Fred Baker (d. 2008)

Another comics' great has passed away. Fred Baker was a scriptwriter who specialised in writing sports stories for Fleetway and DC Thomson for many years.

His career spanned over 50 years, starting in Stanley Gooch's department at the Amalgamated Press where he worked on Chips, Film Fun and Radio Fun. Eventually he became the editorial manager of Fleetway's teenage romance comics, such as Valentine, in the 1960s before turning freelance around 1966.

One of his earliest long-running strips was 'Skid Kids' in Buster (1966-71) but the 250 episodes he wrote featuring Simon Starr and Brainbox Cox paled against some of his other successes. Some of his strips lasted almost a decade: 'Martin's Marvellous Mini' in Tiger (1971-80?) and 'Tommy's Troubles' in Roy of the Rovers (1976-85); some lasted even longer, including 17 years' worth of 'Skid Solo' adventures for Tiger. 'Hot-Shot Hamish' served for twelve years in the pages of Scorcher & Score and Tiger before being teamed-up with 'Mighty Mouse' (already a six year veteran) in Roy of the Rovers where their combined talents saw them through another six years.

'Hot-Shot Hamish and Mighty Mouse' is a gem of a strip—something I mentioned only recently—and if any publisher is looking for a reprint they could do no better than take a look at this one. The combination of Baker's witty scripts and Julio Schiaffino's equally witty artwork made Roy of the Rovers a must-buy for me in the 1980s (and I wasn't even particularly keen on football).

However, topping even this was Baker's twenty years as the author of 'Billy's Boots'. From January 1970 until May 1990, Baker regaled comics' fans with the story of Billy Dane, whose extraordinary footballing skills came from an ancient pair of football boots that were once owned by soccer legend 'Dead-Shot' Keen. When he was wearing the boots, it was as if Billy was channeling Dead-Shot's talent. Of course, the stories tended to get even more exciting when Billy and the boots parted company and he was left with only his own meagre footballing skills.

For many years, 'Billy's Boots' was drawn by John Gillatt and, as with 'Hot-Shot Hamish & Mighty Mouse', this was the classic combination of the right writer and artist working together. Other artists helped launch the strip in Scorcher (including Colin Page and Tom Kerr) and other artists continued the strip in later years (Mike Western amongst them) but, for me, Billy was at his best in the hands of Baker and Gillatt.

Towards the end of his career, Baker also wrote for D C Thomson, his strips including 'We Are United' for Champ (1984-85).

Baker retired from writing in the 1990s and lived with his family in Cornwall. At the end he was suffering from Alzheimer's and died, on 4 June 2008, from pneumonia.

Barrie Tomlinson (former editor of Tiger and Eagle) has written a tribute to Baker which can be found at the Down the Tubes website.

(* 'Billy's Boots' © Egmont UK Ltd.)

Fred Barnard

FRED BARNARD

by

Robert J. Kirkpatrick

Fred Barnard was an illustrator, caricaturist and painter who was once best-known for his illustrations for several of Charles Dickens’s novels published by Chapman & Hall in the 1870s. He also illustrated several other novels and children’s books, and worked for a wide range of periodicals.

He was born, and christened Frederick Barnard, on 16 May 1846 in Angel Street, St. Martin’s-le-Grand, in the City of London. His father, Edward Barnard (1796-1867), was a Master Silversmith (who, at the time of the 1851 census, was employing 110 men, and who, when he died, left an estate valued at just over £1 million in today’s terms), who had married Caroline Chater (1797-1876) in 1822. Fred was the last of their twelve children.

He studied art at Heatherley’s Art School in Newman Street, London, from where he exhibited his first painting at the Royal Academy of Arts in 1866. (In The Royal Academy of Arts: A Complete Dictionary of Contributors and Their Work from its Foundation in 1769 to 1904, Frederick Barnard is credited with exhibiting as early as 1858, when he was only 12 years old – this seems highly unlikely.) He then studied in Paris under Leon Bonnat – his stay there resulted in his first book, The People of Paris, a collection of charcoal drawings published by H. & C. Barnard in 1867.

By then, Barnard had already established himself as an illustrator, having been contributing to Punch and The Illustrated London News since 1863. (He continued contributing to The Illustrated London News until his death in 1896.) Throughout the remainder of the 1860s he contributed to The Broadway, Cassell’s Illustrated Readings, London Society, Cassell’s Family Magazine, Once a Week, Good Words, Good Words for the Young, and Fun.

In 1868 he moved to 2 Devonshire Place, Haverstock Hill, Hampstead, and two years later, on 11 August 1870 on the Isle of Wight, he married Alice Faraday, born in Westminster in 1847 and the daughter of James Faraday, a gas fitter (and a niece of the scientist Michael Faraday). They returned to Hampstead, where they went on to have three children:  Geoffrey (born in 1871), Marion (born in 1874), and Dorothy (born in 1878).

Fred Barnard’s breakthrough as an illustrator came in 1871, when he was commissioned by the publishers Chapman & Hall to illustrate eleven volumes in their Household Edition of the Works of Charles Dickens, including the novels Martin Chuzzlewit, David Copperfield, Bleak House, Barnaby Rudge, A Tale of Two Cities, Nicholas Nickleby and Dombey and Son.. These appeared between 1872 and 1879, and contained around 450 black and white illustrations. He famously focused on scenes other than those that Dickens’s original illustrator, Hablot K. Browne (“Phiz”) had portrayed, and for a while was regarded as one of the best interpreters of Dickens’s work. (Unlike “Phiz”, he was able to read the whole of each novel before he started work on the illustrations, whereas “Phiz” was illustrating each instalment immediately it had been written.) He went on to produce three series of Character Sketches from Dickens, published by Cassell & Co. between 1879 and 1886, and many of his Dickens illustrations appeared in other books before and after his death.

During the 1870s he also found time to illustrate a handful of books, and to contribute to several more periodicals, including Cassell’s Magazine, The Quiver, The Day of Rest, The Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News, Belgravia, The Penny Illustrated Paper and Judy. His work also appeared in number of annuals from 1868 onwards, including Routledge’s Christmas Annual, Tom Good’s Comic Annual, Judy’s Almanack, Yuletide, and The Queen Annual.

He remained in Hampstead until sometime after 1881 – firstly at 2 Devonshire Place (1871 census, which gave his name as Frederick R. Barnard – his middle name remains a mystery) and then at Warrington House, Steeles Road (1881 census, when he was recorded with his wife, three children and three servants).

During the 1880s his work appeared in many more periodicals, including Life, The Theatre, The Pictorial World, Great Thoughts, The Magazine of Art, The British Workman and Cassell’s Saturday Journal. He also illustrated a variety of books, for publishers such as Chatto & Windus, Cassell & Co., Vizetelly & Co., Hodder & Stoughton and J.W. Arrowsmith. Amongst his best-known work from this period were his illustrations for How the Poor Live by George R. Sims (which had originally appeared in The Pictorial World before appearing in hardback in 1883); Henry Irving: A Biographical Sketch (1883), and Shakespearean Scenes and Characters (1887).

As a painter, he had exhibited at the Royal Academy eight times between 1866 and 1879, and he went on to exhibit a further five times up until 1887. He was elected a member of the Society of British Artists in 1887, and he also exhibited with the Institute of Painters in Oil Colours, the Institute of Painters in Watercolours, the Fine Art Institute, and in galleries throughout the country.

In 1886 he travelled to America, staying for a couple of years and working for Harper’s New Monthly Magazine and Harper’s Weekly. On his return he moved to Main Street, South Broadway, Worcestershire, joining a small colony of artists, which over time included John Singer Sargent, Francis Millet, and the writers Henry James and Edmund Gosse.

