Out of the many talented artists working in the mishmash of media that's labeled comics, Eddie Campbell is one that I've probably loved from the first time I read his work, which was in Dark Horse Presents back in the early 1990's. By the time I came upon his autobiographical Alec series, he'd become one of my favorite creators, and I was as excited as anybody else when From Hell, Alan Moore's magnificent Jack The Ripper story, brought him the sort of comics stardom that had neglected him (to my mind due only to the bias of some fans towards the autobio genre) thus far. These last few years have been a joy for an Eddie Campbell fan--besides his current arrangement with First Second, who've published three new graphic novels, including the one he was recently touring to promote, Top Shelf will be publishing an omnibus collection of all of the Alec stories sometime next year. Besides that, he might end up with his own television show, as Australian producers have picked up his Fate of The Artist graphic novel in hopes of an adaptation. (Take that, "Booster Gold".) When the opportunity to go and see him at my local hipster bookstore, McNally Robinson, arose I jumped at the chance.
While the original Mr. Leotard was, in fact, a real person, Campbell was quick to disabuse the notion that his work was in any way a depiction of real life events—as mentioned in the second sentence of the comic's description, Mr. Leotard dies on page 12. What he described was the notion that he and his co-writer had of telling a Forrest Gump type story by taking the woefully inadequate nephew of the original Leotard on as protagonist and sending him careening through some of the newsworthy events of the late 19th and early 20th century, things like the Jack the Ripper murders and the sinking of the Titanic. Having read Monsieur Leotard since the talk, I can attest that it is a tremendously satisfying comic—while it may lack some of the intellectual satisfactions of the Alec series, it's a delightful entertainment that abounds with examples of Campbell's skill and prodigious talent. Any writer, any artist, would kill to have half of the man's ability to tell a good story.
After finishing with the promotional portion of his talk, and after telling a clever anecdote regarding the multiple deaths of a friend that Campbell has snuck into various comics, the floor was opened to questions. There were the relatively unsurprising ones—"Did you like the From Hell movie" and "Are you going to work with Alan Moore again"—and then someone asked Eddie whether or not he had any interest in doing more painting work, as he had previously for a few covers. His response was probably the only sad part of the entire evening—he said that he would love too, but he had to focus on "the next paying gig." While it comes as no surprise to me that comics don't provide enough income for leisure activities like painting, it was still a bit upsetting to hear that someone as far along in his professional life, with such a brilliant body of work already behind him, should have to, as he put it, "wait until retirement" to do something he loves. I'm nowhere near being a socialist, but the idea of a talent like Eddie Campbell struggling to find work (he offhandedly mentioned another graphic novel that's been turned down by two major publishers) is one that might get me to start my own cultural revolution, Little Red Book style—whatever it takes so this guy can produce more art.Tucker Stone's writing may be found in print in Comic Foundry and online at The Factual Opinion, where he frequently reviews new releases.
This Ship Is Totally Sinking is © Tucker Stone, 2008
