Less well known, however, is his work as a pioneer of more humorous strips such as 'The Tickler Twins', who appeared in the very first issue of Thomson's Magic way back in 1939; not to mention drawing 'funny animals' like 'Moko the Baby Monkey' for AP's Sun.
During the mid-1950s he went on to draw a succession of boys' adventure strips for Knockout, including serious film adaptations and a long stint on Baker Street's 'other' detective Sexton Blake (though, as can be seen in the example below, one can already detect signs of the sinister humour that he eventually perfected for strips like 'The Balloon of Doom'!)
But perhaps his most high-profile 1950s series appeared at the end of the decade on the cover of Odhams' short-lived but lavishly produced title Zip. This featured the light-hearted adventures of Skippy ('the boy who lives in a barrel'), and gave him an opportunity to develop the style of wide-eyed, comic characterization that he employed to such effect for the rest of his career.
Of course, these examples only scratch the surface of MacGillivray's extensive canon. I'd be interested to see how many more of his strips people can identify (especially from his later period drawing various girls' comics for Fleetway and Thomson). Also, are there any particular series that deserve to be ranked alongside 'Lucky', 'Balloon' and 'Flopear' for their sheer, inspired originality?
- Phil Rushton
