Liam Sharp receives honorary doctorate

Comic-book artist Liam Sharp (St Andrew's 1979-81; Pennell 1981-86) was awarded an honorary doctorate at a ceremony at the University of Derby on 20 July 2022.

Liam was born in Derby, and it was there as a young schoolboy that his talent for art soon caught the eye of his teachers, who advised his family to meet with the Gifted Children's Society. That resulted in him winning the first arts scholarship to St Andrew's Prep in 1979, and he then went on to win a further scholarship to the College in 1981.

He has had a remarkable career as an artist, writer and publisher, and is the co-founder and CCO of Madefire Inc. He made his debut in the 1980s for the science fiction magazine 2000 AD, working on a number of Judge Dredd stories,

In the USA he went on to work on a variety of titles, including X-Men, Hulk, Spider-Man,Venom, Man-Thing (for Marvel Comics), and Superman and Batman for DC Comics.

He has also worked in production and character design for film and TV, including Lost in Space, Batman Beyond, and Small Soldiers.

He was recently honoured by the city of Derby with a wrought-iron and mosaic star set in the pavement outside the Standing Order pub in the cathedral quarter, part of the city's MadeInDerby2 campaign.

You can watch Liam's acceptance speech at the graduation ceremony here.