On 18 December 1891 his son Geoffrey, who was himself an artist, died in Broadway of congenital heart disease. Fred, who by then had moved back to London and was living at 34 Hamilton Gardens, St. Johns Wood, continued working, with his illustrations appearing in many more periodicals, including Black and White, Lika Joko, Chums, The Boy’s Own Paper, The Girl’s Own Paper, The Pictorial Times, The English Illustrated Magazine (for which he illustrated stories by George Gissing), Cassell’s Family Magazine, Pearson’s Weekly, The Friendly Visitor and The Pall Mall Budget. He also continued illustrating books for Chatto & Windus and Cassell & Co., and also worked for the S.P.C.K., Strahan & Co., Dean & Son and George Routledge & Co.

However, the death of his son had deeply affected him, and he began suffering from depression for which he was prescribed laudanum. His relationship with his wife deteriorated, and they eventually separated, with Alice moving to Wenman Road, Hampstead, and Fred moving in as a lodger with Annie Laura Myall at “Abermaw,” Merton Hall Road, Wimbledon. (She lived there with her husband, Ambrose Augustus Myall, a civil engineer, although they, too, had separated and were living separate lives.) On 27 September 1896 Fred died in a fire in his bedroom, a consequence of smoking in bed. The subsequent inquest heard evidence that Fred suffered from insomnia, and was prone to reading in bed for several hours. His landlady said that he did not appear to be in good health, and she thought he was at least 60 years old, rather than 50. It was agreed that the cause of the fire was smouldering ash from Fred’s pipe, which set light to his bedding and mattress, which was made of wool and straw – the cause of death was suffocation from the resultant intense smoke, and burns.

By a bizarre coincidence, one of Fred’s brothers, a commercial traveller, was slightly burned in a fire, the cause of which remained unknown, in his hotel bedroom in Torquay just two weeks later. (None of the local newspapers which reported this gave his name.)  Even sadder, however, was the death of his 31 year-old nephew Walter Cecil Barnard, a member of the Savage Club and a talented musician and entertainer, who fell from a second storey window of the Savage Club on 31 November 1897. At first it was thought he had committed suicide, but the inquest settled on a verdict of accidental death.

Barnard’s wife Alice died on 29 March 1924 at her home at 6 Elm Park Road, Chelsea, leaving an estate valued at £2,786, with probate being granted to her two unmarried daughters. They had become very close to John Singer Sargent, who often painted them and took them on painting trips to Europe. He had died on 14 April 1925, and had left Alice Barnard £5,000 in his will – this bequest presumably went to her two daughters.

Fred Barnard’s legacy as an illustrator was undoubtedly his hundreds of Dickens illustrations, which were, at the time they were published, very highly regarded. Unfortunately, they have since been rather neglected. Barnard was not, for example, included in the Oxford University Press’s The Dickens Index (1988), or in The Cambridge Companion to Charles Dickens (2001), or in Blackwell’s A Companion to Charles Dickens (2008).

Nevertheless, his contemporaries recognized his talents. In The Brothers Dalziel: A Record of Fifty Years’ Work in Conjunction with Many of the Most Distinguished Artists of the Period 1840-1890 (Methuen & Co., 1901) the authors noted:

“Barnard ranks as one of England’s truly comic artists; but he was not only comic, he was one of the most versatile artists of our time. He unquestionably stands among the foremost illustrators of Dickens. The many drawings he made for the household Edition, as well as some larger pictures, illustrating the works of the great author, all possess a certain peculiarity: while the drawings are strictly in his own style, there is just enough resemblance to the figures created by H.K. Browne to save you a shock… Our long connection with Barnard was of close intimacy and friendship; he was a delightful companion, amusing, and full of bright repartee…”

To add insult to injury, his most famous, and ambitious, painting, “Saturday Night in the East End,” painted in 1876 and widely exhibited, was lost sometime after it was bought by George R. Sims in 1883.

PUBLICATIONS

Books Illustrated by Fred Barnard

“Household Edition of the Works of Charles Dickens” published by Chapman & Hall:
The Life and Adventures of Martin Chuzzlewit, 1872 (59 illustrations)
The Personal History of David Copperfield, 1872 (61 illustrations)
Bleak House, 1873 (61 illustrations)
Barnaby Rudge, 1874 (46 illustrations)
A Tale of Two Cities, 1874 (25 illustrations)
The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby, 1875 (59 illustrations)
Sketches by Boz, 1876 (34 illustrations)
Dombey and Son, 1877) (62 illustrations)
Christmas Books, 1878 (28 illustrations)
The Mystery of Edwin Drood, 1879 (with L. Fildes and A.G. Dalziel)
Life of Charles Dickens by John Forster, 1879
A Few Character Sketches, publisher not known, 1892(?)

Other titles
The People of Paris, H. & C. Barnard, 1867
Petsetilla’s Posey: A Fairy Tale for Young and Old by Tom Hood, George Routledge & Sons, 1870
Episodes of Fiction, or Choice Stories from the Great Novelists, William P. Nimmo, 1870 (with other artists)  1870
Pictures from English Literature by John Francis Waller, Cassell, Petter, Galpin & Co., 1870 (with other artists)
The Holiday Papers of the Circle Club, Grant & Co., 1873 (with other artists)
Ginx’s Baby: His Birth and Other Misfortunes by Edward Jenkins, W. Mullan & Sons, 1876
The Devil’s Chain by Edward Jenkins, Strahan & Co., 1876 (re-issue)
Life in Lodgings by Tom Hood, The “Fun” Officer, 1879
Jobson’s Enemies: A Tale by Edward Jenkins, Strahan & Co., 1879
A Series of Character Sketches from Dickens, Cassell, Petter, Galpin & Co., 1879
The Four Georges by W.M. Thackeray, Smith, Elder & Co., 1879 (with other artists)
God and the Man: A Romance by Robert Williams Buchanan, Chatto & Windus, 1880
Children of the Village by Mary Russell Mitford, George Routledge & Sons, 1880 (with other artists)
Joseph’s Coat by David Christie Murray, Chatto & Windus, 1881
Sussex Stories by Mrs R. O’Reilly, Strahan & Co., 1881
All Sorts and Conditions of Men: An Impossible Story by Walter Besant, Chatto & Windus. 1882
A Baker’s Dozen by L.H. Apaque, S.P.C.K., 1882
Sunlight and Shade, Being Poems and Pictures of Life and Nature, Cassell & Co., 1883
People I Have Met by E.C. Grenville Murray, Vizetelly & Co., 1883
How the Poor Live by George R. Sims, Chatto & Windus, 1883
Behind a Brass Knocker by Charles H. Ross, Chatto & Windus, 1883
Henry Irving: A Biographical Sketch by Austin Brereton, David Bogue, 1883 (with other artists)
Character Sketches from Dickens, Cassell & Co., 1884
Meg’s Mistake, and Other Sussex Stories by Eleanor Grace O’Reilly, Hodder & Stoughton, 1884
Sheridan’s Comedies: The Rivals and The School for Scandal by Richard Brinsley Sheridan, J.R. Osgood, 1885 (with other artists)
Called Back: A Novel by Hugh Conway, J.W. Arrowsmith, 1885
A Round of Sunday Stories by L.G. Séguin, Hodder & Stoughton, 1886 (with other artists)
Character Sketches from Dickens, Cassell & Co., 1886
Strawberry Hill by Mary A. Denison, Hodder & Stoughton, 1886
A Series of Character Sketches from Thackeray, Cassell & Co., 1886
The Talbury Girls by Clare Vance, Hodder & Stoughton, 1886 (re-issue) (with other artists)
David Broome, Artist by Mrs Robert O’Reilly, W. Bartholomew, 1886 (re-issue)
The Plays of William Shakespeare, Cassell & Co., 1886-1890 (with other artists)
Shakespearean Scenes and Characters by Austin Brereton,  Cassell & Co, 1887 (with other artists)
The Sunday Book of Story and Parable, Hodder & Stoughton, 1888 (with other artists)
The Dead Man’s Secret, or The Valley of Gold by J.E. Muddock, Chatto & Windus, 1889
The Romance of Jenny Harlowe, and Sketches of Maritime Life by William Clark Russell, Chatto & Windus, 1889
The Holy Rose by Walter Besant, Chatto & Windus, 1890
A Pearl in the Shell: A Tale of Life and Love in the North Countrie by Austin Clare, S.P.C.K., 1890
The Young Folks Pilgrim’s Progress by John Bunyan, Strahan & Co., 1890 (with other artists)
Armorel of Lyonesse by Walter Besant, Chatto & Windus, 1891
Sunny Stories, and Some Shady Ones by James Payn, Chatto & Windus, 1891
Colonel Starbottle’s Client, and Some Other People by Brett Harte, Chatto & Windus, 1891
Players of the Period: A Series of Anecdotal, Biographical and Critical Monographs of the Leading English Actors of Today by Arthut Goddard, Dean & Son, 1891 (with other artists)
Twilight Dreams: Being Poems and Pictures of Life and Nature, Cassell & Co., 1891 (with other artists)
Painted Faces “On” and “Off” by Charles H. Ross, W.J. Sinkins, 1891 (with other artists)
A Perilous Secret by Charles Reade, Chatto & Windus, 1892
The Uttermost Farthing by Helen Shipton, S.P.C.K., 1893
Jewel Mysteries I Have Known: From a Dealer’s Note Book by Max Pemberton, Ward, Lock & Bowden, 1894 (with R. Caton Woodville)
Charles Dickens: A Gossip About His Life, Works and Characters by Thomas Archer, Cassell & Co., 1894 (with other artists)
Pixton Parish: A Story for Young Men and Women by Florence Moore, S.P.C.K., 1895
Pictures from Dickens, With Readings by Charles Dickens, Ernest Nister, 1895 (with other artists)
Smith’s Weakness: The Simple Tale of an Uphill Fight by George Manville Fenn, S.P.C.K., 1896
A Little Mother to the Others by L.T. Meade, F.V. White & Co., 1896
The King’s Stirrup: A Tale of the Forest by Elizabeth Harcourt Mitchell, S.P.C.K., 1896
Whispering Tongues by Phoebe Allan, S.P.C.K., 1896
Ruth Davenant by W.J. Bettison, S.P.C.K., 1896
Frank Mildmay, or The Naval Officer by Frederick Marryat, George Routledge & Sons, 1896 (with W.H. Overend) (re-issue)
Stage, Study and Studio, as Pictured by Fred Barnard ed. by John Alexander Hammerton, London Educational Book Co., 1900
John Strong the Boaster and Other Pithy Papers by George Mogridge, Religious Tract Society, 1904
Scenes and Characters from the Works of Charles Dickens, Chapman & Hall, 1908 (with other artists)
Little Books on Great Writers: Charles Dickens by William Teignmouth Shore, Cassell & Co., 1910
William Makepeace Thackeray by Sidney Dark, Cassell & Co., 1912
Sports and Pastimes ed. by J.A. Hammerton, Educational Book Co., 1912(?) (with other artists)
Some Rogues and Vagabonds of Dickens by Walter Dexter, Cecil Palmer, 1927

