s inability to accept that death is an essential part of existence. It’s also about the futility of trying to forcefully attain some kind of great undying legacy for yourself. This is all handled in a very positive manner though… I have little time for nihilistic or overly cynical attitudes… (a theme that is also touched on too, as represented by Loki).
AO: How did you get involved with the Skrawl Comix Magazine collective? How important do you believe small press group endeavours are in promoting indie comics in the UK and fostering a sense of community?
SIMPSON: It was total luck! I was rather randomly invited to share an AirBnB with a group of other comics artists for the 2019 Lakes International Comics Art Festival (LICAF). It was probably the second or third con I’d ever done and I feel remarkably lucky that I almost immediately fell in with some of the most talented people on the scene. Those people being: Mark Hughes, Russell Mark Olson, Nick Prolix, Pete Taylor and Gustaffo Vargas.
We all had a great con that year and got on like a house on fire. By the end of the weekend, we had pretty much decided to try and do something together. That ‘something’ became SKRAWL Comix Magazine. It’s been a huge amount of fun to put together… but it’s pretty infrequently created (we’ve done two issues so far). We have all become so insanely busy over the last couple of years that it’s becoming harder to find the time… hopefully we will get that third issue out one day.
I think small press endeavours like SKRAWL are the life-blood of indie comics. They help promote and draw peoples attention to all kinds of different creators… and it helps to introduce ourselves to each other too… like a big ice-breaker.
AO: Let’s talk process Can you give us some insights into your creative process and the mediums you work in? Does that ever differ depending on the project you might currently be working on?
SIMPSON: I think I’ve developed a fairly singular way of working and a process that has been slowly evolving over a long time. After all the usual sketchbook work and planning on scraps of paper, my paintings can start out as either pure drawing or a scanned rough acrylic ink painting or even a collage of various elements as an underlaying guide… there’s no one way really. It depends on the story and what I’m trying to depict. I also use a lot of sculpture and model-making when creating the final designs/reference for characters, props and sets (I currently use Blender for this). I find that I can think better in 3D sometimes.
With all this as a basis, I then work primarily in Photoshop, painting with a Wacom Tablet.
AO: Following on from that, colour is such an important part of your visual storytelling. How do you look to use colour to build mood and emotional atmosphere in your comics?
SIMPSON: Believe it or not… back when I was in Uni, I hated using colour! I insisted on doing everything in black and white only! Lord only knows why I thought like that back then… madness!
It was discovering the Mac and digital painting (much later on) that opened my eyes to colour. The very non-committal nature of working digitally proved perfect for experimenting with any and all types of colour-way. I simply wasn’t brave enough before (when working in more traditional methods) for fear of destroying the image.
I like to use colour very instinctively. It’s a lot to do with evoking an emotion or setting an atmosphere. Often, I can’t really explain why I think a certain colour works here and not there… it just does! That’s the great thing about colour… it works on another level that I find a bit mysterious and hard to explain in words… only colour can do it properly!
AO: What excites you the most about being part of the British Comics Now delegation to TCAF?
SIMPSON: Well, simply being asked was exciting for me. I was very surprised! I’m painfully aware that I’m the oldest of the delegates (yet with probably the least experience in comics) so I hope to learn a lot while I’m out there and meet a load of inspiring people. I’ve always wanted to go to TCAF but could never justify the outlay. But now, thanks to LICAF (and Arts Council England, The Adlard Family Charitable Foundation and The British Council) I get the chance to experience it all for free! What an honour!
AO: And, finally, what can we expect from your upcoming project Rasp? Any teases you can give us for other future creative endeavours?
SIMPSON: I’m very much concentrating on Rasp at the moment. It’s a story I’ve been developing over the last couple of years or so now. In fact, the embryonic beginnings of Rasp started in the short story I mentioned earlier called ‘The Needleman’.
It’s a complete thematic departure from NORD… especially visually… all grimy streets, mystery and shadows… with a very German expressionistic tone. It’s about freedom, Capitalism, oppression and redemption. But ultimately, it’s about the vital importance of a person being free to have some degree of creative expression in their lives. I’m beyond excited about it and really happy with the way it’s coming along so far! How and when you might see it is still undecided… but as soon as I can announce something concrete I will!
Visit Martin’s online store here
Buy SKRAWL Comix Magazine here
Interview by Andy Oliver