”Before The Boys, before Kick-Ass, before Watchmen, there was Captain Civilian.”

Have you ever dreamed of becoming a superhero? If you’re like most of us, the answer is probably yes. But while many left that dream behind in childhood, one man turned it into a reality. In 1985, young art student Steve Marchant set out to explore a bold question: What if a superhero actually existed? Proudly donning a balaclava, goggles and pink pants over a tight black costume, Steve transformed into Captain Civilian. For eight unforgettable months, he patrolled the streets of Plymouth and Dartington College, fully embracing the superhero life. Before long, some of the students began recognising him as their very own ‘hero’- they witnessed and got involved with it firsthand when there was still no internet, no X, and no TikTok—and even some were eager to join his adventure. And soon, The Captain found himself facing an arch-nemesis… Nearly 40 years later, we’ve brought him back—along with a story that’s never been told. It’s a tale of courage, hope, and laughter that will strike a chord with anyone who ever dreamed of being a hero—or even those who didn’t. Don’t miss this legendary, boldly bizarre, and daftest hero’s return!

Steve Marchant (Captain Civilian)
Steve Marchant read too many comics as a boy in Wolverhampton. After two years at art college in Devon he moved to London where he became a cartoonist, a special needs youth worker and a tutor. Since then he has combined all three in his 29-year career at The Cartoon Museum, where he is the education coordinator/tutor/occasional curator.

The very first issue of Captain Civilian from the eminent Marchant Comics Group is currently exclusive to The Cartoon Museum.

It’s a real pleasure speaking with you, Captain Civilian. What was it like putting on the hero’s costume again after all these years?
Making the video for the Heroes exhibition was the first time I’d worn the costume since, I think, 1992. Being made of nylon, I was worried it might have decayed during the years it sat in a suitcase under my bed, but it slipped on fine. And I’d forgotten how just by wearing it, your whole posture changes – shoulders back, chest out – clothes do make the man, as the saying goes.

Your “Captain Civilian” zine, now available in the Cartoon Museum Shop, tells the story of how you came to exist and be recognised in the real world as a hero.   Are there any heroes that particularly inspired you in inventing Captain Civilian?　What do you think makes a hero a hero?
What inspired me was all of the superheroes I’d grown up reading, from both Marvel and DC, and in particular the Adam West Batman from the 60s TV series. By the 80s, the Batman in the comics was quite a grim and gritty character, along with other darkly-clad anti-heroes like The Punisher. I wanted to hark back to when superheroes were more fun, I felt that this would enable better interactions with the public.

In real life, heroes don’t wear fancy costumes. Real-life heroes to me are people that put other people before themselves – nurses, doctors, teachers, carers, etc. Having said that,  next time I’m in hospital I wouldn’t mind being tended to by a nurse in a skin-tight outfit. But I suppose I’d need to be in BUPA.

“Every week, Captain Civilian took a break from patrolling with a well-earned mug of tea at the Bomb Shelter Cafe.”

What was the reaction when you stood in front of people with your superhero character and costume after all the trial and error?
As you see in the zine, the costume evolved gradually during the first few months. In its earliest stages, where I wore just tights, underpants, balaclava, goggles, and rubber boots, I got laughs and puzzlement at college (which was fine) and nervous glances from the citizens of Plymouth. They probably thought I was on my way home from a fetish club or something. That’s when I realised that I had to adopt more of the classic costume elements. Once I had a chest emblem and a cape, I was suddenly a ‘superhero’ in peoples’ eyes – or more likely a nutter who thought he was a superhero. If the latter opinion was true (and it probably was), that was okay because the whole point of what I was doing was to discover what would happen if a superhero walked among us. And yeah, that’s when people occasionally engaged with me.

“Just these two key elements turned me from being a hapless pervert into a superhero.”

Like Batman’s Joker or Spider-Man’s Green Goblin, the presence of a vicious enemy or rival makes the superhero story more fascinating (For that matter, without enemies, there can be no superheroes!). We hear that villains have appeared in your Captain Civilian world as well. How did you feel when you finally had an enemy to defeat?
The appearance of The “Orrible Phantom” was completely unexpected, and brilliant. It brought to life the aspect of the Spider-Man comics where he gets blamed for New York being plagued by super-villains, that his presence has brought them forward. A later enemy, The Bingo Master, was very much a collaboration between me and a friend of mine. And even later, I became my own villain, as you’ll eventually see.

Captain Civilian’s rival “Orrible Phantom”

In the 40 years since your days patrolling as Captain Civilian, the world of superheroes has changed, with the diversification of heroes in terms of gender, race, age, and the rise of anti-heroes, etc, (yet most of them still wear tight costumes and capes). But no matter how much times have changed, why do you think superheroes still fascinate people today?
In the 80s, superheroes were very much a niche interest. Things have changed and I think it’s largely down to the ubiquity of superheroes in films and TV over the last 25 years. That has revived the genre and taken it to the greater public. Nowadays you see people wearing superhero T-shirts, jackets, caps, everywhere you go, because they love the movies. They’ve probably never read a comic.

