Tom Paterson drawing Sweeny Toddler in Shiver and Shake!?

[Peter Gray]

Of course that was just an error..
I do know Laser Eraser is by Robert Nixon..

all errors are now changed..

[Jonny Whizz]

I agree with Digifiend, I think that Tom's style and Leo's later (post-Thomsons) style are very hard to tell apart. I think that his Baxendale-esque stuff was definitely his best work, especially on Sweeny Toddler and Calamity James. I was surprised when I saw some of his other work, such as School Belle - it didn't seem to have that same spark to me, as there was when he was doing his Baxendale style, although I did like the Ken Reid style he used for Minnie the Minx as well.

Also, these days, Tom's Singled Out in Mike Pearse's style doesn't work for me either. In my opinion, Nigel Parkinson was much better at drawing in Mike's style, it doesn't really suit Tom's drawing style particularly well, I think the brush lines are too loose.

[Lew Stringer]

As Leo said in his book, over the decades his style changed and subsequently there were numerous people adopting his style from various points of his career, as instructed by editors. Some more convincing than others. Dave Sutherland mastered Leo's early sixties style and made it his own, and Tom Paterson mastered Leo's 1970's style.

Other artists such as Graham Allen, Stan McMurtry and Mike Lacey took on certain aspects of Leo's style but their own styles still shone through.

Did someone say somewhere that Colin Whittock's style was close to Leo's? I can't see the similarity at all I'm afraid. Both very different imho.

Lew

[Jonny Whizz]

I also felt that Ron Spencer took on Leo's style to an extent for Little Plum in the Beano, and to a lesser extent, Bob McGrath on The Three Bears. Extending this further, you could say that David Parkins was indirectly inspired by Leo Baxendale, in particular on Fred's Bed, because he took on Tom Paterson's style, and Tom drew Fred in his Baxendale style.

I can give another example of artists with completely different styles being described as similar, other than Colin Whittock and Leo Baxendale. On the Wikipedia article for Billy Whizz, it used to say that 'Graeme Hall took over the strip, keeping [Vic] Neill's overall style, albeit with a bit less detail'. I don't think their styles were similar at all!

[Raven]

Did someone say somewhere that Colin Whittock's style was close to Leo's? I can't see the similarity at all I'm afraid. Both very different imho.

Lew

It wasn't me but yes, there was a point where Whittock's Lazy Bones seemed very obviously a take on Baxendale's later IPC style - and I remember thinking so as a little kid when Whizzer and Chips was my weekly comic!

Though I can't see Mike Lacey as reflecting Baxendale's style at all - quite a unique, very distinctive style, his, to me.

[Lew Stringer]

Though I can't see Mike Lacey as reflecting Baxendale's style at all - quite a unique, very distinctive style, his, to me.

Really? Mike was brought in as a ghost artist on some of Leo's strips in the sixties. His work is often confused with Leo's.

Perhaps it depends on which style of Leo's you're thinking of? Mike's is nothing like Leo's 70's style, but it is similar to his 1960's Odhams period, hence why Mike took over The Man from B.U.N.G.L.E. and Eagle Eye.

Lew

[Raven]

Though I can't see Mike Lacey as reflecting Baxendale's style at all - quite a unique, very distinctive style, his, to me.

Really? Mike was brought in as a ghost artist on some of Leo's strips in the sixties. His work is often confused with Leo's.

Perhaps it depends on which style of Leo's you're thinking of? Mike's is nothing like Leo's 70's style, but it is similar to his 1960's Odhams period, hence why Mike took over The Man from B.U.N.G.L.E. and Eagle Eye.

Lew

Ah, well, his ghosting work in the 60s may well have been much more Leo-esque. I was thinking more of his 70s style as his work flourished in its own right - Sid's Snake, Bumpkin Billionaires, Scared Stiff Sam et al, and all those front covers - which I can see having superficial similarities to LB's 1960s work in some of the faces, but to me they're instantly recognisable as Mike Lacey and I couldn't imagine them being mistaken for Leo.

