Terry Wiley was a friend, collaborator and hero of mine who we sadly said goodbye to over the weekend. Both being grumpy gingers who knew no other life than comics, both prone to long digressions (rants) about any topic, it was easy for me to elect Terry to Father Figure of the Paper Jam Comics Collective in my mind. I remember the first time he showed up to a meeting, and the way our pal Ben Clark gushed about this old geezer, saying the comics he’d brought along (old single issues of Sleaze Castle) were “like the Geordie Love & Rockets”; and although I didn’t know it at the time, he was obviously absolutely right. Of course, Terry acted as surprised as ever to find that not only was someone reading his stuff but coveting it too.
And Christ on a bike the guy could draw. The black and white stuff he was producing long before colour printing became affordable was so formative to me - all those heavy shadows, clean lines, fine cross-hatching and meticulous page layouts. Not to mention his anatomy, characterisation, hand-lettering...
We used to play a 24-minute-comic game during Paper Jam meetings that was supposed to break ice and level the playing field (no one can produce a good one-page comic on a completely random theme in less than half an hour, irrespective of their level of experience, right?) - wrong, Terry ruined it. Once I looked over while everyone was chatting to see him using a brush pen to manipulate the fine horizontal lines he was using to shape and shade the contours of a photorealistic human face like he was illustrating for a bank note or something. WHAT’S EVEN THE POINT NOW, TERRY?
Thing is, while he could be a grump he was also as hilarious, gentle, generous and insightful when it came to the people he cared about. The realness of the characters in his stories and their interactions is a testament to this, and a permanent celebration of human life that we’re lucky to still have even if we don’t get to have Terry anymore.
I’m really grateful to the folks in the North East (and beyond) who rallied around him towards the end, kept him company and were there to support him and his family during such a trying ordeal. I’m grateful I got to go visit him before the end too. When someone is a fixture of the scene like he was, it’s hard to comprehend that they won’t just be at the next convention or comic fair.
Rest in Peace, Terry. We love you, ya old goof x
