Comics UK

I was pointing out the colourists by analogy with e.g. filling in the blacks on Oor Wullie's dungarees, and Bob Nixon's son. In other words, yes, getting help is very common.

didnt Allan Morley draw a lot for DC Thomson back in the 30s and 40s i am sure he drew at least three strips for the first Dandy.

His art style was instantly recognisable and is starting to grow on me.Though alot of his comic strips are very dated now, they dont do strips like Keyhole Kate, the magic lollipops or Sammy Shrinko nowadays.

Given that Bill Ritchie was a regular contributor to Nursery titles like Bimbo and Girls' comics such as Bunty, at the same time he was drawing for Beezer and Sparky, etc. I'd say that he deserves his place in the 'Loadsapages' Club as well!

To be fair though, I think that most comic artists find humorous strips quicker to draw than adventure stories. As far as fully-painted realism goes it'd be hard to find anyone who was more prolific than Ron Embleton!

- Phil Rushton

What about Eric Parker from back in the story paper days? He did plenty of strips for Knockout too, as well as block illustrations for Union Jack and later Detective Weekly. He also painted a lot of Sexton Blake Library covers.
His style is often described as "rough" or "unfinished" and it's not hard to see why, he was AP's "go to" man for any urgently-needed illustration because they knew he'd finish it on time!
For the simplicity of his style, though, he certainly packed in the action and nessescary detail, he could create an expressive, characterful face with three or four lines!

Throgmorton, I can't think of any George Martin drawn Beano characters - at least not from the 60s and 70s when I was a reader. I wonder why such a great artist wasn't used? Was it a question of the Beano wanting an exclusive Baxendale/Watkins style? Same goes for Bill Ritchie during that era.

Tin Can Tommy wrote:Didnt Allan Morley draw a lot for DC Thomson back in the 30s and 40s i am sure he drew at least three strips for the first Dandy. His art style was instantly recognisable and is starting to grow on me.Though alot of his comic strips are very dated now, they dont do strips like Keyhole Kate, the magic lollipops or Sammy Shrinko nowadays.

Ah, yes, Allan Morley - my favourite Thomson artist, by a distance. Keyhole Kate, Hungry Horace and Freddy The Fearless Fly were his three contributions to the first issue of The Dandy. These three alone lasted from 1937 to the mid fifties. Other later notable strips included Old Ma Murphy, Merry Marvo and Julius Sneezer. He also contributed Tall And Small, Roving Rufus, Tony Cigaro, Softie Simpkins, Nero and Zero, Bingo and Happy Harry The Cameraman, among others, to The Wizard in the twenties and thirties.

stevezodiac wrote:Throgmorton, I can't think of any George Martin drawn Beano characters - at least not from the 60s and 70s when I was a reader. I wonder why such a great artist wasn't used? Was it a question of the Beano wanting an exclusive Baxendale/Watkins style? Same goes for Bill Ritchie during that era.

According to the History of the Beano index, The Beano used George Martin only once and that in a summer special, never in the weekly. I suppose different editors have different tastes which helps to differentiate their comics.

I agree by the way that pages of realistic adventure strip art take longer to draw than cartoony strips, so that should be taken into account.

Steve, nothing has changed. Look at the present day Beano and Dandy. How many artists work for both comics these days? Two. Lew Stringer (Kid Cops and Postman Prat for Dandy, Super School for Beano) and Nigel Parkinson (among others, Harry Hill for Dandy, Dangerous Dan for Beano, and Dennis and Gnasher for BeanoMAX). Unless I've forgotten anybody, Wayne Thompson and Duncan Scott are the only other current Dandy artists to have previously worked on the Beano. However, several more current Beano artists have previously worked for the Dandy.

Leo Baxendale?

Duncan Scott drew Colin the Vet and the Neds for the Beano, while Wayne Thompson drew Billy Whizz and Joe Jitsu. I think both have drawn more for the Dandy - Wayne's work appeared in the Dandy a couple of years before it did in the Beano, and he was drawing a lot of strips when the Dandy was revamped.

Of the other current Beano artists, I think the following have drawn for the Dandy:
. Ken Harrison (Desperate Dan, Harry and his Hippo)
. Tom Paterson (Fiddle O'Diddle, Hyde and Shriek)
. David Sutherland (Korky, the second version of Jak)
. Barrie Appleby (Cuddles and Dimples)
. Nick Brennan (Blinky, Peter Piper)
. Hunt Emerson (IIRC he drew The Vultures)
. Jimmy Hansen (the first version of Jak, Marvo the Wonder Chicken)

The list of strips they illustrated isn't complete, but simply lists their most notable ones. Laura Howell has mainly drawn for the Beano but she has done some three panel strips for the Dandy. I'm not aware of Dave Eastbury ever drawing anything for the Dandy, but I could be mistaken.

Although I don't think George Martin ever drew for the weekly Beano, Bill Ritchie did have a couple of strips in the late 1970s, Sweet Sue and 2-Gun Tony.

I prefer to be called Andy rather than by the name of SIR!'s much put-upon and abused Chief Sub

George drew at least two Dennis the Menace Beano Comic Libraries - Tennis Menace and the Transylvania one. He also contributed three-panel strips of Beano characters, possibly to Spike or Champ, which have since seen occasional use in the Beano.

As for the weekly Beano in his lifetime - for whatever reason, he just never seems to have done any original artwork. No idea why.

Phoenix wrote:

Tin Can Tommy wrote:Didnt Allan Morley draw a lot for DC Thomson back in the 30s and 40s i am sure he drew at least three strips for the first Dandy. His art style was instantly recognisable and is starting to grow on me.Though alot of his comic strips are very dated now, they dont do strips like Keyhole Kate, the magic lollipops or Sammy Shrinko nowadays.

Ah, yes, Allan Morley - my favourite Thomson artist, by a distance. Keyhole Kate, Hungry Horace and Freddy The Fearless Fly were his three contributions to the first issue of The Dandy. These three alone lasted from 1937 to the mid fifties. Other later notable strips included Old Ma Murphy, Merry Marvo and Julius Sneezer. He also contributed Tall And Small, Roving Rufus, Tony Cigaro, Softie Simpkins, Nero and Zero, Bingo and Happy Harry The Cameraman, among others, to The Wizard in the twenties and thirties.

Don't forget Nosey Parker (I picked up these Rovers today at the Comic Mart which was handy). The middle one doesn't look like Morley's work though. I think Nosey Parker was still being used in the Sunday Post Fun Section in the mid seventies.

stevezodiac wrote:...Don't forget Nosey Parker (I picked up these Rovers today at the Comic Mart which was handy). The middle one doesn't look like Morley's work though. I think Nosey Parker was still being used in the Sunday Post Fun Section in the mid seventies.

It was, along with Zero and Nero and I think they ran into the eighties.

Phoenix wrote:Nero and Zero

colcool007 wrote:Zero and Nero

I suppose that could just about be a reflection of the constant oneupmanship battles between those two worthy gladiators. But then again......

I didn't expect that punchline in that last Nosey Parker... given it was published in 1944 I thought for sure he'd manage to read the notice and discover it was about the blackout!