I think he usually had one of those - hard to explain exactly, but friendlier, more easy going, less angsty kind of styles, more in the tradition of a Robert Nixon or Terry Bave in the '70s.

[Lew Stringer]

We'll have to agree to disagree. Personally I think it's more than superficial. There's a big influence of Leo's style in Mike Lacey's; the faces, the poses, the way they draw shoes, those roll-neck jumpers, the backgrounds, etc. As I said, Mike was specifically asked to ghost Leo's style in the sixties (on Swots & Blots, Tiddlers etc) and he continued with that same style throughout his career, whilst Leo's style changed somewhat around 1968/69 to the "Bluebottle and Basher style" for want of a better phrase.

Or is it just me who can see the similarity?

Lew

[Raven]

I've always thought Lacey's backgrounds tend to be much emptier than Baxendale's - there seems to be much more space (you seem to get a lot of sparsely furnished houses or long panels of wide, fairly empty streets or green spaces), whereas Baxendale's panels are often cluttered.

And Lacey's characters often seem to have a very kind of 'chilled out', laid back feel, even when frantic things are going on, whereas Baxendale's work tends to be more manic, often bristling with nervous tension or repressed (or unrepressed!) aggression.

Just a couple of differences I see, anyway!

[NP]

Mike Lacey's backgrounds are some of the most realistic in comics, something he shares with Baxendale. His style is almost totally descended from Baxendale, I don't really see much influence from ANYONE else BUT Baxendale in Mike Lacey's work; there's no Dudley Watkins, no Davy Law, no Roy Wilson etc etc in Mike Lacey.
(Baxendale himself is largely an 'animated' version of Carl Giles, stretched to extremes a la Davy Law.)
People tend to examine Baxendale in 'eras', ie, comparing and confusing his late style (Sweeny Toddler, Clever Dick) with his imitators like Tam, comparing his late period Bash Street with the careful understudy Dave Sutherland, etc, but it's easier to spot a Baxendale by looking at his entire output; the same crazed energy and outrageous mania of the characters is there from Minnie in 1955 and Sweeny Toddler in 1975 and in each of the subtly different styles he adopted throughout those 20 years.

[philcom55]

I'm certainly no expert on Lacey but to my mind the main difference between him and Baxendale is that Mike's characters tend to seem nicer: thus he draws schoolkids who are merely naughty whereas Leo's are all total psychopaths! Having said that I still get them confused at times.

- Phil R.

[Lew Stringer]

I'm certainly no expert on Lacey but to my mind the main difference between him and Baxendale is that Mike's characters tend to seem nicer: thus he draws schoolkids who are merely naughty whereas Leo's are all total psychopaths! Having said that I still get them confused at times.

- Phil R.

True. I think that was possibly editorial influence as well though. IPC tended to want nice, smiley characters and Mike Lacey embodied that in his work. ( Bob Paynter, who was a very good Group Editor for the IPC funnies was always concerned about the tone of the story and art.) Lacey's Odhams work has slightly more of an edge than his later IPC stuff but, you're right, his characters always look friendly and "approachable".

Lew

[stevezodiac]

Mike Lacey doesn't have all those movement lines coming out of the characters. My obsession is with Mike Brown and i'm pretty sure he drew the Pirates. Also while looking through the large bundle of Whams i picked up recently I couldn't help noticing how much the artists changed strips over the weeks. This General Nitt strip is almost certainly Mike Brown but the next issue it looks like Artie Jackson on the strip. Most of the Wham strips seemed to suffer from this rotation of artists. I'd love someone to write a book about Mike Brown - he fascinates me.

[NP]

Mike Lacey doesn't have all those movement lines coming out of the characters. This General Nitt strip is almost certainly Mike Brown - he fascinates me.

Mike didn't use speed lines much in the 1970s but he does on Dennis and Gnasher.

This example above of General Nitt is actually by pencilled by Baxendale, finished by Mike Brown. That's why Mike Brown was such a good Baxendale mimic, he learned on the job.

[stevezodiac]

I thought Baxendale had left odhams after the first few issues of Wham! No doubt he resumed on a freelance basis?