So there I was digging this hole, hole in the ground, big and sort of round it was and this bloke named Bernard says: "Get out! This is my song!!" oooh.
Is that Adolf Hitler to the left with a bicycle???
Anyway, after a bit of a scuffle I left -but the bloke in the bowler hat came off worse!
I was interested when a member of the British Comic Book Archives yahoo group, Ernesto, posted pages from 1948's Oh Boy! Comics no. 5 and the story Atomic Post featuring Jungle Jim (no relation to the US Golden Age character of that name). Ernesto stated the artist was Bill Holroyd https://www.lambiek.net/artists/h/holroyd_bill.htm and cited the Gifford catalogue. Another member, Darci, asked how he came by that identification?
To me it did have a look about it of Holroyd but there was something off. But if Gifford said Holroyd I would go with that (Gifford has been ripped of mercilessly since his death by current comic historians regarding inbformation).
So I checked my copy -I believe a later edition- and Holroyd is not mentioned: the artist is identified as Mick Anglo. Looking at the art, figures and poses...yes. I can see Anglo though the strip does not appear on the Wikipedia stripography, though it does say it is incomplete: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mick_Anglo#Comics
But why is there a problem identifying this? The main reason is that, if it is not D. C. Thomson and Beano or Dandy or the Amalgamated Press and one of its titles people are not interested. In fact, though denied by two yahoo groups, the emails are still there to show that reactions to my request regarding non "Big Two" books was indifferent, derisory and in one case insulting "I can't find them of any historical interest or even being of interest". The inference, if I may call it that, was that these comics were, literally, wasted paper.
Snobbishness abounds still in comics.
But collectors of boy's paper story books, such as "Bob", who recently contributed a good few sets (strips) from what many always thought of as purely text publications, have no real interest in comic strips and that makes such a contribution even more valuable -he could have simply just ignored them and carried on but he was taken aback to find them. One Boy's paper collector even tried to tell me, brusquely, via email that these publications "simply NEVER featured comic strips!" I gave him the issue numbers and dates -nothing back yet!
Unlike in the United States where there is so much information on who wrote or drew what back in the Platinum and Golden Ages of comics, the UK is a huge void with the odd few names dotted about. In Australia, people like Kevin Patrick have delved into Australia's Golden Age.
I think that this same type of thing needs looking into throughout Europe where we all know the big names and characters -in Germany Wilhelm Busch and Max und Moritz- but what of the others we know little about?
Henk Albers and De Kat or Hans Ducro and DerMocker(Nederlands) ? Sture Lönnerstrand created and Lennart Ek drawn Dotty Virvelwind (Sweden)? Or Manuel Gago García and el Guerrero del Antifaz (Spain)?
There are creators and very likely creations we have never heard of. There may well be comic historians specialising in comics from Spain, Nederlands, Belgium and so on but we never hear of them -where is their equivalent of Jean-Marc Lofficer?
It takes work and there are always dead ends and lots of people who will say "who cares?" but it is rewarding when you make a discovery!
Maybe I am writing this and no one cares? I have no idea but as the years go by the chances of finding these lost creators or their families who remember the work fade. Hey, the UK is big enough for me* -how about you?
________________________________________________________________________________-
*Yes, I do know I've delved into German comics history but give me a break!
Is that Adolf Hitler to the left with a bicycle???
I was interested when a member of the British Comic Book Archives yahoo group, Ernesto, posted pages from 1948's Oh Boy! Comics no. 5 and the story Atomic Post featuring Jungle Jim (no relation to the US Golden Age character of that name). Ernesto stated the artist was Bill Holroyd https://www.lambiek.net/artists/h/holroyd_bill.htm and cited the Gifford catalogue. Another member, Darci, asked how he came by that identification?
To me it did have a look about it of Holroyd but there was something off. But if Gifford said Holroyd I would go with that (Gifford has been ripped of mercilessly since his death by current comic historians regarding inbformation).
