Comic Cuts: Bestselling British Collections

Back on July 14th and August 16th, I posted a Top 20/10 (all I could manage) for the best-selling British graphic novels (i.e. collections of stories of UK origin rather than British editions of American GNs). Here are the chart positions as of September 17th. Pleased to see my own Against All Odds volume in there.

1. Judge Dredd: The Complete Case Files 01. Rebellion/2000AD (ISBN 1904265790), Dec 2005.
2. Against All Odds: War Picture Library Vol. 2, ed. Steve Holland. Prion (ISBN 978-1853756610), 4 Aug 2008.
3. Mammoth Book of Best Crime Comics, ed. Paul Gravett. Robinson (ISBN 978-1845297107), 26 Jun 2008.
4. The Best of 2000AD. Carlton Books (ISBN 978-1853756689), 1 September 2008.
5. The Ballad of Halo Jones. Rebellion/2000AD (ISBN 978-1905437184), Jan 2007.
6. Modesty Blaise: Green Cobra. Titan (ISBN 978-1845764203), 2 Sep 2008.
7. Dan Dare: The Man From Nowhere. Titan (ISBN 978-1845764128), 27 Apr 2007.
8. Dan Dare: Voyage to Venus Part 2. Titan (ISBN 978-1840238419), 24 Sep 2004.
9. Dan Dare: The Red Moon Mystery. Titan (ISBN 978-1840236668), 22 Oct 2004.
10. Judge Dredd: The Complete Case Files Vol.10. Rebellion/2000AD (ISBN 978-1905437689), 15 Jun 2008.
11. Dan Dare: Voyage to Venus Part 1. Titan (ISBN 978-1840236446), 23 Apr 2004.
12. Dan Dare: Reign of the Robots. Titan (ISBN 978-1845764142), 25 Apr 2008.
13. Modesty Blaise: Death Trap. Titan (ISBN 978-1845764180), 23 Nov 2007.

Back in August only 10 of the top 100 at Amazon related to British comics; this time round there were 13 titles so it's still a bit of a short list. I should add that Amazon update their charts hourly so there can be dramatic changes over the course of a day.

Daily Mirror strips 15 February 1952

The Daily Mirror had the finest crop of daily comic strips in any newspaper in the 1950s, dedicating not only a full page to them but with others dotted around the paper. My thanks to John Adcock of Yesterday's Papers for this. The Mirror was far and away the best newspaper for strips in the early 1950s. It's a shame that no modern newspaper in the UK can compete with these old papers for quality and quantity of strips—let's not forget that this is just one day's worth of strips—or realise that in the world of the hungry-for-content newspaper web pages they have an astonishing backlog of material that they in many cases own outright.

Update: John Adcock has posted a set of Daily Mirror strips for 11 September 1953 at his Yesterday's Papers blog.

(* Daily Mirror © MGM Ltd.)

Commando Authors

This following list covers all issues of Commando. Taken from official listings, many of the names are only indicated by surnames and more research is needed to confirm the full names of these authors.

