MY LEAST FAVOURITE CURRENT COMIC ARTIST

[Jonny Whizz]

Digifiend is right, there was a real dearth of new talent in the 1990s. Most of the best artists, like Robert Nixon, Dave Sutherland, Tom Paterson, Ken Harrison etc. had already been around for some time, although their work was still excellent. Unfortunately, it was also a decade when a number of comics folded, and Buster only just survived into the new millennium. Although David Parkins and Mike Pearse both started in the 90s, I think they started at or near the very start of the decade. As we've already seen, the situation has improved greatly in the noughties.

I doubt we'll ever have a generation like the 1950s because there is unlikely to ever be another character like Dennis the Menace who changed the face of British comics for good, and there are fewer self-taught cartoonists nowadays.

[Lew Stringer]

Having attended comic conventions for 30 years it always seemed to me that new talent was always coming along. Most may not have drawn in the Beano/IPC style but the talent was still around, either producing their own comics or gearing their style towards the American market or some other outlet.

Bear in mind that the 1990s saw a decline in the number of "traditional" comics being published, so editors were showing loyalty to the artists they had, - and even then the regulars were losing work as the comics folded one by one. So it might not be that there were less new artists approaching traditional weeklies, just that it was harder to break in.

1990s comics such as Sonic the Comic had no problem finding new artists, - Richard Elson, Dave Windett, Nigel Kitching, Rob Corona, Andy Pritchett, Carl Flint, Jon Haward, to name but a few.

New talent was still around, but it depends where you looked.

Lew

[Digifiend]

I know Windett went on to draw Korky the Cat for The Dandy, but Kitching's the only other name I've heard of. Looking some of the others up, I see Wikipedia claims Richard Elson has worked for The Beano. On what exactly, The History of The Beano doesn't mention him. If Wikipedia turns out to be wrong (wouldn't be the first time), I'll alter it.

[Lew Stringer]

I know Windett went on to draw Korky the Cat for The Dandy, but Kitching's the only other name I've heard of.

Which is kind of my point. People are saying there was a lack of talent in the 1990s judged on a few comics, but if you look at a broader range of comics that simply wasn't the case.

Looking some of the others up, I see Wikipedia claims Richard Elson has worked for The Beano. On what exactly, The History of The Beano doesn't mention him. If Wikipedia turns out to be wrong (wouldn't be the first time), I'll alter it.

Well, I just tried calling Rich to ask him but his wife said he's in the bath. He definitely did a bit of work for them but I can't recall just what at present. Possibly a Billy the Cat or it may have even been a Dennis the Menace.

Lew

[Jonny Whizz]

I think it was Billy the Cat he drew in the Beano, in autumn 2003 when he had a six week return in the comic. He also drew it for the 2004 Beano annual. However, he didn't draw all the strips in that run - Wayne Thompson drew two of the strips, as well as the story in the 2005 annual. It's quite easy to tell the difference, as Wayne's strips were signed and the Elson strips had duller, slightly more realistic colours.

[Lew Stringer]

I think it was Billy the Cat he drew in the Beano, in autumn 2003 when he had a six week return in the comic.

Rich just rang me back and told me what he did for The Beano:
Two Roger the Dodger strips for the weekly.
Two Christmas spreads featuring various Beano characters.
Billy the Cat (presumably the 2003 series as you said).
Tim Traveler for a Beano Annual.

These would all be around six years ago or so.

Presumably he was omitted from the History of The Beano index because it doesn't cover fill-in artists? I guess that's why Dave King wasn't mentioned either. (Dave drew a couple of Dennis covers/strips a few years ago.) I'd have thought Richard should have been mentioned for the Billy the Cat series though.

Quite versatile with his style, Richard Elson is currently drawing a Hulk story for Marvel USA, plus another Kingdom series for 2000AD.

Lew

[Digifiend]

Billy the Cat's 2003 series was credited only to Wayne Thompson. And misspelled Thomson to boot.

[Jonny Whizz]

The Tim Traveller he drew for the annual was the 2003 annual. In the 2002 book, he was drawn by his original artist, Vic Neill. He didn't appear in the 2004 annual, and in the 2005 annual he was drawn by the regular artist, Keith Reynolds. I don't remember him drawing Roger the Dodger though. When was this? I do remember Trevor Metcalfe drawing a few around 2003-2004.

