Pretty much everyone who was part of Marvel UK in the 1990s knew
Edmund Bagwell (aka Edmund Perryman) and would call him a friend too. He had a
charm that made it impossible not to like him. I’d met him a few times before
moving down to London to work at Marvel. The first time was when he was living
with Michael Wiessmuller and Andrew Currie. We had a few drinks and stayed up
late watching an advanced copy of the first episode of Deep Space Nine. Drink
and Star Trek turned out to be reoccurring themes of our friendship. It was
only when I started at Marvel that we really became friends – especially when we
moved into a shared house in South London with Marvel designer Ed Lawrance,
Marco and Glenn Dakin.
Soon after Glenn moved in, Glenn, Edmund and myself realised
we’d all been in Deadline at the same time but somehow hadn’t met until the
Marvel days. That shared house is still one of the best times I’ve ever had.
Sometimes house shares can be hell but this wasn’t. We watched out for each
other, helped each other, drank down the Greyhound together, watched a lot of
Star Trek together. Edmund was working on a few different projects at the time.
One of the best was a never published Ghost Rider 2099 story. The art on that
blew me away. He did some work for me on Overkill (an old Marvel UK anthology).
When I took over the title, one of the first decisions I made was to give Black
Axe (the series he’d done with Simon Jowett) a slot in it. Black Axe was one of
my favourite Marvel UK books and one of the characters they created in the
series – Afrikaa – should really have gone on to greater things. And would have
if Marvel UK hadn’t collapsed.
Edmund was one of those artists who just had to draw and create.
It was a compulsion. It was what he did, whether he got paid for it or not. As
Si Spencer mentioned on Facebook earlier, not many artists can create a page
that works as a piece of art and as part of a strip – but Edmund could. For me
though the friendship we enjoyed is the most important thing. Back in the days
of the house in Streatham Vale we were all going through crazy relationship
stuff and Edmund was there for us all. Stumble in at two in the morning, a
little bit broken, and he’d get up and chat until the small hours making the
world seem a better place. I lost my job back then and Edmund was one of the
most supportive friends I could have had. His help and friendship kept me
creating when I could have easily given it all up. When I started back at
Marvel UK he was also good for sticking a jacket potato in the oven when I was
on the way home or persuading me to give Babylon 5’s second season a chance…
yeah we were all big geeks in that house. It came with the territory. While we
all eventually got our own places, our friendship remained strong. For a while
four of us – Ed Lawrance, Jan, Edmund and myself – would meet up in an O’Neil’s
in Crystal Palace every Friday night for a catch up. Jan, who worked as a nurse
in A&E, was always bemused as Edmund and myself would inevitably geek out
about the latest Trek or some other Sci-Fi thing. Some nights other Marvel folk
like Gary and Aletia Gilbert and Kev Hopgood would join us. That’s another time
I’ll treasure. I’d love to go back and buy him a Guinness.
In time, Edmund met
his wife, the wonderful and talented Hae Sook and moved to Angouleme. In some
cases, time and distance can make old friendships awkward but it never did with
Edmund. I was lucky enough to stay with them a few times, Edmund buying me
drinks in the Château Noir and La
Girafe as we put the
world (both real and comic book) to rights again. There was a great Angouleme
where both Nick Abadzis and myself stayed at Edmund’s and another where, after
staggering in drunk my first night there, Edmund and myself promised Hae Sook
we’d be in early the following night. And we nearly were. Only we got
distracted by a hotel bar and chatting to David Lloyd. It was only when Hae
Sook phoned Edmund up to check we were okay we realised it was five in the
morning. Time can pass quickly when you’re with friends.
One of the sad things is how much good work the world’s
going miss out on. The last few years have seen his art go from strength to
strength on projects like Cradlegrave (still one of the most brilliantly
disturbing strips ever to appear in 2000AD), Indigo Prime and the Ten Seconders.
We always inevitably talked about working together on something… He called me
last year to let me know what was happening. It was one of the most heart-breaking
conversations I’ve ever had. Not that Edmund was down. Despite what he was facing,
he was upbeat and positive. I’m lucky enough to have some of his original
artwork at home. A page from Cradlegrave and a wonderful cosmic spread he did
for the Jack Kirby exhibition Orbital put on a few years ago. It hangs proudly
in my study, a cosmic masterpiece. That’s how I’ll remember Edmund – as one the
best friends I’ll ever have and one who was (and always will be) a little bit
cosmic.
• Edmund’s family
have asked that donations be made to Pancreatic Cancer UK in
Edmund’s memory. www.pancreaticcancer.org.uk
