William (Will) Simpson is a comics artist, illustrator, storyboard artist, film production artist and director from Northern Ireland.

He grew up in Prehen, near Derry, and his earliest work was for the Belfast anthology Ximoc in the early 1980s. This led to professional work in the UK, drawing "Big Ben" in Warrior in 1984, and a run on Transformers for Marvel UK in 1985-1987. His first work for 2000AD, a Future Shock, came in 1985, and he was a regular on the magazine from 1987 to 1991, drawing Universal Soldier (1987), Judge Dredd, including episodes of the epic "Oz" (1987-88), and "Tale of the Dead Man", coloured by his wife Wendy (1990), and Tyranny Rex (1988). He provided painted art for several Judge Dredd stories, as well as the Rogue Trooper reboot "The War Machine" in 1989-90. In 1991 he created "Sex Warrior" with writers Pat Mills and Tony Skinner for Toxic!.

1991 was the year he made the move into American comics. With writer Garth Ennis, he took over on DC's horror title Hellblazer, which he drew until 1993. He drew an Aliens miniseries, "Rogue", for Dark Horse Comics in 1993, and 1994 co-created the sexy vampire miniseries Vamps for DC/Vertigo, with writer Elaine Lee, which returned for two more minseries in 1996 and 1998. Also with Lee, he drew the first issue of Indiana Jones and the Spear of Destiny for Dark Horse in 1995. He drew a three part Batman story, "Freak Out", written by Ennis, in Legends of the Dark Knight in 1997. Other titles he has drawn include Excalibur (Marvel, 1992), Animal Man (DC, 1993) and Punisher 2099 (Marvel, 1994).

In recent years he has concentrated primarily on illustration and filmmaking. With his brother Ken, he runs the animation company Rogue Rocket, and he has drawn storyboards for films by Neil Jordan, Richard Attenborough, Rob Bowman and Gil Kenan, and directed short films. However, he still occasionally returns to comics. For 2000AD, he drew Witch World in 1997 and Judge Dredd in 2001. In 2007 he drew the framing sequence for Back on the Road, an anthology of interconnected comic strips set in the south Belfast district of Ballynafeigh, published by the Ballynafeigh Community Development Association and featuring the work of a number of local artists. He is working on a forthcoming comics spin-off of the 2000 film 24 Hours in London, which he storyboarded, entitled 24 Hours in London: Shades of Grey for Renegade Arts Entertainment, the first issue of which was published electronically in 2010.

