S. Strickland-Clark

This is going to be a short 'n' sweet entry as I haven't found anyone with this combination of initial and surname. Strickland-Clark is quite an uncommon hyphenated surname.

STRIPOGRAPHY

To the Death, illus. Eduardo Feito (Battle Picture Library 202, May 1965)
Danger Point, illus. Ferdinando Tacconi (Battle Picture Library 241, Mar 1966)
The Old Guard, illus. Fred Holmes (Battle Picture Library 247, Apr 1966)

Ellis Evans

Ellis W. Evans is another of the authors associated with the war libraries published by Fleetway Publications who has proved elusive. Other than that he lived at 59 Gordon Mansions, Torrington Place, London W.C.1 in around 1961-63, I've not found anything about him. He had a brief career, mostly writing for War Picture Library, notably one of the stories illustrated by Hugo Pratt. I should add that writers credits are far from complete for many comics and picture libraries so this list is likely to be very incomplete.

STRIPOGRAPHY

Lone Commando, illus. Jorge Moliterni (War Picture Library 36, Feb 1960)
Pathfinder, illus. Hugo Pratt (War Picture Library 40, Mar 1960)
Sky High, illus. F. Solano Lopez (Air Ace Picture Library 5, Mar 1960)
Raven Over Berlin, illus. Nevio Zeccara (War Picture Library 44, Apr 1960)
Breaking Point, illus. F. A. Philpott (War Picture Library 64, Sep 1960)
The Whispering Death, illus. Nevio Zeccara (War Picture Library 70, Oct 1960)
Divided We Fall, illus. Nevio Zeccara (War Picture Library 127, Dec 1961)

Note: "Lone Commando" was reprinted in Unleash Hell.

(* The cover at the top of the column is from the original artwork by Nino Caroselli for War Picture Library 44 and is © IPC Media.)

Gordon M. Coombs

Another scriptwriter for the Fleetway war libraries about whom nothing is known. He lived at 75 Mount Pleasant, Ruislip around 1964/70 and may have subsequently moved to nearby Pinner, but I've no confirmation of that.

Gordon Coombs seems to have begun his comics career writing for Express Weekly where he penned 'Glory of the Fireships' and its sequels (1957-58), 'Battle Brothers' (1957-58). He appears to have departed from the paper around Spring 1958 and became one of the regular writers of 'Battler Britton' for Thriller Picture Library from 1959. I've no information on whether he also wrote BB yarns for the weekly Sun. A handful of full-length war stories followed for War Picture Library in 1959-61 but I've found no further trace of his work.

Despite an extensive search in the death records I have found only one possible candidate: Gordon Maurice Coombs, born 2 October 1919, died in Somerset in 2001. Unfortunately, I've no way of knowing whether this is Gordon Coombs the writer.

STRIPOGRAPHY

Tank Alert, illus. Annibale Casabianca (War Picture Library 29, Nov 1959)
Fix Bayonets, illus. Fred Holmes (War Picture Library 34, Jan 1960)
Operation Fury, illus. Harry Farrugia (War Picture Library 46, Apr 1960)
The Voice of the Guns, illus. Renzo Calegari (War Picture Library 79, Dec 1960)
Desert Furies, illus. Aurelio Bevia (War Picture Library 102, Jun 1961)

Comic Cuts

October is turning into something of a mad month with half a dozen different projects all vying for attention. A bit stressful but in the long term that's good because what I write now pays for Christmas.

The one negative to all this is that I'm not really putting in the time to promote the books that are coming out now. The response to the latest bunch of books out from Carlton has been tremendous. Both Rick Random, Space Detective and High Noon seem to have hit the mark and I've had some great feedback. They're not the kind of books that get reviewed all over the place but certainly the Rick Random volume has generated a couple: Lew Stringer, on his Blimey! blog, had only two citicisms: that the strips weren't dated and that some pages haven't reproduced very well, although "I must emphasize that overall the reproduction is very good and better than some of the repro work in the War Picture Library collection last year."

Rick has also had a single 4-star review on Amazon from someone who says it's "a must have for the science fiction comic collector!"

The High Noon volume is a harder sell. In the same way that "most people" know that SF and fantasy will only sell to geeks, "most people" know that the Western is dead. Far from it. Borders, Waterstones and other large bookshops may not have a section dedicated to the genre but you'll still find a good selection in any British library and online magazines like Black Horse Extra dedicated to news of the market. Selling the book to the customer isn't the problem. Selling it to the market a little trickier. But I hear it's in Borders so Carlton seem to have cracked that one.

Today I received the gorgeous slip-cased set of Karl the Viking. Rob van Bavel has done his usual bang-up job putting these together. They're the most handsome of all the British reprints that have been coming out these past few years, admittedly expensive but the price reflects the quality of the books. I posted the foreword to the four-book set a few days ago which sums up my feelings about the strip, one of Don Lawrence's finest moments, along with covers for all four volumes. I think of this as the kind of thing you might ask for as a 'big' Christmas present. I don't think you'll be disappointed.

