Wayne: When did you start reading comics?

Millidge: I honestly can’t remember when it started for me. It’s something I’ve always done. When I was younger, I was drawn to the simple humor of the British weeklies, and much of it was good quality. Leo Baxendale was a god to a lot of people my age. As I got older, I got more interested in adventure strips. On Saturdays, I’d be taken to a bric-a-brac shop where I’d find a stack of American comics. I could afford a few of them, and they‘d be coverless. Stuff like Jimmy Olsen, Lois Lane and Batman. There were never any Marvels. I used to love Batman, and was really into the 60s Batman TV series.

Wayne: When did you make the jump from reading comics to creating your own?

Millidge: Like all kids, I enjoyed drawing. When I started drawing, I did comics. I used to buy these cheap drawing pads--large sheets of paper folded and stapled. I’d tear the covers off, and have a ready-made comic canvas. They would be my own versions of Batman or Gerry Anderson’s Thunderbirds. I’d literally mimic the stuff I was reading and watching on TV. I remember doing a Secret Squirrel comic.

My brother Dave is 10 years older than me. When Dave was home from college, he brought home a couple of photocopies of some of the drawings I did. It was such an exciting moment for me. A seminal moment to see my work reproduced, even on such a crude gray, slightly smelly photocopy. I had my own (rock) group when I was eight or nine too. None of us could play any instruments, but that didn’t stop us from playing in our own band.

Wayne: Sounds like you gravitated toward the arts in school and college.

Millidge: I did pretty well at art in school. But at home, it was always comics for me. I never drew for its own sake. There was always some reason for drawing. I created a character called The Exile, my version of the Silver Surfer. That was when I was 14, and I did four issues. I was drawing with technical pens, and four-color washes. And it was my own character. Even way back then, I thought that I needed to be in control of things.

My brother also went to art school, and he earned a Bachelor of Arts in sculpture. I could never make the transition to three dimensions though. Things like sculpture and woodworking were just beyond me. Anything like drawing or photography I’ve always enjoyed. Going to art school was a pretty obvious step.

Wayne: Where did you go to art school?

Millidge: The last four years I spent in regular school were in Spain with my parents when they retired. I came back to the UK when I was 17, and went straight into Southend Art School. I spent three years there taking various foundation courses, basically a bit of everything from photography to printmaking to fashion design to typography. But a lot of it disinterested me. I really wanted to learn about the technique of drawing. Maybe, I got an hour a week of that. But I got a good grounding on a lot of other stuff that’s become useful, like graphic design. At the time, I had very little opportunity to apply comics to art in college and vice versa. I continued to create comics after college hours.

You know, coming back from Spain without the proper qualifications, I was very lucky to go anywhere at all. All of these things are decided about a year in advance. My ultimate aim was to do a Bachelor of Arts course somewhere, but I really lacked focus. Outside of doing comics, I didn’t know what I wanted to do for a living. I had sort of a vague idea that I wanted to be a graphic designer. Faced with the reality of the work graphic designers do, like manuals for washing machines, it just left me cold. I enjoyed painting and life drawing. But there’s a limited practical application for those sorts of things. At the same time, I was getting drawn into the music business more and more. I was playing in local bands. I was probably a lot more interested in making a living doing that than art at the time.

Wayne: Comics and music were fighting for your soul, and music was winning, at that time anyway.

Millidge: It’s been a seesaw battle all of my life. I’ve got these two great loves. And I love computers as well. My interests have always been split. To succeed, you do need to be focused, and convinced that you’re doing the right thing.

Wayne: Did anyone offer you any encouragement along the way?

Millidge: Really, the biggest encouragement was my dad. He’s been dead about nine years now, and I still miss him. He always encouraged me to do whatever I wanted to do which is one of the reasons why I’ve been a success at what I’ve been doing lately. My dad always believed in me, and felt I could be a success at something if I put my mind to it.

Wayne: Was your dad an artist too?

Millidge: Only very late in life. When he retired, he took up painting. When my brother was going to art college and playing in rock 'n roll bands, he was very encouraging and got right behind him as well.

Wayne: Think he was living his life through you a little bit?

Millidge: I don’t know if he was. I genuinely think he wanted to see us do well and be happy. He said that he didn’t want to see me get up in the morning and be depressed about what I was doing the rest of my life.

(c)1998/1999 Wayne Beamer