So I checked my copy -I believe a later edition- and Holroyd is not mentioned: the artist is identified as Mick Anglo. Looking at the art, figures and poses...yes. I can see Anglo though the strip does not appear on the Wikipedia stripography, though it does say it is incomplete: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mick_Anglo#Comics
But why is there a problem identifying this? The main reason is that, if it is not D. C. Thomson and Beano or Dandy or the Amalgamated Press and one of its titles people are not interested. In fact, though denied by two yahoo groups, the emails are still there to show that reactions to my request regarding non "Big Two" books was indifferent, derisory and in one case insulting "I can't find them of any historical interest or even being of interest". The inference, if I may call it that, was that these comics were, literally, wasted paper.
Snobbishness abounds still in comics.
But collectors of boy's paper story books, such as "Bob", who recently contributed a good few sets (strips) from what many always thought of as purely text publications, have no real interest in comic strips and that makes such a contribution even more valuable -he could have simply just ignored them and carried on but he was taken aback to find them. One Boy's paper collector even tried to tell me, brusquely, via email that these publications "simply NEVER featured comic strips!" I gave him the issue numbers and dates -nothing back yet!
Unlike in the United States where there is so much information on who wrote or drew what back in the Platinum and Golden Ages of comics, the UK is a huge void with the odd few names dotted about. In Australia, people like Kevin Patrick have delved into Australia's Golden Age.
I think that this same type of thing needs looking into throughout Europe where we all know the big names and characters -in Germany Wilhelm Busch and Max und Moritz- but what of the others we know little about?
Henk Albers and De Kat or Hans Ducro and DerMocker(Nederlands) ? Sture Lönnerstrand created and Lennart Ek drawn Dotty Virvelwind (Sweden)? Or Manuel Gago García and el Guerrero del Antifaz (Spain)?
There are creators and very likely creations we have never heard of. There may well be comic historians specialising in comics from Spain, Nederlands, Belgium and so on but we never hear of them -where is their equivalent of Jean-Marc Lofficer?
It takes work and there are always dead ends and lots of people who will say "who cares?" but it is rewarding when you make a discovery!
Maybe I am writing this and no one cares? I have no idea but as the years go by the chances of finding these lost creators or their families who remember the work fade. Hey, the UK is big enough for me* -how about you?
________________________________________________________________________________-
*Yes, I do know I've delved into German comics history but give me a break!
I'm not really up on UK comic artists as they never named them when I was a lad but I followed artists that I liked even although I never knew their names (Tom Kerr comes to mind I only found out his name a few years ago on Lew Stringer blog) based only on their talent and recognising their art styles. Of course its good to know who drew what but the point I would make is that no, these comics (and the comics of my and yourand others youth) were not "wasted paper" they were cherished and looked forward to every week, and for me at least that is all that matters, knowing their names is a bonus and important to historians of course but Im a fan and the memories these guys and gals gave me are priceless. I actually thought the art looked like the guy that drew Robot Archie.
ReplyDeleteI care. Oh, by the way, I looked closely at the guy... it really IS a young Hitler Blow it up He must've travelled forward in time on his silver machine - took one look at that hole - and decided to give up on pataphysics forever. Yes, I know... back to the Loboby Institute for me. Anyway. Yes. I care. Many people care... it's why something like the Nostalgia Comic really needs to be done to bring these old characters and the times they were created in back to the attention of people (young and old). By the by - I love the character above on the postcard (?) print listed 'Verschijnt Maandelijks' - I just love his socks and shoes !....gives the idea of shadow boxing a new angle doesn't it.... I wonder if Peter Pan ever realized that his shadow was really that bad guy as this titan of nonchalant foot wear does ? Heyho. Back to......work ! AAAGGGHHHH
ReplyDeleteThat, Mr Stransky, is de Tweede Pimpernel (The Second Pimpernel) and leave his socks alone!
ReplyDelete