So... what have I been up to? Well, deadlines have been coming thick and fast. There are two Trigan Empire books due before the end of the year for which I've drafted one set of introductions and a long (5,000 word) essay about the creative team—Mike Butterworth and Don Lawrence—behind the story. I'm about half-way through the second set of introductions for the other volume.

Then there are two volumes for next year for Carlton. The first is a third War Picture Library collection to be called Up 'n' at 'em, I think; that's should be amongst Prion's spring releases. And second (at last!) is a collection of Air Ace Picture Library stories which I'm really pleased about. One of my favourite libraries. If the selection I've made is given the OK, it will show off the talents of a range of artists, amongst them Ian Kennedy, Joe Colquhoun and Mike Western. That one's due next autumn.

I've only just finished writing up the selections for these so it's early days yet. I'll post more news as and when I hear anything.

The other deadline rapidly approaching is for a dummy for a book, the kind of thing that's used to sell the book to a publisher. I can't say anything on this one... it's only the first glint of an idea for a book as yet and I don't want to jinx it.

I'm thinking of taking it easier in November, maybe getting some sleep. The only thing I have lined up so far is another talk at the ComICA event that Paul Gravett runs at the ICA. David Roach and I will be on a panel together again, hopefully joined this year by David Leach to talk about the various books that have been appearing in the run-up to Christmas. There's also a second part to the talk where John & Patricia Aggs, Gary Northfield and Sarah McIntyre will be taking a look at new British comic The DFC and other new publications.

That's on Sunday the 23rd November. We're on at 2 o'clock in the afternoon. I'll be sticking around for the rest of the evening's talks, which include "a romp through modern X-rated comics" hosted by Tim Pilcher and a reappraisal of Jack Kirby. So if you want to go to those two, it's only an extra three quid and come and see us. Well worth the price just to watch us struggling to get PowerPoint working on a laptop.

The ICA event has a lot more on offer. I'll post full details shortly.

I'll close on what must be the most feeble attempt to stir up a controversy. The Sunday
Times last weekend ran a piece on how a "New Christmas annual starring the politically incorrect hero causes outrage". The annual in question is the The Hot-Shot Hamish Annual 2009, just released by Black & White. One of the funniest strips ever, the Hebridean shepherd-turned-footballer "has been accused of scoring an own goal by peddling an insulting and outdated image of Highlanders" and that the annual "has been criticised by politicians for portraying him as a dimwitted bumpkin."

There follows a handful of quotes from the usual suspects: a rent-a-quote MP, a football club manager who says "This type of character has never existed on the islands" and another who says "Some of the guys who have played for us over the years have been sheep farmers and looked a bit like Hamish".

All I can suggest is that you buy the book and decide for yourself whether it's politically incorrect; you are at least guaranteed a good laugh.

(* Covers from Air Ace Picture Library © IPC Media; Hot-Shot Hamish © Egmont.)

G. R. Parvin

A relatively minor contributor to the war libraries, G. R. Parvin had, it would appear, served during the Second World War during which he was captured and made a P.O.W. by the Japanese. His experiences were told in the book Yasumai (1958). At least one of his later War Picture Library contributions, The Long March, was set around the Railroad of Death in Burma.

Rol Parvin (right) with his brother John shortly before heading overseas

George Roland Parvin was born in Lewisham on 20 July 1917, the eldest surviving son of Leslie George Parvin, a metal turner, and his wife Elsie Isabella Mary (nee Hills), who had married at St James parish church, Hatcham, on 4 August 1913. Rol (as he was known to his family) married Elsie G. Binley in Dartford, Kent, in 1941 and had children Roslyn P. , Claire Jacqueline (1947-1968) and Mark Roland.

Parvin was a director of IPC Business Press (Sales & Distribution) Ltd. and was made a MBE in the Queen's Birthday Honour list in June 1982. He lived at 25 Blessington Road, Lee Green S.E.13 [1953] before moving to 46 Sidney Road, Beckenham [1955/65], 71 Wickham Way, Beckenham [1966/76], 14 The Fieldings, Forest Hill S.E.23 [1979/83].

He died from cancer in Bromley, Kent, on 29 December 1997, aged 80.

STRIPOGRAPHY
Black Axe, the Saxon Avenger, illus. various (Buster, c.1960s)
Cottonwool Commandos, illus. Martin Salvador (War Picture Library 137, Mar 1962)
Company of Heroes (War Picture Library 147, May 1962)
The Long March, illus. Ramon de la Fuente (War Picture Library 206, Aug 1963)
Traitor Brand, illus. Aurelio Bevia (Battle Picture Library 125, Oct 1963)
Point of Impact, illus. Puezzo (Giant War Picture Library 40, Mar 1965)
Assume Command, illus. Eduardo Feito (Battle Picture Library 246, Apr 1966)

(* The illustration at the top is from the original artwork by Pino Dell'Orco for War Picture Library 206 and is © IPC Media. With thanks to Denny Lien for spotting the news that Parvin was made an MBE. And thanks to David Parvin for additional information and the photo.)

