Marvel UK’s Forgotten Spider-Man Artist: Leigh Baulch

By John Freeman on June 1, 2015 • ( 1 )

Spider-Man versus Doc Ock by Leigh Baulch

A social media posting of the perhaps long-forgotten Spider-Man versus Doc Octopus art above, published by Marvel UK prompted fans to ponder the artist’s identity, with a certain Leigh Baulch – who has worked for Titan and the Forbidden Planet group for the last 29 years – mentioned as a possible culprit.

Leigh was happy to confirm the piece is his work, although he also feels it isn’t his finest moment…

“Back then, I could never render in ink as well as I could in pencil,” says Leigh, who today is Titan Entertainment Group’s Operations Director – and kindly provided us with both art and final covers of two much better examples of his art work for Marvel UK’s Spider-Man comic, which we’re delighted to be able to share here.

Long before Leigh Baulch rose to the dizzying heights of power he now enjoys at Forbidden Planet, part of the Titan Entertainment Group, Leigh’s work appeared in all sorts of places, including the comics fanzine BEM (alongside the likes of Kev Hopgood and Mike Collins), working with Steve Moore and Jerry Paris on a Spider-Woman strip in 1983 and the 1985 and 1986 UK Comics Art Convention booklets.

Worzel Gummidge art by Leigh Baulch for Marvel UK’s scarecrow-inpsired licensed title, published in 1982.

“I drew Spider- Man… obviously, Thor, Silver Surfer, Hulk, X-Men,” Leigh says of his Marvel UK credits, “and the first issue of Worzel Gummidge, which is the best piece I did for them. There were probably others but I’d have to rummage through the files to be exhaustive!”

Despite his busy day job Leigh tells us “I’m still producing work, but it’s not yet ready for public consumption.”

As the man who helped bring me on board to be Managing Editor at Titan Magazines many years ago now, I’m delighted to have the chance to show off some of Leigh’s work here.

• Forbidden Planet

• Titan Magazines

Thanks to Dave Frankcom for the original posting and Dave Weir for correctly identifying Leigh’s work

About the Author
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John Freeman

John is the founder of downthetubes, launched in 1998. He is a comics and magazine editor, writer, and Press Officer for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He also runs Crucible Comic Press.

Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine and Overkill for Marvel UK, Babylon 5 Magazine, Star Trek Magazine, and its successor, Star Trek Explorer, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics; and has edited several comic collections and graphic novels, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”, and Hancock: The Lad Himself, by Stephen Walsh and Keith Page.

He’s the writer of comics such as Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs”, with Dave Hailwood.