above: you really need to see this LARGE to appreciate the uniqueness of these two 'BEANO' artists working in tandem:
ALL BIFFO images are most definately by DUDLEY, with Mc GRATH [BOB to you] adding his cool embellishments regarding his own BEAR characters.
above: just clock the above composition: that.'s an actual WATKINS 'BIFFO' getting stretched by Mc GRATH characters on either side: has anything similar ever appeared in mainstream 'funnies' along these lines?: remember, this was 40 years ago!
---even the 'splashmarks' in FRAME 2 look like the work of DUDLEY: also to have these two different artist's creations 'interacting' so flawlessly: PRETTY COOL stuff!
It's more of an approach that you'd see in animation with different artists contributing elements to make the final piece.
I think it's a successful collaboration partly because the two artists' styles are compatible. They both drew very solidly for instance which helps the characters from both artists look as though they belong together in the same frame. A different pair of artists may have produced a less harmonious result.
I agree, Matthew: at first glance, it's not obvious that this is the work of two seperate artists: this particular experiment was highly successful and if the chemistry had been different, it could have floundered badly.
Even the closing frame in this is a beauty: on top of the brilliantly-executed BOB framed bears looking out from behind a WATKINS 'BIFFO', there are brilliant touches like the boot on the table used as a plantpot for a cactus-plant, which shows the Mc GRATH hallmarks.
The 1969 BEANO annual is my all-time favourite, and the above strip [which is very good in it's own right] is easily one of this annual's winning factors.
ISPYSHHHGUY, I bought the '69 book last year so it's interesting to hear a comics buff say it's a particular fave. I'm no expert on British comics, just someone who's renewed his interest in recent years and is enjoying 60s to 80s stuff in particular. Why is this book a particular stand-out for you?
Thinking more about this strip and your pointing out the prop detail in the last frame it occurs to me that they may have shuttled this art work back and forth between them a fair bit because aside from getting the pencil version correct they presumably both did their own inking. Looks like it anyway. I'm guessing the editor would have wanted to cast an eye over the piece before that took place as well. All in an era before faxes, scanners and the internet!
ISPYSHHHGUY wrote:the fact that you see these two seperate styled-characters actually sitting at the same table remains one of the most unique, original diversions in the history of comics----- in the UK 'funnies' field at least-------[through a fairly simple idea];: a full 40 years later.
I did a similar thing in the late 1980s in Oink! and also in Buster. In Oink! I collaborated with Mike Green on Tom Thug meeting Weedy Willy, and a while later in Buster I collaborated with Mike Higgs on Tom Thug meeting Thundercap. I'll dig out the pages sometime and post them here.
Thanks for bringing the Watkins / McGrath collaboration to our attention though. I have that book and never noticed! (It's been years since I looked through it though.)
you're welcome, LEW: put it in your own blog by all means, at some point.
Matthew: the 1969 'BEANO' annual features almost all the top 'BEANO' artists/contributers on top form in the period of the comic I cherished best. Though there is probably an overuse of GORDON BELL 'ghosting', the imagery from this annual just hit me between the eyes as a 6-year-old, and represents the era when 'BEANO' commanded my full attention: early 69 would see 'SPARKY' comic supplant 'BEANO' in my affections.
Brilliant Mc GRATH artwork elsewhere in the annual [the BEARS insane road-race, the paradise image of them in a hot-house] and the superiorly-crafted 'BASH STREET' mini-book done at a time when DAVE SUTHERLAND'S artwork hit a definate peak...
-----sadly, by AUG '69 DUDLEY D. was to depart the comic abruptly, followed by the equally memorable DAVEY LAW 'DENNIS' in 1970, so my association with reading the 'BEANO' at it's top form was over before I reached the tender age of 9!
Thanks, ISPYSHHHGUY for your info on this strip and the book in general. I think I was attracted by the surreal and nicely painted Bash Street meets The Iron Fish cover when I got it from Ebay. I can view the content of the book from a more informed point of view now.
The 'BEANO' was still pretty good in the early 70s, though, Matthew; ROBERT NIXON in particular done some brilliant stuff for them in the very early decade [ironically, his work doesn't appear in the '69 annual!]
VIC NEILL also done some good 'Scottish'-themed stuff [the 'Mc Tickles', etc] however, it was the loss of WATKINS and LAW I lamented the most: it just shows how two individuals [both equally gifted in radically different ways] can leave such an indelible, irreplacable stamp on a comic........and also various other comics of the era.
I recall Bob McGrath Drawing a Roger the Dodger Strip around 1961-ish, where he had to roll the lawn, but decides to use a steamroller instead, but he crashes into the garage and flattens the lawn roller, and ends up having to use a rolling pin.
I just thought I'd say how exceptional the Biffo strip jointly produced by Dudley Watkins and Bob McGrath was. It was a clever idea and worked out very effectively. What makes it work, in my opinion, is that the characters look exactly as they should, being drawn by their actual artists. It is a fantastic blend between two excellent individual artists, and the story suited them perfectly.
The artwork in the Beano was superb at that time. Imagine what it would have been like if Baxendale and Reid had still been around!
'Michael Owen isn't the tallest of players, but his height more than makes up for it' - Mark Lawrenson
ISPYSHHHGUY wrote:THE 'BEANO'S top 'ghoster' was of course DAVEY SUTHERLAND, who usually handled large scenes involving characters associated with seperate artists.
Him and Ken Harrison can ape any artist, hence Harrison doing the covers for Classics. Sutherland's talent meant he drew most Beano Book covers throughout the 70s 80s and 90s.
David Sutherland's most notable strips over the years include:
'Danny on a Dolphin' in a Paddy Brennan type style - his first strip
The Great Flood of London' (Brennan style, again)
'The Bash Street Kids' (Leo Baxendale style)
'Biffo the Bear' (Dudley Watkins style)
'Dennis the Menace' (Davey Law style)
as well as
Gnasher's Tale/Gnasher and Gnipper
Rasher
The Germs
Oscar Knight
And this is only his Beano work!
'Michael Owen isn't the tallest of players, but his height more than makes up for it' - Mark Lawrenson
He actually drew very little outside The Beano. Jak version 2 for The Dandy, and also Korky the Cat for a short time. Can't think of anything else. Odd, since he is one of the best artists Thomsons have from the third generation. (First gen being the 1940s (i.e. Dudley Watkins, Allan Morley), 2nd gen being 1950s (Baxendale, Reid, Law) and third gen the 1960s (Sutherland, Mal Judge, McGrath).