Heath Ackley
Norman Adams
A. Carney Allan
Nick Allen
Mick Anglo
Hailey Austin
Matt Badham [blog]
Bailey
(Fred?) Baker
Barnard
David Barnett [pseudonym used on staff-written issues]
Dan Barnfield
Georgia Standen Battle
Martin Belderson
(Colin?) Benson
Bett-Gray
David E. Bingley
Sean Blair [Interview at Down the Tubes]
Ed Blandford
Nigel Boanas [fl. 2006]
Boothby
Sydney J. Bounds
David Boutland
Boyle
Nathan Breakenridge [LinkdIn; Facebook]
Chaz Brenchley [Charles R. Brenchley] (Wikipedia)
J. P. Bridson
Gordon W. Brunt
Brueton
Frank Buhagiar [Francis Buhagiar]
Roy E. Bullen
Burden
Fergus Cannan 
Julian Michael Carver [Facebook]
Bernard Castle [house pseud. used by David Motton, E. C. Tubb, others; given as Eric Castle on some reprints]
Allan Chalmers [staff pseud.?]
Chester
Ian Clark
Colin Clayton
Roger Clegg
Jason Cobley 
Steve Coombs 
Paul Cornell [Wikipedia]
J. O. Cornes
Coughlin
Crawcroft
Crowther
Dailly
Daniel
Richard Davis
Day
Damien De Sousa
Kate Dewar (pseud. of Kate McAuliffe)
Mrs. Donnelly [poss. Jane Donnelly]
James Doonan
Dorward
F. G. Douglas
Harry Douthwaite
Chris Dows
Du Feu
Elliot
Richard Estep
Evison
William H. Fear
Mary Feldwick
Shane Filer
Gerry Finley-Day
Chris Fitzsimmons [interview at Victor & Hornet]
Peter Ford
(Kelman?) Frost
Gallivan
Diana M. Garbutt
(H. T.?) Gardner
Mike Garley
Ken Gentry
Gonzalez
M. Scott Goodall
(J. M.?) Gray
A. Green
Bernard Gregg
Peter Grehan
Ferg Handley [interview at Bear Alley]
Petri Hanninen [Facebook]
(Ronald?) Hardwick
Hardy
Tom Hart
Hay
Robert Hayes
Alan Hebden
Eric Hebden
Alan Hemus
Ian Hemus
(Alex?) Henderson
David Heptonstall
Hinett
A. Hitchman
Holding
Colin Howard
Stephen Hume
Simon Jowett
Ian Kellie
Jim Kenner
Knight
Andrew Knighton
Andrew Knowles [or Anthony Knowles?]
Mike Knowles
Calum Laird
C. R. Lajeunesse
Lang
Douglas Leach
Lester
Littlewood
Alan Lomas
George Low
Castello Lucas [Luis Castelló Lucas]
Kate McAuliffe
Malcolm McDevitt
Mac Macdonald [pseudonym used by George Low on staff-written issues]
Daniel McGachey
Peter McKenzie [K. P. McKenzie]
Iain McLaughlin
McLean
Rick McMullen
Robert McNeill
Robbie MacNiven [website: https://robbiemacniven.wordpress.com/]
Ken McOwen
McPhail
Rossa McPhillips [interview at Down the Tubes; Facebook]
Philip Madden
Terry Magee
Maitland
Derrick Markham
Troy Martin
Anthony Matthews
Sean Mason
Jenek Matysiak [Facebook] [Facebook 2]
Colin Maxwell 
Mepham [??Clement Roderick Mepham (1919- )??]
(G.?) Mitchell
R. A. "Monty" Montague
Scott Montgomery
James Moran [website: http://www.jamesmoran.com/]
Peter Morrison
David Motton
Munslow
Peter Newark
Nicoll
O'Connell
O'Connor
Orme
Parker
(A. G. B.?) Parlett
Parsons
John Paterson
Bryan Perrett (Wikipedia)
(N.?) Powell
Quarrell [??? Dominic Quarrell ???]
Jason Quinn
Redbridge
John Richardson
Roy Rivett
Kris Roberts
Ross
Rudge
Salt [possibly John Salt (1922- )??]
Roger Sanderson
Ken Sell
Russell Sheath
David Skentelbery
(J. W.?) Smith
Robert Smith
Spain
Speer
William Spence
Spencer
Giovanni Spinella
Stainton [probably D. L. G. Stainton]
Strange
Bill Styles [William Styles]
Suresh Ramasubramanian [Interview at Down the Tubes]
Suttar [Jack Sutter?]
James Swallow (Wikipedia)
Rhiannon Tate
Steve Taylor
Adrian Tchaikovsky (Wikipedia)
Dominic Teague
(J & S?) Thomas
Brent Towns
E. C. Tubb
Turner
Jim and David Turner
Tyson
Cyril G. Walker
Peter Wallage
Stephen Walsh
Colin Watson
Jim Watson
Webb
Gordon Wells
Welsh
David Whitehead [Interview at Bear Alley; essay on "Writing for Commando"]
Wilkinson
Philip Wilding
Alex Woodrow

Plus many issues were penned by members of staff including editors Chick Checkley, Ian Forbes and George Low.

Further information:

Official Website

Interviews:

Calum Laird
__Interview by Mike Eriksson (Where Eagles Dare, 2008; Bear Alley, 2012)
__By Sea, By Land By Air by Jeremy Briggs (Down the Tubes, 9 April 2008)
__War of Words by Matthew Badham (Down the Tubes, 8 August 2008)
George Low
__The Commando Interviews by Mike Eriksson (Where Eagles Dare, 2004; Bear Alley, 2012)
__The Commando Interviews Part 8 by Mike Eriksson (Where Eagles Dare, 2006)
__The Commando Interviews by Mike Eriksson (Where Eagles Dare, 2007; Bear Alley, 2012)
__War Games by Henry Northmore (The List, 7 May 2007)
__The Mysterious Mr. Low (Down the Tubes, 13 September 2007)

Carlo Jacono Commando covers

As these were sitting right next to the scanner I thought I'd post them. Although best-known for his 'giallo' covers for Italian crime novels and in the UK for a handful of (superb) covers for the 'Steel Claw' issues of Fleetway's Stupendous Library, this is none other than Carlo Jacono, painting covers for D. C. Thomson's Commando Library. He was an irregular cover artist from 1971-88, the two examples shown here coming from 1975 and 1977. The earlier of the two (Fighting Cat) is a double-winner for me... Jacono cover, Jose Jorge interior artwork. It would really cap everything if the author, who I know only as McLean, turned out to be Alistair McLean. Unlikely, but stranger things have happened... and it's not quite as daft an idea as it sounds.

(* Commando Library © D. C. Thomson & Co. Ltd.)

