Bill Mevin

Bill Mevin has been working in comics for over fifty years and, prior to that, was involved in animation.

William H. Mevin studied at Liverpool Scool of Art. In the late 1940s, Mevin joined Gaumont British, the studio set up by David Hand, as a trainee film animator. G-B Animation closed its doors in 1949 but Bill went on to work on Batchelor and Halas's full-length Animal Farm (1954).

When that studio closed, Mevin joined the Sunday Chronicle as a topical cartoonist, working for them until the paper was taken over. He then turned to comics and contributed to Eagle, Express Weekly ('Wee Sporty') and, for many years, TV Comic, drawing 'Lenny the Lion', 'Supercar', 'Space Patrol', 'Dr Who', 'World Cup Willie', 'Bugs Bunny', 'Droopy', 'Popeye' and many others. He also contributed to Pippin ('The Pogles', 'Bill and Ben', 'The Herbs', 'Morph') and Whizzer & Chips ('Happy Families') in the 1970s and 1980s.

When the comic market began to shrink, Mevin acquired an agent who suggested he produce a strip spoofing overblown American soap operas like Dallas and Dynasty. Entitled 'The Soapremes', the strip was picked up by the Daily Mail.

In November 1992, Mevin took over the artwork on 'The Perishers' for the Daily Mirror which he drew for many years; written by Maurice Dodd (who had also worked on Animal Farm) and originally drawn by Dennis Collins, 'The Perishers' had been a daily institution since 1958; Collins had retired in 1983 and Dodd had drawn the strip himself for some years before Mevin came on board. The strip finally came to an end in 2006 following Dodd's death on 31 December 2005.

(* 'The Chase' is from Swift Annual 5 (1958) and is © Look and Learn Magazine Ltd.)