GEORGE PARLETT

[stevezodiac]

George was Reg's brother, as I mentioned elsewhere I think he drew The Happy Family in Buster and I think this is his work too (from a girl's annual). Not as good as Reg but worth recognising his work. According to Mick Anglo in Alter Ego he drew some drama stuff in Marvelman comics.

[Lew Stringer]

Isn't that the work of Roy Wilson? I'm sure Wilson drew some, if not all, of the Cloris and Claire strips for June in the early 1960s. (Update: Can anyone clarify this? I'm sure that's Roy Wilson's work.)

Not a criticism but I'm just curious: why do you consider it "not as good" as Reg Parlett? It looks like superb artwork to me, on a par with anything Reg drew.

[stevezodiac]

No criticism intended - all I meant was that Reg's work makes me smile as soon as I look at it due to the hilarious way he drew figures (especially animals like Mowser and the Crows). I bought some Busters from 1966 to 1971 over from my flat last night and noticed George drew some of the tv spoofs like Benny Hill. He was a fine artist and I'll be careful what I say in future.

[Lew Stringer]

No criticism intended - all I meant was that Reg's work makes me smile as soon as I look at it due to the hilarious way he drew figures (especially animals like Mowser and the Crows). I bought some Busters from 1966 to 1971 over from my flat last night and noticed George drew some of the tv spoofs like Benny Hill. He was a fine artist and I'll be careful what I say in future.

Yes Reg's work certainly had a warm, friendly and accessible quality to it, perhaps a tad moreso than his brother's work.

Can anyone identify the artist to that Cloris and Claire strip though? The more I look at it the more I'm convinced it's by Roy Wilson. Ray (Kashgar) Moore, comic expert extraordinaire, are you out there? The comics world needs you!

[stevezodiac]

I'm 100% certain it is George Parlett. I remember Gifford name checking him in one of his books from the 1970s and his style has stuck in my mind ever since. Funnily enough in the Busters I mentioned there is a Harry Secombe strip that looks like it was Roy Wilson's work.

Boy that Bettany Hughes is a smasher - on tv now. She should keep out of that Midle Eastern sun though as it will destroy her skin.

[Lew Stringer]

It's possible that George may have ghosted some strips I guess but in The Comic Art of Roy Wilson by Alan Clark and David Ashford it definitely has Cloris and Claire as a Roy Wilson strip. (Ran in June from 1961 to 1964.)

I admit I do find it difficult to separate Wilson from his imitators sometimes so I'm not sure, but from the work of George Parlett I've seen his linework was heavier. Wasn't George the artist of The Tellybugs? Completely different style to that above.

Lew

[Kashgar]

The Cloris and Claire strip is most definitely the work of Roy Wilson. Just to confuse matters slightly though, and this is maybe what has led to the mix-up, George Parlett did take over the Cloris and Claire strip in June (or June and School Friend as it was by then) from Roy Wilson in 1965 copying, as best he might, the great man's style.
Also Steve you seem to be getting George and his brother Reg's work confused as it was Reg who drew both The Happy Family and Benny Hill in Buster (the latter being reprints from Radio Fun in the 1950's).
The Harry Secombe strip in Buster is the work of Roy Wilson reprinted from the pages of Film Fun in 1960, Roy Wilson having been preceded on the Harry Secombe strip in Film Fun by none other than George Parlett.
I think I've mentioned this before but George had a very appealing comic style up until the mid-1950's, markedly different from that of his brother and evidenced in such strips as 'In Town Tonight' in Radio Fun, but then he began to do more 'serious' work and as a result I think his out and out comic style suffered and never really recovered.
Oh, and yes, The Tellybugs was by George Parlett.

[Lew Stringer]

Thanks Ray.

I've noticed that one possible way to determine Roy Wilson's work from his competitors is via the lettering. Am I right in assuming that most A.P. strips were lettered by their artists? A practice that Fleetway and Odhams gradually phased out in order to give a more uniform look to their comics by employing professional letterers?

Roy Wilson's lettering was quite distinctive. I'm not sure if he lettered Cloris and Claire as the style is much neater than his 1930s lettering but it still has more character to it than anything the professional letterers would use in later comics. (Not that I'm slagging off great letterers like Tom Frame etc. They were brilliant, but I always prefer to see artists letter their own work if they're up to it. Makes the page feel more organic and integrated.)