John Gillatt (1929-2016)

For over sixeen years, John Gillatt charted the adventures of Billy Dane, whose extraordinary footballing talents were channelled from ‘Dead-Shot’ Keen through the soccer legend’s beaten-up pair of football books. As with any comic strip story, the real excitement came from the numerous ways scriptwriter Fred Baker separated Billy from his boots, forcing the horrified youngster to play using only his own meagre footballing skills.

Although he was not the first artist on the strip, Gillatt’s arrival on the strip in October 1971 in the pages of Scorcher and Score brought together the story’s perfect team. Gillatt and Baker went on to follow Billy’s soccer and cricketing adventures through the pages of Tiger, Eagle and Roy of the Rovers before Gillatt finally departed in January 1988.

Gillatt left the strip to take up the challenge of drawing Dan Dare in the pages of the revived Eagle, which he drew for almost a full year. This was a return to science fiction, which is where Gillatt had started his career thirty-one years earlier when he began drawing Jet-Ace Logan in April 1957. “Jet-Ace” was a pilot with the R.A.F. of the future, battling space pirates and aliens on the interstellar space lanes in the pages of Comet and Tiger. An excellent draughtsman, his work—drawn twice-up—received praise from many of the writers he worked with, including Frank Pepper, who took over writing Jet-Ace in Tiger, who considered him the best of the Jet-Ace artists.

Gillatt was born in Peterborough on 17 August 1929, the son of Oswald Belton Gillatt, a master mason, and his wife Hilda May (née Hooke), who were married in 1918. John was the youngest of four boys. Apart from his National Service and a period studying at Leicester College of Art, he lived in Peterborough his whole life.

Educated at Deacon’s School, he became a fan of comics whilst through reading American comic sections sent over by an American pen-friend during the Second World War, becoming a fan of Milton Caniff’s “Terry and the Pirates”; he was also a follower of Alex Raymond’s “Rip Kirby” when it appeared in the Daily Mail. However, his first employment was not in comics but as an illustrator with an advertising agency and as a draughtsman with the engineering firm of Perkins Diesel.

He was married to Josephine Wright in 1956 and their first child was born in 1957. To provide for his new family, Gillatt found work drawing comics and, thanks to his regular weekly output on “Jet-Ace Logan” he was able to give up his day job after only three months. He earned £1,000 in his first year.

His early work was meticulous, at first taking six days to produce the pages for Jet-Ace, although when Comet merged with Tiger in 1959, he simplified his style for the sporting paper’s larger pages. With only the occasional break, he continued to draw Jet-Ace serials until 1963

It was in Tiger that Gillatt first turned his hand to sporting strips, taking over (from Geoff Campion, as he had Jet-Ace Logan) the artwork for wrestling Native American “Johnny Cougar” in 1963. In 1966 he took a break from the strip to draw “The Forest Rangers”, based on the Canadian TV series broadcast on ITV, and “The Black Archer”, a caped crime-fighter with a crossbow. In the guise of the Archer, Delago City’s clumsiest young TV reporter, Clem Macey, was able to battle fabulous villains like The Remover, who could alter the size of objects, and The Weatherman, who could use weather phenomena to aid his criminal activities. After a brief spell drawing “The Great Thesbius” (a former stage actor and illusionist who turns to crime when his fame wanes), he returned to “Johnny Cougar” until 1969, when he took over the comedy-adventures of the Robinsons, who ran and played in a unique family-owned football club, Thatchem United. Gillatt produced “Football Family Robinson” in colour for three years before switching to line and wash.

During his time on “Football Family Robinson”, Gillatt added “Billy’s Boots” in Scorcher and Score to his weekly schedule, and kept both strips going until the latter merged with Tiger in 1974; further mergers saw Billy switch to Eagle in 1985 and Roy of the Rovers in 1986. Written by Fred Baker, who managed to find innumerable ways for ‘Dead-Shot’ Keen’s boots to be lost, damaged or stolen, it was the only strip to challenge Roy of the Rovers for the top spot in Tiger and became that paper’s unchallenged top story when Roy moved to his own title.

Although Billy Dane’s adventures came to an end in the early Nineties, reprints of Gillatt’s years on the strip remain popular in Holland where it was known as “De Wondersloffen van Sjakie”. In one instance, where Billy played a match in Holland, Gillatt had to redraw the strip for its appearance in Sjors and Dutch-born Sjackie hitch-hiked to the match in a lorry instead of arriving by ferry. 24 volumes of Sjackie’s adventures were reprinted featuring Gillatt’s artwork, with Gillatt providing new cover artwork.

Gillatt’s move to “Dan Dare” coincided with the merger between Eagle with Battle and an almost year-long adventure ensued for the pilot of the future as he battled the flesh-eating Drakken and a miniaturised Mekon in full colour. This was a rocky time for British comics, with many titles folding and merging: Gillatt found himself briefly drawing “Magic Man” for Hot-Shot! and “Ring Raiders”, based on the animated TV show, in an eponymously titled—and abruptly cancelled after only six issues—comic. The short-lived “My Pet Alien!” in Eagle in 1990 proved to be his last regular work on weekly comics, although he produced new covers for the Johnny Cougar’s Wrestling Monthly reprint magazine in 1992-93. Around the same time he produced a number of educational strips for Young Telegraph on subjects ranging from the Eifel Tower to Einstein.

