Walt Howarth (1928-2008)

Walt Howarth, long-time illustrator of annuals and covers for World Distributors Ltd., died on Thursday, 13 March, at the age of 80.

Walter J. Howarth was born on 1 January 1928 in Bolton, Lancashire, and began drawing as a youngster, his talents noticed as early as the age of 4. After attending Tong Fold School, he was offered a scholarship to Bolton Art School, which he attended for three years from the age of 13. His first professional sale was a cover for the Bolton's Salute to the Soldier Week programme in 1946.

A lifetime fan of Bolton Wanderers FC, Walt sent samples of his work to the club and was invited by manager Walter Rowley to meet the team; before long, Howarth's caricatures of the team were appearing on the programme cover, earning Howarth 5 shillings each week; a portrait of the whole team earned him tickets to the Wembley Cup Final between Blackpool and Bolton--a classic match which Blackpool won in the dying seconds of the game.

On leaving Art School, Walt had found work with Industrial Art Services in Manchester whose clients included World Distributors Ltd. (WDL), a leading publisher of books, annuals and comics also based in Manchester. Most of the latter were reprints of Gold Key titles and Howarth's first commission was a cover for John Wayne Adventure Comics, reprinting the American series by Toby Press. Howarth became the title's regular artist, producing 77 covers and numerous other images of Wayne for the John Wayne Adventure Annual.

Howarth's ability to capture a likeness meant that he became WDL's leading artist, producing covers for most of their annuals; as these were primarily westerns and Howarth was keen to make them as authentic as possible, he became something of an expert on costumes, weapons and other aspects of the wild west.

Working from photographs of the actors, Howarth would have his covers painted almost a year in advance of publication as they needed to be printed in time for Book Fair in January. This occasionally caused problems and one of the few covers Howarth retained was an unused cover for Wagon Train which had to be repainted when actor Ward Bond died.

As WDL expanded their output of TV related titles in the 1960s, Howarth worked on everything from action (James Bond, The Saint, The Avengers, Danger Man, Tarzan) to comedy (Bewitched, The Beverly Hillbillies, The Munsters). He became a constant watcher of television as many shows were unable to supply all the photographic reference he needed to be able to draw covers and provide all the internal illustrations for stories, features, endpapers, title and contents pages and games and puzzle pages.

Howarth continued to work via Industrial Art Services which meant he also produced material for other clients, including various jigsaw puzzles--ranging from The Beatles to Rupert the Bear--and became one of the accredited artists able to work on various Walt Disney characters.

His most collectable work is probably associated with Doctor Who; he was the main illustrator for the various Doctor Who and Dalek annuals between 1965 and 1970, as well as illustrating jigsaw puzzles. Walt was himself a collectable as he was one of the signers for the Doctor Who Trilogy autograph cards (DWT-A15) as well as producing sketch cards for the same set.

When World Distributors cut back their output in the 1970s, Howarth produced work for a variety of other companies, including jigsaws for the Hope Jigsaw Company and the BBC. In the early 1990s, he was commissioned by Ladybird Books to illustrate four Batman titles.

He retired in 1993 due to heart problems and became the landlord of the House Without a Name pub in Bradshaw, adorning the walls with his paintings. In the early 2000s he attended Memorabilia, the collector's show held at the NEC, selling prints of old artwork and new commissions, often featuring the characters his name had become most associated with. He continued to paint until two years ago when his eyesight became too poor.

Howarth, who had been diagnosed as suffering with polycistic kidneys, had been admitted to Royal Bolton Hospital with pneumonia two weeks before he died. He is survived by his wife, Renee, two sons, a daughter, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Strictly Ink had recently announced that they will be releasing a trading card set of "The Art of Walt Howarth" with a promo card already available.

Further reading:
'Doctor Who illustrator dies' by Jane Lavender (This is Lancashire, 15 March 2008)
'Walt Howarth' by Derek Wilson (Gateway, March 2006)
See also Down the Tubes tribute and Lew Stringer's tribute.

Comic Cuts - ABC Show (16 March 2008)

I'm not long back from the show at the Bedford Hotel in London and thought I'd post a couple of pictures while I'm waiting for dinner to cook. The hall was very busy from the moment it opened at midday and only started to slow down around three o'clock.

We only had twenty copies of the Frank Bellamy's Complete Robin Hood and they sold out very quickly leaving one copy which we kept back to make sure that latecomers could at least see the book. The reaction has been fantastic, especially to the quality of the reproduction of the strip. If anyone would care to review the book I'll be happy to run it here (I'm that confident!).

As I was at the show to sign the book and be on hand to answer any questions I didn't have much of a chance to wander around all four halls but I did manage to pick up a few odds and ends that I'll squirrel away into my collection. The new issue of Crikey! was launched at the show and I think it's the best yet, with Jenni Scott's look at girls' comics probably the best piece in the issue. Again, I don't think I'm the best person to review it as I'm one of the contributors... so if anyone wants to write a review...

My neighbour at the signing table was Syd Jordan. It's always a pleasure to see him at these events and although we didn't get to chat as much as I'd have liked, Syd, as always, is working on a number of projects that should make good viewing if and when they come off. Some are still very much in development so I'd better leave it to Syd to discuss them at some future date.

For more information on (and if you want to get hold of a copy of) the Frank Bellamy's Complete Robin Hood, I've started a page for the book to which I'll add reviews as they appear and any other information that comes along.