Anyway, back to topic before I start ranting about letterers who ignore space and put dialogue balloons over characters.

[Kashgar]

Yes indeed most of the AP comic artists did letter their own strips and Roy Wilson was certainly one of them. In fact in his early career it was his lettering that brought Wilson into conflict with his artist mentor Don Newhouse. The 'apprentice' Wilson finally tiring of having his work passed off as that of his 'master' Newhouse, to the older artists financial advantage, by the simple expedient of Newhouse lettering the strips that Wilson had drawn.
The more I think about it I can't help but feel that Steve is misidentifying Reg Parlett's early, pre 1960's, work as that of his brother George. Both Benny Hill and the Happy Family and for that matter Jimmy Edwards, for some of the time at least, all appeared in Buster in the 1960's courtesy of reprints from the 1950s. As already mentioned Benny Hill via Radio Fun and Jimmy Edwards via TV Fun and The Happy Family via Tip-Top/TV Fun.
The only George Parlett strip to appear in Buster in the 1960's was a reprint from the 1940's titled Potty Poems which ran for a few months in 1968 as I recall.

[Lew Stringer]

The more I think about it I can't help but feel that Steve is misidentifying Reg Parlett's early, pre 1960's, work as that of his brother George. Both Benny Hill and the Happy Family and for that matter Jimmy Edwards, for some of the time at least, all appeared in Buster in the 1960's courtesy of reprints from the 1950s.

If Steve is mixing up the two brothers that means he believes Reg Parlett isn't as good as... Reg Parlett!

Don't worry about it Steve. We all make mistakes. In some fanzines of the past I think I credited Leo Baxendale with creating The Swots and the Blots, when many of those early S&B strips were drawn by Ron Spencer or Mike Lacey. (Baxendale didn't draw it until much later.) When artists draw in a "house style" it's sometimes difficult to determine individual styles until one sees more work by each artist, and all those artists who imitated Roy Wilson managed a very close approximation of his style. (John Jukes is one that throws me until I look at the lettering.)

[Digifiend]

The more I think about it I can't help but feel that Steve is misidentifying Reg Parlett's early, pre 1960's, work as that of his brother George. Both Benny Hill and the Happy Family and for that matter Jimmy Edwards, for some of the time at least, all appeared in Buster in the 1960's courtesy of reprints from the 1950s.

If Steve is mixing up the two brothers that means he believes Reg Parlett isn't as good as... Reg Parlett!

If I've read it right he's saying his earlier work isn't as good as his later work, which is fair enough since logically, anybody would get better over time, thanks to practice. Not just artists, but any job or activity.

[stevezodiac]

I still think I'm right - The Happy Family looks nothing like Mowser. I'll do some research and get back to this thread. Meanwhile I'm of to Denis Gifford's grave with a shovel and a set of jump leads.

[Lew Stringer]

I still think I'm right - The Happy Family looks nothing like Mowser. I'll do some research and get back to this thread. Meanwhile I'm of to Denis Gifford's grave with a shovel and a set of jump leads.

Steve, The Happy Family was definitely by Reg Parlett. It was a reprint - original title The Harty Family for TV Fun in the 1950s.

Reg's style changed quite a bit over the decades. It became simplified as he got older and also to suit the tastes of different generations, - and I guess because he was drawing so many pages every week. Reg was great at understanding what worked for the readers of the era and I imagine he knew his more detailed Roy Wilson type style he used in the 1940s wouldn't appeal to 1970s kids.

If you want to do more research, try to find a copy on eBay of The Comic Art of Reg Parlett by Alan Clark (1986). It's a wonderful record of Reg's 60 years in the business.

Many artists' work evolves and changes over time. Compare Leo Baxendale's 1950s work to his 1970s stuff for example, or Robert Nixon's mid-sixties Roger the Dodger to his 1980s IPC material, or Davy Law's tighter 1950s work to his looser 1960s stuff.

Reg's work changed considerably throughout his six decades in comics, - but always remained brilliant of course.

[AndyB]

Or to compare like with like, Bob Nixon's 1960s Roger to his 1980s/1990s Roger.

[stevezodiac]

I already have the Reg Parlett book. To be honest I never knew the Happy Family strip in Buster was a 50s reprint. But my original scan of Cloris and Clair looks exactly like the Happy Family artwork so is that a 50s reprint as well?