Treasure: Wee Willie Winkie visits Fleetway

[jehanbosch]

After a lot of searching i managed to find and buy a copy of "Peter Pan and the Shadow Thieves"
Regrettably it is in French, a language i can read but i prefer English, the tongue of my mother's relatives.
So i am still searching for the Australian comic book...

[jehanbosch]

Hi
In the inducks database was mentioned that "Mickey Mouse and the Shadow Thieves" aka "Mickey Mouse and Peter Pan" was indeed printed in the UK.
But it only mentioned an abbreviated version, in "Mickey Mouse" issues 206-208, September 26 - October 13, 1979.
Nevertheless, this database is not complete.
Included are one panel and the cover of MM 207.
Best, J.

[wigwam]

Hi Johan,

Perhaps this link to an auction of Peter Pan-related artwork from 1953 is useful: http://www.the-saleroom.com/en-gb/aucti ... b000a321ea.
I'll admit I've never heard of artist Harold Whitaker, but obviously he is worth checking out. Have a look at the wonderful artwork!

From the description:
"Mickey Mouse Weekly Harold Whitaker archive (1953) 90+ original roughs of Mickey Mouse and Peter Pan stories drawn by Harold Whitaker for the 1953 Mickey Mouse Weekly Coronation issue and further issues. Along with 41 pages of original typed scripts comprising 21 episodes of Mickey Mouse and Peter Pan adventure stories. Harold Whitaker (1920-2013) drew Farmer John for the Animal Farm animated movie in 1954 whilst also working on the Mickey Mouse Weekly front cover which he drew for over three years."

Wigwam

[jehanbosch]

Hi W.
Thank you very much for the information.
The sketches are lovely.
And you are right; this must be the artist who drew the independent UK adaptation of the Peter Pan movie for the "Mickey Mouse Weekly".
He certainly was an excellent artist.
I am aware of the existence of the Coronation issue of "MMW" of May 30, 1953.
However, every time this issue turns up for sale the sellers ask an exorbitant amount of money for it.
Up to 50 pounds sterling.
Nevertheless i found small scans of the cover and the Peter page of this "MMW" .
Thanks again & best wishes, J.

[Richard S.]

you may well have this but just in case you don't

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Foxs-Peter-Pa ... SwLN5WiFj7



Richard

[jehanbosch]

Hi Richard
Thank you very much for the information and link.
However, i already own this album.
In the UK there were published two comic books and one annual of Fox's "Peter Pan and the Pirates" cartoon TV series.
While in Germany no less than 7 comic books of this TV series were issued.
Since i already posted a scan of the UK annual i will try to upload a scan of Comic Album 2 from the UK.
I have to confess these comic books are one of the few recent Peter Pan comics i like -outside the Disney canon.
Most contemporary Peter Pan comics are out-of-character with the original conception by sir James Barrie.
Thanks & best, Johan

[suebutcher]

Hi all, I've just bought this original Treasure page by Peter Jackson, and I'm astounded by the level of detail in his art. Here's the full page, 13" x 17", of Roger Bacon preaching to a sceptical audience:

Here's a close-up, about an inch square. The man's head is the size of a thumbnail:

There's brush strokes there I can't even see with reading glasses! Needless to say, all this would be a blur when it was finally printed.

("The Wonderful Story Of Britain", Treasure No.53, 18.1.64.)

[Peter Gray]

Very nice

[philcom55]

Wow! Those historical pages Jackson drew for Treasure were as good as anything Ron Embleton produced for Look & Learn. I've got a number of his black & white illustrations from the series but none in colour; that one's absolutely gorgeous!

[philcom55]

...Incidentally, isn't that Desaad from Jack Kirby's New Gods?

[philcom55]

As a matter of interest, here's how that chap's head looked in print. Apart from the loss of detail it's amazing how different the colours look.

[suebutcher]

Thanks Phil, I haven't found that issue yet. Obviously Jackson's drawing was far better than it needed to be for its original purpose. Perhaps Fleetway wanted a high level of detail for possible reprints; did Jackson also produce paintings for those large eductional posters used in primary schools?

[philcom55]

The more I look at your lovely page the more envious I become Sue. It's interesting that the sky and landscape to the top right were completely removed in the printed version to make room for a block of text - so that part is wholly exclusive to you! Here's the counterpart to the image from that week's spread:



Given that he was also producing work for a national newspaper I'm hugely impressed by the amount of detail Jackson managed to cram into those two illustrations in a single week - especially as he went on to repeat the process every week for several years!

I don't know if there were any specially produced posters, but I do remember that my school had a regular subscription to both Look & Learn and Treasure during the 1960s, and that our History teacher made a habit of pinning those spreads up on our classroom wall to supplement his lessons.

[suebutcher]

I think the sky on my original was added later, Phil. There's blue paint on the registration marks stuck on by the printer. Jackson was alternating with Michael Godfrey on "Wonderful Story Of Britain" around this time, but even so the quality of his art is amazing. Here's my favourite from early Treasure, "The Miracle Plays".

[philcom55]

Wonderful! I prefer Ron Embleton as a comic strip artist but in my opinion Jackson was the better historical illustrator. Leonard Matthews repackaged a lot of the original art from Look & Learn and Treasure for books produced by his Martspress company after he retired from IPC; unfortunately this involved a lot of 'bodging' with varying degrees of sensitivity (though I'd say the added sky on your piece is one of the better examples). For instance I have a full page Peter Jackson painting from an early issue of Ranger where the top third has been completely cut away and replaced with a (rather poorly) redrawn section so it could be reused in a 1970s encyclopaedia. Sheer vandalism!