As an avid superhero fan for many years, what part of the ”HEROES” exhibition did you get excited about the most?
I love it all, but I got the biggest thrill from seeing all the old American Sunday newspaper strips such as Flash Gordon, Superman, Batman, and Miss Fury – I’d never heard of her but she predates Wonder Woman, she was the first female superhero. The page of Little Nemo in Slumberland is amazing.

And of course, I’m in the exhibition, which has been fun. When I suggested including Captain Civilian I was kind of half-joking, but everyone thought it was a great idea. And that led to the Captain Civilian zine, which is the first of maybe four or five I’m going to publish. Collect the set!!

Lastly, if someone wants to be a hero like you, what would you advise them to do?
Make sure you have a wee before you go out on patrol.

by Haruka Katsuyama

Captain Civilian and all related elements © and Steve Marchant 2024

Meet The Captain!
Want to meet Captain Civilian? Catch him in action at our latest exhibition, “Heroes”, where you can see him in a special video! But don’t worry—he’ll be making a REAL appearance at The Cartoon Museum soon, with issue #2 of his epic saga in print! 

And don’t forget, our exhibition HEROES: The British invasion of American comics is on until Saturday, 19 October.

“How To Make A Mint.”

This past May, we received a letter from David Shenton on his 75th birthday, in which he thoughtfully answered our interview questions. We warmly congratulate David on his remarkable 40+ year career as a cartoonist and are delighted to feature him on our museum blog this Pride Month. David’s comics have vividly depicted the gritty realities of gay life, since long before the term “LGBTQ+” existed. His latest comic collection “Forty Lies“, published last December, is an autobiography covering his life from his teens to his 70s(with his unique queer knitting patterns) and it is also a chronicle of more than half a century of LGBTQ+ history. New, young readers may be struck to learn that, how until recently living as a gay person, and loving someone as you are could even be considered a crime. This real living record of his struggles with various unreasonable challenges, wrapped in jokes and humor, reminds us of the communicative power of the art form of cartoon. In this interview, we asked David about how he got started as a cartoonist and what motivates him to continue creating to this day.

David Shenton
https://www.facebook.com/dscomics/
David Shenton was born on May 20, 1949, in Ashton-under-Lyne, Lancashire. He entered Ashton-under-Lyne College of Further Education in 1965 and Loughborough College of Art in 1967 where he studied printed textiles. He has been a cartoonist since the 1970s, with his comics appearing in The Guardian, various specialist magazines, and most gay newspapers in the UK. His work brings laughter, provokes thought, and offers comfort for the inevitable challenges people face in life. He has also tackled social issues such as same-sex marriage and the AIDS crisis. He posts daily on the DS Comics page on Facebook, works on his knitting, and continues to attend LGBTQ+ events in London and Norfolk.

–Can you tell us about your journey as a comic artist specialising in LGBTQ themes?
What inspired you to focus on this genre and cartoons as a form? Are there any particular artists, works, or episodes that have influenced or inspired your creative process?
To begin, I’ve never specialized in LGBTQ+ themes. I’m a gay man; I’ve known that since I was a teenager. So these themes are my norm. I started as a cartoonist by accident. I had a well-received painting exhibition in Manchester in the mid-1970s, which had a splendid write-up in The Guardian. I invited the gay press to review it, too. But because the subject matter wasn’t explicit, they didn’t show up. Instead of writing a letter wanting to know what constitutes gay art, I drew them a cynical cartoon. They still didn’t review the exhibition, but liked the cartoon enough to offer me a weekly space in Gay News. This space developed into a four-frame strip and eventually a book. Alongside Kate Charlesworth, we were in both of the gay papers and magazines through the mid-70s, and the 80s and 90s. Sometimes we worked together, documenting LGBTQ+ life in its entirety: politics, music, nightlife, idioms, phases, fashions, more politics, and health.

“Gay Life”, 1987

As the years went by, I became an established cartoonist. My focus was all over the place. I had strips in The Guardian and professional publications, such as Solicitor’s Journal, Building Design and The Optician. But the queer cartoons were the personal ones that carried the most clout because they covered issues that mattered to my community through those difficult years. Cartoons can highlight the shortcomings of the government – their acceptance of, and indifference to, growing homophobia, leading to a lack of essential investment in healthcare. The trans community is facing similar problems today.

