Comics UK

There's already a thread about this sad news in the artists section.

http://comicsuk.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=127&t=7274

Bleeding Cool: https://www.bleedingcool.com/2017/04/27 ... s-dies-86/

Reading what I take to be The Guardian's online obituary I've noticed that there are a couple of familial coincidences. Prior to marriage my mother lived in Chorley and my father lived in Whittle-le-Woods. A fair bit before Leo though, to be fair.

I was very pleased to discover that he'd lived in Broughty Ferry when we lived there, although he may have gone south by the time I saw his name in Wham.

Leo definitely lived in Dundee when he worked for D C Thomson Sue.

He was closely involved with the Editors although he probably drew at home.

The Courier:
https://www.thecourier.co.uk/fp/news/lo ... dale-dies/

(Unfortunately the image they've chosen to illustrate it wasn't drawn by Leo.)

Just heard about this, very sad to hear, but agree he'd had a good innings.

Baxendale's contribution to British comics - and perhaps comics in general - and influence was massive. True God-like status.

ANy of his strips always a pleasure to read (one I enjoyed which the obituaries haven't picked up on so far, was the early "Banana Bunch" in "The Beezer"; was quite controversial for its time I believe. Even the text stories in the annuals were brilliant (written by Leo?).

Just thinking there can't be many artists alive now who made their name in UK comics in 50s and 60s?

RIP Leo.

Lew Stringer wrote:The Courier:
https://www.thecourier.co.uk/fp/news/lo ... dale-dies/

(Unfortunately the image they've chosen to illustrate it wasn't drawn by Leo.)

It seems most of the mass media websites we've linked to here are using that same David Sutherland artwork.

Hugely sad news, Leo was a one-off. My personal tribute would be that even though I read comics when I was a small child and had no idea of how they were put together, I still got the sense that Leo's work was something a "bit different" from the rest of the publication (I got the same impression from the work of Ken Reid and Mike Higgs).

Pleasantly surprised by the amount of mainstream recognition he has received despite the sad circumstances but so far I have seen nothing from DCT. Have they posted something and I've missed it?

It would be nice to think that they might release some kind of tribute edition to Leo's work. Or how about a homage book along the lines of the Chris Kidd / Dave Gibbons Watchmen tome?

Anorak783 wrote: Pleasantly surprised by the amount of mainstream recognition he has received despite the sad circumstances but so far I have seen nothing from DCT. Have they posted something and I've missed it?

The Courier link I posted above is a DC Thomson newspaper. I would imagine there'll be something in the Sunday Post tomorrow.

The Beano on Twitter mentioned his passing, and showed the Beano icon in black.

Digifiend wrote:

Lew Stringer wrote:The Courier:
https://www.thecourier.co.uk/fp/news/lo ... dale-dies/

(Unfortunately the image they've chosen to illustrate it wasn't drawn by Leo.)

It seems most of the mass media websites we've linked to here are using that same David Sutherland artwork.

Yes, the Guardian used it (and a panel by Nigel) in the paper yesterday. That seems to be the image they've been supplied with unfortunately. The saddest fact is that most memories that people think they have of Leo's Beano work will actually be of artists that followed him, considering he left the Beano in 1962. That's why it's important to keep Leo's work alive for new generations to enjoy.

In some ways using that image is just as much a slight to David Sutherland as it is to Leo.

Sutherlands Bash Street is the most flawless ghosting I ever saw in the funnies [1960s]

Frank McDiarmid doing Ken Reid in the 60s was the second best in my view

It was years before I realised that Bash Street was being drawn by another artist! Sutherland's style is almost identical to the Wham-era Baxendale, but it's just slightly more simple and consistent. I've seen Baxendale art that's so elaborate that it's hard to read at newsprint quality.

Tom Paterson's early art closely follows Baxendale's later "porridgy" style. That had me fooled too.

The 60s Sutherland Bash Street was pretty much on par with the Baxendale, Sue

Come the 70s the artwork on the strip simplified noticably due to Mr Sutherlands increased workload.