Shrewsbury Walking Dead artist draws crowds to first Telford Library Comic Con - with pictures and video

The hundreds of people, many of whom had formed an orderly queue waiting for the library’s doors to open at 10am, had come to see Charlie Adlard, chief penciller for the hit comic The Walking Dead.

During his career, Shrewsbury-born Charlie, who still lives in the town with his wife and two sons, has brought to life well-known characters in Judge Dredd, X-Men and The X Files.

But he is best known for his work alongside creator Robert Kirkman on The Walking Dead - which spawned a TV show of its own in 2003 and is still a huge success 14 years later.

This year the 51-year-old has been appointed the Comics Laureate and part of his remit is to meet and greet and spread the word on how useful comics are in education.

And he was the big draw for Saturday's comic con, organised by library development officer, Amy Powell.

She said: "This has given us the opportunity to showcase exactly what the library can do.

"It was a real coup to get Charlie to come along to this. Everyone knows his work and since he has been made Comics Laureate, part of his role is to meet teachers and librarians."

Charlie said: "I am really enjoying being the Comics Laureate and letting people know that libraries are not fusty buildings full of old fashioned books.

"Like here in Telford, there are a huge range of things. Comics are for everybody whether they are seven or 77. The common misconception with comics is that they are for kids and that is so far from the truth. There should be no stigma. As long as people are reading, that is the thing."

Charlie started drawing when he was six. His father, who ran a number of shops including a newsagents in Wellington, used to come home armed with paper and pens which Charlie would use to create home-made comics.

"I believe everybody has a skill or a talent," he said. "Drawing is the only thing I can do."

Apart from The Walking Dead and the other mainstream comics, Charlie has worked on two of his own comics, Rock Bottom - the tale of a man who turns to stone and White Death, set in World War 1.

"White Death was the first creator owned comic that I drew. It is my characters and it was the first experimental comic for me." And for those fans out there, he has been working on a sequel which is set in the same time frame.

But he added: "I never thought I would work on something that would become such a huge cultural phenomenon as The Walking Dead has. I do know how the series wil end, it is just a case of when we implement that. We will know when the time comes."

Waiting in the queue to meet Charlie was Jess Robinson, a 25-year-old teaching assistant and her husband Steve, 30 who works in IT at Telford College.

The couple are regulars at Comic Cons around the country. Steve said: "I have been reading The Walking Dead for about nine years. I just love how it goes on and on. There are always twists and turns and suprises along the way.

"It is crazy how he comes up with things. Every time you think something is going one way, it goes another."

Ben Harris, 22 from Telford said: “It is great that they are holding the Comic Con here at the library. The Walking Dead is amazing. They come up with such great plots and you wonder who will be the next to die.”