1965.
The best known of all the characters he drew in comics.
Before Jammy we had this teacher. Geogre sure drew a lot of teachers in his comic pages. 1960 27th Feb.
1960.
These kids are awful to the teacher...very black hunour. They were often trying to blow him up and the school...
27th Feb 1960. The first comic character he did for The Dandy. Unless someone knows better.
UPDATE
Kashgar does..
George did write a lot of his own scripts, particularly for his work that appeared in Topper and Dandy.
Off the top of my head a list of George's strips should certainly include the following
Dandy
Wily Smiley the Jungle Joker (first Thomson strip)
Robinson and his dog Crusoe
Mr Mutt
Jammy Mr Sammy
Greedy Pigg
Claude Hopper
Desperate Dawg
Jolly Roger
Topper
Captain Bungle
Smart Art
Julius Cheeser
Send for Kelly
Arty
Ali Babble
Old Batty
Jiffy and the Glyphs
Beezer
Dopey Dinah
The Hillys and the Billys
Young Sid the Copper's Kid
Blinky
Buzz
Top Tec
Calamity Kate
Sparky
The Planet of the Nirdles
Nutty
Ethel Red
Nip and Rrip
Jay R Hood
Hoot
Comic Cuts
I'm sure that I've missed one or two but the above is a pretty fair representation of what he drew in his forty year career as a freelancer for Thomsons.
Thanks Kashgar from comicsuk forum
Ideal for George to draw he obviously loved drawing slapstick comic pages. Very clownish his work...e.g a pie in the face often happened.
A nice idea to choose your own characters...
3rd Novemeber 1984.I rememeber this one has a kid. A very nice strip.
Could kids today relate to this character..it was a much simpiler life back then..
A dog world...very unusual for DC Thomson.
More of George's work to come...
18 comments:
WOW! I never knew GEORGE drew PETER PIPER, PETER.....[!] You learn something on here every day.....
ace images....spy.
I don't think he did in Sparky comic..its just a character a reader has asked back for a one off in The Dandy just like Jonah and Calamity James which are not normally drawn by George..
I've been trying to find out the name of this artist for a long time now. Thanks to Toonhound (http://www.toonhound.com/), he pointed me in your direction. AT LAST!!
The art of George Martin is what sparked my own creative juices as a boy, and why I'm still mad about drawing and the art of art today.
Can you answer this: George Martin drew a daily 3-panel strip for the Birmingham Daily Mail (I believe...could be wrong). I loved this strip, and followed it for the few years it was published. It was probably the late 70s, or early 80s. The same character was illustrated throughout, and I think the name of the strip was the name of the character. What was great about it was that there were NO words...it was like a Charlie Chaplin "silent movie" strip that showed off his slapstick style of art perfectly.
Does this ring any bells for you, Peter, or anyone else out there in cyber world?!
Cheers,
Ian.
www.cladge.com
cladge.blogspot.com
www.flickr.com/photos/cladgeman
quote from comicsuk forum
I can't find any examples but George drew at least two newspaper strips, one of which was called 'Bunion' and the other (I think) 'Stymie'.
- Phil Rushton
Does that ring any bells..Peter
It was Bunion...I'm pretty sure. The name sounds right. Thanks for that. I've never tried this before, but I might try and approach the Birmingham Mail as a start and see if they have anything in their archives. I'd love to see some of those strips again.
Cheers, Ian.
quote
I'm pretty sure the strip that Cladge remembers will be Bunion as Stimey, although along the same lines, always had a sporting theme. Stimey was featured in the Thomson boy's paper Champ if memory serves.
George drew Bunion throughout his career, from 1950 through to the time of his death in 1994.
http://www.comicsuk.co.uk/Forum/viewtopic.php?f=127&t=2997
from Kashgar at comicsuk forum..
bunion appears regularly in the Express and Star (Wolverhampton)
I was George's accountant for 20 years until he died. He was a delightful, intelligent man devoted to his work and our meetings were hilarious. Think of John le Mesurier and you'll be pretty close.
His accounts books were sprinkled with ideas, one liners and drawings.
He had an artist's attitude to life and try as I might I could not persuade him that spending £50 on research for a £25 cartoon was wrong. 'I cannot work in a vacuum, dear boy. I need inspiration.'
He recounted, at some length, how the previous day he had woken up and decided to draw a cartoon involving an army tank. So he set off, with his dear Mary, on an expedition from his home in north Kent to the tank museum in Dorset 150 miles away. And back the same day so he could draw in the evening. I pointed out the cost of petrol and he said that in his strips realism was all. He wanted to show the tank upside-down and needed to crawl underneath one to see what was there.
And he had such a lovely day out. Mary's face suggested that she hadn't enjoyed it as much!
Great getting an insight into what he was like and how he cared at getting it right the art and angle.
It did make me laugh as well..;0)
I recently moved into Mr Martins old house and have come across a suitcase full of bunion and stymie artists proofs....can anyone help me with what to.do with them?
Hello Danielle
I am George Martin granddaughter (I can prove this)
I would love to have any of my grand fathers work if you have it. I can't believe it got left behind.
If you still have it my email is becdesign79@yahoo.co.uk
Rebecca Woodall (Martin) I'm Ian's daughter.
Hi There I am selling an original oil painting by George martin along with some vintage books that his work is in selling on eBay
Regards
Allan
George Martins granddaughter Rebecca again
Interestingly I've recently been getting contacted by people selling work they bought at auction of an artist also called George Martin. After much confusion we've realised that there were two George Martins employed by DC Thomson. (Both lived in Italy, both were illustrators and both were artists, what a coincidence!)
The confusion can be cleared up here:
A news report appeared in the Dundee Courier on Wedneday recording the death of George Martin, a former artist for D. C. Thomson, following a fire at his home on Monday morning. There was some confusion initially as George Martin was the artist of numerous strips for Topper, Dandy and other Thomson comics: he is probably best known for "Send for Kelly" in Topper (1969-90), with episodes reprinted in Champ (1984-85). But the report is NOT about the comic strip artist.
Jeremy Briggs was quickly on the case and contacted Morris Heggie who says: "It is not the cartoonist George Martin that died. The poor artist that perished was a jobbing artist who for a short time was staff in our art department then worked freelance, doing an occasional page for our girls and womens titles." The initial newspaper report includes a note that the late George Martin contributed to People's Friend,My Weekly, Bunty and Judy.
So hope that clears that up...
I'm still interested in the cartoonist (Alfred) George Martin. So please get in touch if you have any of his work.
becdesign79@yahoo.co.uk
Thanks
Rebecca
Hi Danielle, do you still have any of the Bunion artwork? I'm currently writing an article about George and the newspaper strip. You can contact me via ant_gnr@hotmail.com
Hi, loved your story regarding George. Would love to hear more if possible. Im currently writing an article about George Martin and his work on the newspaper strip Bunion. Could I possibly ask you a few questions regarding George? Do you know who owned the rights to the syndicated newspaper strip Bunion also? Could you email me at ant_gnr@hotmail.com
Hello
I'm just sat here with my mum reading about Alf.
This was my mums brother.
I vaguely remember Alfie but obviously mum has plenty of stories.
Things a bit vague now but there may be a few snippets that mum could add to join any dots?
Regards
Phil Elliott, son of Patricia (Martin)
my email is petergrayartist@gmail.com
I will add your thoughts and info on george Martin on my blog thanks.
The Bunion cartoons in the Evening Chronicle were brilliant. It was possible to get a late extra copy 'hot-off-the-press' just off Westgate Street, Bath.
Thank you for reminding us.
Best.
BRLSI, BATH.
Post a Comment