Comics UK

Does anyone know if John Canning, who drew Dr Who for Tv Comic from 1966-71, and again from 1975-8, is still alive? Does anyone have infomation about his career beyond Dr Who?

Off the top of my head, I think he drew strips like the Ladybird Club for Swift and various series such as a full-colour adaptation of The Battle of the River Plate for Express Weekly. As well as being heavily involved with TV Comic's version of Dr Who (which included a spell sticking new heads on reprints of stories by Gerry Haylock!) I'm pretty sure he remained with the title right until the end, illustrating humorous characters as well as TV shows like Charlie's Angels. (I'd have to check to be sure but I think he also did their version of TV's Avengers)

Off hand I can't think of any later work, or whether he's still around.

- Phil R.

Thanks Phillip. The only quote I've ever seen from him was in Dr Who Classic Comics issue one (from 1992) where he's quoted as saying he thought his own art was "average-good but nothing special".. and that was it. The quote wasn't sourced so I've no idea what the origin of it was.

My own entry at the Gerry Anderson Complete Comic History (although the artists pages are not live yet):

John Canning, for most telefantasy fans, is inextricably linked to Doctor Who, and his long history with the TV Comic strip, drawing the first, second and third Doctors from 1966 to 1970, then taking up the strip again in 1975 to do all but three of the original fourth Doctor stories. He continued, in a kind of surrogate way, to work on the strip until it ended in TV Comic, by painting Tom Baker's features on reprints of Gerry Haylock's artwork for the third Doctor, and even one of his own for the second Doctor!
But Canning worked on other strips and comics, and started out (like many others) on Junior Express, (later Express Weekly). He was a long-running artist on the colour Ladybird Adventure Club and Milky Bar Kid advertising strips in the 1960s. He also drew The Avengers, Tarzan, Rubovia, Cannon, Charlies Angels, Star Trek and The Dukes Of Hazzard for TV Comic, and contributed to Lady Penelope in its first year, illustrating text stories.

I found these John Canning illustrations in a 1950s issue of Home Chat:

Nice find.

It' amazing how many artists in the 50s had a 'realistic' turn of illustration before getting their own style.

Incidentally, does anyone think this is also John Canning's work?

Excellent! Thanks a lot for these!

Shaqui wrote:...does anyone think this is also John Canning's work?

Very likely it is.

I must admit that I prefer his earlier work. Here's a particularly striking magazine illustration from 1956:



- Phil Rushton

Isn't the wide eyed bloke at the back David Tennant?

stevezodiac wrote:Isn't the wide eyed bloke at the back David Tennant?

My mate Steve has just told me he has seen on the 26pigs site that John Pertwee or Patrick Troughton strips were reprinted but with Tom Bakers head replacing theirs. Is that a fact?

stevezodiac wrote:My mate Steve has just told me he has seen on the 26pigs site that John Pertwee or Patrick Troughton strips were reprinted but with Tom Bakers head replacing theirs. Is that a fact?

It is. By the tail end of the TV Comic run, they had no interest in commissioning new stories so they just recycled old ones.

Some great early stuff from Canning.

I think I read somewhere that he was a bit frustrated by TV comic - tight unreralistic deadlines and low budgets - so sometmes the felt tips had to be got out,

Picked up a Home Notes magazine today with this superb John Canning illustration.