David Lloyd Talks: From Pulp Adventures to Protest Art

Transmission 070: Interview with David Lloyd

• The Symbol of Resistance: David Lloyd created the Guy Fawkes mask not just as a character design, but as a political statement that has transcended comics to become a global symbol for protest.
• Digital Pioneer: Through Aces Weekly, Lloyd is a vocal advocate for the transition from paper to digital comics, arguing that the web offers unlimited territory for diverse storytelling.
• Creative Autonomy: Lloyd emphasizes the importance of “Kickback” as a milestone in his career, highlighting how total creative control allows artists to innovate with new technologies and personal techniques.

David Lloyd is a British comics artist best known for illustrating Alan Moore’s V for Vendetta (read our interview with Alan Moore) . He designed the anarchist protagonist V and the iconic Guy Fawkes mask, which later became a symbol of protest worldwide. Lloyd began his career in the late 1970s, contributing to magazines such as Halls of Horror and TV Comics, as well as several Marvel UK titles. In collaboration with writer Steve Parkhouse, he developed the pulp adventure character Night Raven. Lloyd’s artistic influences include John Burns, Steve Ditko, Ronald Embleton, Jack Kirby, and Tony Weare. His diverse portfolio includes a 1982 comic book adaptation of the Time Bandits movie, as well as work on series such as Wasteland, Espers, Hellblazer, and Global Frequency. He has also illustrated licensed works featuring Aliens and James Bond. In 2006, Lloyd created the graphic novel Kickback. Six years later, in 2012, he launched Aces Weekly, an online comics art magazine anthology.

This interview is also published on the issue no. 02 of our free digital magazine RetroFuturista.

You started working in comics in the late 1970s, from “Halls of Horror” to the pulp adventure character for “Night Raven”, who was one of the few original characters created for Marvel UK. Have you always been attracted to stories set in dark shadows or featuring vigilantes since your childhood?

Dark shadows, yes – happens to be what I was always attracted to, though not to the extent of other interests. Drama and conflict in noir more than high adventure for some reason.  Vigilantes, not so much as types of crime fighters, but heroes in general, of course, like any kid I liked westerns, pirate stories. I used to go see double bills of all kinds of adventure movies at the local cinema every week and lots of tv.  Darker was always better though, it’s true.

I read that you worked with Alan Moore on “Doctor Who Magazine” drawing: “The Return of the Daleks”, “Black Legacy” and others stories. Can you share some insights about this period?

Alan did not write Return – that was Steve Moore, who wrote most of the back-up stories that I drew for Who mag. Steve also happened to be a great friend of Alan and taught Alan how to write comics.  I met and began working with Alan on Black Legacy – his first mainstream job was with Who mag, I think – and I discovered we’d both been past contributors to a fanzine called Shadow. So we’d been in the same place at the same time somewhere else before working on Who.  I did 2 more stories with Alan on Who and figured through those experiences and meeting him at various comics events that he was a specially talented and creative writer as well as being a good guy.

David Lloyd also worked on several stories for Doctor Who magazine

Your collaboration with Alan Moore on “V for Vendetta” is considered a landmark in comics. Can you share any memorable or meaningful experiences you faced while working together?

We had nothing but good times working together.  V had a well-developed start but from then it was made up as we went along, with it growing organically as it was created at a very slow pace in its initial form – at 6-8 pages every month – giving us both time to think in creating it and to think of creative ideas to enhance it.  The latter part of the story, when we were producing the continuation of it at DC, was produced by faster means because of necessary scheduling, so they were not as creatively liberated, with much less interaction between us than in the earlier work.  But it ended up well.

By 2006, DC Comics had sold over 500,000 copies of the “V for Vendetta” graphic novel in the US

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Vendetta is a graphic novel that’s in every comic store all the time across the globe. Did you ever anticipate this level of cultural impact, and how has it influenced your approach to subsequent projects?

No. Except we knew we were doing something meaningful and political that we hoped would have an impact beyond its original platform and we tried to make that happen even in its earliest days. And it’s only influenced my other projects by allowing me to use the reputation I gained from it as a brand of reliable quality.

Warner Bros. released “V for Vendetta” film adaptation of the same name, written and co-produced by the Wachowskis, in 2005

“V for Vendetta” explores themes of political dissent and anarchism. The Guy Fawkes iconic mask has become a powerful symbol adopted by various protest groups worldwide. How do you feel about its use in contemporary political and social contexts?

Fine. It’s moved beyond its original symbolism to become a neutral symbol of resistance to any tyranny any protestor or group might wish to use it for.  But it’ll always represent the fight against that particular form of oppression that was depicted in V.

While “V for Vendetta” is your most famous work, you have had a prolific career. Are there other projects you’d like to see receive more recognition, such as “The Horrorist” with Jamie Delano? Is there any work you hoped would receive the same attention as “V for Vendetta”?

Horrorist is a great book and I’m happy with it, but Kickback is the book I hoped would garner more success and interest, but it suffered from inexplicably inefficient and neglectful treatment from the one publisher I relied on to promote it to the audience it was most designed to appeal to, and so it disappeared from view at the time it shouldn’t have, and is now still unknown to many, though I have seen nice responses to it from those who’ve seen it. 

Artists often need to dialogue with those who commission their work. In the past, users had less influence. From physical events to the web, followers now decide the fate of many creative projects. You mentioned that “Kickback” became a valuable opportunity to rediscover the basic pleasure of creativity. Can you tell us more about your experience with this project? What did you enjoy the most?