Gillatt found a new market in the Daily Mirror where former Tiger editor Barrie Tomlinson was writing a daily football strip, “Scorer”. More adult-themed storylines required Gillatt to add elements that had never been aa requirement in his previous comics. “Johnʼs Scorer illustrations were, of course, brilliant,” Barrie Tomlinson has said. “The story needed an artist who could illustrate football action and also be able to draw beautiful women. John could do both those things and I felt honoured that my scripts could be turned into such excellent works of art which made the story so popular that it steadily increased in size on the Mirror cartoon page. When we later added photographic and computer effects, John adapted with ease and worked in close association with David Pugh, who did all the computer work. They were a great team. Johnʼs work was always delivered on time and always to the same high standard.

“Tall, bespectacled, articulate, softly-spoken and a man who could deal with any challenge, John was a pleasure to work with and to be with. He was a perfect gentleman.”

Gillatt suffered a stroke in 2003 and retired from “Scorer”. He lived in Eastfield Road, Peterborough, where he suffered another stroke in May which left him paralysed down one side and unable to speak. He was cared for at Philia Lodge Rest Home, where he died on Friday, 4 November, aged 87. He is survived by his three children, Simon, Matthew and Rachel.

Lion authors & artists

The following list of creators is derived from the updated index for Lion King of Picture Story Papers compiled by Steve Holland. The list contains the names of 290 creators who contributed to Lion, Lion Holiday Special, Lion & Valiant Holiday Special, Lion Annual or the various spin-off annuals.

Jose Gonzalez Alacreu
Michael Alan
Vincente Alcazar
Mark Aldridge
Angus Allan
Graham Allen
Colin Andrew
P. J. Ashmore
Donne Avenell
John H. Batchelor
Bill Baker
Fred Baker
W. Howard Baker
John Barber
John Barnes (see Peter O’Donnell)
Dino Battaglia
Terry Bave
Leo Baxendale
Barrington Bayley
George Beal
Massimo Belardinelli
H. W. Belfield
Frank Bellamy
Jordi Bernet
John Berry
Alessandro Biffignandi
Derek Birnage
Richard Birnham
Harry Bishop
Jesus Blasco
George Bowe
Eric Bradbury
Leslie Branton
Ray Buckingham
Bob Bunkin
Reg Bunn
John Burns
John M. Burns
Richard Burton
Mike Butterworth
Guido Buzzelli
Renzo Calegari
W. R. Calvert
Geoff Campion
Mario Capaldi
Franco Caprioli
Nino Caroselli
Felix Carrion
G. Casells
John Catchpole
Steve Chapman
Jean-Michel Charlier
John Chester (see A. J. Sullivan)
Reg Clark
Harry Clements (see Frank S. Pepper)
Joe Colquhoun
Dan Colt
Neville Colvin
Harold Connolly
Bruce Cornwell
Sanchis Cortes
Graham Coton
E. George Cowan
Vernon Crick
Carlos Cruz
Francisco Cueto
D. M. Cumming-Skinner
Eric Dadswell
Edwin Dale (see Edward R. Home-Gall)
Sergio D’Amico
F. Daniel
Gino D’Antonio
Roland Davies
Roy Davis
Nigel Dawn
B. F. Deakin
Guy Deakin (see B. F. Deakin)
A. Deam [Miss]
Arthur Deam (see Miss A. Deam)
Neville Dear
Maurice de Bevere
Jose de la Fuente
Ramon de la Fuente
Victor de la Fuente
Jean de Mesmaeker
Arturo Del Castillo
Bob Dexter (see Dave Gregory)
Roberto Diso
John Donnelly
Selby Donnison
C. L. Doughty
Edward Drury
Gerry Embleton
Ron Embleton
D. C. Eyles
Sam Fair
Alfonso Font
A. Forbes
Ronald Forbes
Barry Ford (see Joan Whitford)
John Fordice (see Colin Robertson)
George Forest (see E. George Cowan)
Robert Forrest
Michael Fox
Andre Franquin
G. E. Fredman
Oliver Frey
Kelman Frost
Peter Gallant   
Henry Gamlin
R. Garbutt
Brian Garland
Giorgio De Gaspari
John Gillatt
Alberto Giolitti
Ruggero Giovannini
Peter Glassford
Michael Godfrey
Don J. Gold
Jose Gonzalez
Barry Gordon
Rene Goscinny
Jeff Gould
Gordon Gray
Bernard Greenbaum
David Gregory
Frank Hampson
Derek Hall (see Edward R. Home-Gall)
Leslie Harding
Wilf Hardy
Don Harley
David Harwood
Hayes
Gerry Haylock
George Heath
Eric Hebden
A. W. Henderson
Alex Henderson
J. H. Higgins
Harry Hollinson, D.F.C.
Edward Holmes
Fred Holmes
Edward R. Home-Gall
Bill Hooper
Cliff Hooper (see A. W. Henderson)
James Hooper
Laurence Houghton
Andrew Howat
Trevor Hugh (see B. F. Deakin)
Jack Hunt
Victor Ibanez
George Ireland
Chic Jack
Peter Jackson
Jidéhem (see Jean De Mesmaeker)
Harold Johns
Geoff Jones
Sydney Jordan
N.K.
Harry Kaye
Bill Keal
Gary Keane
Ernest Kearon
Geoff Kemp
Ian Kennedy
Tom Kerr
Eric Kincaid
Rex King (see A. W. Henderson)
Brian Knight
Derek Knight (see Peter O’Donnell)
Ronald Knill
Bill Lacey
Tom Laidler
Harold Lamb
Don Lawrence
Frank Lazenby
Garry Leach
Joseph Lee
Brian Leigh (see E. George Cowan)
Roy Leighton (see A. W. Henderson)
Dino Leonetti
Brian Lewis
Cliff Lewis
Les Lilley
Harry Lindfield
Barrie R. Linklater
F. Solano Lopez
Christopher Lowder
Jock McCail
James E. McConnell
Bruce MacDonald
Ernest L. McKeag
Denis McLoughlin
John McLusky
Wilfred McNeilly
Bill Mainwaring
James Malcolm
Alfredo Marcuzzi
Ray Marr (see Wilfred McNeilly)
Bruno Marrafa
John Marshall (see Frank S. Pepper)
Josep Marti
Arthur Martin
Roger Mas (see Roger Masmonteil)
Roger Masmonteil
Fortunino Matania
Duncan Matheson (see D. M. Cumming-Skinner)
Jack Maxwell (see Ernest L. McKeag)
Brian Mead (see Miss A. Deam)
Phillip Mendoza
Ian Mennell
Ken Mennell
Colin Merrett
Phil Millar
Pat Mills
Barrie Mitchell
Jorge Moliterni
Jack Monk
Michael Moorcock
Charles Morgan
Morris (see Maurice de Bevere)
John Mortimer
David Motton
Jose Munoz
Angel Nadal
Barry Nelson (see R. G. Thomas)
Patrick Nicolle
Erio Nicolo
Victor Norman (see E. L. Rosman)
Peter O’Donnell
Brian O’Hanlon
Hedley O’Mant
Kevin O’Neill
Jose Ortiz
Colin Page
Jack Pamby
Eric R. Parker
Reg Parlett
Oliver Passingham
Terry Patrick
Willie Patterson
Jordi Penalva
Frank S. Pepper
F. A. Philpott
Carlos Pino
Angelo Platania
Renato Polese
Allen Pollack
Hugo Pratt
Cyril Price
Roger Protz
Frank Purcell
Miguel Quesada
Juan Rafart
Leo Rawlings
Antoine Raymond
Frank Redpath
Ken Reid
Edmond Ripol
Colin Robertson
Robert Rodger
E. L. Rosman
Mark Ross (see A. J. Sullivan)
Carlos Roume
R. Charles Roylance
Sampedro
Peter Sarson
Antonio Sciotti
Hedley Scott (see Hedley O’Mant)
Keith Shone
Jerry Siegel
Gwen Simmons
Ronald Simmons
Edgar Sinclair
David Slinn
Bernard Smith
Frederick E. Smith
John S. Smith
David Sque
Tom Stirling (see E. L. Rosman)
John Stokes
Alan Stranks
A. J. Sullivan
Rodney Sutton
Ferdinando Tacconi
H. Tamblyn-Watt
Hugh Tempest
R. G. Thomas
T. G. Thursby
Giovanni Ticci
Barrie Tomlinson
Malcolm Tompkins
Paul Trevillion
Giorgio Trevisan
Tom Tully
Albert Uderzo
Loredano Ugolini
Clive Uptton
Adolfo Usero
Bert Vandeput
John Vernon
Vicq (see Antoine Raymond)
Julio Vivas
John Wagner
Alf Wallace
Brian Watson
Keith Watson
Albert Weinberg
Vince Wernham
Mike Western
Bill White
Mike White
Whitefield
Joan Whitford
F. A. Williams
Peter Williams
Neville Wilson
Hal Wilton (see Frank S. Pepper)   
Frank Winsor (see Derek Birnage)
John Woods
Reg Wootton
Dudley Wynn
Nevio Zeccara

