cover artist

[dreamticket]

Can anyone tell me who this cover artist is, from the Hotspur book 1975:

http://www.26pigs.com/Image_search.php? ... le=Hotspur

I would guess Ian Kennedy, but maybe the figures are a bit too fluid for him? I will have another couple of annuals later, if I can find links.

Cheers. Gordon.

[philcom55]

I'd say that Ian Kennedy is spot on!

Phil R.

[dreamticket]

Thanks, Phil. Here are a couple more:

Tiger annual 1964 (Best pic I could get of it):

http://books.littleoak.com.au/boys_annu ... /tiger.htm

and Lion annual 1969:

http://books.littleoak.com.au/boys_annu ... n/lion.htm

Also the 1964 Lion on the same page.

I'd guess maybe Geoff Campion for '69. No idea for '64. As for the Tiger, maybe Don Lawrence or one of the Embeltons? (Really shooting in the dark here, but a bit of a fav of mine).

Cheers. Gordon.

[Kashgar]

The Hotspur 1975 is definitely Ian Kennedy.
As for the other two its difficult to say. The 1964 Tiger cover looks like a bit of a composite some of which may be the work of artist J H Lynch. As for the 1964 Lion I'm tempted to suggest Graham Coton. The 1964 Lion is interesting as it includes a lovely 8pg colour Robot Archie strip 'The Railroad Wreckers' drawn by Mike Western.

[dreamticket]

The Hotspur 1975 is definitely Ian Kennedy.
As for the other two its difficult to say. The 1964 Tiger cover looks like a bit of a composite some of which may be the work of artist J H Lynch. As for the 1964 Lion I'm tempted to suggest Graham Coton. The 1964 Lion is interesting as it includes a lovely 8pg colour Robot Archie strip 'The Railroad Wreckers' drawn by Mike Western.

I'm hoping to index some, or all, of the above mentioned books for the gcd, probably in the new year (unless somebody beats me to it). Is there such a thing as a British Annuals index floating around? Otherwise it's going to be a pretty dry listing of the story content. Flicked through the '64 Lion a while back and could not spot a single signature.

I would also like to know the name of the artist who drew the run of singular sci-fi covers on Lion in the 1950s. Space Family Rollinson, IIRC. Any suggestions, anybody?

[colcool007]

There is the Lofts and Adley Annual Index, but it stops around the mid-80's. if you use the Annual Index on this site, then that resource and Lofts and Adley's Index should give you a flying start.

[Kashgar]

I think DT is referring to an annuals index with contents/artists/writers included Col not simply a listing of annuals published as per the Lofts/Adley one and, sadly, the answer is no if that is the case.
All of my Thomson indexes did include details of annuals contents/artists at least but then they were all devoted to single titles and unfortunately, due to research difficulties at the time, none of Steve Holland's otherwise comprehensive works like 'The Fleetway Companion' included details of either annual or summer special contents.

[dreamticket]

The Hotspur 1975 is definitely Ian Kennedy.
As for the other two its difficult to say. The 1964 Tiger cover looks like a bit of a composite some of which may be the work of artist J H Lynch. As for the 1964 Lion I'm tempted to suggest Graham Coton. The 1964 Lion is interesting as it includes a lovely 8pg colour Robot Archie strip 'The Railroad Wreckers' drawn by Mike Western.

Could Graham Coton have been responsible for the 1950s covers I mentioned ('54, '57, & '58 esp)? I learned today that he had drawn Space Family Rollinson for the weekly during the fifties. Maybe it's a bit of a stretch he did those particular covers though -- don't seem quite the right style.

[philcom55]

...Actually I think the Rollinsons were in Knockout rather than Lion. The cover strip you're probably thinking of was Captain Condor.

- Phil R.

[Kashgar]

The Space Family Rollisons were in Knockout not Lion so obviously that kills off any comfortable connection between Graham Coton working on that strip and doing Lion Annual covers in the 1950's. I haven't looked at my Lion annuals for a while but I'm fairly certain that he didn't do any of the 1950's covers though. Equally I'm pretty sure that the very first one (1954) at least was drawn by the regular Captain Condor artist of the time Ron Forbes. I'll have to check if he did any of the rest though.

[dreamticket]

RE: the above two posts. Yep! Spotted my mistake. Thanks Kashgar and Phil R.

When did Ian Kennedy start working in comics, anyone? Thought I spotted something by him in the Lion Annual 1964. As early as that?

[Shaqui]

This interview indicates Ian Kennedy was working in comics as early as the 1950s:

http://www.britishcomicart.netfirms.com ... ew_02.html

[Kashgar]

Yes, Ian Kennedy has been doing stuff since the early 1950's. Mostly heading blocks for text stories in the Thomson boys' story paper titles in those days.
BTW I've checked the covers of the early Lion anuuals and those published 1954-1958 all had covers drawn by Ron Forbes. While the Lion annual for 1959 had a signed cover drawn by Colin Dudley Page.

[dreamticket]

Mike Western was mentioned above. The following frontispiece comes from the 1961 Tiger annual, and appears to be signed MW. Is this by him?

On the subject of frontispieces, the next one comes from the 1958 Lion book. Any ideas as to artist? I think it has a Rupert Bear feel to it, so would hazard a guess at Alex Cubie.

Thanks for looking. Cheers.

Gordon.

[philcom55]

In the first example 'MW' is the distinctive signature of the great John Millar Watt (not sure about the second one but it could be Pat Nicolle or Ronald Simmons). However I think Mike Western may have painted some covers for Knockout Annuals - including, oddly enough, one that featured Space Family Rollinson.

- Phil R.