Most work you do if you’re a freelancer is work to order with limited freedom of creativity unless you self-publish, but if you’ve a good reputation you can make a pitch to a publisher to do something you have total control of and that you own, which was the case with Kickback.  And of course there’s no substitute for having total control over your own project : you can express yourself without compromise and without rules to follow, as long as you stay within the bounds of what you’ve promised to the publisher.  I’d done short stories and single issues on that basis, but never been able to do that on something as extensive as Kickback before.  I took total advantage of that control and tried things I’d not done elsewhere : used computer effects and a graphics programme for the first time  ; created my own colouring system ; got a font made of my hand lettering ( Kickback from Comicraft ) ; and, of course, told my story in exactly the way I wanted to.  I was a kid in a playpen and very proud of what I’d done, imperfect though it is as a totally successfully meld of techniques. 

In 2012 you established Aces Weekly. Can you share with us more about this project and your hopes?

It’s an exclusively online comics art magazine inspired by similar other projects I’d learned of before starting it, and powered by my firm belief in the value of the unlimited territory the internet offers as an economical means of massive distribution and publishing for comics art that has yet to be fully realized.  For details and samples of what we offer readers you can go to the website – acesweekly.co.uk – so I won’t cover that here. Basically, we just put comic pages on screen instead of on paper, because it’s cheaper to do that, easy to do that, and easier to distribute. 

However, there is a massive wall of resistance to this kind of comics publishing from the mass of comic readers everywhere, who are seemingly addicted to paper and don’t want to leave it, despite the advantages online comics can bring to them.  Scrolling cartoons for phones, and some similar things to our platform, have put a dent in some of that resistance, but it’s still an enormous obstruction, which is a shame, because the web could supply a renewal of readership of comics that has been lost over decades, and find new readership among those who do not realize how great comics can be and how wide-ranging in subject and style they can be, biased as they may have been by the limited material they may have seen represented in the limits of paper comics publication. 

In recent years, wars have sparked a debate regarding the freedom of the artist to take a position on issues artists deem important and the fact that a certain type of public demands neutrality, claiming that art belongs to everyone. Doesn’t this risk putting artists in a position of blackmail and immobility? What do you think about this topic? Comics have a long history of tackling social issues. In your view, what role can the medium play in promoting social change and critical thinking in the era of social media?

As a form of entertainment and communication, comics are no different to any other form doing the same thing – literature, cinema, tv, etc.  There are no limits to what it can do and no limits should be imposed on it by anyone outside of it for reasons of controlling its effects or imposing personal preferences.

Is there an artwork you would have liked to develop further but couldn’t due to circumstances beyond your control? Is there a character you drew that you connected with deeply, but only for a fleeting moment? Do you have future projects you can tell us about?

I was a big fan of Jack Kirby’s original incarnation – and that one only – of Nick Fury of Shield, and proposed doing a project with that to Marvel a long time ago, but we couldn’t agree terms.  There’s no other character that I actually drew that I connected with on any deeper level than the one any good artist should do to make it live at its best with its specified personality traits and strengths enhanced to best effect.  I was a big fan of The Spirit so was delighted to be able to do that and do my best to make my work on it an accurate tribute.  And, of course, I enjoyed doing my best with Constantine, though not being a dedicated reader of all its appearances.  Needless to say V is very much a character I connect with deeply and feel for, while Joe Canelli in Kickback is simply a character I wanted to make real, without having any empathetic connection to his situation.  No new projects – I’m entirely and only concerned with publishing Aces Weekly at the moment.

Your art has inspired generations of aspiring comic artists. What advice would you give to someone looking to break into the industry and create impactful artwork, especially in an era where people are creating comics with AI prompts?

AI is a disaster for real artists and their craft, depriving them of income and status, but we’re stuck with it and have to try to find an effective way of living with it and fighting its effects on us.

For those interested in creating real art in the industry of comics – rather than creating comics for any other purpose – its essential first to be a good general artist who knows how to draw and draw many things. Secondly, you must study how to tell stories well, panel by panel, in the way that cinema and good comics do.  And there are lots of good books on technique and tools to use, many of which are recommended in the books section of an educational website I helped build : http://www.cartoonclassroom.co.uk.  Industry needs for comics production are, in the main, specially rigorous.  All kinds of great storytelling using comics can be done without obeying the rules of the industry, though the ability to master the skill of panel-by-panel narrative flow of action is essential in all kinds. 

Since you have started drawing Doctor Who stories (4th Doctor) and the series often discusses themes of rights, evolution, and justice, what are your thoughts on the controversies surrounding the latest incarnations? Shouldn’t a thousand-year-old alien be allowed to be whoever he/she/they want to be?

I really have no views on that at all apart from saying that anything is possible in science fiction and the only thing needed in drama is to make it convincing to the audience with good actors and a good script.

Photos and images courtesy of David Lloyd
David Lloyd’s official site, Facebook

Dominique Musorrafiti

Ciao! My name is Dominique. I’m Italian and I’m proud to be a mix. My father was an Italian chemical engineer and high school teacher, with Greek and Polish heritage. My mother is Haitian, she was high school language teacher, with Dominican, Spanish, French, Portuguese, African and Native American heritage. Being a mix makes me appreciate to want to understand different cultures and lifestyles. I grew up in Italy, lived few years in Haiti, travel around main European capitals, lived many years in China, in Spain and UK. Traveling makes me feel that we can learn something from every situation in every part of the world.