Comic Scene #6 (September 2019)

The partly masked face of Blake Edmonds, star of Death Wish, dominates the cover of the latest issue of Comic Scene, and inside his scriptwriter Barrie Tomlinson relates how the character became a huge success with readers, who followed Blake's adventures through the pages of Speed (8 months), Tiger (53 months) and Eagle (31 months). 

The earliest episodes were collected in one of Rebellion's Treasury of British Comics collections in July and here Tomlinson lays out the history of the character, part Evel Knievel, part Phantom of the Opera. Edmonds staged some of the most death-defying stunts, and took endless risks following a horrific accident that left him hideously disfigured, but Tomlinson left it to the reader to decide whether Edmonds really did have a death wish. Even he admits that the later stories, which pitched Blake Edmonds into the world of the supernatural, were forgettable in comparison to his earlier adventures.

Tomlinson's article gets the latest Comic Scene off to an interesting start in an issue that is itself quite retro in coverage. Articles in this issue include backward looks at characters Grimly Feendish, Harlem Heroes, Hot-Shot Hamish and the Leopard from Lime St. The brief romp through the characters in Hot-Shot Hamish is again by Barrie Tomlinson, celebrating the classic collaboration between Fred Baker and Julio Schiaffino. Irmantas Povilaika, John Farrelly and Peter Gouldson each give a good account of their subjects in the other articles.

Wrapping up the backwards looking, Phillip Vaughan offers the first of a two-part  history of the 'New' Eagle from the 1980s.

We are shortly to see the return of the Vigilant, the much-anticipated follow-up to last year's team-up of old Fleetway characters. If you read my review, you'll see that my biggest complaint was that too many characters appeared across the 24-page story without being introduced... they simply turned up and readers, especially newcomers, might have felt confused or overwhelmed.

I'm pleased to see the new episode might be addressing this, as editor Keith Richardson agrees tahat "we didn't have enough pages to really introduce – or re-introduce – the characters properly ... that's something we've put right in The Vigilant: Legacy."

A good chunk of the issue is taken up with two comic strips, the second part of Lady Flintlock by Steve Tanner & Anthony Summey, a highwayman adventure set in 1751, and the debut of Milford Cross by Samuel George London & Mikael Hankonen, seemingly about a bicycle race through the prettiest village in the British Empire in 1897, but revealed at the end to be an alien invasion story witnessed by a friend of HG Wells.

The review section is, again, superb.

Details about subscriptions can be obtained from www.comicscene.org. Rates for print issues for the UK are £5.99 for one issue; £35 for 6 issues; £68 for 12 issues.You can get a pdf version for £3.99 (1), £22 (6) or £40 (12).

Payment can be made via PayPal to comicsceneuk@gmail.com. For other options, and for international rates for the print edition, visit the website.

Black Max

A black-painted Fokker triplane wheels across the sky like a bird of prey. At its controls is Baron Maximilien von Klorr, a master pilot known as Black Max whose deeply scarred face is a constant reminder of his hatred for the British dogs who shot him down. Von Klorr's Bavarian castle contains a grim secret, kept from even the servants by their hate-filled master... a secret soon revealed to one pilot flying a patrol on the Western Front.

Only Morg, the ugly, massively-muscled servant shares the secret of the 'specially created triplane.

Recovered from his wounds, Von Klorr takes up his new command and before long pilots of the British pilots of the R.F.C. begin to fear the skies, wondering if some inhuman beast is tearing the planes of their comrades apart. One who discovers the truth is Lieutenant Tim Wilson, newly posted to the 14th R.F.C. Pursuit Squadron, a born pilot prone to stunting in his plane. On his way to join the squadron he sees a Camel attacked and destroyed by a monstrous bat in the control of Black Max. His own plane damaged, Wilson manages to land behind enemy lines.

He falls asleep in a cave... the very cave that Von Klorr keeps his killer-bat!

Escaping back to British lines, he is rescued by his C.O., Major "Groucher" Gromett, with whom he has a rocky relationship. Gromett (not surprisingly) refuses to believe Wilson's story of a giant bat and grounds the pilot; and things only get worse when Wilson steals the C.O.'s plane in order to chase down the bat and his master.

After their first encounter in the skies, Von Klorr realises Wilson knows his secret and Wilson becomes a marked man.

This is classic British comics at their best. The weekly anthology format sometimes worked against a strip developing as it stumbled from cliffhanger to cliffhanger, each week starting with a recap, a resolution, and only a little space for any plot to develop before it had to be wrapped up in such a way that you wanted to come back next week to find out what happened. It is not an easy format if you want to create memorable stories and was mastered by only a handful of scriptwriters – one reason why the same names appear time and time again when authorship of a strip is discovered: Tom Tully, Frank Pepper, Fred Baker, Scott Goodall and Ken Mennell being the leading lights of IPC's boys' adventure comics in the 1960s and 1970s.

In this instance, the creator of the strip was Ken Mennell, a fantastic ideas man at IPC, who co-plotted many of the finest weird menace yarns published in the pages of Lion, Valiant and Buster. Ideas would be thrashed out in the editorial office between Mennell, the editor and the writer who would eventually script the story. Mennell later scripted stories himself, many for Odhams and then for IPC, including the unforgettable "Black Max".

Talking of unforgettable, one of the reasons "Black Max" has survived in the memories of older fans is the artwork, a virtuoso performance by Alfonso Font, a young Spanish artist still in his early twenties, who picked up the gauntlet left by Eric Bradbury (who had drawn the first episode for the dummy that eventually became Thunder), and turned in one of the most visually exciting strips of the time. With Sopwith Camels and Fokker Triplanes reeling about the sky and Allied squadrons divebombed by giant bats from above and taking enemy fire from below, the action never lets up.

Thankfully, Tim Wilson doesn't spend the whole strip trying to convince the British brass that the bats exist, which frees up the strip and allows it to develop – once the secret of the killer bat is out, Von Klorr sets about creating a whole squadron of the winged furies to unleash upon his enemy. As is often the case with hero and villain, the latter is the more memorable of the two adversaries, with intriguing hints of his supernatural origins introduced along with his ghoulish grandfather, who reveals that the Von Klorr family is said to have been descended from "the bat people of ancient times ... Certainly we can speak to them, as no others can!" My nine-year-old self would have loved to have known more about this hint at vampirism.