Richard Ogle

Richard Bertram Ogle, author and illustrator, was born in Eglingham on 10 May 1889. In 1908 he won a scholarship to the Royal Academy Schools where his tutors included John Singer Sargent and Solomon J. Solomon. Unfit for service abroad, he served with the RAMC in England. After the war a portrait of Sir Heron Allen was accepted for exhibition at the Royal Academy and was well reviewed. It did not, however, lead to other comissions and the necessity of earning a living compelled Ogle to turn his attention to press work.

His talent for line drawing greatly helped and he produced a considerable quantity of book illustrations, covers and frontispiece illustrations. In 1923 he illustrated the first book by children's writer Enid Blyton. Ogle also produced colour plates for the Graphic, the Bystander and the Queen. He also had a long association with the Boy's Own Paper and for some 30 years was the artist responsible for the little drawings illustrating the predictions in Old Moore's Almanack.

An obituarist in The Times noted that Ogle "did not attain the eminence of some of his contemporaries, but he enjoyed the reputation of being an artist who could always be trusted to bring to his work sound draughtsmanship, painstaking attention to detail and a wealth of artistic ideas. In later years he took up writing and was the author of more than a dozen books written for young people which he illustrated himself; of these, the ones he would most wish to be remembered are a collection of lavishly illustrated books on animals. He illustrated no fewer than eight of the Epworth Children's Classics."

In his spare time, Ogle painted landscapes numerous studies of the sea and sky in watercolour that display "keen powers of observation and an abiding love of nature."

He married Ruby Emma Mary Palmer in Chelsea, London, on 7 August 1912 with whom he had a son and a daughter. The couple, who lived 18 Dingle Road, Bournemouth, celebrated their diamond wedding in 1972.

Ogle died at a Bournemouth nursing home on 22 June 1976, aged 87.

In 1951, Ogle penned a series of articles for The Children's Newspaper about his holiday tour of South Africa which he illustrated with many delightful pictures of local animals.

Books (written & illustrated)
The Secret. A mystery tales of Wales. London, Burns, Oates & Co., 1936.
The Circus. London, George Lapworth, 1943.
Seal Cove. London, G. Lapworth & Co., 1943.
The Waggle Tail Family. London, George Lapworth & Co., 1943.
Gnomeland: Teatime Tales for Tiny Tots (tales told by Uncle Elgo). London, P. R. Gawthorn, 1944.
Wild Life of the World. London, P. R. Gawthorn, 1944.
Albert the Ant. London, George G. Harrap & Co., 1946.
Mystery of the Migrants. A romance of nature's making. London, G. Bell & Sons, 1947.
Silent Terror. A tale of the Secret Service. Watford, Bruce Publishing Co., 1947.
Animals Strange and Rare. London, G. Bell & Sons, 1951.
Soldiers of the Queen. The royal bodyguards and household troops. London, Perry Colour Books, 1953.
Sailors of the Queen. Life in our navy of today. London, Perry Colour Books, 1954.
People of the Sun. London, Sir Isaac Pitman & Sons, 1955.
Pets and Their Care, ed. Kenneth A. Isaacs. London, Perry Colour Books, 1955.
Animals in the Service of Man. London, G. Bell & Sons, 1957.
Animals and Their Camouflage: Hide and Seek in the Animal World, forward by Anstis T. Bewes. London, W. Foulsham & Co., 1958.
Bible Creatures Painting Book. London, Independent Press, 1959.
Animals of the Past. London, G. Bell & Sons, 1962.
An Easter Frieze. London, National Sunday School Union, 1962. [frieze]

Illustrated Books
Sports and Games by Enid Blyton. London, Birn Brothers, Oct 1924.
Clinton's Quest by P. F. Westerman. London, C. A. Pearson, 1925.
The Ardice Fortune by H. B. Davidson. London, Sheldon Press, 1926. [frontispiece]
King Arthur and His Knights, abridged from Morte d'Arthur by Sir Thomas Malory. London, Epworth, 1927.
Stories of the Arabian Nights (abridged). London, Epworth, 1928.
The Land of Firestone. A story of adventure in the deep forests of America and upon the high seas by Alfred Judd. London, Sheldon Press; New York, Macmillan, 1928? [frontispiece]
Old English Fairy Tales. London, Epworth, 1930.
The Voyage to Vinland by Wray Hunt. London, Sheldon Press, 1931?
Nature's Quest by Frances Evelyn Warwick. London, John Murray, 1934.
Brave Deeds by Brave Men by A. Miles, C. Sheridan Jones & others. London, R. Tuck & Sons, 1935.
Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe (abridged), illus. with Howard Davie. London, Raphael Tuck & Sons, 1935.
Tiadatha (omnibus: The Song of Tiadatha, The Travels of Tiadatha) by Owen Rutter. London, P. Allan & Co., 1935.
The Children's Alice in Wonderland, adapted by F. H. Lee; illus. Honor C. Appleton. London, George G. Harrap & Co., 1936. [dustjacket]
Alice in Wonderland, retold by Monica Marsden. London, Arandar Books, 1946.
He Sailed with Dampier by Philip Rush. London & New York, T. V. Boardman & Co., 1947.
Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe. London, P. R. Gawthorn, 1948.
The Talisman. A tale of the Crusades by Sir Walter Scott. London, P. R. Gawthorn, 1948.
Hereward the Wake by Charles Kingsley. London, P. R. Gawthorn, 1948.
Tenmeade and Weston Priory by Arthur Groom. London & New York, T. V. Boardman & Co., 1949.

