EDMOND RIPOLL EN UK

[colcool007]

I'm perfectly happy with your reply, Col. I was being a mite mischievous after all. I suppose this means we are not going to see eye to eye over the various portrayals of Alf Tupper.

It has to be Pete Sutherland for me. I liked Ted Rawlings, but Pete was the man. And yes, you did yank my chain a wee bit. I must admit that I would be interested in other people's take on different characters as I still don't know who did the art duties for V for Vengeance in the 1970's in the Hotspur or in the 1950's for Rover.

[Phoenix]

I still don't know who did the art duties for V for Vengeance in the 1970's in the Hotspur or in the 1950's for Rover.

I'm not aware that V For Vengeance ever appeared in The Rover, Col. If you are right, where exactly do you remember it from?

[colcool007]

I still don't know who did the art duties for V for Vengeance in the 1970's in the Hotspur or in the 1950's for Rover.

I'm not aware that V For Vengeance ever appeared in The Rover, Col. If you are right, where exactly do you remember it from?

It could be the Wizard that it was published in, but I know that Calum Laird lifted it directly from DCT archives and published it in Commando a few years back. Either way, it is still another artist that I want to identify.

[Phoenix]

It could be the Wizard that it was published in, but I know that Calum Laird lifted it directly from DCT archives and published it in Commando a few years back. Either way, it is still another artist that I want to identify.

It certainly was in The Wizard so you have that information already, Col. However, if Calum cherry-picked a story for Commando, presumably he used one that had already appeared elsewhere in picture form. You have a range of options. Stories about V For Vengeance appeared in The Hornet in 1965, 1966, 1967 (two), 1968, 1969 (two), 1971 and 1974, The Hotspur in 1977, 1978 and 1979, and The Victor in 1981.

[colcool007]

It could be the Wizard that it was published in, but I know that Calum Laird lifted it directly from DCT archives and published it in Commando a few years back. Either way, it is still another artist that I want to identify.

It certainly was in The Wizard so you have that information already, Col. However, if Calum cherry-picked a story for Commando, presumably he used one that had already appeared elsewhere in picture form. You have a range of options. Stories about V For Vengeance appeared in The Hornet in 1965, 1966, 1967 (two), 1968, 1969 (two), 1971 and 1974, The Hotspur in 1977, 1978 and 1979, and The Victor in 1981.

It was the story paper version that was used in the Commando reprint which is how I know it is another artist that was used and that I need to identify. I know that The Hornet artist used Alan Philpott when it was first converted to a pictorial story, but I have yet to find out the original artist from The Wizard spot pictures (which were the ones used in Commando) and the The Hotspur artist. And I am almost sure that Ray will have a look at this thread and drop in the two names that I am looking for!

[Phoenix]

I think I might be a smidgen more helpful, Colin, if I could figure out what you mean by spot pictures. Are you referring to illustrations that appear within the text, which may have been drawn by a different artist from the one who drew the heading block for the first instalment? Or even to later heading block pictures? I have to admit that although I enjoy looking at the illustrations in the story papers, I have no real interest in how they were drawn. Needless to say, the stories themselves are a completely different matter for me.

[colcool007]

I think I might be a smidgen more helpful, Colin, if I could figure out what you mean by spot pictures. Are you referring to illustrations that appear within the text, which may have been drawn by a different artist from the one who drew the heading block for the first instalment? Or even to later heading block pictures? I have to admit that although I enjoy looking at the illustrations in the story papers, I have no real interest in how they were drawn. Needless to say, the stories themselves are a completely different matter for me.

Actually, I am after identifying both if possible.The more styles that I can identify and can pick out, the happier I am. There is nothing to compare with the feeling that you get when you are able to go through an entire comic and pick out all the artists. It is just one of the best feelings ever.

Hornet and Victor are two when I have the best luck, but I am not too shabby with Warlord and Battle either.

[Phoenix]

Thank you for your reply, Col, with its honest and refreshing enthusiasm. I do though still need you to tell me what a spot picture is because I genuinely do not know, and to tell me whether any of my suggestions regarding it were in any way close.