As Others See Us

"There's plenty of saucy sizzle in the comic books for sale, too, with a large dose of violence thrown into the mix.

"That doesn't mean there isn't any variety.

"It's not just books about axe-wielding maniacs, you'll find here.

"There are also stories about axe-wielding zombies."

Lorne Jackson of the Sunday Mercury (6 October) reports from the Birmingham International Comic Show. She may not be able to string a paragraph longer than a sentence together but she clearly knows what comics are all about. And, apparently, it took Mike Collins drawing her in Doctor Who Magazine to turn Billie Piper into a sex bomb. Genetics and a push-up bra had nothing to do with giving the "chipmunk-faced cherub" her allure. It's all down to Mike. "But Mike is no plastic surgeon," reveals Lorne. "He's a comic book artist."

You can find the whole sorry feature under the heading "Lycra-clad women and axe wielding maniacs at comedy show" at the Sunday Mercury website.

(* Screen grab from the above linked article © Midland Newspapers Ltd.)

Behind the Scenes at Look-In: The Best of the '80s

* Alistair McGown offers an insightful look behind the scenes at the creation of one of the latest books to hit the shelves from Prion...

LOOK-IN: THE BEST OF THE 80s

When we came to thinking of formats for the original Look-in Best of collection, it was me who suggested that rather than put together a general purpose collection we instead split the book into definite decades. After all, I reckoned, no one person grew up with Look-in over a 20 year span from 1971-1989 and so the nostalgia hit would always be diluted by half a book the reader wasn’t that familiar with. Why not open with a '70s collection and then hold fire on the '80s, which could make a good sequel with greater appeal to a different demographic (see I can do this Marketing speak too even though I don't have an expense account or a prepaid 3G mobile or a Blackberry). And the '90s? Right from the off I felt the last few years of the magazine were beyond the pale in terms of (lack of) quality, while regarding plain old circulation its readership was then down from highs of 200-250,000 to under 100,000.

So the '80s sequel is now with us I'm delighted to say. I think we were much later into Spring than last time around before the book was greenlit, no doubt for umpteen interconnected logistical reasons as Carlton assembled their 2008 Prion roster. It must have been into March 2008 before Graham Kibble-White called me to confirm volume 2 was go. Overnight, just because I had a bit of time on my hands for a change, I drew up a list of logistical strip possibilities: what I had (a lot) and what I would recommend. This was just as well because as the deadlines became apparent, Graham was within days arranging to zoom up from London to see the McGown archive in Glasgow.

Graham arrived struggling with some virus thing so we cut back our two days' solid back issue flicking into a day and a half and sat for about eight or nine hours on Saturday going through about 300 issues. I think I took two hours off to go and watch an important Rangers match in the pub but, hey, they were my back issues and I knew them pretty well—it was up to Graham to select what he thought represented the essence of the '80s.

I'd always felt at the back of my mind that the collection would be biased towards the first half of the '80s (indeed the first few years of that decade) but I let Graham go ahead with what he wanted. I think he came to the same conclusion I did - the real quality was still there, particularly on the comic strip side, within the earlier years. For me, I felt Ashes to Ashes, then on TV, was a big if subconscious influence on making us hone in on 1981—looking back through the book I think '81 looms large! But it was a great year to my mind, a little while before UK pop culture was swamped by the Americana that flushed through the global conduit of Live Aid.

The 1981 issues were favourites of mine—most of my issues were my own from the time as I was addicted to Look-in around that year. The SF strips of the early '80s were particular favourites: Buck Rogers, Into the Labyrinth and Star Fleet. In the end we decided the latter two were too cult for this collection and although there was a Buck strip one episode-shorter we could have run, the one we went with—a surreal dream piece with a Seventh Seal feel - was a personal fave and I was delighted I got that in there. It was a pleasure to scan and restore this one and really appreciate every nuance of Arthur Ranson's work.

Again I am sure there will be cries of, "Oh, how could they miss (insert name of personal nostalgic fixation)?!" but believe us, everything is there for a reason and was fought over tooth and nail before we reached a final running order. Even then, marketing and I had been through numerous iterations to reach a cover design concept (we dropped an early dummy utilising a 1982 Arnaldo Putzu montage because the Prion sales team weren’t sure of the inclusion of The Fall Guy or Magnum PI on the front) and so a bespoke montage was thought the way to go. This was dictated to some degree by the limited availability of decent cover artwork—with Look-in pulling its trademark painted covers by 1982 we had much less to work with. Eventually we came up with a roster of faces with sufficient iconic appeal—Adam Ant, Buck, Worzel, Metal Mickey and Debbie Harry was our eventual compromise. Problem was that not all of these names were adequately reflected inside and so there was a little reshuffle of content at that late stage - I was able to source a none-more-1981 piece on Ant fans off the top of my head (I used to have this on my wall, aged 10—'Ant Rap' was the first single I bought and Prince Charming my first album).

