Adrian Kermode RIP

Adrian Kermode at Bristol in 2001, the night before he won a National Comics Award

I've just received the terrible news that Adrian Kermode has passed away. A comics writer and regular of the UK comics scene in the early 2000's, "Ady" will be remembered by his friends for his warmth, wit, and ribald sense of humour.

Ady is probably best known for his collaboration with artist Terry Wiley on the series Petra Etcetera. A sequel of sorts to the highly-regarded series Tales of Sleaze Castle created by Dave McKinnon and Terry Wiley, Petra Etcetera cut out the fantasy elements of Sleaze Castle, concentrating instead on real-world characters and settings. Ady's writing style fit the material perfectly, so that Petra Etcetera won the National Comics Award for Best Independent British Comic in 2001, and was nominated again in 2002. He was also a contributor to Selina Locke's anthology title The Girly Comic.

Left: Cover to Doctor Sorrow: The Crystal Skull Caper (art by me)
Right: Cover to Deadman & Hyde (art by Kieran McKeown, colouring by me)
Doctor Sorrow © 2003 Adrian Kermode & Mike Juniper.
Deadman & Hyde © 2004 Adrian Kermode & Kieran McKeown.

Following his success with Petra, Ady's interests turned towards the horror/action genre. I was lucky enough to work with him twice during this period, producing a publicity image and a cover for Doctor Sorrow: The Crystal Skull Caper (2002) and colouring the cover art for Deadman and Hyde (2004), both published under his own Charaydis Press imprint.

Sadly, in the last few years the demands of Ady's civil service career effectively put an end to his writing. He'll be sorely missed by his many friends. Our sympathies go out to his family, his partner Debs and her daughter Frankie.