Meanwhile, Von Klorr has trained his "devil's squadron" to strafe the ground, breaking up Sopwiths as they sit on Allied airfields ... a sinister Zeppelin rises out of the fog ... and Tim Wilson and "Groucher" Gromett are captured by Von Klorr ... just a few of the incidents that follow as this volume races towards its climax. The seven months' worth of strips here will keep you on the edge of your seat and the thrills are To Be Continued... but not next week. While this volume is rounded out with a couple of complete stories from the Thunder Holiday Special and Thunder Annual, we will have to wait for Volume Two before we discover how Von Klorr teams up with that other memorable villain from Lion, Dr. Gratz.

Black Max Volume One Ken Mennell, Frank Pepper, Eric Bradbury & Alfonso Font
Rebellion ISBN 9781781086551, 4 October 2018, £10.99. Available via Amazon.

Comic Cuts - 7 April 2017

Progress was made on a couple of fronts this week. The money-paying work that has been hanging over my head for the past month is finally going somewhere; I have two more articles written on financial subjects that, to be honest, I barely understand. If you're ever in the same situation, do what I did: find somebody who does understand the subject and interview them. Then, in the edit, change your dumb questions (e.g. "What does that mean?") to smarter-sounding questions (e.g. "Is it a strategy that can be applied globally to both large corporations and SMEs?").

On the Valiant index front I took a break from the 1960s where my note taking has reached 1966 and The House of Dolmann and jumped ahead a decade to take a look at One-Eyed Jack, as Rebellion have a collection coming out in June. What a great strip. Not without its problems: cramming a whole story with a beginning, middle and end into three pages was never the best way to do things, hence to preponderance of serials in British weekly anthology comics.

2000AD solved this problem by giving strips like Judge Dredd more space; Valiant solved it by training its writers to cut out every bit of fat from a storyline, which made each tale motor along but without any hope of complexity in the plots of development in the characters. That's great when you're 12 and not looking for anything other than a fast-paced yarn to entertain you, but you can see how limiting that is when you're re-reading a strip for the first time in forty years.

To make the stories readable, given the limitations of the format, was a skill in itself and that's why you see the same names crop up over and over again in British comics. There are still vast holes to fill in our knowledge of who wrote what, but it's usually the same names who crop up time and again: Tom Tully, Fred Baker, Frank Pepper, Scott Goodall... and in the Seventies and beyond Pat Mills, John Wagner, Gerry Finley-Day, Alan Hebden... writers who could spin an imaginative yarn within the boundaries of the short-form format of British comics.

I've also been keeping busy indexing some of Fleetway's old annuals. It's a bit of a sideline, and I really ought to be concentrating on Valiant, but there was so much reprinting in later annuals and holiday specials that knowing where the strips originally appeared is quite useful for other indexes.

Random scans... for no particular reason, a group of books by winners of the Victoria Cross.

Comic Cuts - 17 March 2017

More good progress on the Valiant index. I had three uninterrupted days early in the week that I spent reading Mytek the Mighty, Legge's Eleven and a bunch of Spanish science fiction yarns. Mytek is one of the strips I remember from my youthful days as a Valiant reader in the late 1960s when Bill Lacey was the artist, but the early yarns I was reading were drawn by the mighty Eric Bradbury at his finest.

Legge's Eleven, on the other hand, was new to me. I don't know what you're like as a collector, but my early Valiant's weren't picked up in order, so I tended to look at them but not really take in the storylines. Once I had a run of copies, I'd read my favourites (The Steel Claw, Wild Wonders and a few others) but ignore the strips I wasn't so interested in, which would usually be the sports strips.

So I read the story of Ted Legge and his efforts to put together a football team and it was actually pretty good. Yes, it was silly in places, but it also had heart and humour. That shouldn't have surprised me... after all, it was written by Fred Baker who was behind Billy's Boots, which was a masterclass in how to keep a storyline compelling despite the repetitive nature of the plot's basic premise. Roughly every three weeks, Ted Legge would lose a team member and would have to find a replacement; the untried player would play a match and would be useless in the first half; Ted would figure out a tactic that would work for the newcomer and the match would be won... but tears turn to tragedy as Ted Legge would lose a team member and would have to find a replacement... and repeat the process ten times to make up the eleven-man team. During the football season they would battle to rise from the Fourth Division to Third... to Second... to First (the strip ran from 1964 to 1968), with a break each summer for another adventure.

You can see the same cycle in plenty of other sports strips. Billy needed his boots to play well and score, so the writer's chief job was to find ways for Billy and his boots to be separated before a vital match. For American comics' fans: it's why Kryptonite exists.

There's still a long way to go... I'm currently looking at copies from the 1964-66 period, so there's a decade of reading still to come. I have a feeling this might be the longest introduction yet because there's just so many great strips to talk about!

Sales of Frontline UK and Arena have spiked nicely since I dropped the price. Just to be clear, these two titles were licensed from DC Thomson a couple of years ago and the license period has run its course. I have a brief window to sell off unsold stock, after which I'll have to stop selling the two titles. There won't be any more printed, so grab 'em now while you can. I think they're really nice books and I put in a lot of effort to make sure that there was some interesting introductory material for both.

If you want to grab them, you can still get 25% off the cover price – here for Frontline UK and here for Arena – but only for two more weeks. If you don't have a PayPal account, you can pay by cheque – just drop me a line at the e-mail address you'll find below the photo, top left.

Quite a few of the titles published by Bear Alley Books are under license, ranging from five years to open-ended. I'll just have to write some more to fill the gaps.

Talking of which, I'm still trying to chase down some annuals for the Valiant index. I don't have the Valiant Book of Conquest of the Air nor the three editions of the Valiant Book of Sport. I have covers for all four, but if anyone has scans of the books or can type up the contents of the books for me, that would be fantastic. These are the last four books I need now, as I've tracked down all the other summer specials and annuals for inclusion.

As we've been talking sport and football in particular, that gave me the theme for this week's random scans. And an interesting point: there seems to be a common misconception that we Brits only call the sport football while everyone else calls it soccer. Well, here are a few books from the forties, fifties and seventies which disprove that "fact". We are, however, the only people to call it "The beautiful game".

 

Fleetway Pocket Library authors

The following list contains the names of as many of the scriptwriters who contributed to Fleetway's pocket libraries, including War, Battle, Air Ace, Love Story, True Life, Thriller, Cowboy, Super Detective and Schoolgirls. The few records available often covered only a part of the lifetime of each of these titles, so the listing is certainly incomplete.