I initially havered over which logo we should use on the cover—should we go with the best-known original logo (which endured from January 1971 to September 1981) or go with one of the shorter-lived crazily '80s ones? Graham said outright we should "Go '80s" and so, much use of the American Typewriter font later, he was proved absolutely right in that decision.

What we've come up with I hope not only reflects a decade for which Graham and I have inbuilt fondness but will also show some comic fans that Look-in in the '80s still had genuine quality when it came to strip art in particular - with great names such as Mike Noble, Arthur Ranson and Bill Titcombe still plying their trade and one or two top drawer newcomers such as Maureen and Gordon Gray being added to the art pool. The '70s is seen as the magazine's heyday undoubtedly, but this could be an eye-opener for some. Yeah, I know, just how good is that Five Star strip ...?!

Look-In: The Best of the Eighties, edited by Graham Kibble-White. Prion (ISBN 978-1853756863, 6 October 2008).

Eagle Annual of the Cutaways

THE EAGLE ANNUAL OF THE CUTAWAYS

Reviewed by Steve Winders

The Eagle Annual of the Cutaways is the second publication by Orion Books to be edited by Daniel Tatarsky which reprints material from the original Eagle comic of the 1950s and '60s. Last year’s book focused on the entire contents of the fifties Eagle and included single episodes from a wide range of strip stories and features. This year the focus is on Eagle’s famous ‘cutaway’ drawings of trains, aeroplanes, ships, motor vehicles and outstanding feats of engineering. The book reprints 141 of these drawings, with examples from the whole life of Eagle and includes work by Leslie Ashwell Wood, J. H. Batchelor, Roy Cross, Laurence Dunn, Walkden Fisher, Geoffrey Wheeler, Hubert Redmill, Gerald Palmer, Bruce Cornwell, Charles Hurford, John S. Smith, Paul B. Mann and others.

The drawings from the fifties are printed across two pages, as of course they were in Eagle, but in Eagle they were printed across the centre spread whereas in the book the spine occasionally obscures part of the middle of the drawing. To be fair there are very few pictures that suffer notable loss in the spine and it is clear that care has been taken to minimise this, but a previous collection, Denis Gifford’s 1988 Eagle Book of Cutaways was more successful in avoiding spinal loss. While Gifford’s book took the (letterbox) shape of the cutaway drawings of the fifties, The Eagle Annual of the Cutaways takes the approximate shape and size of the Eagle Annuals and generally reprints two cutaways across each double page to Gifford’s one. Consequently the cutaways in Gifford’s book were printed larger than in the new publication, but were still slightly smaller than in the Eagle comic. The pictures in the new book are about two thirds the size of the original, which sometimes makes the explanatory text boxes quite difficult to read, given that the text was rather small in the Eagle itself. The quality of reproduction of the drawings is also very slightly inferior to Gifford’s book, but should not spoil a reader’s enjoyment or appreciation of them. However Gifford’s collection numbers only 46 drawings and, apart from a cutaway of Dan Dare’s spaceship ‘Anastasia’ produced by members of Frank Hampson’s team, were exclusively by Ashwell Wood. While his drawings are excellent, so are those by other artists and it is good to see a lot of them in the new book.

The page size and shape of the new book also allows for single page cutaways from the sixties Eagle to be reproduced easily and obviously these suffer no spinal loss. While many aspects of the sixties Eagle are not considered to maintain the high standards of the fifties version, this is certainly not the case with the cutaway drawings and, although in the very last years of Eagle the drawings were changed to black and white, these are also worthy of reproduction and several are featured at the end of the book.

Also reproduced inside the front and back covers of the new book are eighteen examples of cutaways taken from surviving original artwork, without the information boxes. These are much smaller than the originals with three printed on each page, but they reveal the sharp clarity of the original art and are well worth including in the book. One of these, a drawing of a family cabin cruiser by Ashwell Wood, shows a character with his face painted out. Later in the book the published version shows the figure substantially altered, with a restored face and a better pose, indicating how an artist seeking perfection could make alterations by gluing small improvements onto his work.

The new book does not print the dates of the original publications of each of the cutaways. This would have been a welcome inclusion, as many drawings feature new ideas and innovations and it would have been interesting to date them as Gifford’s book did. However the new book makes maximum use of its space and pictures fill most pages almost from top to bottom, leaving the tiniest margins and no room for additional information.

