The best artists we never had

[Jonny Whizz]

Which artists would you have liked to have seen draw a particular strip, who never (or very rarely) did that strip in real life?

I would like to make it clear that this topic is intended to be purely hypothetical, so we're not concerned with other work or time periods, we're just interested in talking about our ideas for the artists we'd liked to have seen drawing different characters. It can be for any characters from any comic past or present. However, because I'm more familiar with the DCT humour titles, I'll probably stick to these. Here are a few of my ideas:

Dennis the Menace - Steve Bright in Davy Law style, that would have been brilliant.
The Three Bears - Hunt Emerson. I really liked his Little Plum, and I think he would have done a good job on the bears also.
Calamity James - David Parkins. Although Calamity James was still good when his strip was ghosted by Bob Dewar and Steve Bright, it seemed to lack many of the funny details it had when Tom Paterson drew it. I think that if Parkins had ghosted the strip he would have made it more humorous like Paterson's work, like he did on Fred's Bed.

[Peter Gray]

I'd like to see Tom Paterson updating old humour and adventure story heroes like his one off on Jack Flash in Beano Max and also the one off of Ping the elastic man in Minnie the Minx.

would have been ace if Tom had done more wacky centre pages in Buster...he was great for that short time..

Love to have Mike Lacey working in the 90's and 00's Beano and Dandy...why wasn't he snapped up in 1992?

Also Reg Parlett in DC Thomson would have been fun..maybe drawing the Bash Street kids..

Also Dudley D Watkins in Fleetway comic would have been different..can't think of what he could have drawn..

[ISPYSHHHGUY]

A lot of IPC artists 'defected' to D C T in the mid-80s of course, due to the ever-dwindling titles at King's Reach Tower; notably, BOB NIXON returned to the fold, and he was one of the first to 'jump ship'. Presumably he was offered better pay-rates/greater artistic control than he was getting at BEANO when he left about 1973.....

On the other side of the coin that Jonny has instigated, here's two versions of strips that thankfully NEVER happened:



THE BROONS by John Geering;

THE BASH STREET KIDS by Dudley D Watkins......these are definate no-nos, in my view.

[AndyB]

and two I wish had never happened: Peter Davidson on Oor Wullie and the Broons

Back on topic: the original Lord Snooty by Tom Paterson would have been interesting.

[Jonny Whizz]

I'm not sure, I doubt Tom would have had much fun with an archaic character such as Snooty, and I think the scripts wouldn't have inspired him in the same way they did on, say, Calamity James. Having said that, I think it would probably still have been good.

I agree about Watkins for The Bash Street Kids. Though Watkins and Baxendale were both great artists, their styles were very different, and they couldn't really imitate each other. I think Baxendale once ghosted Watkins on Snooty, but it was far from his best work.

One that I think shouldn't have happened was Graeme Hall on Billy Whizz. I think that Trevor Metcalfe or John Dallas should have taken over after Vic Neill's death in 2000.

[philcom55]

I've always had an ambition to see Dennis the Menace (the British one) drawn by Sergio Aragones. Also I'd like to see his version of almost any strip originated by Leo Baxendale - for example the Bash Street Kids, General Nitt or little Plum.

And continuing with the transatlantic theme, Wally Wood on The Nervs would be pretty amazing too (has anybody ever seen his classic Alka-Seltzer ad 'Stomachs get even at night'? )

- Phil Rushton

[STARBOY]

Ahhh Phil you got in before me I also would love to see Sergio Aragones on Dennis, Swots and the Blots , BSK etc (I liked Sergios work on the US Bart Simpson monthy) Ditto Wally Wood (a cartoon God) on the NERVES , Frankie Stein would have been amazing to see. I would also have liked to have seen Dan DeCarlo (ARCHIE comics) work on some DCT etc Gilrs comics bring a bit of zing to the strips maybe even try Oor Wullie - Turning it around i would have loved to have seen Ken Reid do the Harvey Characters -Casper, Spooky, Wendy the Witch etc he would have terrorised the US kids - Frank Bellamy on Daredevil and Don Lawrence do anytrhign (he was so good)

[Robbie Moubert]

I was wondering recently what might have happened if John Byrne's parents hadn't decided to emigrate to Canada in 1958. If he'd still become a comic artist it's quite possible he would have been one of the original 2000ad artists. Mind you, no doubt he would have joined the exodus to Marvel and DC in the 80s!

[philcom55]

Of course Byrne did draw a Judge Dredd story for 2000AD round about the time of the 'British Invasion'.

And speaking of the Simpsons, if only he was still around Ken Reid would be perfect for their 'Treehouse of Terror' specials (for that matter he'd probably have been right at home amongst 'the usual gang of idiots' at MAD during its heyday! ).

- Phil Rushton (*Sigh!*)

[ISPYSHHHGUY]

Wasn't MAD'S Basil Wolverton sometimes referred to as the 'American Ken Reid', Phil?


Basils' work is stylistically a bit like Kens': at least in the way that the imagery seems to be dredged up from the 'nightmare' zone of the psyche:

[philcom55]

Wasn't MAD'S Basil Wolverton sometimes referred to as the 'American Ken Reid', Phil?

That's the way I've always seen him too Spy (though to my mind Ken had the edge in spontaneity). In fact Wolverton's popularity over there (and his influence on many of the leading underground artists) makes me think that the Americans would have welcomed Reid with open arms, in spite of his quintessential Britishness - just as they did with Monty Python!

- Phil Rushton

[STARBOY]

Basil Wolverton was a wonderful artist- He did some great covers (his Plop covers were amazing) but to me hwe never turned that genius into his strip cartoons in the way Ken Reid (Wally Wood etc) did. Would also have been cool to see Don Martin draw so UK strips like Desperate Dan.

[Jonny Whizz]

I think that Dudley Watkins on Billy Whizz would have been another definite no-no. His style was almost exactly the opposite of Mal Judge.

On the other hand, I'd have liked to have seen Vic Neill on Les Pretend, his style would have worked well on it. Also, Tom Paterson drawing Billy Whizz on a regular basis would be fantastic.

[tictak]

I think Little Plum drawn by Nigel Parkinson would be good.

[skyromie]

I think Little Plum drawn by Nigel Parkinson would be good.

Little Plum by Hunt Emerson is even better.