My creative process had to grow up and become serious with the advent of the HIV/AIDS crisis and the iniquities of Clause 28. I deal with the age of consent in “Forty Lies“, from the viewpoint of my own personal story and the PARTIAL Decriminalisation of the Sexual Offences Act in1967. I was eighteen then and had a boyfriend who was twenty-one. The partial repeal set the age of consent at twenty-one. I was immediately classed as a minor and my boyfriend could be sent to prison as a sex offender. We had to split up. ‘My Four December Weddings’, also a personal story, in “Forty Lies“, tells of the lead up to and legalisation of Equal Marriage in 2014.

“Been there, Seen that”

I’m from the North West of England where a lot of comedians come from and many people routinely use humour to counter the difficulties of everyday life. Comedy is very serious to handle when politics and events are so dire, but it can be done. I like to be sly and funny, but I’m a kind cartoonist and let people off easily, yet still get my point across.

“The Baton of Activism is Lost”

–In “Forty Lies” and ‘My Four December Weddings’, there’s a clear reflection of the evolution of LGBTQ-related environments and legislation in the UK, including milestones like Section 28, change in the age of consent for gay men sex, the AIDS crisis, the legalisation of same-sex marriage and more. Have you noticed any significant shifts in audience reception or mainstream acceptance of LGBTQ comics throughout your over 40-year career?
Last week I gave a talk about “Forty Lies” and my work overall to fifty members of the Women’s Institute here in Norwich. They were aware of my sexuality and the LGBTQ+ focus of a lot of my work. This invitation and welcome to their meeting most likely wouldn’t have happened ten years ago. I am openly gay and a named patron of Norwich Pride, so people accept who I am.

–Can you share some of the most memorable reactions or feedback you’ve received about your comics and activities?
The most important reaction to my work, I suppose, is that I’ve made a career doing something I love. I’ve had eight books published; all are out of print now, except “Forty Lies”, which came out last year. The first one, “Stanley and the Mask of Mystery “(1983) was the first LGBTQ+ graphic novel to be published in Europe, and perhaps in the world. It sold very well in the USA.

“Stanley and the Mask of Mystery”, 1983

I was once kidnapped and held to ransom in a pub by the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, and was only released when the pub coughed up £40 for AIDS research. In 2022, I received the Orfeo Imago Award, from Sweden, which honors outstanding contributions to LGBTQ+ art, photography and sculpture. Incidentally, this year it was awarded to Durk Dehner, the Tom of Finland Foundation President. In 2022, I was also made a patron of Norwich Arts Centre.

“Ginger Tom of Finland”

-As you continue to update your Facebook page almost daily with your cartoons, have you noticed any changes in the response from your readers or in your creative process compared to when your work was primarily published through traditional means? How has the internet as a platform influenced your approachand motivation to creating and sharing your cartoons?
When Facebook first came out I knew it could be useful. I was still cartooning and drawing illustrations, mainly for Cambridge University Press. All the weekly gay newspapers had disappeared, some gone forever and others becoming online publications. And the monthly gay lifestyle magazines had no use for political cartoons. So my LGBTQ+ platforms had gone. I therefore decided to upload my cartoons onto a dedicated Facebook page called These Foolish Things. This brought my queer work back into public notice, and revived my career. Through this page, I’ve produced cartoon collections and stories, printed out and sold as zines. These zines culminated in being noticed by a book publisher, who offered me “Forty Lies“. Also, my embroidered and knitted craftivist pieces have been shown in The Cartoon Museum and Sheringham Museum, and acquisitioned by the Castle Museum in Norwich and Queer Britain in London.

–Can you share any upcoming projects or plans you have?
“Forty Lies” has brought offers of conducting workshops in London, in Queer Circle and Queer Britain this summer. I haven’t stopped drawing and creating, and will do until I can no longer hold a pencil. There is still a long way to go before LGBTQ+ issues worldwide are resolved, and discrimination and hatred are replaced with equality and peace.

*All images were provided by David Shenton, and the copyright of these images belongs to him.

by Haruka Katsuyama

Resources:

DS Comics
https://www.dscomics.co.uk/ [Accessed: 09/06/2024]

Prism Comics | David Shenton
https://www.prismcomics.org/profile/davidshenton/ [Accessed: 09/06/2024]

Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Shenton [Accessed: 09/06/2024]

LGBTQ+ HISTORY, English Heritage
https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/learn/histories/lgbtq-history/ [Accessed: 09/06/2024]

LGBTQ+ HISTORY BY THE DECADES(1980s-2010s), NCS
https://wearencs.com/blog/lgbtq-history-decades-1980s [Accessed: 09/06/2024]
https://wearencs.com/blog/lgbtq-history-decade-1990s [Accessed: 09/06/2024]
https://wearencs.com/blog/lgbtq-history-decades-2000s [Accessed: 09/06/2024]
https://wearencs.com/blog/lgbtq-history-decades-2010s [Accessed: 09/06/2024]