A. Carney Allan
Angus Allan
George Allen
G. Allman
Donne Avenell
Fred G. Baker
J. Baker
W. Howard Baker
Leslie T. Barnard
E. J. Bensberg
David E. Bingley
Peter Bird
J. Boland
Sydney J. Bounds
David Boutland
Pat Brookman
Noel Browne
R. Brownrigg (Mrs)
Gordon W. Brunt
N. Buchanan
Alma Buley (Miss)
Roy Bullen
H. K. Bulmer
Mike Butterworth
Ann Cameron
S. Carrington (Miss)
John Newton Chance
Percy Clarke
Roger P. Clegg
Barry Coker
Gordon M. Coombs
Eileen Corduroy
Ralph Coveney
E. G. Cowan
J. Cregan
Maurice Creswick
Dugold Cumming-Skinner
Rinaldo D'Ami
Alan Davidson
A. Deam (Miss)
A. M. Digby
Leslie S. Dofort
G. Dunn
James Edgar
M. Edwards
Ellis W. Evans
G. L. Evans
L. J. Evans
H. Fairfield
C. E. Fearn
Mary Feldwick
Alan Fennell
Ronald Fleming
P. R. French
Conrad Frost
H. J. Gammidge
Diana M. Garbutt
H. T. Gardner
J. Gardner (Miss)
Brian T. Garland
R. Garner
H. Gaston
H. H. C. Gibbons
Norah M. Gibbs (Mrs)
Kenneth Giggal
M. Scott Goodall
G. Gowler
G. Cecil Graveley
Roderic Graeme
Eileen W. Graham (Mrs)
Vera E. Greene (Miss)
Paul Greenfield
E. H. Hamil
Rex Hardinge
A. S. Harris
Harry Harrison
J. Heale
Eric Hebden
A. W. Henderson
James H. Higgins
V. A. L. Holding
Edward Holmes
J. Hoopell (Miss)
J. Hopkinson (Mrs)
C. Howard (Mrs)
V. Humpherson
Jack Hunt
John Hunter
Eileen Jackson
Graeme Jeffries
K. Jones
R. Keane
Danny Kelleher
Ian B. Kellie
Bob Kesten
Albert King
T. Kirby
Dinah Lacey
H. Lamb
Douglas Leach
D. Leader [poss. David Leader]
M. Lee (Miss)
C. A. Lewins
Eric Leyland
William J. B. Line
J. Lockhead
Derek Long
Justin Long
Roy McAdorey
J. P. McCrae (Mrs)
E. L. McKeag
Leila MacKinlay (Mrs)
Wilfred McNeilly
Ken McOwan
Terry Magee
George P. Mann
John Marsh
H. Martin (Miss)
Thomas H. Martin
J. Mather
Leonard Matthews
C. Mattin
Leonard J. Meddick
Ken Mennell
Mavis Miller
Pat Mills
A. Milner
G. Mitchell
James Moffatt
R. A. Montague
Michael Moorcock
T. E. Moore
David R. Motton
Marie Muir (Mrs)
Peter O'Donnell
H. R. Oldham
Gil Page
B. Palmer (Miss)
A. G. B. Parlett
G. R. Parvin
F. R. Passmore
Willie Patterson
Frank S. Pepper
R. Perrins
G. Perrott
R. Phillips
Ernest Player
C. E. Plummer (Miss)
L. M. Plummer (Mrs)
R. V. Pothecary
N. Powell
Stewart Pride
W. Prout
S. Pyke (Mrs)
M. Raymond [poss. Moore Raymond]
David Roberts
---- Robinson
---- Robson
Ken Roscoe
E. L. Rosman
J. Roswell
B. Rowland
D. A. Sampson
David Satherley
---- Scott
J. E. Serby
Jerry Siegel
F. E. Smith
J. W. Smith
Robert Sommerville
Gordon Sowman
William Spence
James Stagg
Joseph Stamper
William E. Stanton-Hope
Peter Stewart
J. A. Stockbridge
V. Stokes
James A. Storrie
Patricia M. Stott
S. Strickland-Clark
Leslie Swainson
M. Telfall (Mrs)
A. Terry
Colin F. Thomas
Graeme Thomas
J. & S. Thomas
P. Thomas
D. Thompson
G. Thorne (Miss)
Eileen Tierney (Miss)
E. C. Tubb
Tom Tully
Walter Tyrer
---- Van Zyn
Adrian Vincent
Cyril G. Walker
Alf F. Wallace
J. Walsham
W. Ward
A. Warner
Len Wenn
Marjorie Wenn
M. Wheeler
John Wheway
Joan Whitford
Philip Wilding
Richard Wise
H. W. Wogan
---- Woods
Norman Worker
R. P. Yunnil (?)

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]
Georgia Standen Battle
Martin Belderson
Benson
Bett-Gray
David E. Bingley
Sean Blair [Interview at Down the Tubes]
Ed Blandford
Nigel Boanas
Boothby
Sydney J. Bounds
David Boutland
Boyle
Brenchley
Gordon W. Brunt
Brueton
Roy E. Bullen
Burden
Fergus Cannan
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
Steve Coombs
J. O. Cornes
Coughlin
Crawcroft
Crowther
Dailly
Daniel
Richard Davis
Day
Kate Dewar
Mrs. Donnelly [poss. Jane Donnelly]
James Doonan
Dorward
F. G. Douglas
Harry Douthwaite
Chris Dows
Du Feu
Elliot
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
Ken Gentry
Gonzalez
M. Scott Goodall
(J. M.?) Gray
A. Green
Bernard Gregg
Peter Grehan
Ferg Handley [interview at Bear Alley]
(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
Simon Jowett
Ian Kellie
Jim Kenner
Knight
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]
Malcolm McDevitt
Mac Macdonald [pseudonym used on staff-written issues]
Peter McKenzie [K. P. McKenzie]
Iain McLaughlin
McLean
Rick McMullen
Robert McNeill
Ken McOwen
McPhail
Philip Madden
Terry Magee
Maitland
Derrick Markham
Anthony Matthews
Jenek Matysiak
Mepham [??Clement Roderick Mepham (1919- )??]
(G.?) Mitchell
R. A. "Monty" Montague
Scott Montgomery
David Motton
Munslow
Peter Newark
Nicoll
O'Connell
O'Connor
Orme
Parker
(A. G. B.?) Parlett
Parsons
Paterson
Bryan Perrett
(N.?) Powell
Quarrell
Jason Quinn
Redbridge
John Richardson
Roy Rivett
Kris Roberts
Ross
Rudge
Salt
Roger Sanderson
Ken Sell
Skentlebery [spelling probably Skentelbery]
(J. W.?) Smith
Robert Smith
Spain
Speer
William Spence
Spencer
Giovanni Spinella
Stainton [probably D. L. G. Stainton]
Strange
Bill Styles [William Styles]
Suttar [Jack Sutter?]
Dominic Teague
(J & S?) Thomas
Brent Towns
E. C. Tubb
Turner
Tyson
Cyril G. Walker
Peter Wallage
Stephen Walsh
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)

Comic Cuts

Let chaos reign. We're having the windows done so I'm writing everything to the shriek of drills and the thump and crack of shattering glass as the old wooden frames are ripped out and nice new plastic frames go in. It's a job that's been on the cards for a few years but our landlord has only just gotten around to it.

It's going to be pretty chaotic around here for the next couple of months as there's a lot of other work lined up—the porch is going to be ripped down and there's redecorating and re-roofing still to come. We're moving furniture and shelves around constantly and for about four weeks we're going to have to put a lot of it in storage while rooms are redecorated because there just aren't any nooks or crannies where we can squeeze more things into. All our nooks and crannies are stuffed to the gills already.

I'm still on the Sci-Fi Art book juggling bits of writing with desperate and frantic e-mails trying to locate pictures. I'm nearly three-quarters of the way through the text but there's a long way to go with the illustrations as I've probably only got a third of the number I need. Anyone with lots of sf pulps and US paperbacks is more than welcome to get in touch if they fancy doing some scanning.

Here are a couple of strays that won't be in the SF book but, as I had them off the shelf anyway I thought I'd pop them on the scanner. One of my first loves about science fiction was the Chris Foss covers that were appearing in the early 1970s—this isn't going to be news to regular readers but I got heavily into sf around 1974 and every paperback (except New English Library) had a Foss spaceship, or a spaceship in the style of Chris Foss.

You never forget your first love, so I've always gotten a big buzz out of finding spaceship covers on older paperbacks. Here are a handful that I think you'll like. Forget your flying torpedoes—this is what spaceships ought to look like: colourful and with bits jutting out of them. Foss before Chris Foss.

Not sure who the artist is for the three Digit Books' covers but the top one is Norman Light, who deserves a gallery of his own. Something to think about doing to keep myself sane while they're tearing the house down around my ears maybe.

News from around the Net...

* Lew Stringer reviews The Beano: 70 Years of Fun, a special 68-page collectors edition commemorating the upcoming 70th birthday of "the best British comic ever" (or so it says on the cover).

* Hot-Shot Hamish has been appearing in Scotland's The Sunday Mail for some weeks. Episodes are being posted online. One of British comics' hidden gems, Hot-Shot was written by Fred Baker and drawn by Julio Schiaffino for Scorcher & Score, and subsequently for Tiger, back in the early 1970s; Hot-Shot then teamed up with Mighty Mouse from Roy of the Rovers, in which title the pair's adventures continued until 1991.

* Alan Grant is to be interviewed by Ian Rankin as part of the Borders Book Festival on Sunday, 22 June. (link via Down the Tubes)

* Talking of Alan Grant, you can now download for free the first issue of Wasted which should be hitting the shops in June (although I notice that the issue is dated May and was first posted online at least as early as February and maybe as far back in November 2007.