The book begins with an interesting preface by Colin Frewin, the copyright holder of the Eagle name and much of its content. He recounts the story of Eagle’s publication of a cutaway of a nuclear submarine, which was so accurate in its speculations that the Government almost served a ‘D’ notice on Eagle, banning its publication! The preface is followed by an introduction by Jonathan Glancey, the Architecture critic of the Guardian newspaper. Although this article begins with an unfortunate misprint, stating that ‘Eagle Cutaways’ as opposed to ‘Eagle’ was the world’s best boys’ comic, the rest of the piece shows that Glancey has a great knowledge of the Eagle and the period in which it was produced.

Daniel Tatarsky included more than twenty cutaway drawings in his Eagle Annual of the Fifties and only two are repeated in the new collection. He has also chosen very few of the examples which appear in Gifford’s book, so most of the cutaways in this book are reproduced for the first time since their publication in Eagle. In addition to selecting the drawings, Tatarsky contributes several paragraphs of informative commentary spread through the annual, which will be of particular benefit to readers who do not remember the original Eagle, as a book of technical pictures of such high quality should appeal to a wider audience than Eagle enthusiasts. However as with last year’s Eagle Annual of the Fifties the book has been given an artificially ‘distressed’ appearance with apparently damaged corners and tears on the cover and yellowed marks on the margins of inside pages to suggest wear and tear. This begs the question of whether next year’s Eagle Annual of the Sixties will be slightly less distressed to indicate its more recent origins! In my opinion these aging marks are completely unnecessary in this book and may even conspire against sales to a more technically minded audience. This would be a pity as it is a most interesting book that has an appeal beyond nostalgia.

The Eagle Annual of the Cutaways, ed. Daniel Tatarsky. Orion ISBN 978-1409100140, 18 September 2008.

George Thomson (1921-2008)

Lord Thomson of Monifieth, George Morgan Thomson, born in Monifieth, on the outskirts of Dundee, on 16 January 1921, who died in London on Friday, 3 October, was unrelated to the famous Thomson family of publishers. He was the son of James Thomson, a clerk who worked in the jute industry, and his wife Caroline. Educated at Grove Academy, Dundee, he began working for the famous Dundee-based D. C. Thomson publishing company at the age of 16, earning 15/- a week as a sub-editor on The Rover and the newly launched The Dandy Comic, whilst also reporting for the company's daily newspapers.

In 1940, Albert Barnes, the founding editor of The Dandy, joined the Royal Navy and the position of editor went to George Thomson for nine months before he too was called up. The wartime editorial chair then went to John Low, editor of The Rover and brother of R. D. Low, managing editor of all of Thomson's juvenile publications.

After serving with the R.A.F., George Thomson decided to leave Thomsons, instead becoming assistant editor of the long-established, although shakily financed, socialist weekly, Forward, based in Glasgow. He became editor in 1948 and oversaw the magazine's move to London, where it folded in 1953.

Thomson became MP for Dundee East in 1952 and thereafter followed a political career. He was a Labour MP in 1955, becoming junior foreign secretary in Harold Wilson's 1964 Labour government. After the party's defeat in 1970, he became shadow defence spokesman but resigned in 1972 over disagreement's about Labour's policies towards Europe. Conservative Prime Minister Edward Heath appointed him to the European Commission.

He was made a life peer in 1977 and was later chairman of the Independent Broadcasting Authority (1981-88). In 1989 he joined the Liberal Democrats and was the party's spokesman on foreign affairs and broadcasting.

Obituaries: The Times (6 October); Daily Telegraph (6 October); The Independent (6 October); The Guardian (6 October).

Diana M. Garbutt

One of the curiosities we discovered when compiling the information that went into The War Libraries was that one of the contributors to War, Battle, Air Ace and War at Sea was a Miss D. M. Garbutt. Further research has revealed that she also wrote 'Battler Britton' and 'Dick Daring' stories for Thriller Picture Library and, in the early 1980s, contributed a handful of stories to D. C. Thomson's Commando.

Sadly, I know little about her. Diana Muriel Garbutt was born in 1932 and the earliest story by her so far traced is "Battler Britton & the Convoy of Peril", published in Thriller Picture Library in 1958, when she was in her mid-twenties. She was not the only woman to write for Thriller, as Joan Whitford was already a regular. She was, however, the only female, as far as I know, to then become an irregular contributor to the war libraries.

As Diana M. Garbutt she wrote a single novel, Black Warrior (London, Abelard-Schuman, 1969), about a young boy and a buffalo calf, set in the foothills of the Himalayas.

Miss Garbutt lived in Scarborough, Yorkshire, where she died in 1993, at the early age of 60.

(* The cover shown at the top illustrated one of Miss Garbutt's stories, 'Those in Peril', War Picture Library 73 (1960). The illustration, taken from the original artwork, is by Allessandro Biffignandi and is © IPC Media.)

Crackers Annual

Another selection of annual covers from the archive I'm trying to build up. Crackers Annual ran from 1932-40, with covers dated 1933 to 1941, so our little gallery is incomplete... if you can help with scans of the missing issues—1935, 1936—please drop me a line.

(* Crackers Annual © IPC Media.)

