1939 -A Bad Year To Try To Sell British Comics To Germany.

Now, the idea of Amalgamated Press sending Caldicott and Carstairs (you have no idea who they are, do you?) to Germany at the start of the Second World War to sell its comic sets (strips) to the Germans may seem silly to you.  I mean, one country at war with another and fatalities on both sides does not make you think of "business opportunities" does it?

Well, in 1982 there was the Falklands War/Guerra de las Malvinas and if you really need an history lesson on that you need to read some books.  Anyway, I was on one of my regular trips to Fleetway/IPC and talking to Dave Hunt who edited a football comic (I've gone into this before) and showed him a few samples from artists and was told that although it looked "top quality" there was a problem.  It seems that British artists would expect the full going rate per page which was not in anyway that great but it was a bill paid and food in the cupboard.

I was told that strips were being drawn by Argentinean artists, there were some delays in getting the finished art (everything was posted back then no scans!) back.  Quite a few Argentinian artists were employed on the company's comics.

I then met Managing Editor Gil Page and asked about the Argentinian artists and was told they were used on a few books because they were paid far less. Now the fact that artists were being paid less annoyed me a lot.  You do the same work as a British artist you should get the same pay, right? British artists who were quite capable of doing the same work, were losing out to cheaper ...well, not even competitors.

But there was another aspect that seemed odd considering the gung-ho climate being generated in the UK at the time.  We were in a state of war with Argentina and were recruiting, employing and paying artists from there because it was "cheaper".  And the company continued to employ Argentinean artists even after the conflict but when there was still an official state of war.

The excuse was that this was business and had nothing to do with the war going on.   I know a few people were shocked when they heard of this and you know those legendary, great creative editors everyone seems to currently worship as they re-write the history of what they did at Fleetway/IPC (I met and talked to most of them so I know what they were doing) ?  They knew and had no problem with this practice and one in particular showed me art from Argentina that was "not really up to scratch but it's cheaper".

Think about that and ask yourself: would the AP have employed German artists during World War II because it was just "business" and cheaper ?

We know that American comics were full of crooks and the UK had its own versions -but double and triple book-keeping and "publishing fiddles" were far more subtle.  Like a lot of American comic editors, their British counterparts also have a lot of known (in circles) dirty secrets but this is all being glossed over and when spoken about they are just jokingly called "roguish"

A crook is a crook and I just do not care to join in with the praising of the people or perpetuating the lies of their pals and hanger-ons about what they did, what they created.  Writers and artists were treated like shit and cheated: remember that and this involved editors not just management.

Why were editors not allowed to know where the company was storing all the original artwork -so much of it went, uh, "missing" that it makes the loss of Kirby artwork look like a drop of piss in the ocean.  Management knew where the art had been going.

I remember having to provide a copy of scripts I was paid for because the accountants had caught on to non-existent scripts they were paying out on.  And ask why I was never paid the £5000+ for scripts and art -"take that up with the editor. He is no longer with the company"...says it all.

Self publish and be poor through your own work!