Captain A. E. Dingle

Out of the Wreck (Wildside Press, 2006)

As Captain Dingle led me a merry chase all yesterday evening I thought I'd share my confusion.

In what I laughingly call my spare time I'm doing a lot of background research for the Encyclopedia of Science Fiction. You can probably guess how far I've gotten...

Captain Dingle wrote primarily under two names, the abbreviated Captain A. E. Dingle and the pseudonym "Sinbad". He wrote mostly adventurous yarns of the sea for British and American story papers and pulps. Nowadays he's almost forgotten except by pulp collectors and Sherlock Holmes buffs. To the latter he was the author of a Holmes pastiche entitled "Watson!" which appeared in Short Stories, 10 October 1921. He was a popular author in his time, a reviewer of one of his novels remarking that "This Captain Dingle is really a captain, a deep sea sailorman, and more than that he is a story teller par excellence. The Flying Kestrel pulsates with the pounding of the seas on battened hatches, it thrums with the singing of the gales through bellying topgallants and taut braced hemp and it exults in the sailor-craft of a master mariner ... It's like "Two Years Before the Mast" and Morgan Robertson and Conrad rolled into one. And it's dollars to doughnuts after you have raced through it once, you'll turn right back to the first page and begin again." (Egbert S. Turner, 'Browsing in Literary Fields', Syracuse Herald, 26 June 1927)

Wildside Press have put out a couple of his books in recent years but there's very little about him on the web beyond a handful of books for sale and the occasional mention of his Sherlockian connection.

His name in full was Aylward Edward Dingle and in reference works it's pretty well established that he was born in Oxford in 1874 and died on 30 October 1947. A quick check with death records showed that he died in Kerrier, Cornwall, aged 74.

Which bit of information meant at least half an hour's work, because 1947 minus 74 years doesn't make 1874. So I checked for his birth and couldn't find it mentioned anywhere between 1870-1875. In fact, there's no record of anyone called Aylward Dingle ever being born. I could see my evening slipping away.

Here's where luck plays a part in the story: last month, a Bermuda newspaper called the Royal Gazette carried an article on the celebrations surrounding the 100th birthday of Muriel Ethel ("Bubbles") Gauntlett. Mrs. Gauntlett was born in Oxford in 1908 and was the daughter of... Captain Aylward Dingle. A quick search proved that Muriel Ethel Dingle was registered as being born in Headington, near Oxford. The article also mentioned Muriel's mum (Marion) and sister (Doris) who was two years older. And some family stories...

The Dingle family moved from Oxford to Staten Island, New York, when Muriel was about two years old, where her father pursued his career as an author of novels and magazine articles about the sea. "These were well received at the time and, apart from hardships during wartime, provided a good living for the family."

However...

In 1918, Captain Dingle became weary of trying to make a comfortable life for his family in a climate that was bitterly cold in the winter, often without the means to heat his home because of war-time shortages of fuel.

He began to long for a warmer, gentler climate in which to work and raise his family, and on August 13, 1918 he set sail for Bermuda in his small boat The Gauntlet, its name later having great significance in Bubbles's life.

Captain Dingle made his solo voyage to Bermuda accompanied only by his dog Trixie, and is believed to be the first man to have sailed this route single-handedly.

He reached Bermuda on September 9, much to the relief of his anxious family who had travelled to Bermuda a few weeks prior to this voyage on a converted destroyer.

Captain Dingle was near starvation when he was towed into Hamilton Harbour by the American Coast Guard, after enduring the most extreme hurricane conditions at sea which blew him off course, causing great delay and hardship that nearly took his life.

The Dingle family then settled in Bermuda where Captain Dingle did much of his writing on Marshall's Island. His two daughters were educated and later employed on the island. Muriel was married to Ernest Gauntlett (hence the comment above about the significance of the name).

Next port of call (there's a joke in there somewhere) was the immigration records for New York, which recorded the arrival of a Muriel Dingle and her older sister Doris on two occasions in 1911 and 1912. However, mum's name turned out to be Ethel M. Dingle rather than just Marion.

So is there any record of a Dingle marrying someone called Ethel Marion in the UK...? Why yes, there is: in 1904 Ethel Marion Tuckey married one Albert Edward Dingle. That's Albert, not Aylward.

In 1901, Albert Dingle appears in the census records as a 21-year-old able seaman in the Royal Navy, born in St. Clement's, Oxford..

