Comics UK

(Crossposted from Artists and Writers, due to urgency of the situation; hope that's okay.)

Hi all,

I'm urgently trying to learn more about William A. Ward, who seems to have begun (?) as an animator for Bonzo Dog screen cartoons in the 1920s; then became an artist for the Mickey Mouse Weekly in the 1930s (drawing the "Donald Duck/Donald and Mac" serial stories), and then for the Swan comics in the 1940s ("Krakos the Egyptian").

Here's the poor fellow's Lambiek page, without a lot of information.

I need to write about him for a Disney-related comics book, and it would help to learn anything more than what I know so far... such as even his birth or death dates! If someone can help me, I'll gladly repay them with a credit in my text piece, and a comp copy of the book when it's ready!

Here is a Krakos strip from the 1948 Funnies Album from Swan. I've no idea if this is Ward's work - it doesn't look much like a Disney style. You didn't ask for examples of his work but the book was by my pc so I scanned it anyway. Its a five page story, let me know if you want to see the remainder.

Hi David,

There seems to be more information around about Bonzo than anything else. William A. Ward was credited as Producer and/or Director of the Bonzo films, but seems to have been one of the group of animators, too, for at least one of the cartoons. They were one of the more successful attempts to emulate the US Felix cartoons, and had quite a lasting cultural impact, with The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band naming themselves after the character, of course, in the Sixties.

Details on those films with some credits here:

http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/individual ... iew=credit

and a bit more (including about their popularity) here:

http://www.bonzo.me.uk/bio.htm
http://www.bonzo.me.uk/flm2.htm

He's also been credited as drawing the "First Donald Duck adventure ever": 'Donald and Donna' for Mickey Mouse Weekly #67 (15 pages in weekly episodes), drawing The Bat, and The Pie-Can Pioneers, for Gerald Swan's comics in the Forties (as well as Krakos), and drawing for Thrill Comics, Fresh Fun ('Sheriff Fox'), Tropical Funnies, Extra Fun and Knockout (a Sheriff Merrybark strip in a Knockout Fun Book).

On sale on Ebay right now is "1941 Original Pen & Ink Drawings of Cheese & On in Loco-land for the Swan by William Ward."

On Yahoo group CBandM, Steve Holland posted: "Gerald Swan ... had a thriving one-man business despite the paper shortage. Other artists came from the Amalgamated Press who were in the same boat -- cancelling many papers and making others
fortnightly rather than weekly ... As long as you produced the requisite
number of panels on a page, you could do what you liked. This was taken
to extremes by some artists -- one, William Ward, produced some of the
most bizarre, violent and bloody comic strips ever to see print!"

Another post (from Derek Knight):

"William drew Jumping Jiminy in 1939 Dandys I know I
have buried someplace. He also produced Donald &
Donna, Donald and Mac, Hawkeye and Lost Colony of
Atlantis in 1938 Mickey Mouse. he was formerly an
animator with Bonzo films in the 1920s, which may
account for his "Americanization".
In my own collection, I find he had two pages in 1948
(Knockout) Fun Book,(I don't find signs of his work in any
of my other K.O.s). His Sheriff Fox is in Funnies
Album 1949, and Cute Fun Album 1948,The Buzzards of
Turkey Buzzard, Cute Fun Album 1949 and in Topical
Funnies no.21, The Mastadon in War Comics no.15.
Finally, I understand that he drew for some of
Britain's first Horror comics but I have no further
information as yet."


Incidentally, I'm really enjoying your Mickey Mouse newspaper strip collections at the moment!

To be honest I'm not 100% convinced that the William Ward who drew Donald Duck and Bonzo was the same one who worked for Gerald Swan. The styles seem very different to me and the name is quite common after all - as evidenced by the famous American 'good girl' artist Bill Ward.

- Phil Rushton

philcom55 wrote:To be honest I'm not 100% convinced that the William Ward who drew Donald Duck and Bonzo was the same one who worked for Gerald Swan. The styles seem very different to me and the name is quite common after all - as evidenced by the famous American 'good girl' artist Bill Ward.

(EDIT: I misread your post there and thought you were saying the Ward who did the Bonzo cartoons may not have been the same one who worked on comics, so I'll delete my mostly inappropriate reply. )


Some original Sheriff Fox art here, by the way:

http://www.bookpalace.com/acatalog/Home ... _1224.html

http://www.bookpalace.com/acatalog/WardFox2.jpg

If it's any help here's a piece on William Ward by David Ashford, taken from his detailed history of 'Gerald G. Swan's Funnies and Thrills' as it appeared in Golden Fun no.13.





From this it certainly does sound as though Swan's Ward and the former animator were one and the same after all.

- Phil Rushton

philcom55 wrote:To be honest I'm not 100% convinced that the William Ward who drew Donald Duck and Bonzo was the same one who worked for Gerald Swan. The styles seem very different to me...

But the lettering style in Ward's Donald Duck matches Krakos precisely. And Donald Duck's dogfaced sailor buddy Mac, an ongoing Ward character, has an eye design that's reminiscent of many bit-player dogs in the Bonzo cartoons (and at times Bonzo himself, on those rare occasions when his eyes were wide open!).
Have a look:



Otherwise, Phil and Raven, thanks for sharing the information. How shall I credit you in the book?

For my own part I think it's probably fairer to acknowledge David Ashford's article.

- Phil Rushton

David Gerstein wrote: Otherwise, Phil and Raven, thanks for sharing the information. How shall I credit you in the book?

I'll drop you a quick email via your Virtual Inkwell address, though, if you just used the Derek Knight bit and preferred to credit him, that's okay by me. At least it'll give me the opportunity to type a concise fan letter about a couple of your books!

Did anyone see the peice in the press earlier this week about a rare Walt Disney film that featured Oswald Rabbit who later evolved into Mickey Mouse? I found it by googling "Mickey Mouse Origin" and choosing the news option. The Mail Online site actually allows you to watch a complete Oswald rabbit film which is hilarious.

There was a nice Oswald the Lucky Rabbit release in the Disney Treasures DVD series (not released in the UK but easy to get) - featuring thirteen Oswald cartoons from the late 1920s with new music scores, an Ub Iwerks documentary, some Disney Alice cartoons, and a featurette on how Disney got the Oswald character back, amongst the extras.