Curse of the Two-Legged Cat Cast list
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(The Crew: Based on the members of the Camp Hill stage crew when "The Curse" was being written, and also including Christian who was lead role in the play.
In the story, the Crew is a crime-fighting vigilante group)
Richard Cordiner: Himself, Lion, Macbeth, hand puppet.
The Crew's frontman, and part-time occultist, Richard is often the directing force behind the Crew's actions. In the stage crew this was often the case too!
Andrew Evans: Himself, ****ing munchkin, warlock, Death, Lister.
The brawn of the Crew, and also their gunman. Andy is the only Crew member not to appear in the third book, being, as he was in real life at the time, impossible to contact.
Anis Ahmed: Himself, Tin-Man, War, Alice, Hoggle.
The Crew's scientific genius, inventor of all their weapons. Also perhaps the most easy-going, certainly a reflection of his role in the stage crew!
Christian Blyth: Himself, munchkin.
The Crew's driver. Christian didn't actually have a driving licence when I started drawing so I don't know where that came from. His pride and joy in the comic is the Crew's green van.
Stuart Shelley: Himself, Scarecrow, witch, Pestilence, Kryten, Bob Mortimer.
Writer of the Crew's code book of operational manoeuvres in Book 1, a court fool in Book 2 (read into that what you will), and simply himself in Book 3. Significantly, Stuart is also one of the Cat's creators- the cartoonist who gave him his current form and who drew these cartoons in which the cat took his opportunity to exact revenge.
PS: Yes, he's me.
Chris Parsons: Famine, Rimmer, Himself/assistant.
The man who used to write all the Cat's scripts before "The Curse" was ever conceived of. In the comic he works for Mssrs Rogers and Jack in "Rogers' Theories Inc."
Briefly in Book 1 he appears as "The Wizard of Happy Land", something to do with an old school play in which he and Naomi had parts during their childhood. This then explains his appearance as a wizard in Book 2.
Andrew Rogers: Himself/professor.
A maths teacher and hospital radio librarian in real life, but in the comic he is the Cat's genesis, and has gone on to head his own "Rogers' Theories Inc" with Peter Jack, a business that…
Comes up with theories.
In Book 2 he is an inventor and creates yet another cat, this time a war machine.
The Witch: Herself
Originally just a by-product of the song in Book 1 (pages 17-18), written by Chris Parsons. However, she turned out to be a useful character and as such is one of only three fictional characters that appear in all three books. She is the daughter of one Jerry Hat-Trick, and drives a truck bearing that name. It's understood that the Cat has encountered her before. In any case, her desire to see the Cat terminated grows stronger with each book.
The Cat: Maugrim, Toto, witch, Cat, Himself
Conceived by Andrew Rogers, originally scripted by Chris and later revamped by me, the Cat enters Book1 within the first six pages, until which point I was simply drawing a comic book for the fun of it. From page 7 onwards, however, it became clear that the Cat was a central character and he gradually guided the entire storyline. He's just so easy to draw!
Jim Kennedy: mad scientist
The Cat's mad scientist, although there's a suggestion in Book 3 that he was actually working against the Cat, and in Book 2 he only talks about rescuing his "employer". Open to speculation.
Stuart Davenall: Ted Tex, hitman squad leader
Portrayed right from the start as rather evil, this is quite an unfortunate representation of the real Mr Davenall. It all stemmed, however, from his initial appearance as a Wild West gun-slinger, which in turn was inspired by his vague resemblance to Texas Pete from the SuperTed cartoons.
Richard Mason: Knight, cameraman/hitman
Another real-life nice guy portrayed as an evil (or just misguided) baddy. I put it down to student humour.
David Boardman: wizard/munchkin, Himself, singer, member of MI5
A surprisingly periferal character for one so involved in the social life of the real-life crew. Dave worked with Christian and I on some initial plot ideas but I don't remember if he gave himself this role or not.
Lindsay Mellor: Snow Queen, Dorothy, bag of popcorn, Sarah, singer, sound crew
Her role in the story is very simply to get the cat back, as she's convinced he is her pet.
Julie Douglas: Treguard's gypsie, Holly, firey, Herself
There is no real point to Julie in the plot, she is simply a convenient extra character, as are many of the others. I was often asked "Can I be in it?" or "Why isn't he/she in it?"
Paul Duffy: Himself, Fieldmouse, Ludo, singer, police sgt.
A very independent role as the Police Sergeant in charge of the Crew's police guard/escort.
Peter Jack: March Hare, assistant
Portrayed fairly true to life. Certainly I think he would have fitted right in at "Rogers' Theories Inc". To my knowledge though, he is not possessed by a paranoid compulsion to protect his own life, as he appears in Book 2.
Andy Nash: Tweedledum, hitman
I was never even taught by Andrew Nash and he was only really put in to form a double act with David McCormack. It is purely plot dynamics that causes him to appear at the start of Book 2.
Charlotte Lee: singer, reporter
Her role as a reporter was decided early on- the independence of the character reflects the nature of the real Miss Lee.