Who wrote Jack Harkaway?

If you're a fan of old penny dreadfuls, the answer is obvious: it was Bracebridge Hemyng. Crazy name, crazy guy, as they'd say in Private Eye. Trained as a lawyer, Hemyng became a hugely prolific writer of crime and romance novels and collections, wrote about life in London and created one of the most famous characters in boys' fiction.

Jack Harkaway was not the first schoolboy story to be serialised in old boys' papers—that honour goes to "The Boys of Bircham School" by George Emmett which, whilst owing something to Tom Brown's Schooldays, set the template for serial yarns about young English lads and their schooling. Dozens of similar stories followed (Emmett himself produced the long-running "Tom Wildrake's Schooldays" series), but none had the success of Jack Harkaway.

Harkaway is an astonishing character. An orphan, he is enrolled in Pomona House Academy in the hope that it will calm him down for Jack is constantly in trouble, playing practical jokes and getting into fights. But that's precisely what happens when he arrives at school where he meets his nemesis, a bully named Hunston whom he defeats, thus earning the respect of his classmates.

Jack, a skilled ventriloquist, causes all sorts problems although his practical jokes are always aimed at bullies and teachers—no doubt considered fair game by his young audience. But Hemyng seemed not to know how to hold back and at least one child loses his life when he falls from a train and another jape, involving a circus parade, leads to a teacher's wife being killed by a lion. What John Hammerton saw as the "robust humour" of the series, others saw as more pernicious. Reading them nowadays it's impossible not to be shocked by the jingoism and bigotry of the stories. Even sixty years ago, one writer was asking "how on earth schoolboys could read it without vomiting can only be understood by clinging to the belief that they had acquired the horrid taste gradually."

After burning down the school, Jack is sent to sea. Hemyng took Jack to China before returning him to England to enroll at Oxford.

The Harkaway stories were appearing in the most popular of boys' penny papers, Boys of England published by Edwin Brett and his appearance sent sales soaring , adding 100,000 copies a week. The stories also found a ready audience in America where Frank Leslie reprinted the stories in Frank Leslie's Boys' and Girls' Weekly from December 1871; these were unpaid reprints and Leslie soon ran out of stories as Hemyng was also writing other tales at the same time, including the adventures of a Harkaway clone called Dick Lightheart.

Leslie offered Hemyng a huge sum—$10,000 a year—to write exclusively for his papers and Hemyng, not surprisingly, accepted this vast fortune and moved to America in 1873. He began writing 'Jack Harkaway in America' immediately and the story was licensed back to the UK where it began serialisation in George Emmett's Young Englishman in January 1874.

Edwin Brett struck back by hiring another author to write 'Jack Harkaway and his Son's Adventures Around the World' which ran for 21 months in Boys of England. These two divergent series—those written by Hemyng and published in the UK by Emmett, and the second series published by Brett—ran alongside each other for some years until Frank Leslie's publishing empire began to crumble and Hemyng discovered that his contract was worthless. After working for Beadle & Adams briefly, he reestablished himself with Leslie when the latter's finances stabilised and continued to write for the Leslie publications until 1884.

Hemyng then returned to the UK and eventually began writing new Harkaway stories for Edwin Brett's son (also Edwin), although in the 1890s, Harkaway was beginning to lose his appeal and Brett's Jack Harkaway's Journal folded after only 18 issues. Long gone were the days when newsvendors would fight each other in the streets outside of Brett's office in order to be the first to get their copies of the latest instalment of Jack's adventures.

The question many have asked is: Who wrote the anonymous stories published by Edwin Brett following Hemyng's defection to America in 1873. The only publication information offered by Brett was that the stories were "edited by Edwin J. Brett. Notice—All Dramatic Rights to Mr. Edwin J. Brett's 'Jack Harkaway' Stories are strictly reserved."

Some years ago, a chink in the anonymous armour appeared when antiquarian book dealer Robert Taylor offered a number of copies of Harkaway novels which had been inscribed. To the title pages of copies of "Jack Harkaway Among the Brigands" and "Jack Harkaway and Son's Adventures Round the World" were added the words "by Philip Richards". Both volumes also contined the inscription of Richards' daughter "Millie Stavordale nee Richards". It is worth noting that copies of "Jack Harkaway After Schooldays" and "Jack Harkaway at Oxford" were not inscribed as being by Philip Richards [they were certainly by Bracebridge Hemyng] although although his ownership was proven by his signature on the first leaf of the former.

This news made barely a ripple as collectors of Jack Harkaway are now few and far between. I remember doing some digging around at the time to see what I could find about Philip Richards and drew a complete blank on both him and his daughter.

I've returned to the mystery a couple of times without making any headway... until yesterday when I thought I'd take another crack at it. Lo and behold, something weird turned up and I may have resolved who Philip Richards was, although you have to start with his daughter—or, more correctly with his daughter's husband.

Stavordale is not a common name. There was a minor peer called Stephen Fox-Strangeways (1817-1848), the son of the Earl of Ilchester, who became Lord Stavordale, but do a Google search and you won't find many people with that surname.

I eventually tracked down a Mrs. Stavordale and her hubby in immigration records at Ellis Island. Mrs. Amelia Stavordale travelled to the USA in 1905, 1907 and 1911 with her husband Jack Stavordale. Jack was an "artiste" according to these records and his name was given as Miles-Stavordale in the 1911 records that I located.