In 1891, there are two Albert Dingles listed as being born in Oxford aged 11. Albert E. Dingle was the son of Robert C. and Sarah Dingle. Jamie Sturgeon has pointed me to Dingle's entry in Who Was Who in which "Aylward's" parents are named as Robert Charles Dingle and his wife Sarah Ann (nee Cotterell). In the 1881 census Robert C. is listed as being a "shopman / ropemaker", living with his wife Sarah, 4-year-old daughter Annie E. and 2-year-old son Albert E. Father and mother were married in Oxford in 1876, and there is an Albert Edward Dingle registered as being born in Oxford in 1879.

Who Was Who reveals that Dingle first went to sea at the age of 14 and commanded both sail and steam ship until the age of 40. He began writing for American magazines, eventually returning to England in 1930. As well as writing novels and short stories, he was a frequent broadcaster and sailed his own schooner yacht in ocean races. At various times in his life he built gasworks, managed a rope factory (perhaps his father's?), was footman for J. Pierpont Morgan (the American financier), sold dictionaries to Negroes living in New York and was a labourer in Thames Ironworks shipyard.

In 1944, and now living in Cornwall, Dingle married for a second time, to Dorothy A ("Nan") Fessenden. He died only a few years later.

However, this still doesn't explain why his second marriage and death were registered as Aylward or his age at death was listed as 74. Was Aylward an official change of name? And if I'm right about Albert being born in 1879, he would have been 68 or thereabouts when he died. Mysteries for another day.

Ships of Strife (Wildside Press, 2006)

UPDATE: 18 September 2008

I stumbled upon the following biographical sketch by Dingle which appeared in a column entitled "The Men Who Make The Argosy" dated 12 November 1932.

I was born in Oxford, England, of parents who not only thought poverty no crime, but actually seemed to be proud of it. I ate bread and lard for my school luncheon for a good many years, wore my father’s old togs and my mother’s old shoes. My father was a retired whaler turned itinerant preacher, and was a hard old man.

All the school I got was common day school to the age of fourteen. Then the sea. I sailed in British ships for twenty-two years from boy to master. Commanded two steamers in the Cape and Australian trade, and one bark. Was mate of a full-rigged ship, second mate of another, quartermaster in the only windjammer I ever knew to carry one, and able seaman in yet another famous old clipper.

After nearly a quarter of a century afloat, and five shipwrecks, I had a steamer blown up under me, and thereafter failed to connect with the sea as master, and my eyes were too poor to go through the grades again; so I had to seek new employment at the age of nearly forty, with a small family to take care of. A friend in New York wrote me in England that I could get work in America; so I sold my home, left the cash with the family, and worked my passage over on a steamer as a waiter.

I washed automobiles for Gimbel’s for two dollars a night, and was fired because I fell asleep in a car after trying to sell dictionaries in Jersey all day. I packed groceries for one of New York’s biggest stores, at ten dollars a week.

I got a job sweeping out offices; and the boss persuaded me to go to his country home and run a little motorboat. He bribed me by advancing the money to get my family out, and I fell. I was freight wrestler and milkman, had to keep in order a stinking motorboat for which I had only hatred, and was expected to polish brass and varnish, carry express bundles and cases of milk, and look like a yachtsman. I wasn’t fired; I was taken back to the office, which was part of the bargain I had insisted upon. I earned seventy-five dollars a month, running a calculating machine and a battery of files.

Two years that lasted. Then at a dinner to which I was invited, where every man had to tell a story about himself, an editor man told me I ought to write, and he’d like to see something.

I wrote something. He said it was fine, but he couldn’t read it. I’d have to type it. I had never seen a typewriter near enough to touch it. I tried to get the thing typed. Cheapest offer was five dollars. I had no five dollars, and didn’t believe the story would bring that much money. Saw an ad offering ten days’ free trial on a reconstructed typewriter, and sent for it. Took all the ten days to pick out a card saying I had received it. Then I asked for more time, because I had not been able to try it out. They gave me ten days more. I wrote the story in that time and got sixty-five dollars for it! Typewriter cost thirty-five dollars. Paid for it and started as a pukka author. Sent my family home out of the first money I earned that would pay their second cabin fare. They could live on one third the cost over there.

Then I sat down to write in deadly earnest, and did not sell a line for thirteen months. I sold everything I owned, the collection of years of far wandering, to keep the family going. For myself, at one time I lived for a week on fifteen cents worth of beans, boiled without salt, and nothing else.

Nobody told me why every story I wrote failed, until another editor man said he’d like to see me. He gave me a hint which opened my eyes to the fact that fiction is made, not born, and I soon began to sell stories. I have two daughters who are both threatening matrimony. I have published five books.

I also note that Black Dog Books are shortly to put out a collection of Dingle's pulp stories under the title Old Sails.

