BUNTY 30th birthday issue.

[stevezodiac]

I found this in my storage unit yesterday. Anyone know who the grown-ups are at the bottom of the Toots strip? I presume one is Bill Ritchie.




The bloke at the back with the case - are those the initials WR (William Ritchie) on it?

[colcool007]

Bunty herself is bottom left. Behind Toots are the Four Marys. Considering the self-potrait that Bill Ritchie did when he retired from a strip that I can't remember the name to at the moment! Arrrggghh! I would put that guess as Bill being in the doorway as a very good one Steve.

And the girlie next to him looks strangely like Jacqueline Wilson, before she became famous for Tracey Beaker and other assorted books.

[stevezodiac]

Yes she did work at Thomson's I remember an article where she said Jackie comic/magazine was named after her.

[Peter Gray]

Loved seeing it...

amazing how long Bill drew characters for...its just amazing..

[Kashgar]

Right about Bill Ritchie wrong about Jacqueline Wilson. The other grown-ups in the picture are the members of the Bunty editorial staff as they were in 1988, the year of this particular celebration.

[Digifiend]

He still draws for the Weekly News - a couple of examples were used in Classics recently (a couple of months ago) in the Classic Artist feature. And there's a pic on this board (the thread title refers to Baby Crockett) showing one example as well. He's actually been working for Thomson's even longer than Dave Sutherland!

Good point Kashgar, hadn't Wilson started writing her books by then?

[stevezodiac]

Yesterday I went to my storage unit and brought home a few comics. Among them was Bunty issue 1500. As you can see, just like the 30th birthday issue, the Toots page features her mixing with the Bunty staff. Which one is Bill Ritchie - bloke with glasses? Pretty poor cover though.

[Peter Gray]

Another gem from Bill...
thanks for that..
Bill's work and the amount he did is just amazing!!!!!!!!

[Kashgar]

I'd say that Bill isn't in the picture at all. The guy with the glasses certainly doesn't look like Bill 'doing' Bill.

[Peter Gray]

Looking at it again it got that mean looking red balloon at the party!!!

[stevezodiac]

To save everyone searching I have added a new post to this to bring to the top. Bill certainly seemed to go that little bit extra to make his work interesting.