Hmmm...I've just checked David Ashworth's exhaustive article on Gerald Swan 's publications in
Golden Fun no.13 and he does
indeed state that Banger's name was pronounced 'Bainger' (though strictly speaking this still doesn't make it clear whether the 'g' was hard or soft).
...
However the strange thing is that in spite of this he regularly signed his strips 'by Bang' - which implies he actually
wanted his readers to make the obvious connection with noisy fireworks! If so this could suggest that he was following the opposite tack from Mrs Bucket by deliberately adopting a humorous version of his relatively 'posh'-sounding name as a kind of professional
nom de plume!
To show that he was quite at home with the concept of larger-than-life alter egos (and to give people some idea of what Banger's work looked like) here's the classic strip in which his
Slick Fun cover star Stoogie was first transformed into the dynamic 'Superstooge'!
(Incidentally, it's interesting to see how familiar British artists appear to have been with contemporary American comic strips during the early 1950s. As well as this Captain Marvel-inspired tale the same Album also includes three very early Ron Embleton stories quite clearly influenced by Will Eisner's 'Spirit'! )
- Phil Rushton
)
