Eric Roberts- Winker Watson, Dirty Dick, Podge,

Peter Gray · Post by **Peter Gray** » 08 Nov 2007, 00:02

Eric seems to have a very long career in comics..

1937 Podge Dandy... also was in the first Beano book!
1938 Rip Van Wink Beano

also drew Hy Jinks...Smudge Dandy
Wee Tusky a wild boar in India
the wee black scallywag who lived in Kentucky -Deadwood Gulch and hated school.........though smarter than you think...
drew some nice inside and back inside covers like the 1957 one with the pupils v's teachers....the teachers win!

he should have been allowed to sign his work anyway

What was his last Dandy work...or even Beano?

I noticed that Winker Watson was hiding his brother serial in the early 70's is that the last one then after that reprints? As this was the last reprint serial in the early 80's...

He also drew in the first Knockout Nutty Nobbs...

I love his work...
quite radical the serial of the hooded teens with real guns running around..

spoiler- they were American teens

Post by **AndyB** » 08 Nov 2007, 00:44

I think the Hoods was original in the early 80s.

Kashgar · Post by **Kashgar** » 08 Nov 2007, 11:43

From memory I think Andy is right and that Eric Roberts' last original Winker strip in the Dandy comic was 'The Hooded Terrors', I seem to remember it being in the middle pages in colour. I'll check that one out.
At Thomsons he was very much a Dandy artist drawing very little for any other titles.
His greatest success, outside his work for Thomsons, was in the AP title Knockout, although again from memory I don't recall him having anything in the first issue as you seem to suggest. 'Mike' which began in 1945 was his longest running strip for that title although he did do other things including a stint on the Billy Bunter strip in the late 1950's.
I'll have to check but I imagine his last published work was probably a Winker strip in an early 1980's Dandy Book or Summer Special as he died in 1983.

Peter Gray · Post by **Peter Gray** » 09 Nov 2007, 01:06

Had a long look at my Dandys myself..

the hood story ends in late 1979. Nothing in 1980...

Then in 1981 there was a Winker Watson story about his Uncle Watson who came to be a P.E instructor for the boarding school...who gave them all a hard time...not sure if this is a reprint...But it goes into early 1982...before the reprinted story of the Winker hiding his brother because he is expelled story.

Also see Eric drew Willie Whizzer Broom looks like it was drawn before Winker Watson due to the text boxes underneath...(on a side note the 101 Beano and Dandy great stories annual also had a sample of the Dennis the Menace in Weekly news paper)

Kashgar · Post by **Kashgar** » 09 Nov 2007, 11:27

Eric Roberts last original Winker series was 'The Hooded Terrors' which ended in Dandy No 1975 (29/9/79). This was the twelfth series of Winker that he had drawn since the characters inception in 1961. His last published work of all was in the 1981 Dandy Book where he drew three comic features including 'Batty Books from Winker Watson's Library' and 'All the Nutty Neighbours who live up Korky's Street'.
After Eric Robert's retirement and subsequent demise the first artist to take on the mantle as the Winker artist was Tom Williams, in the annuals and summer specials, while the next new Winker series to appear in the weekly comic, following four reprinted series by Eric Roberts, was published in 1984 and was drawn by Paul White.

Peter Gray · Post by **Peter Gray** » 21 Jun 2008, 10:12

Working on a Eric Roberts post....showing examples of all the characters he did...
His work is just a joy to look at...

Kashgar · Post by **Kashgar** » 21 Jun 2008, 10:25

Brilliant comic artist and well worth a tribute Peter. If you need any help with a list of his work just let me know.

Peter Gray · Post by **Peter Gray** » 21 Jun 2008, 10:29

He did loads of one off characters which I'll show an example...Also some great beginning and end pages in the Dandy book which I'll show...this is a huge task.But very enjoyable..
I'll put a link to Lew Stringers post on Eric drawing Billy Bunter..

Hy Jinks looks like the same character as Smudge...is it just a name change or are they different?

Kashgar.....I would love to see a list of his work very useful for the tribute that would be amazing...

Peter Gray · Post by **Peter Gray** » 21 Jun 2008, 12:46

Just found Mike he drew for the cover of Knockout...

Peter Gray · Post by **Peter Gray** » 21 Jun 2008, 14:39

http://petergraycartoonsandcomics.blogs ... dirty.html Enjoy and be impressed with Erics long fun career.

a part 2 blog later on will be showing his comic poster work he did in the Annuals...(beginning and end pages)

stevezodiac · Post by **stevezodiac** » 21 Jun 2008, 18:05

Wasn't Mike originally Smiler and Dimps in Knockout? And I think he also became Niblo Nibs in the Big One (reprints). I loved Eric's attention to detail, I remember he drew Mike/Smiler in a shop and he drew every item in the shop individually, superb.

Kashgar · Post by **Kashgar** » 24 Jun 2008, 11:57

Hi Peter, As promised a quick resume of Eric Roberts' comic strip work.

First known work Podge in the Dandy in 1937, followed in 1938 by three strips in the Beano Helpful Henry, Good King Coke and Rip Van Wink.
By 1942 he seems to have dropped out working for comics, probably due to some type of war work. He next surfaces in AP's Knockout in 1945 with the strip Mike which would run until 1957 (becoming Mike and Dimps in 1954). His other original work for the AP being Biily Bunter (1958-1959) and Sinbad Simms (1957-1958) both also Knockout and Niblo Nibbs (1960) in Film Fun. Mike would then be reprinted in Big One and then Buster (1964-1972) under the title Smiler and then latterly Smiler and Dimps while Sinbad Simms would follow the same reprint route Big One / Buster (1964-1965).
Niblo Nibbs would resurface in Giggle (1967) and in Cor (1971) with his Cor appearances coming under the slightly altered title Nippy Nibbs. More anon.

Kashgar · Post by **Kashgar** » 24 Jun 2008, 12:15

Eric Robert's first work for Thomson's after the war was Smudge in the Dandy (1947-1949) (reprinted as Hy Jinks (1955-1957)).The Dandy being the comic for which he would draw all his subsequent Thomson work. This was followed by the first of his many strips for the paper in the comic adventure strip format Willie the Wicked (1953) then came The Wee Black Scallywag (1954), Willie's Whizzer Broom (1956) Rip Snorter (1956-1957) and Ginger's Super Jeep (1958-1959).
When the Dandy expanded its page count in 1960 Eric Roberts was given the comic strip Dirty Dick (1960-1967) to draw and from that point on he never worked for any other company, not least because the strip to which he devoted more of his career to than any other, Winker Watson, was just about to go into regular production. Between 1961 and 1979 Eric Roberts providing 775 episodes of the Winker Watson saga spread over twelve series with his only other comic adventure strip work in that time being Moe, Joe and Daddy-O (1965).

Peter Gray · Post by **Peter Gray** » 24 Jun 2008, 23:29

Thanks such a lot for all this interesting info on Eric.I'll add this to my blog shortly...have some more of his work to upload for part 3 of my post on him.

Surprised about this Dirty Dick (1960-1967)
then the ones in the 70's early 80's.. were reprints...I guess he drew new ones in the summer speicals and annuals..

Kashgar · Post by **Kashgar** » 25 Jun 2008, 10:56

He did draw some Dirty Dick's after 1967 but not on a regular basis. 1960-1967 was the run of his regular involvement with the strip. Sorry for the confusion.

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