PUBLICATIONS

Novels as Captain Dingle
Gold Out of Celbes. Boston, Little, Brown & Co., 1920.
Wide Waters. New York, Brentano's, c.1924.
The Flying Kestrel. New York, G. H. Watt, 1927; London, William Heinemann, 1928.
Fathomless. New York, Henry Waterson Co., 1927; London, Stanley Paul & Co., 1930.
Sea Worthy. London, Stanley Paul & Co., 1929; Boston & New York, Houghton Mifflin Co., 1930.
Tares. London, Stanley Paul & Co., 1930.
The Silver Ship. London, Stanley Paul & Co., 1931.
Ships of Strife. Rockville, MD, Wildside Press, 2006.

Collections
Out of the Wreck. Rockville, MD, Wildside Press, 2005.
Old Sails. Normal, IL, Black Dog Books,

Novels as "Sinbad"
Red Saunders. The chronicle of a genial outcast. London, G. G. Harrap & Co., 1934; as Salt of the Sea, Red Saunders, Philadelphia, J. B. Lippincott Co., 1934.
Yellow Half-Moons. London, George G. Harrap & Co., 1936.
Not Wisely. London, Stanley Paul & Co., 1936.
Mary, First Mate. London, Stanley Paul & Co., 1937.
Nor Breed Nor Birth. London, Stanley Paul & Co., 1937.
Mock Star. London, Stanley Paul & Co., 1938.
Nita of Martinique. London, Stanley Paul & Co., 1938.
Old Glory. London, Stanley Paul & Co., 1938.
Adrift. London, Stanley Paul & Co., 1939.
The Bomb Ship. London, Robert Hale, 1942.
Calamity Jock. London, Robert Hale, 1943.
Pirates May Fly. London, Robert Hale, 1943.
Desert Island Discord. London, 1944.
"Black Joker". London, Robert Hale, 1946.
The Age-Old Kingdom. London, Hutchinson & Co., 1947.
The Petrel's Path. London, Hutchinson & Co., 1947.
Reckless Tide. London, Robert Hale, 1947.
The Corpse Came Back. London, Robert Hale, 1948.
Out of the Blue. London, Hutchinson & Co., 1948.
Moonshine and Moses. London, Robert Hale, 1949.
Cave of Stars. London, Robert Hale, 1950.
Magnolia Island. London, Robert Hale, 1952.
Sargasso Sam. London, Robert Hale, 1952.
Sword of Tortuga. Beaufort, N.C., Pirate Privateer Productions, 1992.

Collections as "Sinbad"
Spin a Yarn, Sailor. London, George G. Harrap, 1934; Philadelphia, J. B. Lippincott Co., 1935.
Pipe All Hands!. London, George G. Harrap & Co., 1935; Philadelphia, J. B. Lippincott Co., 1935.
Sailors Do Care. London, George G. Harrap & Co., 1936.
She Stories. London, Avon, 1994.

Novels as Brian Cotterell
Sinister Eden. London, George G. Harrap & Co., 1934; Philadelphia, J. B. Lippincott Co., 1934.

Non-fiction
A Modern Sinbad: An Autobiography. London, G. G. Harrap & Co., Ltd., 1933; abridged [by J. Lennox Kerr], London, Guild Books, 1948; as Rough Hewn: The Autobiography of a modern Sinbad, New York, D. Appleton-Century Co., 1933.
Sinbad's Book of Pirates. London, G. G. Harrap & Co., 1935; Philadelphia, J. B. Lippincott Co., 1936.

(* My thanks to Jamie Sturgeon for the d/j of Out of the Blue.)

Rufus and Four D. Jones update

Couldn't help but notice that a couple of recent posts on blogs elsewhere are related to the series of Sixties newspaper strips I've been running here recently. The first one actually predates the series but has just added a follow-up.

Chris Duffy previously posted some excerpts from Rufus and Flook v Moses Maggot back in June. He's now added some more.

And Rod McKie has posted a nice long sampling of "Four D. Jones" by Peter Maddocks.

(* Thanks to Dirk Deppey at Journalista for the links.)

Comic Cuts

Last week seemed to be an unending round of proofing and rewriting that did finally come to an end late on Sunday night. The good news—and I presume it's good news because I've not heard anything since—is that the latest books from Don Lawrence Collection are now at the printers. These include the Karl the Viking box-set and the next two Storm—The Collection books. That's six books in all.

What else...? I've been chasing up a few last pictures for the Sci-Fi Art: A Graphic History book and am doing a couple of short pieces for another upcoming Ilex project due next March, called War Stories: A Graphic History.

The big task for the next couple of weeks is putting together the introductions for the next two Trigan Empire—The Collection volumes, namely volumes 1 and 12, which will complete the set reprinting all the strips by Mike Butterworth and Don Lawrence. We've been working on this since the summer of 2003, so it's the culmination of five years hard slog. That's a story for another day but I will just say that I've spent all day trying to explain how a tiny moon of Elekton was actually a space ship. For long-time fans of the strip, it all has something to do with the image at the top of the column... for everyone else, you'll just have to buy the book.

Talking about books you must buy...