[colcool007]

To me, a spot picture is one that is used to illustrate a scene within that week's episode. To demonstrate, I am adding this picture from the text run of Kubal The Great

Now, this is easy to recognise as one of the pieces that Ian Kennedy has done over the years for D C Thomson. It is recognising some of the less well known artists that I struggle with and want to add to my knowledge. However, if this illustration was used for each and every episode, I would class it as a header illustration as you and Ray so admirably listed when you filled up all those pages with those wonderful headers in This Was The Wizard.

[paw broon]

Please excuse my butting in here. A spot "illo" is exactly what Colin describes and is a term I have heard, and used over the decades. It is simply an illustration in a text story, "spotted" somewhere in or above the text. But if it is the same illo in the same position each episode, then it is a "header"

[Phoenix]

To me, a spot picture is one that is used to illustrate a scene within that week's episode. To demonstrate, I am adding this picture from the text run of Kubal The Great

A spot "illo" is exactly what Colin describes and is a term I have heard, and used over the decades. It is simply an illustration in a text story, "spotted" somewhere in or above the text. But if it is the same illo in the same position each episode, then it is a "header"

I'm grateful for the above explanations from Col and Paw. However, I am as sure as I can be that the illustration that appears at the beginning of any instalment of any serial would be called a heading block even if it was a different illustration each week, as is the case with Kubal The Great, because that is where it has been placed. Would it not make sense to use the term spot picture or spot illustration for any secondary illustrations that appear somewhere else within the text? For the record Kubal The Great ran in Adventure 1721 (Jan. 11 1958) - 1734 (Apr. 12 1958).

[paw broon]

Yes, you're probably correct, but as I've heard pros using the terms Colin and I mention, I'll stick with them.
Block tends to refer to the printing block used for the illo. and, normally, the illo. itself would be referred to as the spot illo. So the word block isn't usually used for something in a publication as it tends to be a technical term more suited to the typesetting and layout dept. of a newspaper or storypaper - when there was still hot metal printing, that is.
But to quote from The Big Sleep, " I make many mistakes"

[Phoenix]

Between 1990 and 1992 Ray sent me complete lists of the artists of all the header illustrations for Adventure (from 1946), The Wizard (from 1946), The Rover (from 1942), and The Hotspur (from 1946), because at the time, in conjunction with Colin Morgan, the three of us were jointly embarking on a project to produce A5-sized volumes on the other three members of The Big Four along the lines of Colin's own The Rover Index, with additional information and other improvements, and a backdating of Colin's work on The Rover from 1946 to 1942. However, as far as the naming of the artists of the header pictures was concerned, because the plan was to identify just the illustrator of the one at the beginning of the first instalment in all cases, all other heading illustrations, and all the others within the text were ignored. We even produced the covers, which I'm pretty sure I've still got somewhere.

The project was reluctantly aborted because I felt that if we were to do the job properly we had to start the indexes at issue 1 in all cases, and that was when I started to do the research in the British Library that would lead directly to Free Gifts In The Big Five and This Was The Wizard. Between us Ray and I now have most of the information we need to write the other indexes, including The Skipper. I could start on The Hotspur tomorrow but we have other projects on the go. The real problem therefore is time.

[Lew Stringer]

Paw is indeed correct in his descriptions of the terminology of 'header' and 'spot illo' (spot illustration).

[Kashgar]

With regard to the definition of heading block and heading block illustration. Strictly speaking the heading block only really refers to the title and the illustration that often accompanies it is certainly a spot illustration. It was the norm at Thomson's however to refer to the title and the illustration that accompanied it together as 'the heading block'.
In the case of this Commando 'V for Vengeance' story and presuming it was a Wizard original then, without seeing it, we have five choices George Ramsbottom, Peem Walker, Jack Glass, Ian Mackay or Doug Phillips.
Although artists would sometimes change during the run of a story, due to illness etc, this was quite rare as deputy head of the Thomson Art Dept John Roy kept very strict rosters on the availability of artists and their workload was managed accordingly. So, most of the time, an artist assigned to a given series would see it through from beginning to end.