A FORMER Dorchester schoolboy has seen his work come alive on the silver screen.

Mark Simpson is the graphic artist behind the DC comic strip, The Losers.

The comic has been made into a film of the same name by Warner Brothers Studios and is released in UK cinemas today.

Mark, 37, who uses the tagline Jock for his work, grew up in Dorset, after the family moved down from Scotland when he was two years old.

Mark said: “We thought it wasn’t ever going to be made, then last year I got a call from producer Joel Silver, asking me to do some new artwork for promotional pictures and he invited me to the set.”

He added: “Watching the final movie was the most surreal experience of my life. The story changed a little bit.

“The comic was pretty violent, there was a lot of swearing and it was also quite political and for the film they took those bits out. But the characters look exactly like I drew them. It was quite amazing.”

Since finishing The Losers, Mark has been doing concept art for movies, including the forthcoming Judge Dredd film.

The family lived in Weymouth for eight years before moving to Dorchester when Mark was 10 years old, where he attended the Thomas Hardye School.

Mark credits the art teachers there with inspiring him to pursue his dream career.

He said: “I had two great art teachers, Mike Bowman and Mr Daniels, who we all used to call Danny. They were great and really inspired me when I was at school.”

He added: “When I was a teenager I was reading a DC comic called 2000AD, which features Judge Dredd, and I decided that’s what I wanted to do. “It hasn’t stopped and it’s getting better. It was a dream come true.”

The Losers follows a US Special Forces team on a mission in Bolivia, where they are betrayed by a government agent known only as ‘Max’ and left for dead.

Charged with tracking down Max, the team must save the world from a high-tech environmentally-friendly bomb.

The cast includes Avatar’s Zoe Saldana, who plays Aisha, an agent who joins up with The Losers, Idris Elba who is currently starring in crime drama Luther on BBC1, and Watchmen’s Jeffrey Dean Morgan, who plays Clay, the unit’s commander.

MARK’S father, David Simpson, 65, of Manor Park, Dorchester, said that from a young age Mark had always shown a flair for art and music, but that the road had not always been smooth for the budding artist.

He said: “I’m very proud because he worked very hard over the years to achieve what he’s done. At the start it was very difficult for him, he didn’t know where the next penny was coming from.

“Breaking into the comic industry is very tough and work can be uncertain.”

He added: “He will go on to achieve even more than he has at the moment.”

The comic strip ran from 2003 to 2006 and Hollywood was knocking on the door from as early as 2004.

After many disappointments the film finally went into production in early 2009.