Beano comic librarys chat

[Peter Gray]

Beano comic librarys chat

Been looking at these and feels me with great memories....often read these at the beach.
Who were the main artists other than the usual artist. There is a lot of ghosting going on.

My collection only goes up to 100....

I'll be showing some covers on my blog shortly..

[Peter Gray]

Great mix of styles.....love the comic libraries for trying new things..

loved the big group of characters in this story..

Here Steve Brights first comic work for DC Thomson ...the inside bit was by another artist.

John Geering did a great job here.

First one I read..



Anyone read ...collect these gems...

[ISPYSHHHGUY]

I saw the original artwork for the 'BLACK BOB/GNASHER' one, PETER....as far as I remember, this was the only LIBRARY drawn by DAVEY SUTHERLAND.......'COMIC LIBRARY' editor IAN GRAY was a sheepdog trials enthusiast, and stated that this number could well have been his personal favourite.....number 100 was another beauty, a 'LORD SNOOTY' one by BOB NIXON ,[if I remember correctly] who had only then recently returned to THOMSON after declining work opportunities at IPC .

[Kashgar]

Pardon a piece of self promotion but the artist details for the first 186 BCL's are contained in the second volume of my Beano Diaries.

[ISPYSHHHGUY]

the 'BEANO' COMIC LIBRARIES original artwork was scaled 6 inches x 8 inches, usually drawn on regular BRISTOL BOARD with a decent border, though sometimes cut so the artwork could be mailed to DCT in a bubbled 'jiffybag'.

Somwhat surprizingly, RON SPENCER did his original cartoon work on thinner CARTRIDGE PAPER [which looked fine when published]. Another unusual departure was by KEN HARRISON, who done 3 COMIC LIBRARYpages of these on the same standard cut-sized comic page.--I never saw any other example of this.

JOHN GEERING, [as if he didn't have enough on his plate already] also contributed loads of 'COMIC LIBRARIES', doing the vast majority of covers himself......and it was through his association with the 'LIBRARIES' I actually got to meet him [the only time I did].

Editor IAN GRAY sometimes 'fixed' continuity art errors himself [though usual practise was to return the work to the artist to sort: occassionally, artist's ink was watered down a bit too much, and returned as it wasn't yet deemed 'camera-ready', [though this was quite rare]. I saw IAN GRAY with the old 'white-out' at the ready one afternoon, and he was doing a fair approximation of JIM PETRIE'S 'MINNIE' on a close-up frame of her.... IAN wasn't a great cartoonist in his own right, but was certainly doing a proficient job in this instance.

[felneymike]

I can remember buying one of these on a trip to Butlins, i remember the comic much better than the holiday! It involved a big soapbox cart race across Beanotown, with Dennis creating one filled with an endless array of gadgets with which to cheat... the design of which i later shamlessley stole for my own "cart wars" comic

[Steve Bright]

Thanks for posting the 'Doggie Dunce' cover, Peter - that sure takes me back. It wasn't just my first work for DCT, it was the very first professional job of my career, drawn over the weekend of 9-10th July, 1983.

It was closely followed by my first comic library. Well, it was one I shared with Peter Davidson, who had started it, but several pages in, had to abandon it for some reason long since forgotten. Ian Gray asked me to finish it. It was called Baseball Dan (I think), and I was terrified, but was in no position to turn work down back in those early days. Even more than 20 years down the line, I was still struggling to get Dan right - back then it was a baptism of fire.

Ian assured me he had every confidence in me, and gave me more encouragement with every page. Looking back, he was either extremely generous or completely barking, because from the page I took over, that library has to be the worst pile of pooh DCT has ever produced. This is not false modesty, it really was utterly appalling! I've no idea how many libraries I ended up doing (I did far more covers in those early years), but hopefully none as bad as that one.

ISPYSHHHGUY, I'm still trying to figure out your real identity. I take it we've met in DCT land?

[Peter Gray]

I've found it

number 13 Dandy comic library
Desperate Dan in the Cactusville Dodgers

I can see the different styles...

[ISPYSHHHGUY]

STEVE.....yes, we have met.....though, it was such a while back, I'm not sure if you remember me or not---[it's time for the SPY to reveal his true identity!]-----my name is ROBERT SMITH, and I met you briefly twice or thrice in IAN'S shared office on the second floor when I was in my early 20s [in the mid-80s] when I got some COMIC LIBRARIES work...and indeed, you furnished the covers on mine, STEVE....I lived in EDINBURGH back then, so I reckon I met IAN GRAY between 20 and 30 times, and I knew him well enough to have a conversation with him....

Sorry to hear about his passing around 6 months back----he was a real character, and VISUALLY he reminded me of HANK out of the '3 BEARS'---though I certainly wouldn't have said this to his face!