The Stavordales lived at 50 Rupert Street, London in 1907; in 1911 they were living at Granville Mansions, Shepherds Bush, London. The immigration records note all sorts of details about them... including the fact that both Jack and Amelia were 6' 3" tall. They must have made quite an imposing sight together.

Jack Stavordale was the manager of the Miles-Stavordale Quintet, a popular banjo and harp act in British music halls from around 1899 on. The band apparently went to New York for the first time in 1902 when they played second place to Milly Capell "whose sensational equestrian feats have attracted attention" (New York Times, 28 September 1902) It must have been around this time that a rumour spread in New York that Jack Stavordale was engaged to be married to Marie Dressler, the actress.

On with the hunt... and the next bit takes a leap of faith. Amelia Stavordale was born c.1867 according to her age during her trips to the USA. So I took a flyer to see if I could find an Amelia Richards born around the same time whose father was called Philip. And there is one: Amelia Matilda Duhart Richards, born 4 November 1866 (christened 25 April 1867 at St. James, Westminster).

Could this be out Millie Stavordale nee Richards?

We come, therefore to Philip Richards. Philip Richards was the son of Henry Robins Richards and his wife Amelia and was born in Lambeth in 1842. He married Caroline Adams at Saint James, Westminster on 27 January 1866 and the couple had three children: Amelia (b. 1866, as above), Caroline Florence Richards (b. 1 September 1869; ch. 17 September 1869 at St. James) and Marie Ruth Richards (b. 1 February 1871; ch. 24 May 1871 at St. James).

In 1871, Philip and his family are living at 33 Cranbourne Street, Westminster, and his occupation is described as an Agent for [French? It's annoyingly illegible!] Gords. In 1881 he was living at 4 Trafalgar Road, Camberwell, Surrey and his occupation was given as Furniture Fabric Importer (Merchant).

I cannot trace Richards in the 1891 census and suspect that he is the Philip Richards whose death was registered at Holborn in 1890.

Although I can believe Amelia Stavordale could well be known as Millie Stavordale, her father's occupations as listed in census records doesn't sound too hopeful. 'Jack Harkaway and His Son's Adventures Round the World' (serialised in Boys of England in 1874-75) doesn't sound like it might have been the work of a Furniture Fabric Importer, does it?

However, there is still a chance that Philip Richards was indeed a writer—at least part time. The timing of the story is interesting: Richards was married and had three children to support and may have found himself in need of extra money. Rather more compelling, I feel, is what we find when we look further back into his past.

Henry Richards, his father, was a printer. The family were living at 1 Exeter Change in 1851 at which time Henry's elder brothers Henry and Mark were also printers (the latter an apprentice). But what I find most interesting is in the 1861 census: Philip is then an 18-year-old clerk living at 33 Cranbourne Street with his widowed mother and, at the same address is another clerk, a 26-year-old named Charles H. Ross. The same Charles Henry Ross who, whilst working at Somerset House, began writing stories for Reynolds's Miscellany, bloods for the cheap press and would later create Ally Sloper, Britain' first comic strip character and was also amongst Edwin Brett's contributors with the serial "Philip's Peril by Land and Sea" in Boys of England in 1869.

It seems possible that Philip Richards may have been introduced to Brett by Ross and subsequently became a contributor to Boys of England. If Brett paid Richards the same miserly rate that he rewarded Bracebridge Hemyng, Richards may well have deserted Brett for new pastures, in or out of the writing game, which may explain why his name has never cropped up in any of the literature about penny dreadfuls before. The signed books strongly imply that someone called Philip Richards wrote "Jack Harkaway" and this Philip Richards (1842-1890?) seems to me the most likely candidate, despite some odd occupations recorded in census records.

Just to tidy up a couple of loose ends: in 1891, Amelia Richards was a telephone operator living with her sister Marie; she was married at the Strand Register Office in London in 1900 to John Emes Thomas, who used the stage name Jack Stavordale. I've now had this confirmed by Hazel Greenfield, Stavordale's great-granddaughter, who tells me he stood 6' 6" and that Amelia was his second wife (he had previously married in 1875).

Update: 7 May 2008

John Adcock has unearthed some interesting information on Richards for his Yesterday's Papers blog. Apparently, Richards contributed to various Christmas issues of Bow Bells Annual published by John Dicks alongside Charles H. Ross and J. Redding Ware (another penny dreadful contributor). John also noted vari0us stories in a series of magazines published by A. Lynes & Sons. Here's the embarrassing bit... I've indexed some of those in the past and Richards was a regular contributor (as was Bracebridge Hemyng). I'd completely forgotten.

So... here's a brief bibliography of Richards' known work elsewhere:

Christmas in France (Bow Bells Annual, 13 Dec 1868)
The Awful Ending of the Fancy Barber (A. Lynes & Son's Illustrated Magazine, Sum 1870)
Tum Tum's Story (A. Lynes & Son's Illustrated Magazine, Win 1870)
"Poor Papa" (A. Lynes & Son's Illustrated Magazine, Sum 1871)
The Queen's Shilling (A. Lynes & Son's Illustrated Magazine, Sum 1873)
Chronicles of Chid's Chambers (A. Lynes & Son's Illustrated Magazine, Christmas 1873)
Bolter! (A. Lynes & Son's Illustrated Magazine, Sum 1874)
The Juvenile Lead (A. Lynes & Son's Illustrated Magazine, Sum 1875)
Jack Jerrold's Holiday (A. Lynes & Son's Illustrated Magazine 12, 1875)
Miss A. Braithwaite (A. Lynes & Son's Illustrated Magazine, Win 1877)

Even more interesting is the fact that Richards and Ross collaborated on a play, "Ruth; or, a Poor Girl's Life in London", that was staged at the Surrey Theatre on 25 February 1871.