* Bryan Talbot remembers the Finnish comics festival Kemi over at Forbidden Planet International.

* Richard Bruton remembers the old Captain Britain over at the Forbidden Planet International blog before tackling the new series, Captain Britain and MI13, by Paul Cornell & Leonard Kirk. The mainstream media made a mini-fuss over the appearance of Gordon Brown in the strip with the BBC Breakfast TV show discussing the appearance before being joined in the studio by Lawrence Etherington. The appearance even made the pages of the Daily Telegraph, Daily Mirror and the Daily Mail (all on 3 June). The latter interviewed writer Paul Cornell who is quoted as saying, "I'm quite a fan of Gordon Brown—so I'm pleased we've given him a PR boost on both sides of the Atlantic and around the world."

Playhour Artists/Authors

What follows is a list of artists and writers known to have contributed to Playhour. The comic ran to approximately 1,700 issues between 1954 and 1987 and with very few official records remaining, there's a very good chance that a few artists and a few more writers are missing from the list. Any further information about any of the creators listed below would be very welcome.

Artists
Arthur Baker
Walter Bell
Giorgio Bellavitis
Jesus Blasco [Jesús Blasco] (Wikipedia)
Walter Booth
Eric Bradbury
Leslie Branton
Rosemary Brown
Geoff Campion
Stephen Chapman
Rene Cloke
E. T. Coelho
Pam Cooper
Mrs. S. de Basily
Ferguson Dewar
John Donnelly
C. E. Drury
Ron Embleton (Wikipedia)
Bert Felstead
Barbara C. Freeman
Mick Hall
Fred Holmes
Arthur Horowicz
Gordon Hutchings
Roger Hutchings (see under Gordon Hutchings)
Tony Hutchings (see under Gordon Hutchings)
R. Jordan
Tom Kerr
Hans G. Kresse (Wikipedia [Holland])
Bill Lacey
Langhammer
Virginio Livraghi
Harold McCready
V. Mackenzie
Hugh McNeill
Marion Main
H. Maxwell
Philip Mendoza
H. C. Milburn
A. S. A. Newark
Will Nickless
Ron Nielsen
Cecil Orr
Eric R. Parker
Harry Pettit
Cyril Price
Nadir Quinto
Basil Reynolds
Fred Robinson
Sep E. Scott
Henry Seabright
Edgar Spenceley
Geoff Squire
Eric Stephens
H. M. Talintyre
Douglas Turnbull
Bill Ward
Reginald Webb
Fred White
V. Whiteley
Woodall
Mrs. M. E. Woodward
Peter Woolcock
Colin Wyatt
various unidentified artists working for Bryan Colmer Ltd., Creazioni D'Ami, B. L. Kearley Ltd., Sheldon Studios, Temple Art Agency

Writers
George Allen
Sydney J. Bounds
Mike Butterworth
Frank Capern
Betty Clowes
Denise Cork
Ron Garner
John Gill
Barbara Hayes (later Matthews)
J. H. Hopkins
Eric Leyland
Miss P. Mills
Frances Pitt
David Roberts
Colin F. Thomas
Joan Whitford
Brian Woodford

Comic Cuts - 17 August 2018

On Monday, I'd planned doing a quick conversion of my "Iron Mask" book so I could put it out on Kindle, but what I thought would be a couple of day's work at most sprawled over into the rest of the week and is still ongoing if you're reading this on Friday.

For newcomers, this isn't the historical character made famous by Dumas, but a later adventurer who planned to walk around the world while hiding his identity behind an old knight's helmet. I first stumbled across the story at a local historical exhibition, the man behind the Mask having once lived in Wivenhoe in the 1930s.

I wrote up the story a couple of years ago and put together a 42-page A4 booklet. Since then I've had some correspondence with various people who have been able to offer a few clues. A few more resources have also appeared online since the book was written in 2015, so I thought it a good opportunity to dig around and see what else I could find.

I'm the first to admit that the original is densely written. There's a lot of family information regarding births, marriages and deaths, where people lived, and how they interconnected or were involved with the "Iron Mask" saga; there's a confusion of names because families often name children after parents or grandparents; and there is also some speculation over people's identities which required a lot of explanation. It's a book that not only throws in the kitchen sink but also a full-length instruction manual of how the sink fits together, how you can attach it to the wall, what plumbing requirements you need and how to keep it working in all circumstances so you get the best results from it.

Because I knew it was confusing in places, I created a couple of family trees and a map to help people find their way around. These needed to be resized, but rather than just shrink them down I thought I'd redraw them. Big mistake. Switching from landscape to portrait – a wide image to a tall image – meant breaking the trees in two. I also needed to expand them to fill the extra space at the top and bottom of the new pages.

After a couple of failed attempts on Tuesday, I finally managed a quite simple tree on Wednesday that I was happy with. Now all I have to do is draw another three and I'll be finished. I still haven't figured out what to do with the map... it might turn into a list, which will be a hell of a lot easier to cope with!

There are positives from all this: I've ironed out a couple of problems with the original, correcting a couple of minor errors that had crept into the earlier draft, and added a riot and another court case to the text that I was previously unaware of.

I'll hopefully have it all wrapped up by next week.

I've been following the various reviews that people have written for The Vigilant, Rebellion's re-launch of a whole bunch of characters from their newly acquired British comics' archive.. When I wrote my review (scroll down if you haven't read it) I was wondering if I was being too harsh, but it seems that other reviewers agree with me. John Freeman sums it up best when he says, "having been handed a massive toy chest of characters, strips and concepts, the creative team involved on The Vigilant were a bit overwhelmed by the choice offered to play with, and, at times, used too many of them within this opening story."

What is also clear is that even those of us who have reservations over this particular story want The Vigilant to continue and for more stories to be told about these characters. I'm very happy to see Rebellion putting so much effort into not only bringing some of the old characters back, but reprinting the original strips. The choice has been eclectic – everything from Marney the Fox to Von Hoffman's Invasion – and the line is probably the better for it.

The latest announcement is the revival of Roy of the Rovers... or, rather, the ongoing revival of the character as he began a 12-week run in the pages of Match of the Day magazine back in early June. The redesigned (by Ben Willsher) Roy, drawn in MotD by Lisa Henke, is now set to star in a couple of books due out in October/November. One (Scouted) is a children's novel, written by Tom Palmer and written by Henke, the second a graphic novel (Kick-Off) written by Rob Williams with art by Willsher.

Rebellion have yet to announce them officially, but there are collections from the comics Wildcat and Jinty in the works for early next year, as well as a second collection for M.A.C.H.1 and a debut collection for Billy's Boots, Fred Baker's masterpiece of schoolboy soccer. For more details, scroll down, as I'm updated my Treasury of British Comics listing of upcoming titles.

The one thing I've not covered – because it's not a book – is the Scream! and Misty Special. To be published on 31 October, the second annual Hallowe'en special will again feature more adventures of "The Thirteenth Floor" by Guy Adams, John Stokes & Frazer Irving and "Black Max" by Kek-W and Simon Coleby. "Black Beth" by Alec Worley and DaNi reunites the team who brought you "Fate of the Fairy Hunter" in the last special, and two complete stories, “Best Friends Forever” by Lizzie Boyle and Yishan Li, and “Decomposition Jones“, by Richard McAuliffe and Steve Mannion, complete the issue.

The cover (left) is by Ohio-based American artist Kyle Hotz, formerly the artist of Nightman (Malibu), Ghost Rider 2099, The Hood, The Agency, and others for Marvel. There is also an alternate cover (right) by Lenka Šimečková, best known for the Czech comic "The Sorrowful Putto of Prague". The latter cover will be an exclusive available through the 2000AD web shop.

No book scans this week as I spent too long compiling the listing immediately below. So much to do, so little time... So instead, here's the cover of the upcoming special limited edition of Stephen James Walker's expanded The Art of Reginald Heade. Pricey, but I'm sure it will be worth it. Due out 31 August.