Comics UK

Whos your favourite current artist in the Beano? (no reprints) Mine's Laura Howell. I love her style. Its great that she has 3 regular strips.

Laura H

just so original.Johnny Bean and Beano Manga...
a nice large number of characters in the story makes it fun...like the Tramp

not so keen on Ratz...

Ken H
Lew Stringer
David Sutherland
Tom Paterson
Dave E
Nick B
Hunt E
Barrie A
are all joint second..

Just the two for me.

Harrison - I believe he encapsulates Minnie better than Petrie. Hard for a lot here to take, fair enough, but I love it.

Sutherland - His detail is sometimes overlooked because of Paterson's rep. Paterson hasn't done detail since last millennium.

It's an interesting question. When I first started reading the Beano, Bob Nixon was my favourite artist. After he died it became Nigel Parkinson and Tom Paterson, though I've liked the majority of Beano artists in recent years.

I agree that Ken Harrison and Dave Sutherland are deserving of praise - Ken's Minnie is brilliant, and the nod to Baxendale's style is a real breath of fresh air, and I feel that Dave is producing some of his best work for years on the kids - I really enjoyed the DS 2000 strip, as well as this week's one with the Q bikes and Wallace & Gromit.

I like Laura as well, Johnny Bean has to be my favourite of hers. Hunt Emerson's great as well, though we haven't seen his work for a few weeks. Lew's Super School is also very good, and while Nick Brennan's style is an acquired taste, I think he could well be onto a winner with Billy Whizz. Barrie Appleby's Roger is consistently good too.

I think that only two aspects of the art are disappointing in The Beano at the moment. One is the new look Dennis, which is a shame, because having to stick to the TV style is limiting excellent artists like Jimmy Hansen and Nigel Parkinson. Before the revamp, I thought NP's Dennis was really good, and his Snooty III has grown on me (though I never disliked the art). The other disappointment these days is Tom Paterson - his work isn't as good as it was five years ago, let alone in his 80s/90s heyday on Calamity James. Compare a James strip from the 1980s to his current work in the Beano, it really isn't the same.

I agree about Tom Paterson - we're getting quantity over quality from him.

KH and DS do sterling work on Minnie and Bash Street, and Laura and Lew always produce good work as well. I wonder why Tom Paterson and Nigel Parkinson have done more Fred's Bed strips than Hunt Emerson recently?

D'aww, thanks for the kind words

I wonder why Tom Paterson and Nigel Parkinson have done more Fred's Bed strips than Hunt Emerson recently?

I know Hunt's other work committments have made it very difficult recently for him to do two Beano pages every week, so after a few more weeks you'll see him back to drawing Ratz again. I don't know who the next Fred's Bed artist is lined up to be, though.

It'll probably one of the two I mentioned, since they've already done some. Thanks for the update Laura.

I suspect the new Fred's Bed artist will be Tom Paterson, because he's drawn quite a few recently, though it could well be NP, though NP seems busier at the moment. Still, with Hunt returning to Ratz, it will hopefully mean that we will see more of Laura's Johnny Bean and Beano Manga! Johnny Bean is brilliant, it's so anarchic - which I love.

One thing we know for sure about Fred's Bed is that they can't use any reprints! Unless, that is, they decide they've had enough of Fred and use the final one with the bed exploding, with the caricatures of the England team redrawn!

I think that the problem with Tom Paterson's work at the moment is he's hardly ever drawing in his own style. He's drawing Dennis in the TV style, he's doing Singled Out like Mike Pearse, and even Fred's Bed has been drawn in the style of Hunt Emerson.

I'd truly love to say that my favourite current artist is the one we've not seen yet. Where are the new talent? Are they pitching to other companies/titles, or is it that they don't exist, not seeing it as a viable source of income?

New talent? Five years ago The Beano didn't have Laura Howell and Lew Stringer.

The one you've not seen yet? That could be me . No - just wishful thinking... . Don't expect me to appear in the comic any time soon!

More seriously, I was interested to read in The History of the Beano that Alan Digby said that the school of self-taught cartooning seems to have dried up, though he did say that he still gets the brown envelopes hoping 'let this be the new Baxendale/Ken Reid/Bob Nixon'. I think there's still talent out there, and to fair, there's a few DCT artists who just have not been cartooning that long, such as Laura (who only became a cartoonist in 2006, before then she was a book illustrator I think). Personally, I would jump at the chance to draw for the Beano if the offer came.

skyromie wrote:I'd truly love to say that my favourite current artist is the one we've not seen yet. Where are the new talent? Are they pitching to other companies/titles, or is it that they don't exist, not seeing it as a viable source of income?

No need to cry about it. Have a look at the Dandy Xtreme where you will find Chris McChee and Tom Plant, both new, both great.

You mean Chris McGhie, don't you?

yes, it was a late night and I could have sworn I wrote McGhie but NO!
Anyway CHRIS McGHIE is in the Dandy annual, and Wayne Thompson and Steve Bright and Tom Paterson and Karl Dixon and Nick Brennan and all.