And then there's "Philip's Peril by Land and Sea" which was serialised in Boys of England in 1869, credited by Charles H. Ross and Quentyn Richards (which information I missed first time round). What's the betting Quentyn is really Philip.

So it would appear that the Ross connection was strong and, to my mind—especially now we know Richards was a reasonably prolific writer and quite possibly contributing to BoE as early as 1869—makes Richards' apparent claim to have written Jack Harkaway all the stronger.

Comic Cuts - Forthcoming Books

The following is a provisional listing of upcoming books for the second half of 2008. These have been "officially" announced in that they've reached Amazon. All dates are subject to change and there are still many more titles due. As more appear, I'll shuffle links and images over to the Comics Bibliography files which lists titles by publisher. I've had a little revamp to split the Rebellion section as it was becoming a little unwieldy: I've now split titles between two files, one for 2002-2007 releases and a new 2008 and on section.

The Comics Bibliography itself is a bit unwieldy and may take a while to load as I've tried to include images for every release; you can find it in more bite-sized chunks by following the navigation bar at the top of each section:

Reference Books - Reprint Collections - D C Thomson - Don Lawrence Collection - Hibernia - Knockabout Comics - Panini UK - Rebellion (2002-2007) - Rebellion (2008- ) - Spitfire Comics - Titan Books

JULY
Button Man: The Confessions of Harry Exton by John Wagner & Arthur Ranson. Rebellion (2000AD) ISBN 978-1905437702, 15 July 2008.
Nikolai Dante: Sword of the Tsar by Robbie Morrison & John Burns and Simon Fraser. Rebellion (2000AD) ISBN 978-1905437696, 15 July 2008.

AUGUST
Slaine: The Horned God by Pat Mills. Rebellion (2000AD) ISBN 978-1905437733, 14 August 2008.
Stickleback by Ian Edginton. Rebellion (2000AD) ISBN 978-1905437740, 14 August 2008.
War Picture Library: Against All Odds, (ed.) Steve Holland. Prion ISBN 978-1853756610, 4 August 2008.

SEPTEMBER
ABC Warriors: The Third Element by Pat Mills. Rebellion (2000AD) ISBN 978-1905437801, 10 September 2008.
Judge Dredd: The Complete Case Files Vol.11 by various. Rebellion (2000AD) ISBN 978-1905437795, 10 September 2008.

NOVEMBER
The Best of Tharg's Future Shocks by various. Rebellion (2000AD) ISBN 978-1905437818, 13 November 2008.
The Complete Ace Trucking Co. by Wagner and Grant & Massimo Belardinelli. Rebellion (2000AD), ISBN 978-1905437771, 9 November 2008.
The Complete Ro-Busters by Pat Mills & various. Rebellion (2000AD) ISBN 978-1905437825, 13 November 2008.
Judge Dredd: The Pit by John Wagner. Rebellion (2000AD) ISBN 978-1905437849, 12 November 2008.
Strontium Dog: The Kreeler Conspiracy by John Wagner. Rebellion (2000AD) ISBN 978-1905437788, 9 November 2008.
The VCs by Gerry Finley-Day & various. Rebellion (2000AD) ISBN 978-1905437832, 12 November 2008.

DECEMBER
The Art of Tank Girl by Alan C. Martin & Jamie Hewlett. Titan ISBN 978-1845769420, 2 December 2008.
Marshal Law: Dead Evil by Pat Mills & Kevin O'Neill. Titan ISBN 978-1845769437, 2 December 2008.

Scatha

The News on Sunday was a newcomer to the sunday newspaper market launched on 26 April 1987 by a left-wing political collective linked to the Big Flame group who were now members of the Labour Party. The paper was launched with good intentions, financed by a share issue that raised money from trades unions and owned, via a controlling interest of shares, by the workers on the paper.

It also started out with some excellent comic strips--another of which I'll run shortly. For today we have 'Scatha', a spin-off from Pat Mills' 'Slaine' strip in 2000AD. Unfortunately, I don't have the first three episodes so if anyone can fill the gap, please do. Equally unfortunately, the paper was a bust. It needed to sell 800,000 a week to break even but the first issue sold only 500,000 and, by issue 8 (14 June 1987), the circulation was down to 200,000. The paper was kept afloat by the TGWU so as not to embarrass the Labour Party during the General Elections that were being held in 1987. However, as soon as the election was out of the way, the paper went into bankruptcy. The comic strip content had an equally rocky ride: no strips appeared in issue 7 and issue 8 proved to be the end of them, with the storylines incomplete. As far as I'm aware, they have never reappeared anywhere.

(* Scatha © Pat Mills & Glen Fabry)

Franco Paludetti (1925-2008)

afNEWS, the Italian fumetti news website, has reported the death of Franco Paludetti on 8 March 2008. Paludetti, born in Milan in 1925, studied at at the Accademia di Belle Arti in Brera and began drawing comic strips in 1946. In the 1950s his work included 'Sciuscia', 'Fiamme sul Messico' and 'Jerry Jess'; it was during this period in the late 1950s/early 1960s that he contributed to British comics, mostly to Fleetway's Thriller, Air Ace, Battle and War picture libraries.

