Campbell Whyte was born in Perth, Western Australia where he creates stories about place and strives to create an inclusive, supportive and healthy comics community. Through his love for comics literature, he has created deeply personal, widely accessible and award-winning works such as Home Time and Luna Express. For the past ten years, he has been developing and delivering comics-making courses at the Milktooth School of Art and Stories where he teaches over 400 students a year.
My time at PCAF
Growing up, I didn’t know any other comics makers. I barely knew any other comics readers. It was a type of lonely. A type of isolating.
It’s been an absolute privilege and pleasure to have been with PCAF from its earliest days as one of the bold and foolish dreamers who pulled this incredible organisation into being. From the earliest days when we came together as part of the Comics Maker Network at Milktooth, through to the first Festival, that felt like we’re just pulled off a bank robbery, through to our biggest events of recent years. The camaraderie, the friendship, the shared vision has been consistent.
PCAF has completely transformed my relationship to comics, my relationship with other creators and from where I’m sitting at least, the way comics function in this country. There is a bravery that is only possible when you are surrounded by a strong community, a bravery that lifts everyone up.
I see PCAF as a great imagination engine, fueling and propelling comics forward. Towards ever more ambitious goals that are deserved of this most beautiful of literary forms and the beautiful souls that practice it.
About Campbell
Through his love for comics literature, Campbell has created appealing and accessible works that explore deeply personal and place-based stories. His graphic novel series Home Time was nominated for the prestigious Eisner Awards and was described by Shuan Tan as being “Beautifully realised, funny, smart, weird and surprisingly epic in scope, Home Time is also just plain brilliant”. In addition to this, he has been commissioned by a wide range of cities to create public-art comics and has been included in numerous anthologies.
His graphic novel Luna Express, asks the question that’s on everybody’s lips: “What if Sailor Moon was set in Australia?” A kinetic, fluorescent, freight-train of a book that follows the misadventures of a group of super-powered high-school graduates who not only have to deal with their newfound adulthood, shifting friendships and out-of-reach-dreams, but also their responsibility to stop an evil cult from taking over their home town.
As the co-founder and co-director of the Milktooth School of Art and Stories with Elizabeth Marruffo, he provides opportunities for young people to develop their comics-making skills and publish their works with over 400 students attending his courses every year and 80 new comics published annually.
As well as this, he runs workshops, gives presentations and talks on panels for external organisations, as part of literary festivals, book weeks, for teacher professional learning courses and for general education purposes.
Some Comics I’ve Made:
- Home Time: Under the River
- Home Time: Beyond the Weaving
- Luna Express
- Raymonde
- How to Survive a World on Fire
- Bodies of Water
Some of My Favourite Comics:
- Calvin and Hobbes (Bill Watterson)
- Domu: The Dreams of Children (Katsuhiro Otomo)
- Watchmen (Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons)
- Ranma ½ (Rumiko Takahashi)
- Swan (Kyoko Ariyoshi)