Karl the Viking

After a lot of sweat and toil, I'm pleased to say that the Karl the Viking 4-book set is finally a reality. Long-time readers will know that I was involved with writing introductory material over quite a period, starting way back in February 2007, when the book was planned for that summer. Various delays meant that I didn't actually finish writing the introduction until the end of April this year. We finally finished writing captions and proofing all the books (which involved a lot of swearing thanks to the post office) in September. And now it's about to arrive back from the printers. Amazon have it listed and, from my perspective, all I have to do now is look forward to seeing copies and enjoying a good read.

To celebrate their imminent appearance, I'm posting the foreword I wrote for the books as it covers pretty much everything I have to say about how good the stories are. At the bottom of the page you'll find scans of all four covers and ISBN details for the books.

Foreword

Karl the Viking was one of the most remarkable comic strips to appear in a British comic in the early 1960s, its memory far outlasting the four years it ran. In Europe, the stories were reprinted in weekly titles and collected into albums, giving the strip a measure of permanence which it never achieved in its home country, though Karl—in the guise of Rolf, in the retitled 'Swords of the Sea Wolves', and as Erik the Viking—was partly reprinted a number of times in the 1960s and 1970s.

The strip has been out of circulation in Britain for thirty years, yet it still holds a fascination for comic fans who may have the odd episode in their collection. Word of mouth, usually amongst fans of the strip's artist Don Lawrence, has raised awareness of Karl the Viking even amongst collectors who have never seen an episode.

Legends were made of ancient warriors from tales of their derring-do, carried from camp fire to camp fire by story tellers who wove truth and myth together to create a folklore that would eventually become the earliest written records. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, the earliest manuscript of which dates from the 9th century, recorded Viking incursions onto the British mainland from over 100 years earlier. The Norse and Icelandic sagas relating events from the 10th and 11th centuries, were mostly written in the 12th to 14th centuries, so there is something satisfyingly apt that, here in the 21st century, the legendary stature of Karl the Viking has been passed on from fan to fan in the ancient oral tradition.

Karl's saga ran for thirteen adventures in the pages of the British weekly comic Lion between October 1960 and September 1964, a total of 205 episodes plus appearances in the Lion Annual which added another four stories to the canon—five if you count a later yarn featuring Rolf and six if you count a text story featuring Erik, although these latter two were written some years after the original Karl series came to an end. Quite where you draw the line with 'canonical' stories is almost impossible to say.

In preparing the set of books you now hold in your hands, the publisher had the good fortune to work from many of the original art boards. Since being drawn, the artwork had spent much of its time travelling, first to Holland where it was relettered in Dutch, then back to England where some pages were relettered yet again for reprinting. Over the past twenty years, it journeyed from one storeroom to another, sometimes stacked on shelves in warehouses, sometimes on pallets in disused buildings. It finally came to rest—and to light—in a warehouse in Camden Town, London, where IPC Media, who owned the artwork at the time, hired a researcher to catalogue the remaining boards. In all, 258 boards had survived, some stories missing only a handful of pages, some being almost entirely missing. The only complete story was that of 'The Fallen Meteorite', drawn not by the strip's main artist, Don Lawrence, but a fill-in tale with art by C. E. Drury.

Don Lawrence Collection publisher Rob van Bavel travelled to London in March 2006 to scan the entire collection of surviving pages and these have been used as the basis for this set. Other pages have been scanned from original film, large photocopies made during the Eighties, printing proofs and the best copies of Lion available, all extensively cleaned up to provide the best possible reproduction. Where lettering was missing from artwork, this has been scanned from the comics and dropped in to make the pages as authentic to the original printed pages as possible

Rereading these stories, I was struck by their quality. Nostalgia has a way of editing out or justifying the weaknesses of the comic strips you remember most fondly from childhood. With Karl, which I first read when it was reprinted as Erik the Viking in Smash!, I am delighted to say that it is as good as I remember it, a real page-turner of an adventure that lives up to its legend. Rescuing Karl from the obscurity of its weekly appearance in a long-gone British comic has been a pleasure and, whilst we no longer pass on tales around camp fires, or even central heating radiators, I hope that readers of these volumes will continue to spread the word and introduce the next generation of fans to the saga of Karl the Viking.

Karl the Viking is available in a box-set edition containing:

• Karl the Viking Vol. 1: The Sword of Eingar. Don Lawrence Collection ISBN 978-9088860324, October 2008.
• Karl the Viking Vol. 2: The Powers of Helvud. Don Lawrence Collection ISBN 978-9088860348, October 2008.
• Karl the Viking Vol. 3: Island of the Monsters. Don Lawrence Collection ISBN 978-9088860362, October 2008.
• Karl the Viking Vol. 4: Quest of the Long Ships. Don Lawrence Collection ISBN 978-9088860386, October 2008.