In 1964, Paludetti was one of the co-founders of the Gli Amici group as well as working for Lug and various other publishers, including episodes of Gino D'Antonio's West. From 1972 until his retirement in 2004, he was one of the inkers on the hugely popular 'Diabolik' strip.

Comic Firsts: London Daily News

I've been digging around in the attic this morning and stumbled upon a stack of old newspaper clippings. There are a couple of runs from newly launched papers that I thought I'd share with you.

The London Daily News was launched by Robert Maxwell on Tuesday, 24 February 1987. It was the first attempt to produce a 24-hour newspaper in the UK, updated throughout the day. The morning "gold top" edition was followed by three more daily editions. Publishing an evening edition brought the paper into direct opposition to the Evening Standard, whose publishers , Associated Newspapers, responded by relaunching the defunct Evening News and starting a price war that was damaging to both companies. The end came in July when the normally 20p London Daily News had dropped its evening price to 10p and the Evening News to 5p.

Maxwell eventually conceded defeat, having lost a libel case against Associated Newspapers after accusing them of lying about the circulation figures of the Evening Standard. The last edition of the London Daily News appeared on 23 July 1987 and Maxwell is said to have lost some £25 million on the venture, plus his undisclosed damages payment to Associated Newspapers, who promptly absorbed the Evening News into the Evening Standard.

The paper had a small strip content, with only three regular strips appearing. The main political cartoon was by Trog (Wally Fawkes), probably best known for his 'Flook' strip that appeared in the Daily Mail. (The British Cartoon Archive also has a very good biography of Fawkes on their website)

As this was the height of Thatcherite Britain, it's not really surprising that two of the strips involved Yuppies and money-making in London. 'Soho Square' featured a trio of main players, headed by Helvetica Bold, a 40-year-old American who runs the Young and Ruthless Advertising Agency in West End London. She certainly lives up to the "ruthless" half of the company name as she has no moral qualms about who she takes on as a client or how she promotes them; Art Hackett is a designer who has leftie credentials but has now been absorbed by the system; and Prince, the stylish young office junior.

The strip was written by comedy writers Max Handley & Tony Allen and drawn by Peter Rigg who, back in the 1980s, contributed to Outrageous Tales from the Old Testament (1987), and produced his own self-published comics, The Dregs! and Donna Meets the Dregs.

'Alex' by Charles Peattie & Russell Taylor has become something of an institution, having run for over twenty years. When the London Daily News folded, it switched first to The Independent (in 1987) and then to the Daily Telegraph (in 1992). A number of collections have appeared featuring Alex, a Docklands-based investment banker and his family with strips taking place both in and out of the office. You can find out more on Alex at Wikipedia.

Finally, there was a daily gag strip, 'Baby' by Michael Heath, about an irrepressible youngster who seems to have attitudes beyond his years.

Another Comic First tomorrow.

(* Illustrations are from the first three issues of the London Daily News (24-26 February 1987) © 1987 The London Daily News Ltd.)

Comic Cuts - Circulation Special

It's that time of year again. The Audit Bureau of Circulations has released figures for magazine and newspaper circulations for the latter half (July-December) of 2007, so here's a run-down of sales for British children's magazines. Comments on circulations for January to June 2007 can be found here and I did an update estimating circulations for some D. C. Thomson comics for the same period here. It's good to see that Thomsons are now confirming circulations through ABC figures.

PRE-SCHOOL

The last time we looked at these figures, the leading pre-school title was Toybox which has since dropped to 3rd place behind Fun to Learn--Friends and the newly launched In the Night Garden... from BBC Worldwide and based on the BBC's children's programme produced by Ragdoll Productions for CBeebies which debuted in 2007. Fun to Learn—Friends reversed its 7.9% drop of the first half of the year and rose 12.2% compared to Toybox's fall of 10.6%.

Me Too was the year's biggest loser, its circulation falling 28,000 year-on-year (56.9%), although Balamory wasn't far behind, dropping 42.9% year-on-year and shedding 27,500 sales per issue; Bob the Builder was down 16% for the half year and down a total of over 20,000 (27.7%) year-on-year; and Fimbles wasn't far behind, down 43.5% year-on-year, a circulation drop of 19,500.

Newcomers to the chart in August showed some settling down: Charlie & Lola was down 20% and Underground Ernie was down 58% (and looking very shaky at around 16,000); reversing this trend were Fireman Sam, with sales up 5.1%, and Disney Fairies, up 15.5%.

Other big fallers this year include Fun to Learn—Favourites, down 16.8%; Teletubbies down 22.2% (although only down 10.8% year-on-year); Tweenies down 15% (26.9% year-on-year); Thomas Express Special, down 16.4%; and Learn with Bob the Builder, down 16.1%.

Other than Disney Fairies, only Spongebob Squarepants registered a significant sales increase, up 15.1%, an increase of some 6,000 copies per issue.

Gone from the charts: Daisy and Winnie the Pooh, both from Egmont.

EVERYTHING ELSE

Since the number of what we might define as comics has dropped so dramatically, they're nowadays grouped in with other schoolage magazines.

There have been a number of new launches and a couple of magazines from D. C. Thomson that have now signed up for ABC circulation figures which means the list has expanded since the last one I produced. The recently launched Robin Hood magazine hasn't been around long enough to register yet.

