Art spotters this way!

[dreamticket]

Hello everyone. I'm uploading a stack of stuff today to keep you art spotters busy over Christmas and New Year. I think nothing here is too obscure, except one which I might post separately. Take a look and see if you recognise any of the artists.

This first is from The Hotspur, November 1975. Somebody posted some Red Star Robinson by the same artist a while back but I can't find the post.

The strip is called The Slowest Gun in the West. Thanks for looking.

The second strip, also Hotspur, from July 1973, is called The Thief Taker. I think the artist might be Neville Wilson.

[dreamticket]

Also from The Hotspur, July 1970 this time, we have Skyboy. This is a completely new character for me, so I'm not just looking to find out who the lovely art is by, but who wrote it, is it a reprint, and were there any more series?

Again from The Hotspur, Sept. 1970 this time, we have a strip called The Golden Goals of Johnny Jackson. I think the artist on this might be Albert Vanderput (?), but I'm not too sure. He's all over a couple of Victor annuals from the early seventies as well, (IIRC), as well as several other series in Victor and Hotspur. He seems to draw the same face on every character!

(That last is not a great scan. Poor paper quality. I'll try and find something better if needed).

[colcool007]

Dreamticket, your two guesses are bang on. Neville Wilson drew the Thief Taker (his style is so easy to recognise when you can see a face that he has drawn) and Bert Vandeput drew The Golden Goals of Johnny Jackson.

The Slowest Gun In The West is Terry Patrick and drew most of the modern Black Sapper and the later Red Star Robinson as in from 1969 or thereabouts.

As to Skyboy, do you have one where we can see a face? That could be Neville Wilson again but I am not 100% sure.

[dreamticket]

Dreamticket, your two guesses are bang on. Neville Wilson drew the Thief Taker (his style is so easy to recognise when you can see a face that he has drawn) and Bert Vandeput drew The Golden Goals of Johnny Jackson.

The Slowest Gun In The West is Terry Patrick and drew most of the modern Black Sapper and the later Red Star Robinson as in from 1969 or thereabouts.

As to Skyboy, do you have one where we can see a face? That could be Neville Wilson again but I am not 100% sure.

Hi Colcool. I'll have to dig out the Hotspurs to try and find a suitable page of Skyboy for you, which will not happen before next week. As to Terry Patrick on sgitw I have to say I'd ruled him out as not being cartoony enough after comparing the above with the two TP strips reproduced over on the BritishComicArt blog. Are you sure it's him?

I also noticed the BCArt blog has not been updated since March or April. Does anybody know why? Would hate to see it disappear.

[Digifiend]

It won't disappear, because it's hosted on Blogspot, not self-hosted like Jamie Smart and Andy Fanton's blogs. But yeah, I hope nothing bad happened to Crow, the owner of the British Comic Art blog.

[dreamticket]

Dreamticket, your two guesses are bang on. Neville Wilson drew the Thief Taker (his style is so easy to recognise when you can see a face that he has drawn) and Bert Vandeput drew The Golden Goals of Johnny Jackson.

The Slowest Gun In The West is Terry Patrick and drew most of the modern Black Sapper and the later Red Star Robinson as in from 1969 or thereabouts.

As to Skyboy, do you have one where we can see a face? That could be Neville Wilson again but I am not 100% sure.

I thought I had more than one episode, but alas have only one. Here is the second page. It won't help much as the artist seems to have gone out of his way to avoid drawing faces.

[dreamticket]

Here are a couple more scans from various Hotspurs I found interesting. Ring any bells? Again, apologies for the less than stellar quality.

[Raven]

Skyboy looks like a really nice strip; like it was probably Hotspur's standout feature of the time. Does anyone have first and last publication dates for it?

[Phoenix]

Skyboy looks like a really nice strip; like it was probably Hotspur's standout feature of the time. Does anyone have first and last publication dates for it?

That was an unusually long holiday for you, Raven, wasn't it! Anyway, now you're back, here's the information you requested. Skyboy ran in The Hotspur 568 (Sep. 5 1970) - 581 (Dec. 5 1970).

[colcool007]

I am VERY sure when I see Terry Patrick. It is almost as if he saw Ron Smith's stuff and decided to send it up when he drew for comedic effect.

As to Skyboy, I am now 99% certain that it is another Neville Wilson strip due to the face of the character jumping over the bull in frame one.

[Raven]

Anyway, now you're back, here's the information you requested. Skyboy ran in The Hotspur 568 (Sep. 5 1970) - 581 (Dec. 5 1970).

Thanks for the info, Phoenix. I may check this one out further in future!

[dreamticket]

I am VERY sure when I see Terry Patrick. It is almost as if he saw Ron Smith's stuff and decided to send it up when he drew for comedic effect.

As to Skyboy, I am now 99% certain that it is another Neville Wilson strip due to the face of the character jumping over the bull in frame one.

I've come across more of Neville Wilson's work in some mid-seventies Hotspurs, more in the style of The Thief Taker. The fluidity of his characters and his way with faces puts me in mind of Alan Davis. Could he have been an influence?

[Phoenix]

As to Skyboy, do you have one where we can see a face? That could be Neville Wilson again but I am not 100% sure.

You wanted faces, Colin, so here are some faces. The first two are from the opening episode of Skyboy, the last one is from the second episode. So, put little one and that Sparky annual down, and tell her to read that Michael Morpurgo book I gave her, at least while you are wrestling with these illustrations.

[colcool007]

OK, after being "nudged" by a certain scanner, I am 99.9% sure that the Skyboy artist was Neville Wilson. The faces certainly helped, but surprisingly I find that the magnification doesn't.

[crow]

It looks like Neville Wilson to me. That is such lovely artwork. I love the anthology format of older British comics.

Um, I saw my blog, British Comic Art mentioned earlier in this thread. I haven't died or anything and have been meaning to get new stuff on there but have been pretty busy with work and what-not. Hopefully normal service will resume soon.