The Art of War

The Art of War

Review by Tony L. Lear

From James May's foreword and on through 400 pages of superb artwork, this is very much a re-run of last year's Aarrgghh! It's War but with a title that won't make you cringe with embarrassment while you're trying to purchase it.

James May, we learn in the new volume, has managed to buy one of the covers that was included in last year's collection. Meanwhile, editor David Roach throws caution to the wind in his introductions and lets us know which artists are his favourites and why. You can see how impressed he is by Giorgio De Gaspari's draughtmanship and ability to capture moments of excitement and Jordi Penalva's rugged heroes in dramatic situations. May enthusiastically points to the sheer artistry displayed by the creators of these covers while Roach tries to bring some context to them whilst showing no less enthusiasm.

There's much to be enthusiastic about. The book contains hundreds of covers from the War, Battle, Air Ace, War at Sea, Thriller and Fleetway Super libraries, many of them taken from original art boards, others from the comics themselves. The original artwork is fantastic to see and the current book is printed so much better than the original comics that you can feel the heat of battle seering off every page. But lovely as it is to see the originals, the finished product—the printed libraries themselves, with their evocative titles and a one sentence hook to draw you in—are also great to see. With one you can marvel at the talent of the artist; with the other the talent of the designers and letterers who were an often forgotten part of the team that gave readers upwards of 20 pocket-sized works of art every month. The layouts and hand-drawn titles prove that the creativity was not limited to the mostly Italian and Spanish artists who painted the images.

The artwork for this volume is broken down into five areas: Allied forces, Axis Powers, Air Aces, Heavy Ordnance and Boys Own Heroes. While the first four concentrate on the subjects of war on land, in the air and at sea, the latter reprints some of the covers associated with regular characters from the Thriller Picture Library and Fleetway Super Library, which made stars of Battler Britton, Spy 13, Dogfight Dixon, Maddock's Marauders and Sergeant Ironside.

As with its predecessor, the reproduction of these sometimes garishly coloured covers is spot on; in fact, the whole book is bang on target for anyone who loves action illustration at its best.

The Art of War, edited by David Roach. (ISBN 978-1853756627, 6 October 2008).

Arthur Mee

As I mentioned being involved in the recent radio broadcast about Arthur Mee and have been giving some background on some of the authors involved in writing stories for his Children's Newspaper, I thought you might like to know a little more about the man himself.

Arthur Henry Mee was born on 21 July 1875, in a small cottage in Stapleford, Nottinghamshire. He was the second son of ten children born to Henry Mee, a railway fireman, and his wife Mary. The Mee family moved to Nottingham shortly after Arthur was born and he was raised and educated in that famous industrial town.

Arthur’s family and surroundings influenced many of his lifelong beliefs. His father was a strongly religious man with a nonconformist political attitude mirrored by Arthur’s own deeply held religious convictions; and growing up around the coal mines and lace mills of the north instilled a strong sense of belief in the character of the working classes, the backbone of England and the English. The major disgrace of these industrious men, in Arthur’s eyes, was alcohol and he was to become a lifelong campaigner for sobriety.

He was educated at Stapleford School and made use of his reading skills by reciting Parliamentary reports for the benefit of Henry Mellows, the local baker, as he worked which inspired an interest in current affairs. At the time Arthur left school, his family moved to Nottingham and Arthur was able to find work with the Nottingham Evening Post as a copy-holder, employed to read aloud handwritten copy as the proof-reader checks the typeset text.

At the age of fifteen Arthur taught himself Pitman’s shorthand and would practice by taking notes from sermons at the Baptist chapel. One Sunday, the topical sermon seemed to him newsworthy and he hurried home to write it up, taking his report to the offices of the Nottingham Express. The article was printed and, on its strength, Arthur was taken on as an apprentice reporter.

In those days the apprentice would be expected to gather news from the police, fire stations and hospitals, attend local council meetings and report on court cases and meetings of charitable societies. By walking between assignments he was able to save his tram allowance for more important purchases like pork pies and custard tarts.

On completing his apprenticeship with the Express, Arthur found work as an editor on the Express’s sister paper, the Nottingham Evening News, earning the substantial wage of thirty shillings a week. He took rooms in Nottingham with another young journalist, John Hammerton, who had just been appointed editor of the Express. Despite their differences in personality – Hamerton was neither religious nor a tee-totaler – the two became lifelong friends.

Arthur learned to type and was soon supplementing his wages by writing articles for George Newnes’s Tit-Bits and other journals. At the age of 21, Newnes offered Arthur the enormous salary of £1,000 a year to join Tit-Bits, an offer Arthur soon accepted.

In 1896 he moved to London and over the next few years worked on Tit-Bits, the Morning Herald and St James’s Gazette. In 1901 he was appointed editor of Black and White, an illustrated sixpenny weekly, where he was able to employ his friend John Hamerton as literary and dramatic critic. It was also on this paper that he met Miss Margaret Lillie, who was to be Arthur’s secretary for nearly forty years.