For the most part there hasn't been a huge amount of movement. The rise for Beano (11.8%) and fall for Dandy (14.5%) may be slightly skewed because I was guestimating that the Beano was responsible for two thirds of the combined sales. The drop in sales for Dandy could be explained by the relaunch in August 2007 as Dandy Xtreme which involved a large price rise but former readers seem to have started picking up its companion.

The most successful group has been Titan's Simpsons titles: The Simpsons Comics added 13,000 readers, returning it to its former levels for the same period in 2006. Simpsons Comics Presents has added 10,000 readers, a 6,500 increase over this time last year.

The years big winner was, in fact, Go Girl, which has added 17,700 readers in the past year, a 40% rise year-on-year.

Here's the chart...

(* In the Night Garden © BBC; Dandy Xtreme © D. C. Thomson.)

Comics Cuts - the Comics UK Forum and Dan Dare

Al Notton posted the following message to his Comics UK website today (Saturday, 8 March) regarding the disappearance of certain bits of the site, notably the popular Forum that he runs...

There's been a bit of disarray in the Comics UK camp recently. A random check by myself on the whois.net website revealed that the Comics UK domain name had expired and was up for renewal. It had been that way since 24th February 2008!!

If I hadn't noticed this, the domain name would have been gobbled up by one of those businesses that sell them back at an overly inflated price.

Of course, this all means that things are a little mixed up at the moment, especially the Forum. Obviously this is currently the most widely used section within the site and I hope to get it reinstated ASAP.

Luckily, I downloaded a backup of the forum at 19.15 on Thursday 6th March 2008, so in a worse case scenario, there will be one days worth of posts missing. Maybe this is not a good time to mention that I've never had to restore the forum database before.

I'm also toying with the idea of trying to convert to PHPBB3, which is the next release of the current forum.

As an aside, I'm currently working on the Admin section of Comics UK v2. I'm hoping to get the new version in by Christmas (this year).

So it would appear that the problem will be resolved. As of 9.30 a.m. the e-mail system was back up and running. No news yet on the Forum.

On a rather more worrying note, Al has informed his readers that "You may have noticed that there are no Eagle or Dan Dare images or references on the site anymore. This includes the Annuals, Specials, Galleries and the actual Eagle section. This was due to me receiving a high-handed solicitors letter from Colin Frewin's solicitors. Frewin is the guy that spent £500,000 on securing the rights to Dan Dare and Eagle. Oh happy days, eh??"

Not sure what to think about this as I don't know the precise reason why Comics UK has been brought to the attention of m' learned friends.

Dan Dare and comics' fandom have existed happily hand-in-hand for many years. The first fan clubs and fanzines for British comics were set up by Dan Dare fans, so Dan, you could say, is the father of British comics' fandom; at the same time, it was the fans that kept the name of Dan Dare alive following the demise of Eagle in 1969 and generated enough interest for publishers to try and revive the character. It's fans who help continue to generate acres of press coverage for the character. (In that respect, I can speak from personal experience as I was interviewed by a Southport-based newspaper on Thursday.)

To penalise fans for posting information about Dan and Eagle comic on the net seems a sure way to turn the golden goose into pâté.

However, I don't want this to come over as a knee-jerk reaction to the situation. As I said above, I don't know the specifics of the complaint so I can't judge whether--in my opinion--it's justified or not.

Its timing is interesting as it coincides (albeit roughly) with various other announcements and arrivals relating to Dan Dare. First was the Dan Dare comic from Virgin; next up is the release of the latest Dan Dare reprint volume, Reign of the Robots, from Titan (April) and the launch of an audio version of the first Dan Dare story on CD (May), pictured at the top of this column. September will see the release of the follow-up to the Eagle Annual: The Best of the 1950s Comic collection which will, not surprisingly, be Eagle Annual: The Best of the 1960s Comic.

Things will then be hotting up in 2009 with a major exhibition at the Science Museum which will run from April to October. I'll paste in the press release below.

Then there's the release of the non-fiction Dan Dare, Pilot of the Future: A Biography by Daniel Tatarsky, to be published by Random House on 17 September 2009.

And can anyone shed any light on the following entry for a Dan Dare: Pilot of the Future movie that's said to be in development at the Internet Movie Database?

With so much activity surrounding the character, perhaps it is no surprise that Dan Dare Corporation are keeping a close eye on their property and the online community.


DAN DARE AND THE BIRTH OF HI-TECH BRITAIN

Science Museum, 30 April - October 2009. Free to enter
The way Britain reinvented itself as a hi-tech nation after the Second World War is revealed in a new Science Museum exhibition, to open on 30 April 2008.

Dan Dare and the Birth of Hi-tech Britain will capture the essence of those pivotal post-war years, showing how Britain took striking wartime advances like the jet engine, radar and penicillin to create new industries. This was a time when the state rolled out huge new projects for a free nationwide health service, nuclear power, supersonic flight and a radical rehousing programme - major developments which created a revolution in national affairs and personal life.

The free exhibition also looks at the reinvention of the home, the emerging importance of design and the arrival of previously unheard of consumer goods. It will show that the period, from 1945-1970, started the long climb from austerity to affluence and laid the foundations for the Britain of today.

The signature exhibit representing hi-tech is the Bloodhound missile. Seven metres long, with fins, two ramjet engines and four booster rockets, Bloodhound was one pillar of Britain's defence against Soviet threat in the Cold War. Reaching speeds of Mach 2 (about 1,500 mph) in four seconds, it surpassed anything produced by the US. Also on display will be the British-built 'Bomb' - the WE177 nuclear weapon - Britain's ticket to the top table of nations.