The Hot-Shot Hamish Annual 2009. Black & White Publishing ISBN 978-1845022112, 2 October 2008.
Hot Shot Hamish is one of Britain's all-time most popular football comic heroes. For twenty years, the adventures of Hamish Balfour - the gentle giant with the hottest shot in the game - appeared in world famous comic strips in "Scorcher", "Tiger" and "Roy of the Rovers". It was the golden age of British comics and this brand new annual relives his greatest moments. When Hot Shot Hamish was brought from a remote island to play for big-time Princes Park FC, he soon became famous for hitting the ball so hard that it broke the net. With his massive frame, a football shirt that barely fitted, a slightly eccentric father and a pet sheep called McMutton, Hamish's adventures soon established him as a favourite on the terraces and beyond. And with other colourful characters like club manager Ian McWhacker and Scotland manager Mr McBossy, Hot Shot Hamish and his pals became football legends and heroes to the legions of fans who followed their every move both on and off the pitch."The Hot Shot Hamish Annual" relives Hamish's highlights in glorious technicolour for the very first time.
__Each comic strip has been hand-coloured to make this a unique and nostalgic must-read annual for football fans everywhere.

Captain Universe

On my dig around looking for information on the newspaper strips I've been running recently, I came across a couple of examples of a science fiction strip that appeared in the Daily Herald back in 1952. Judging by the numbering (it ran in issues Monday through Saturday), it began on 28 January 1952. I've no idea how long it ran for.

The artist was Terry Maloney who, sadly, died earlier this year. The anonymous author was Herbert James Campbell, who was at that time editing the science fiction magazine Authentic Science Fiction. Bert Campbell has proven somewhat elusive despite the wealth of information I've gathered on him over the years. He was born in London on 18 November 1925... but there doesn't seem to be a record of his birth. He was the son of Arthur Colin Campbell and his wife Lily Elizabeth (nee Hope)... but I can find no record of a marriage. The earliest record I can find for him is his marriage in 1949 to Eileen H. Lane in Lambeth (and there the official records list him as Herbert T. Campbell). In the 1950s he was living at 4 Harden Street, Woolwich SE18.

I'm sure there's a simple explanation why he is proving so elusive.

Masters of Fun & Thrills

Norman Wright & David Ashford have a new book out collecting together some of their popular Book and Magazine Collector articles on 'Great British Comics Artists'. The book contains essays on Geoff Campion, Roland Davies, Ron Embleton, D. C. Eyles, David Law, Hugh McNeill, John Millar Watt, Pat Nicholle, Eric Parker, Reg Perrott, Ken Reid, Sep. E. Scott, Ron Turner and Dudley D. Watkins. 214 pages, 100+ black & white illustrations, 8 pages of colour. Softback. Price £18.50.

I'll be picking up my copy at the upcoming ABC Show and will review it once I have a copy. But if you can't wait, drop Norman Wright a line (wrightnorman AT hotmail DOT com) for further information.

George Davies

Here's one of my own for Query Corner... who the heck was George Davies? He was a regular strip cartoonist in the Daily Express and Sunday Pictorial in the 1950s but I know absolutely nothing about him.

The earliest strip I know to be his is 'The Chirrups', a family humour strip which appeared in The Sunday Pictorial from around 1947.

'Kit Conquest' is a bit of an oddity as it had two artists working on it: the main artist was Jack Daniel, but Davies was brought in to draw the women in the strip. Davies obviously had something of a reputation for drawing girls as he also drew 'Penny' for the Sunday Pictorial in the 1950s.

He could also turn in a good adventure strip, and drew 'Flint of the Flying Squad' for the Daily Express in 1951-54. This was replaced by 'Dirk Storey' in 1954.

These handful of samples are all I have of his work.

(* Kit Conquest and Dirk Storey possibly © Northern & Shell Media Publications; The Chirrups possibly © MGM Ltd.)

Review: Modesty Blaise: Green Cobra

Green Cobra is the latest in Titans' Modesty Blaise reprint series. The 14 volumes have so far reprinted 46 stories, approaching the half-way mark as there were a total of 97 in all. The strip ran for almost 40 years and remained consistently brilliant through its whole run. The strength of the strip was its protagonists. When the strip opened in 1962, readers were introduced to Modesty, a war-orphan and former controller of a criminal network, now retired to London. In that first story, she is persuaded to use her contacts in the criminal world to help the British secret service, personified in the strip by the gentlemanly Sir Gerald Tarrant. Here, she enters the fray once again through blackmail; often it is for the thrill of excitement; other adventures can begin when her past catches up with her or she spies something that demands her involvement. When this happens, her first call is always to Willie Garvin, her right-hand man in the Network, also retired.

The two share a bond stronger than any other. They have complete and utter faith in each other, a trust forged by years of facing death side by side. There is no sexual tension between the two (they both have healthy love-lives with other partners) which is the common route for stories that have a male and female protagonist; they do, however, complete the other: strong where their partner is weak, smart when the other is distracted.