Arthur had met Amelia Fratson whilst on holiday in 1895 and the two married on March 6, 1897. The young couple moved into a house in Tulse Hill, London, and had a daughter, Marjorie, in 1901. Soon after, they moved to Hextable, Kent, where Arthur discovered to his disgust that the local post office was also the local off-licence. Arthur bought some land and had a tearoom cum library built which he persuaded the authorities to also use as the village’s post office.

In 1903, Arthur and John Hamerton dreamed up the idea for a new publication to be called Who’s Who This Week which they presented to Alfred Harmsworth, the publisher of the Daily Mail and many magazines. Harmsworth turned the idea down but asked Arthur to join the Mail as a features editor. Harmsworth also suggested a new part-work to be entitled the Harmsworth Self-Educator of which Arthur was to be general editor.

The Self-Educator was an astonishing feat, published in 48 fortnightly issues between 1905-07. The success of the title was equally astonishing and Arthur demanded an additional £1,000 a year on his salary – and got it.

Arthur’s next project was based on his own suggestion. He had discovered a book entitled The World’s History written by a German author, Dr H. F. Helmolt which became the basis for the Harmsworth History Of The World in 1907-09 which Arthur co-edited with James Hammerton. The book was another enormous success and led to Mee’s most important work to date, the Children’s Encyclopaedia which ran for 50 parts between 1908 and 1910.

The success of Mee’s work made the author an vital cog in the Harmsworth empire and Lord Northcliffe was not blind to the fact. When Mee considered going into local government in 1910, Northcliffe immediately set about persuading him against the move and Mee eventually relented, writing, “I have merely tried to be a good citizen. But I will give it all up. I will do nothing that you consider distracting or jeopardizing in any way.”

Arthur Mee continued to work for Northcliffe’s publishing empire, following the huge success of the Children’s Encyclopaedia with a revised version which mutated into the monthly Children’s Magazine, later retitled My Magazine under which title it ran until 1933. Mee then edited a new weekly in 1933-34 entitled Arthur Mee’s 1000 Heroes which was reprinted in two volumes, running to a staggering 1,828 pages.

Alongside all these publications, Mee was also editing and writing the Children’s Newspaper, launched in 1919.

In 1936, Mee bought out the first volume of one of his most famous series. ‘The King’s England’ was a journey through the country that Mee loved so dearly—indeed, Mee’s original title for the series was Motherland. Rather than attempt to produce one of the part-works he was so famous for, Mee realised that to serve the traveller in the days when motoring around the countryside was an increasingly popular weekend pursuit, he would have to produce a handy-sized guide county-by-county. To achieve this, Mee employed dozens of writers to visit thousands of villages and pen their impressions of town and country in 40 counties.

The series was, for the most part, a snapshot of an England on the brink of war, although even at the time of publication it was a romantic portrait of cricket on village greens and rolling moorlands; grimy industrial towns were described as the workshops of the Empire and depressing streets were not the “true” England—that was to be found in nearby woodlands and dales.

Mee’s introductory volume was entitled Enchanted Land in which he wrote: “It has been a wonderful journey, this new exploration of England, and we must have seen a hundred thousand lovely things in our half million miles. We made up our minds to put down nothing bad if we could help it, but to be recording angels, and this is the story of what we have seen in this Enchanted Land.”

The series has been reprinted in recent years by Stephen Rudd’s King’s England Press, returning to the original texts as woven by Arthur Mee rather than the revised editions that appeared in 1964-73 which cut away all of Mee’s lyrical prose. A village described by Mee as “She walks in beauty; this charming patch of a secluded countryside has beauty at every step” became “Colston Bassett is a picturesque village near Bingham.”

These changes from picturesque to practical helped make Arthur Mee rather unfashionable. Although his Children’s Encyclopedia was continually in print (if much revised) until the 1960s, Mee’s style of education has fallen out of favour. To the modern writer an ancient tree is interesting because of the way the world has changed around it in its lifetime; to Mee the tree itself was a living entity to be held in awe as its mighty branches may have provided dozens of bows for the King’s warriors at Agincourt.

Mee’s death was surprising and sudden; he went into hospital on 27 May, 1943, for what should have been a minor operation on a gland, and died the following day. A remembrance service was held at St. Dunstan’s, Fleet Street, on 5 June.

Sadly, Mee was unable to complete the ‘King’s England’ series before his death. 35 counties had been covered by 1942, the schedule for the release of new titles reduced because of the paper shortage during the war. Others who had worked with Mee for many years stepped in to complete the last few remaining books and they remain one of the testements to Mee’s love for his home country. Mee may have idealised England but his influence for the good in shaping Britain’s children cannot be underestimated.

Mee's birth town of Stapleford is home to the Arthur Mee Centre, which provides specialist facilities for students with learning disabilities and for those taking art & design, childcare and pre-foundation programmes.

(* Children's Newspaper (c) Look and Learn Magazine Ltd.)