Some of the finest examples of British manufacturing of the time will be shown. These include iconic products from designers such as Gordon Russell, Abram Games, the man behind the iconic Festival of Britain poster, and Pye radios designed by Robin Day. It will show, moreover, a 'lost world' of British manufacturing - a time when many people's first TV was a Murphy, not a Sony!

Eagle comic book hero, Dan Dare - a fixture in the lives of millions of children in the 1950s and 1960s - introduces the exhibition, showing the optimism, faith in technology and spirit of adventure of the times. Dan Dare is being rediscovered today and there will be a special display of original artwork, merchandise and memorabilia. One of the finest real-life adventurers from the period, Edmund Hillary, has his hi-tech oxygen apparatus from his 1953 conquest of Everest displayed - equipment which used know-how derived from the UK's high-altitude jet bombers programme.

Andrew Nahum, Principal Curator of Technology at the Science Museum, said:

"Dan Dare, pilot of the future was the emblematic hero of these times who entranced generations of kids and adults too. But while his space fleet trounced alien foes high above Venus, an equally extraordinary future was being played out on Earth. This was a period when Britain, though shattered by the cost of World War Two, was reinventing itself as a hi-tech nation - a time of extraordinary energy and innovation for British design and technology."

Other highlights of the exhibition include:

• Classics of British design, including Antelope chair by Ernest Race
• Consumer technology world-firsts, from food processors to portable TVs
• A section of Comet 1 - the world's first jet airliner - showing the fatal flaw in its design which caused it to crash into the Mediterranean in 1954 and rob Britain of its lead in jet airliner technology
• Unique furniture by the original DIY guru, Barry Bucknell, who had more fan mail than the cast of Coronation Street in the 1960s!
• Nuclear reactor control panel for UK submarines reminiscent of Dr No, with infamous SCRAM button
• Hillman Imp car: produced in Linwood, Scotland under government orders
• The Roentgen IV - the X-ray machine that was the mainstay of the new NHS diagnostic service being rolled out across the UK
• A selection of NHS spectacles and hearing aids, showing the effect on everyday lives of the new postwar Welfare State
• Coventry Climax racing engine of type that took Stirling Moss to victory
• Personal stories of those who lived through the post-war years.

(* Dan Dare © Dan Dare Corporation)

Comic Cuts

It has been one of those weeks. First off, the annual "which neighbour's tree is going to fall down" competition that we have here at Chez Steve. Remember this from last February...

Well, this year it was the turn of our other neighbour...

A large portion of the tree fell into a busy road. This is not the first time a tree has fallen onto the road. Last time it happened the tree landed on a car, killing a woman outright and badly injuring her husband. And when we've asked if anything can be done about the trees along the road, the Home Office (yes, it goes all the way up to the Home Office) say nothing can be done because the trees are all subject to preservation orders.

On Wednesday our boiler blew up. It wasn't very spectacular, just a very loud "pop" and the water heater stopped working. The circuit board is fried and there's a leak. We've no clue when it can be fixed but, thankfully, after one night freezing our bums off, we dug out some old heaters which are taking the chill off the air.

Other niggling little problems have been... well, niggling and taking up lots of time when I should be working. The Mike Western Story is starting to take shape and I've been scanning lots of stuff for inclusion. I'm hoping to have examples of just about every strip he worked on, which has meant borrowing a lot of comics and living with the frustration that I don't have time to scan every page of every issue. Let's hope that next week is better and I can really get on with it.

Here are some odds and ends of news...

* John Freeman interviews Jon Haward at Down the Tubes.

* The follow up to Kidnapped by Alan Grant & Cam Kennedy, The Strange Case of Dr Jekyl and Mr Hyde, has been released and a lengthy (8 minute) report can still be seen at the Scottish Television website (link via Forbidden Planet International). Jeremy Briggs has posted a comprehensive round-up about the launch at Down the Tubes.

* ICv2 have re-estimated the sales for comics sold through Diamond Distributors in January. As previously mentioned, the original figures as issued took into account reorders that were not normally included, which skewed month-on-month comparisons. The sales figure for Virgin Comics' Dan Dare #3 showed a significant leap—up 31% on the sales of the first issue—to 10,245. This has now been re-estimated and a more realistic figure is 7,657, lower than the sales figures for issue 1 (9,434) and 2 (7,838). So, rather than taking a jump (which I initially put down to demand outstripping supply on the first issue), the sales continue their inevitable decline, although only by a couple of percent (2.3%). That's far less than the 17% drop between the first and second issues.

For those of you who missed it first time round, Virgin are re-releasing the first three issues of Dan Dare as an oversized, 80-page hardcover collection in April. I also hear that issue 4 is now out.

* Talking of Dan Dare, there are interviews with Garth Ennis to be found at Heavy Ink (about Dan Dare) and Comic Book Resources (about The Boys) And there's a three-part interview with Grant Morrison at Newsarama (part 1, part 2, part 3). (links via Journalista)

* Alex Fitch's interview with Alan Moore (part 1, part 2) is also available on video in various formats form the Internet Archive.

A. S. A. Newark

I originally posted a squib about A. S. A. Newark on 23 July 2007. A couple of days ago I was contacted by Penny Spokes, a neighbour of Arthur Newark during her childhood, who was happy to find that he had not been forgotten. Penny has very kindly penned a little tribute to Mr. Newark which you'll find below. First, a little background...