Ximoc #2, 1981

Universal Soldier, 2000AD, 1987

Judge Dredd, 2000AD, 1989

Sex Warrior, Toxic! #9, 1991

Vamps, 1994

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Comics bibliographyEdit

• "Cuchulainn the Hound", co-written with Peter Morwood and Wendy Smyth, Ximoc 1-3, 1980
• "Big Ben", written by Dez Skinn, Warrior 19-26, 1984
• The Transformers, 41, 47, 49, 61-62, 74-77, 80, 85, 88, 96, 100, 103, 114, 117, 130, 131, Annual 1986, Annual 1987, written by James Hill, Simon Furman, Marvel UK, 1985-87
• Tharg's Future Shocks: "Nerves of Steel", written by Peter Milligan, 2000AD 408, 1985
• Tales from Mega-City One: "Divorce", written by John Wagner and Alan Grant, 2000AD 525, 1987
• Anderson, Psi Division: "Hour of the Wolf", written by Alan Grant, 2000AD 530-531, 1987
• Tharg's Future Shocks: "The Night Shift", written by Alan Hebden, 2000AD 535, 1987
• Universal Soldier, written by Alan McKenzie, 2000AD 537-543, 1987
• Judge Dredd: "Oz", written by John Wagner and Alan Grant, 2000AD 550, 555-556, 561-563, 1987-88
• Venus Bluegenes: "The Pleasures of the Flesh", written by Grant Morrison, 2000AD Sci-Fi Special, 1988
• Judge Dredd: "Bloodline", written by John Wagner, 2000AD 583-584, 1988
• Tharg's Future Shocks: "Monsters", written by J. W. Mamo-Mason, 2000AD 586, 1988
• Judge Dredd: "Strange Customs", written by John Wagner, 2000AD 595, 1988
• Tyranny Rex: "Soft Bodies", written by John Smith, 2000AD 595-598, 604, 1988
• Judge Dredd: "Curse of the Spider-Woman", written by John Wagner, 2000AD 603-604, 1988
• Judge Dredd: "Return of the Spider-Woman", written by John Wagner, 2000AD 612, 1989
• Judge Dredd: "Banana City", written by John Wagner, 2000AD 623-625, 1989
• Rogue Trooper: "The War Machine", written by Dave Gibbons, 2000AD 650-653, 667-671, 683-687, 1989-1990
• Judge Dredd: "A Letter to Judge Dredd", written by John Wagner, coloured by Wendy Simpson, 2000AD 661, 1990
• Judge Dredd: "Tale of the Dead Man", written by John Wagner, coloured by Wendy Simpson, 2000AD 662-665, 1990
• "Summer's End", written by Igor Goldkind, Revolver Horror Special, 1990
• "Better Than A Poke In The Eye With A Sharp Stick", written by Dave Elliott, A1 True Life Bikini Confidential, 1990
• Judge Dredd: "The Gipper's Big Night", written by Alan Grant, Judge Dredd Megazine 1.10, 1991
• Hellblazer 41-47, 52-55, 59-61, 75, written by Garth Ennis, DC Comics, 1991-1994
• Sex Warrior, written by Pat Mills and Tony Skinner, Toxic! 9-11, 19-22, 1991
• "Birth Rite", written by Daniel G. Chichester, Epic 1, Marvel, 1992
• Excalibur 52, written by Alan Davis, Marvel UK, 1992
• Aliens: "Rogue" 1-4, written by Ian Edginton, Dark Horse Comics, 1993
• Animal Man 64, written by Jamie Delano, DC Comics, 1993
• "The Sherriff's Daughter", written by Robert Boyd, Jan Harold Brunvald and Robert Loren Fleming, Big Book of Urban Legends, DC Comics, 1994
• Punisher 2099 14, 27, written by Pat Mills and Tony Skinner, Marvel Comics, 1994, 1995
• Vamps 1-6, written by Elaine Lee, DC Comics, 1994-95
• "Guy de Maupassant", written by Carl Posey, Big Book of Weirdos, DC Comics, 1995
• "Double Your Pleasure", written by Elaine Lee, Skin Tight Orbit, NBM, 1995
• Prince Valiant 4, written by Elaine Lee and Charles Vess, Marvel Comics, 1995
• Indiana Jones and the Spear of Destiny 1, written by Elaine Lee, Dark Horse Comics, 1995
• Doctor Strange 81, written by Warren Ellis and Todd Dezago, Marvel Comics, 1995
• Vamps: "Holywood and Vein" 1-6, written by Elaine Lee, DC Comics, 1996
• "Dr. James Graham", written by Paul Kirchner, Big Book of Losers, DC Comics, 1997
• Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight 91-93, "Freak Out", written by Garth Ennis, DC Comics, 1997
• Witch World: "The Anatomist", written by Gordon Rennie, 2000AD 1055-1058, 1997
• Vamps: "Pumpkin Time" 1-3, written by Elaine Lee, DC Comics, 1998-99
• "The First of the Fallen", written by Michael Bonner, Vertigo Secret Files: Hellblazer, DC Comics, 2000
• Judge Dredd; "The Chief Judge's Man", written by John Wagner, 2000AD 1244-1247, 2001
• Back on the Road, written by Stephen McAnena and illustrated by various artists, Ballynafeigh Community Development Association, 2007
• "We Meet at Twelve", written by P. J. Kryfko, Outlaw Territory, Image Comics, 2009
• 24 Hours in London: Shades of Grey" #1, written by Alexander Finbow, Renegade Arts Entertainment, 2010

External linksEdit

• Ballynafeigh Community Development Association
• 24 Hours in London on Graphicly

Online referenceEdit

• Will Simpson on Wikipedia
• Will Simpson on Lambiek
• Will Simpson - 2000AD profile
• William Simpson at the Comic Book DB

• William Simpson on IMDB

• William Simpson on DC Comics Wikia
• William Simpson on Marvel Comics Wikia
• William Simpson on Aliens/Predator Wikia
• William Simpson on Transformers Wikia
• William Simpson on Hellblazer Wikia
• William Simpson on GI Joe Wikia
• Grand Comic-Book Database
• ComicVine