IAN was totally blunt and straight to the point: on my second-ever visit, he totally destroyed my efforts, [verbally!]---he was right, of course......my early stuff was really crude.....but others before me were never summoned back [his 'second-in-command GRAHAM informed me later during one of IAN'S many foreign hols] so I should be quite pleased really.....I also met DAVEY TORRIE a few times [another character, also his successor MORRIS HEGGIE [though I never had a real conversation with him].

You probably remember the posters of young nubiles in IAN'S office, STEVE......VERY un-'BEANO' like! My stuff was never all that successful [maybe I should have waited another couple of years before submitting]----I was paid for a 'ROGER' double-pager, on the actual ' BEANO' though it was never published.

I followed the POLITICAL cartoons you did on the 'DAILY RECORD' in the 90s, STEVE......you had a real flair for this work also.


I still draw today, though I've never submitted anything anywhere for years......it's really lack of orginization on my part so, I 'm actively drawing, but out of the public eye...still a keen comics fan, though.

[Steve Bright]

Robert, I'm so sorry - I don't recall your name (but then I occasionally forget my own, so I hope you'll forgive me). I'd have better luck if I saw your face or your artwork (or both), or if your parents had done you the favour of naming you Rocky or Ferdinand, or similar, but for now, Robert Smith isn't ringing the required bell.

Good to hear your memories of The Loon (Ian Gray) though, and I love the Hank comparison - I'd not thought about it before, but it's a good one. I'm trying to remember who "Graham" was now - my unreliable memory is telling me that Jim Richards was Ian's Number 2 back then, but I could well be wrong.

As for the nubiles in Ian's office, i can't say I ever...ahem...noticed. I was always very focussed on the job. Koff-koff!

[steelclaw]

STEVE.....yes, we have met.....though, it was such a while back, I'm not sure if you remember me or not---[it's time for the SPY to reveal his true identity!]-----my name is ROBERT SMITH, and I met you briefly twice or thrice in IAN'S shared office on the second floor when I was in my early 20s [in the mid-80s] when I got some COMIC LIBRARIES work...and indeed, you furnished the covers on mine, STEVE....I lived in EDINBURGH back then, so I reckon I met IAN GRAY between 20 and 30 times, and I knew him well enough to have a conversation with him....

Sorry to hear about his passing around 6 months back----he was a real character, and VISUALLY he reminded me of HANK out of the '3 BEARS'---though I certainly wouldn't have said this to his face!

IAN was totally blunt and straight to the point: on my second-ever visit, he totally destroyed my efforts, [verbally!]---he was right, of course......my early stuff was really crude.....but others before me were never summoned back [his 'second-in-command GRAHAM informed me later during one of IAN'S many foreign hols] so I should be quite pleased really.....I also met DAVEY TORRIE a few times [another character, also his successor MORRIS HEGGIE [though I never had a real conversation with him].

You probably remember the posters of young nubiles in IAN'S office, STEVE......VERY un-'BEANO' like! My stuff was never all that successful [maybe I should have waited another couple of years before submitting]----I was paid for a 'ROGER' double-pager, on the actual ' BEANO' though it was never published.

I followed the POLITICAL cartoons you did on the 'DAILY RECORD' in the 90s, STEVE......you had a real flair for this work also.


I still draw today, though I've never submitted anything anywhere for years......it's really lack of orginization on my part so, I 'm actively drawing, but out of the public eye...still a keen comics fan, though.

Robert Smith
Cool I have loads of your records, when's the next Cure tour?

[Kashgar]

Hi Mr Smith aka Ispy...,
From the info you gave out and checking through my BCL records I had guessed you must have been Robert Smith (Three Bears etc) but didn't have the temerity to say so. Some people are very wary of being 'outed' even if it's only in a comics forum.

[Classic Comics]

Good to hear your memories of The Loon (Ian Gray) though, and I love the Hank comparison - I'd not thought about it before, but it's a good one. I'm trying to remember who "Graham" was now - my unreliable memory is telling me that Jim Richards was Ian's Number 2 back then, but I could well be wrong.

As for the nubiles in Ian's office, i can't say I ever...ahem...noticed. I was always very focussed on the job. Koff-koff!

Steve, if memory serves, didn't Graham Noble share an office with the Loon for a while. And I never noticed the nubiles on that office wall either - I was too young and innocent, y'see.

Iain

[Steve Bright]

Steve, if memory serves, didn't Graham Noble share an office with the Loon for a while. And I never noticed the nubiles on that office wall either - I was too young and innocent, y'see.

Iain

Yeah, yeah - too busy putting up your own posters, you mean, Iain.

Graham Noble it was - give that man a coconut. Another name that had slipped my memory banks.

[AndyB]

Speaking of Dave Torrie, he was the Classics from the Comics editor before Jim Richards and therefore retired two years ago, I think!