[Digifiend]

Did Richard add the speech bubbles himself on the 2003 Annual Tim Traveller? They're a totally different typeface to anything I've ever seen elsewhere. Having looked at the strip, I always knew it wasn't his regular artist but didn't know who it was. Now I do. Thanks for the info guys.

[RamblingSid]

I don't much like Barry Glennard or Dave Eastbury's pages in the Beano. Eastbury is very static and looks like he should be drawing for a toddlers comic. Glennard's Numskulls just look bland to me. We don't get the Dandy anymore - I stopped buying it for my children when they did a magazine-style page about making a fake filled nappy (that took things a bit further than I was happy letting my kids read) and back then they had Karl Dixon drawing Olly Fliptrick. I think that was some of the worst artwork I've seen in a mainstream comic. The most disappointing artist for me right now is Tom Paterson. I bought some old comics from the late 1980s and early 1990s off ebay recently and his work in them was brilliant. Compared with them, his pages now look lifeless and lacking any real spark. He doesn't do any of the fun stuff he used to put in the backgrounds. He's not the worst artist around, just disappointing compared with what he used to be.

[Digifiend]

So you're another reader who ditched Dandy because it went Xtremely over the top with the gross stuff. Excuse the pun. No wonder so many of us are pessimistic about it's future... sounds like Thomson's should check not only what the kids want, but also what the parents want, as I'm sure you won't be the only parent who's stopped their kid from reading it because of material like that nappy prank.

[Lew Stringer]

So you're another reader who ditched Dandy because it went Xtremely over the top with the gross stuff. Excuse the pun. No wonder so many of us are pessimistic about it's future... sounds like Thomson's should check not only what the kids want, but also what the parents want, as I'm sure you won't be the only parent who's stopped their kid from reading it because of material like that nappy prank.

If publishers tried to appease parents every time we'd have never had EC Comics, Oink!, Action or 2000AD. (Though "concerned parents" did their best to destroy the first three.)

Regarding Barry Glennard's Numskulls: it may seem "bland" on the surface but he tells the story clearly and perfectly every time. As fans we like attention to detail but kids go for clarity. (Look how popular the work of Terry Bave was at IPC for example.) It's also one of The Beano's most popular strips, week in, week out, without fail.

Lew

[Digifiend]

Funny that you should mention EC - seems there's been rumours of their current owner's demise recently as well.

"In the past few days, there have been a number of rumors circulating about Gemstone Publishing. As has been the case with many businesses across a wide array of industries, there has been a reduction in staff at Gemstone, and this included the departure of many valued employees. This, however, is not the end of Gemstone Publishing," said Steve Geppi, President of Gemstone.

"Our flagship title, The Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide, remains a vital tool for comic book collectors throughout North America and around the world and it continues to be a highly profitable item for the retailers who carry it. I look forward to making announcements regarding new developments for the Guide's 40th anniversary next year," Geppi said.

"At this time, no final decision has been made regarding The EC Archives or our comic books featuring Disney's standard characters, but it seems certain that both lines will continue in some form," he said. "We all anticipate resolving the issues facing us and moving forward, and I will be happy to announce the specifics once things have been finalized."

I looked it up because I hadn't heard of them - but I have heard of Tales from the Crypt, their flagship title.

[Lew Stringer]

Gemstone don't own EC. They just had the license to reprint the old comics. DC Comics own EC now, who continue to publish Mad magazine. (And another company publishes the new Tales from the Crypt, which isn't a patch on the original.)

EC Comics published the top quality horror/crime/sf comics of the 1950s Digi. The sort of notorious "horror comics" that shocked soft parents and led to book burnings. Even though EC's stories usually had a moral streak it was obviously too subtle for a reactionary population easily swayed by the anti-horror campaigns in the media. So they banned horror comics, introduced the Comics Code Authority and.... it made no difference whatsoever to juvenile delinquency which continued to get worse. Probably because the juvenile delinquents weren't the type who read comics anyway. Still, the establishment had their scapegoat, which was more palatable to them than admitting that home or social factors might have played a factor in their kids' behavior.

They're quality comics that should be on every comic fan's reading list. Gemstone have reprinted them several times, with the luxury colour hardcover collections being the most recent, albeit quite expensive.

Gladstone/Gemstone reprinted the various titles as individual comics in the 1990s and those are relatively cheap to pick up at comic marts etc.

More info here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EC_Comics

Lew

[Young Freddy]

I didn't like tam paterson's work or Tom Whittock's. I found Tam patersons work really disgusting while Colin whittocks looks way too squigily

old freddy writes all the stuff for my site and he's my brother