Arthur Stephen A. Newark was the artist of perhaps the most ignored and forgotten arts: the puzzle page. He was the artist of 'Flipper's Puzzling Puzzles' feature in Jack and Jill in 1959-61, 'Willie Wizz and his Merry Puzzles' in Harold Hare's Own Paper in 1960 and during the 1960s drew 'Playhour's Puzzle Page'.

He was born in Edmonton, in north London, on 29 May 1906 and lived for many years in Eastcote in the borough of Hillingdon in north-west London. From the 1950s until the 1970s he lived at 398 Field End Road, Eastcote. He died on 1975 in Dover, perhaps retiring to the coast in his final years.

FISH, TEA AND TALL STORIES
by Penny Spokes

Mr Newark had always been there. Birthday presents and Christmas presents every year. Always a box of Weekend chocolates and both Playhour and Jack and Jill annuals. Often a box of watercolours.

Let me explain the subject line. His passion in life was fish, both tropical and pond. His house occupies a corner plot and the garden was divided into 3 distinct areas. The area by the front door was typical lawn with a path. The side garden was mostly waterfall and the back was entirely a fish pond!

It must have been in the early '60s that he started to excavate and created a series of interconnecting ponds, islands, bridges and falls. I suspect it probably wasn't in the 'best possible taste' but for a 6 year old it was magical. He had intended to create a summer house along the connecting sides of our gardens, but as I was forever climbing through the fence to visit him, he never completed the project so I could climb through a glassless opening.

He also made me 2 small ponds in my own garden and kept me supplied with fish over a number of years.

His dining room was his tropical fish area. It was a dingy room with just the lights from the tanks and the colour of the fish to cheer it up. As I recall, there wasn't a stick of furniture in here.

Tea and tall stories..... When not drawing, Mr Newark seemed to spend all his time in the kitchen drinking mugs of tea! He smoked and drank mug after mug.

If I saw he was there through the hole in the wall, it was OK to visit, if not, I kept away. I used to ask him question after question and I know now that if he didn't know the answer, he would make one up!! He would tell me stories of his sons but sadly I don't recall any. They were too old to be of any interest I suspect!

In the hallway was a gloomy painting he said was by Landseer! He said he would leave it to me in his will. I never received it and I often wondered who really painted it!

He must have been a very patient man as I could be a very demanding child with a very enquiring mind. He always had a cheery smile for me.

Physically, he resembled a shorter and stockier Frank Muir. Swept back grey hair and a thin moustache. Very smiley eyes, glasses and a kind face. At home he was fairly scruffy but on the days he went 'to town', he was immaculate. He always wore a cravat and sports jacket and looked quite the artist!

I have no idea what happened to Mrs Newark! There was certainly no feminine touch in the house, it was a gloomy and bare place.

He eventually retired to Dover to live with his son, Chris I think and I never saw him again. His son did phone to tell us he had died though so we did know what happened to him. I only recently looked on Google Earth to see if there is any trace of the ponds left but I think not!

(* Willie Wizz © Look and Learn Magazine Ltd.)

Phil Meigh (1926-2008)

Back in January 2007, I wrote a little squib about Phil Meigh, who contributed to a couple of Swift annuals in the 1950s. One featured a character named Fanciful Freddie (Swift Annual 2, 1955) whilst a second strip, obviously by the same artist, featured the same character, but re-named Hopeful Harry (Swift Annual 6, 1959).

I said at the time that I had originally thought 'Phil Meigh' might be a pseudonym for someone filling a space—'fill me'—but I quickly revised that opinion when I found out that he also produced cartoons for Lilliput and Young Elizabethan. Beyond that, he remained a mystery.

I was recently contacted by Phil's son with the news that his father had died on February 7th at the age of 82 having been admitted to Cirencester Hospital suffering from pneumonia a week earlier.

Philip Meigh was born in Rouen, Normandy, the son of a British father and French mother who met during the Great War. The family moved to Cheltenham in 1937 and his older brothers, Harry and Walter, all attended the Prior Park Roman Catholic boarding school in Bath.

After serving in the Army during World War II, Meigh studied art at Wimbledon Arts College—where he met his wife-to-be, Francis—and then at the Royal College of Art in London. Meigh then began a successful as a cartoonist; his work was spotted by the editor of Punch and this led to a 25-year-long association with the magazine. His cartoons also appeared in Tatler, The Times, the Daily Sketch and Daily Mirror. Meigh and his wife also used their creative talents to buy houses and restore and renovate them.

Living in the Cotswolds, Meigh developed a great love of waterfowl, amassing a huge collection, and, in 1974, he approached Prinknash Abbey to run a bird sanctuary. The original nine acres he was offered developed into Painswick Bird and Deer Park, which Meigh remained a director of until his death.

Separated from his wife in the 1980s, Meigh's partner for his last twenty years was Carol Cole with whom he set up Classical Fine Arts, making companion boards and tromp l'oeil paintings.

According to Mrs. Meigh, "Few people leave behind such a wonderful legacy of art and creativity that people can enjoy. Most of us that knew him, however, will truly remember him for his outstanding wit and humour which belied a very thoughtful, multi-talented and unique person."

He was survived by his three children, Beatrice, Melanie and James.

(* My thanks to James Meigh who sent over the photos and the following selection of cartoons.)