Comics UK

Thanks Phil, yes any examples help for reference to these early bikes. That example bottom left is a good one, I wonder if many survived being so many probably crashed maybe not?

Thank you for the kind offer Phoenix, but do not have to bother you as have all nine. At least I know I have that year complete for motorbikes, and gradually the other years are falling into place with help on here. Thank you.

Here is another colour drawing of a speedway race, matrix. It illustrates the text complete Star Of The Speedway, which appears in the children's book Triumphs Of Sport And Speed, not dated but I would place it in the late forties or the very early fifties. The name of the artist is J E McConnell.

Thank you for that scan Phoenix. Do you know how many of The Triumph have motorcycles on their covers?

matrix wrote:Thank you for that scan Phoenix. Do you know how many of The Triumph have motorcycles on their covers?

No I don't, matrix, sorry. As The Triumph isn't a Thomson paper I don't collect it. I just have a handful of copies as examples, and I have no plans to buy any more.

Here are some excerpts from a short story Roland Davies illustrated (and apparently wrote), published in the TV Comic Annual for 1957.

When I first saw the last illustration, I thought his style bore some resemblance to that of the equally versatile French artist René Pellos, and the motorcycles on the preceding page just confirmed my opinion (you can google for René Pellos, especially his sports drawings, on the covers to Sport Digest for instance).

This is a post for matrix. I have discovered that there is a serial for girls in the D.C. Thomson comic Spellbound, which has a large number of panels featuring motorbikes. The story is The Nine Lives Of Kitty Foster and runs from 61 (Nov. 19 1977) - 69 (Jan. 14 1978). I am too busy to post examples but eBay should provide. Good luck!

Phoenix wrote:This is a post for matrix. I have discovered that there is a serial for girls in the D.C. Thomson comic Spellbound, which has a large number of panels featuring motorbikes. The story is The Nine Lives Of Kitty Foster and runs from 61 (Nov. 19 1977) - 69 (Jan. 14 1978). I am too busy to post examples but eBay should provide. Good luck!

Thanks for the heads up on the Kitty story Derek. I was just reading Col's post about the Dundee Literary festival when I came across the Kitty example, which is great as I had never seen it before. https://www.dundee.ac.uk/museum/exhibit ... ics/girls/

They seem to be rare in British girls comics not like in America where there are plenty especially the romance titles.

No motorbikes, but I did recently acquire a nice Roland Davies illustration for a story by Laurence Housman (A E Housman's brother) which appeared in the original Eagle.

That is a nice example Phil. Is his original art hard to come by? Illustration do not have any examples unless I missed them? Do you have to pay a tidy sum for his work?

Do you know what examples of RD Norman used in his 'Masters of Fun and Thrills' book? I have been waiting for one to come up for sale in Oz!

matrix wrote:Thanks for the heads up on the Kitty story Derek. I was just reading Col's post about the Dundee Literary festival when I came across the Kitty example, which is great as I had never seen it before.

Needless to say, I knew nothing about the festival you refer to, matrix. I saw the motorbikes as I was cataloguing the serials in Spellbound. You may be able to get some of the issues from 30th Century Comics in Lower Richmond Road, PUTNEY, London SW15 1JP (Tel:- 0208 788 2052).