Alistair Bulloch: Assistant Director Skinhead
The "fearsome" teacher of history as an equally fearsome look-alike (?) for Skinner in the X-Files. (I guess the Skinner/Skinhead gag was too good to pass up!)
Becky Shelley: Herself
My own character rather cruelly tries to tell her she can't be in the story, but note that she's there nonetheless.
Christopher Shelley: Himself
A new arrival in the Shelley family at the time, little Christopher had to go in. His real personality has recently surpassed all these comic predictions though.
Kate Ballard: The Silent One
We didn't actually know Kate all that well, but she cropped up during the initial plot suggestions. "The Silent One" was an obvious tag as we never heard her talk much.
Michael Russell: Police Constable
Ideally he should have had a larger role, but instead he was fated merely to be a Police Constable. Somehow the hat seemed to fit the head…
Koochiekoo: The little green duck
Originally just a background character, this little duck eventually rose to become a narrator in Book 2. Apparently once owned by Mulder. The name comes again from that play Chris and Naomi were in, which is a kind of running in-joke for that particular scene (page 32).
Dave Liggins: Himself/Superted
Star of "Get Out" in Frontier, the Cat's debut comic, Dave makes a few cameo appearances here and there.
The Crash Test Dummies: Themselves/bodyguards
Undoubtedly my favourite band while I was drawing the first two books. They had to go in. They are the Cat's disgruntled bodyguards, coerced into the job with the promise of low-cost recording facilities and good pay. They eventually rebel.
Barry & Gary:
Thug stereotypes working for Davenall. Picture Gary as the bloodthirsty one and Barry as the one who looks after his mom.
Stewart:
My character's alter-ego in a group created by the Cat to match the Crew man for man. Violent, irritable and a bit scatty, he nevertheless survives the carnage suffered by his colleagues in Book 2 (an oversight on my part when I drew the scene) and goes on to manage the Cat's assets during his absence.
Tristen:
Christian's opposite number. Dull and a bit stupid, but owner of a nice black van that the comic version of Christian had always wanted.
Ricardo:
Richard's Italian counterpart. Possibly connected to the Mafia but as he doesn't say much we'll never know.
Aris:
Even more chilled-out than Anis, but incredibly vain.
André:
More calm and collected than Andrew, but still the brawn of his group.
C.J.:
A typical public school toff character, and Chris' opposite.
Kris:
The little "Geezer", Christopher's mirror image. Worryingly, the real Christopher is starting to show these traits!
Naomi Simms: Herself
Read as for Julie. At the time that this was being drawn these two were inseperable.
Annette Owen: Dragon/Herself
First appears as a dragon. Well, we had a few run-ins with her while we were in the stage crew and it was a natural connection at the time.
George Cookson: Himself
Appears a couple of times in his stylish Camp Hill Rugby Club suit, but the main in-jokes are on page 17 of Book 1, all referring to some of the wild stories he told during Chemistry lessons.
Martin Price: Treguard
The Deputy Head at my old primary school, and a dead ringer for Tregard from Knightmare.
Atticus Finch & Jem:
The hero of "To Kill A Mocking Bird". It gave me and Anis idle amusement one English lesson to draw him as a hunchback, and his daughter Jem dressed as a ham. She does in fact dress as a ham somewhere in the novel. Don't know why they're in my comic though.
Mike Lock: Maths Hatter
I never really saw eye-to-eye with Mr Lock, purely because I found A-Level Maths so baffling and inexplicable. So he's a bad guy, although not a particularly bad one.
David MacCormack: Tweedledummer, hitman
Again my poor performance in his subject (Technology) was cause for a little mild rivalry between him and I. But all the tension was relieved right here.
David Cocks: Cheshire Cat
My apologies to Dave as he only appears once. The Cheshire Cat thing was inspired by the grin!
Bazil Brush: Sir Diddimus (special guest star!)
Well, come on! Isn't that fox in 'Labyrinth' just crying out for a slightly deeper voice and a few bad jokes that end in "Booom- Booom!"?
Dulux Dog: Lancelot
The same goes for his mount, who might just as well have been sat next to a pot of Dove Grey emulsion.
Patrique Amielli: Host
Our A-Level French teacher. No resentments at all on my part, although I'm sure Andrew or Jim might have liked to have seen something nasty become of him in the comic.
Mulder and Scully:
The X-Files was a really addictive show back in the day, so these two had to go in.
Mervyn Brooker: Chief superintendant
The Camp Hill Headmaster, translated into the role of a corrupt Chief of Police.
Phil Carmen: Double-0-Quits
My old art teacher, also responsible for the stage crew. I somehow got in his bad books early on, so now here he is in mine.
NB: Just because I draw cartoons in my spare time doesn't mean I had a particular affinity for Art class. It took me the whole GCSE course to figure this out.
Slimer:
First came the visual gag of having Ghostbuster headquarters right next to the Crew's headquarters. Then the characters made vague references to it, and finally they end up inside. Rather than put the original four in the story, I substituted the Ghostbusters for my own characters, but included their pet ghost.
The two detectives:
These two just came out of nowhere and vanished just as easily into obscurity. Based on no-one, inspired by nothing.