The latest book collects three strips from 1979-80 and concludes a period of change for the strip. Following the departure of Enrique Romero in 1978, the artwork was taken over by John M. Burns. A match made in heaven, you would think—Burns, one of the finest comic strip artists working in the UK on one of the best adventure strips being published. His first story was published in the previous volume, Yellowstone Booty, and the current volume contains what was, inexplicably, his last work on the strip.

Patrick Wright took over the strip on 27 September 1979
with strip 4768. Here we have Burns' interpretation of the
same sequence, followed by the published version by Wright.

Why was Burns given the boot? The answer to that is still a mystery: Charles Wintour, the editor of the Evening News which carried the strip, simply called up his cartoon editor, Gerald Lip, and ordered him to replace Burns immediately. Bardon Art, who represented Burns, put forward Pat Wright who was dropped in at the deep end, replacing Burns halfway through a story at short notice. It would take Wright a couple of weeks to find his feet—you can see that he starts to get comfortable with the strip once a number of new characters arrive. But however good Wright was as an artist (and I have fond memories of his 'Day of the Eagle' in Battle Picture Weekly and 'Hitler Lives' in Crunch!), his tenure on the strip lasted only one more story.

Four different artists in twenty months usually means that the strip is floundering around looking for direction. Thankfully, author Peter O'Donnell remained the backbone of the series he had created and carried the strip successfully through all these changes. The stories presented here are typical of the series: strong in both action and character. In the title story, Modesty is faced with a villainess called Pandora who may be more than a match for her and Sir Gerald's assistant, Fraser, comes to the fore and proves he is far more than the meek man he chooses to portray; in 'Eve and Adam', Modesty and Willie are deliberately marooned in a paradise valley and become mixed up in the search for a lost satellite capsule; and in 'Brethren of Blaise' the Blaise of the title was Merlin's tutor, the story involving a strange cult who believe that they can resurrect the ancient wizard of Camelot from fifteen hundred years of sleep.

Each story is briefly introduced by Peter O'Donnell and the volume opens with two introductory articles by Lawrence Blackmore, one discussing the artist changes, the second looking at a set of illustrations drawn by John M. Burns for a Swedish edition of O'Donnell's Pieces of Modesty, a collection of Modesty Blaise short stories.

Modesty Blaise: Green Cobra. Titan Book ISBN 978-1845764203, September 2008. Available now. A full list of Titan's Modesty Blaise reprints can be found in the Comics Bibliography store, as can a full list of Modesty Blaise novels.

Query Corner: Edward S. Hynes

"Dear mother, as you've advised me, I am constantly on my guard"

This week's query corner concerns a cartoonist from the 1930s and 1940s. Edward S. Hynes was active in the 1930s, '40s and '50s. The Internet reveals that he contributed to journals like London Opinion and was a regular cover artist for the early Men Only (when it was a pin-up mag).

Born in 1897, Hynes seems to have published only one book of cartoons, Cocktail Cavalcade, published by T. Werner Laurie in 1937. He died at his home at Bayfield, Newquay, Co. Clare, Eire, on 12 May 1982. His funeral took place at Corcomroe Abbey.

Anyone know anything else about him?

(* the pic. at the top of the column is from an original art board sold by Christie's in 2004.)

Daily Sketch strips 21 July 1969

The last episode of this brief series of British newspaper strips from the 1960s comes from the Daily Sketch, 21 July 1969.

'Wack' was a workshy workman, orignally created for the Sketch in 1968 but subsequently transferred to The Sun. Hugh Morren (b. 24 May 1921, not 1925 as recorded elsewhere around the net) is said to have been inspired by his own employment in a Manchester factory. Morren was a regular contributor to Dandy and Beezer from the mid-1950s on, drawing 'Just Jimmy', 'The Smasher' and 'Calamity Jane' amongst others. 'Wack' was a popular export to Europe where he was known as 'Tommy Wack'.

'Tiffany Jones' was based around the adventures of a model, written by Jenny Butterworth and drawn by Pat Tourret, one of the hugely talented Tourret sisters but is barely known today. 'Tiffany Jones' was enormously popular in her day (they even made a movie, albeit a lousy one, of her adventures). She deserves to be rediscovered.

'The Seekers' by Les Lilley & John M. Burns began in 1966 and ran until 1971. I've not read a huge amount of the story but it would appear never to have quite lived up to its potential. Wikipedia has a pretty good entry on the strip.

'Focus on Fact' was another factual feature that was subsequently published as a series of books by Star Books, titles including: 1 The World of Invention (1977), 2 The Story of Sport (1977), 3 The Psychic World (1977), 4 The Story of Christmas (1977), 5 Unsolved Mysteries (1978) and 6 The Story of Flight (1978). Neville Randall, the author, was clearly interested in mysteries of the psychic world as he wrote an earlier book on parapsychology, Life After Death (1960). Gary Keane drew the strip for around 14 years, also drawing 'Gary Player's Golf Class' for the Daily Express and 'Plain Sailing' for the Evening News. He later left comic strips to concentrate on illustration and nowadays is a very popular painter of sporting figures.