Monday 27 July 2009

Dr What in Boy's World in 1964!




Dear Peter,

Rummaging through my old comics I’ve just come across the attached strip about Dr What from a copy of Boy’s World in July 1964. Obviously a spoof on Doctor Who, I think that the most interesting thing about it is that it predates the Doc’s first appearance in TV Comic by quite a few months. Pretty nifty.

Hope all is well with you. Tour has been going well...I’m off for a few weeks now during which time I need to buy a new house somewhere in England! Off to look at a convent for sale in Chipping Norton tomorrow.

Best,

Tim

Thanks Tim..the artist looks familiar...can anyone help?

Saturday 25 July 2009

Vic Neill's Comic work



School Fun summer special 1986.


The Beano 24th August 1974. I love this strip the various McHaggis are great fun. One of Vic's best strip.


The Beano 14th Sept 1974 the issue when Dennis the Menace is now on the cover.


The Beano 4th Sept 1993. Also drawn by David Sutherland.



Taken over from Dudley after his death in 1969. I do like Vic's Mickey. Its nice he shows the family of Mickey he did the same with Plug and other comic characters he drew. Vic seems to like to draw relatives in his strips.



Nipper comic 4th July/17th July 1987. Later drawn by Sid Burgon.


Beano 4th July 1998.
A nice Billy Whizz. Reprinted today in The Beano. They are very well written and nice and quirky.



The last work Vic did for Buster 22nd Sept 1990. It is strange seeing an adult horror star turned into a comic page for young readers.

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You can now buy my Cartoon cards at
http://www.smithbrookkilns.co.uk/
The Estate Office, 85 Smithbrook Kilns,
Cranleigh, Surrey, GU6 8JJ

Its in shop 25
Sallyann's
Crafts and haberdashery materials
Well worth a visit!

Or buy them directly from me at a slightly lower price of £1.50 each this includes postage in the price. Unless you are outside the UK it will be slightly more.
Email me at thejeep2000@yahoo.co.uk

Tuesday 21 July 2009

See more John Bull and The Passing Show covers







Update on the John bull and The passing show covers.
more to see with permission..
http://www.advertisingarchives.co.uk

http://petergraycartoonsandcomics.blogspot.com/2009/02/john-bull-magazine-1949.html

Also working on a new blog which will showcase my cartoon work.
Take time to see my Online Portfolio showing my cartoons and published work,

http://petergraycartoons.blogspot.com/
Today I've got permission for my cartoon cards to be sold in a craft shop...more news about this another time. :)

Sunday 19 July 2009

Black Bob...What it looked like in the Weekly News..



philcom55 Post subject: Re: 'Arrgh it's 'im!' Vols 1 and 2.Posted: Sat Jul 18, 2009 8:06 pm
http://www.comicsuk.co.uk/Forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=2893

Joined: Wed Jun 14, 2006 10:56 am
Posts: 811
Peter Gray wrote:
The Complete Black Bob is also on my list...

Just for Peter, here's a Black Bob episode exactly as it appeared in The Weekly News dated March 26th 1966:


Sadly there's no Dennis the Menace strip, but that week's issue does include an original Man from UNCLE text story and part of an interview with David (Illya Kuryakin) McCallum.

- Phil Rushton




Thanks Phil...great to finally see it..

Saturday 18 July 2009

Vic Neill's Plug!!


lovely bright colours!!


This comic with good shiney quality paper and strong covers must have stood out very well at newsagents...todays comics are also glossy like Plug and more expensive like Plug!!


Loved the way Vic used the lettering on Plug comic cover...


Plug had some weird characters...all the better for it!!



My favourite Plug cover and the one I remember seeing on a rainy school day and we were given comics to read...first time I'd seen Plug...(also Jackpot comic)it really stood out!




Love the framing of this comic page made to look like a book shelf. Vic really showed off Plug's relatives.






A parody of Top of the pops dancers Legs and Co...centre page poster from Plug comic.



I like Vic's comic work a lot...
more to come in another blog post..

Wednesday 15 July 2009

Tom Paterson's The Legend of Little Plum


4th July `998.

This only lasted a few issues..then Hunt Emerson drew a great version later for the Beano.

Love to see Tom Paterson doing this strip again.it would be great fun with the menacing bears and the comical fights.

A Vic Neill blog post is coming soon...done the scanning..

Saturday 11 July 2009

Lew Stringer drawing for Whoopee!! and Jackpot annual!

From Jackpot annual 1986....see Lews' signature in the first panel..a ghost artist with a name...normally drawn by Tom Paterson.










Hi Peter,

Regarding the Scooper strip. Although I'd been freelancing for Marvel UK since 1983, the Jackpot Annual job was my first published strip for IPC. I'd already drawn the first Tom Thug strip for IPC but that remained unpublished at that time while the company made their minds up about the comic. So Bob Paynter, Group Editor of the IPC humour comics, kindly offered me the Jackpot Annual four pager.

I was asked to ghost Tom Paterson's style, but I was allowed to sign my name to the strip. I was quite anxious drawing it, - my first strip for the mighty IPC, and in an annual too, but very pleased with how it turned out. It's not perfect by any means, and I'm sure I'd draw it differently today, but it was fun to do. I can't remember who wrote the script but Bob Paynter had subbed it and changed some bits before I received it.

The following year I did a six page Bookworm strip for the Whoopee Annual, which I both scripted and drew. This time I was asked to ghost Syd Burgon slightly but give it my own touch. That was a fun one too, as I had Bookworm go to an alien planet.

Lew


From Whoopee!! annual 1987. It was normal practice for other artist to draw other peoples strip. It was a good platform for new comic artists to be tried out.












Lew Stringer who signs this work in a special annual Sci-fi story...very different to a normal Bookworm down to earth story. Its great fun seeing the aliens and monsters drawn in a fun way.

Bookworm normally drawn by the ace Sid Burgon..


Scooper by Tom Paterson

Well worth getting IPC humour annuals there was some nice longer stories in them and different artists experimenting with other characters...

Thursday 9 July 2009

Three Cool cats poster by me part 2




I've never been good at lettering...its hard to draw straight...curve lines without wobbling...so here is my second version! I've used a computer font..
I think it looks smarter now.


Also changed my Traffic light one..the circles and the red and green men look better. Also the light grey shows off the traffic light better than black.



I've changed the through the tulips wording.lots of people couldn't read it...changed the feet.got rid of the toe nails.more abstract now...moved the bee...
looks a lot better..

Friday 3 July 2009

A groovy 60's posters by me..number 2




Its based on a unusual Beatles song..
look it up on youtube three cool cats...it goes well for a groovy 60's poster..