Comics UK

Can anyone help with the number of strips 'Leslie Otway' drew for 'Princess' and 'Princess Tina'? I know he drew 'Heiress to Tangurau' 1962, 'Belle and Mamie' 1965, and of course 'Alona'. According to Bear Alley he also drew 'Girl of the timber lost' can anyone add dates for the 'Timber lost' and 'Tangurau' strips and any scans. Thanks.

Also could 'Nurse Angela' be his work in Princess 1961?

matrix wrote:Can anyone help with the number of strips 'Leslie Otway' drew for 'Princess' and 'Princess Tina'? I know he drew 'Heiress to Tangurau' 1962, 'Belle and Mamie' 1965, and of course 'Alona'. According to Bear Alley he also drew 'Girl of the timber lost' can anyone add dates for the 'Timber lost' and 'Tangurau' strips and any scans. Thanks.

Also could 'Nurse Angela' be his work in Princess 1961?

Nobody?

Ok, I have been looking at the lovely 'Aunt Isobel' scans below trying to convince my untrained eye that this is his work? Would anyone like to comment, am I correct? If so could this be his earliest work for 'Princess' comic, these scans are from July 1960?

Hard to tell for sure but I agree that there are similarities. On the other hand his work is usually unmistakable so maybe not. It's worth remembering that Otway had a long career illustrating traditional text stories before he moved over to comic strips.

- Phil R.

Thank you for the reply Phil. I must admit it took a while to post the scans on here as I was not sure. The other 'Aunt Isobel' strips that I have are drawn by other artists, and when you compare them to this one it really stands out. I can see his work in a couple of the faces? Were there many artists with a similar style to his?

Can anyone add any scans of the text stories that he illustrated?

Here are a couple of his text story illustrations from the first Girl Annual:





- Phil Rushton

Thank you Phil, good to see those examples. To be honest I can not see his work in the ''Topsy' example except for the hands! The top one, definately the lads face. I can see similarities in the hands on the 'Girl' annual examples and the 'Aunt Isobel', especially the hand on the stair rail?

The scan below is artwork from 'Heiress to Tangurau' 1962, for comparison of the male face nearly ten years later, and the girls face, evolving into Alona?

Does anyone know who wrote Heiress to Tangurau? I picked up a pile of Princess' today and I was impressed with the detail concerning New Zealand in the story. it gave me the impression they may have been there.

Matthew, I've tried to find some details about it as well, I only have that original work, no weekly issues. Are you going to post some examples on your blog?

Incidentally, are we sure that Otway drew all of 'Heiress to Tangurau'? I agree that the artwork posted by Matrix looks rather like his work, but to my mind this page doesn't seem like his style at all.



- Phil R.

I would agree with you there Phil, it does'nt look like his work, the girl looks different to the artwork that I have. What date is that from? Do you have any more?

It's dated July 14th 1962. I'll let you know if I find any others.

hi phil and matrix, i have the whole story of heiress to tangarau, i'll post it on my blog this week. I have a 3-4 year run of princess if anyone is after samples of other strips from that era.

matthew emery wrote:hi phil and matrix, i have the whole story of heiress to tangarau, i'll post it on my blog this week. I have a 3-4 year run of princess if anyone is after samples of other strips from that era.

That's a nice run of 'Princess' you have there!

Can you give dates for the 'Girl of timber lost'.

Need Phil to have a look at the rest of this story Matthew as some of those pages do not look like Otway, when I bought the artwork that was who was quoted as the artist.

Nice blog by the way it's good to see what is going on in this part of the world. I went to the Queensland Art Gallery the other day, well worth the trip, and congrats on the inclusion!

I'll look forward to seeing the rest of 'Heiress to Tangarau' on your excellent blog Matthew.

On the subject of UK strips which were set in Australia and New Zealand, it's interesting just how many there were during the late 1950s and early 1960s. I can't say whether any of the writers had personal experience of those countries but, even though the world was then a much bigger place to end up on the other side of, I doubt if there were many British families who didn't give serious consideration to the prospect of emigration in those halcyon days of the assisted passage. I know mine did!

Here's another example from a 1958 issue of Swift:



...Not too sure how a character called 'Jacky the abo' would be viewed in today's Australia though!

- Phil Rushton

thanks phil, i've wondered if the idea behind setting stories in Oz and NZ was to add some appeal to all the kids reading English comics down under.

I've posted a few more pages of Heiress of Tangurau on my blog, i'll try getting the rest scanned this week.

I'd be very interested if you can discern another artist on this story.

matrix, i'll have a look through for that other story you mentioned.