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Cartoonist John Ryan, most famous for his creation Captain Pugwash, has died aged 88.
John Ryan was born in Edinburgh in 1921 and fought in Asia in World War Two, where his skill at caricaturing his commanding officers sometimes led to him being reprimanded. After the war, he became a school teacher, and married in 1950. That same year, in order to earn extra money, he came up with the character Captain Pugwash which he produced as a comic strip for the early issues of Eagle.
The comedy adventures of Horatio Pugwash, Captain of the Black Pig, and his pirate crew including Master Mate, Barnabas, Willy, and Tom the Cabin Boy, only took up a modest amount of space on an Eagle page, and ran for just 19 issues before the editor cancelled it for allegedly being too juvenile. However, greater recognition was to come. Ryan revived the character years later for a series of children's books beginning in 1957 and a new strip in Radio Times. Even more significantly, 1957 also saw the BBC commission Pugwash as a new tv series; short cartoon films with Gordon Murray (later to create Camberwick Green, Trumpton, and Chigley) as producer.
Ryan created the artwork for the five minute cartoons using a very basic but mesmerising technique. Cardboard cutouts of the characters were laid on painted backgrounds and their arms and mouths moved with levers. This was filmed in "real time" like a puppet series, rather than traditional (and more expensive) animation. Peter Hawkins provided the voices.
The Captain Pugwash series was a hit with young viewers and totalled 86 cartoons in all, the last produced in 1975. John Ryan continued producing the Pugwash books too, totalling 21 by 1991.
The often-repeated sour urban myths that the cartoons featured characters called Seaman Staines and Master Bates were unfounded and Ryan successfully sued the newspapers that printed the suggestions in 1991. The comedian Richard Digance claimed he made the names up and had a 25 year injunction against him performing material about them. This expired in 2008. John Ryan also appeared as a guest at a UKCAC (UK Comic Art Convention) event in the 1990s and during the talk he strongly denied the salacious myths about his characters. This was clearly something that had, quite understandably, offended him.
John Ryan's other memorable character was Harris Tweed, Extra Special Agent, which also appeared in Eagle in 1950, replacing Captain Pugwash, with a full page devoted to his adventures. This pompous British agent who got his man by accident rather than design, was the sort of comedy-adventure hero who perhaps later inspired such characters as Eagle-Eye and The Cloak.
Ryan's work in television continued in the 1970s when he devised Sir Prancelot and Mary, Mungo and Midge. The rights to Captain Pugwash were bought by HIT Entertainment in 1997 and a brand new Captain Pugwash cartoon series was created, this time more sophisticated, but somehow lacking in the original charm.
With his work in comics, books, and tv, John Ryan was a "multimedia" pioneer before the term was invented. The distinctive style and gentle comedy of his creations entertained millions of children and, with the Captain Pugwash books still in print, will no doubt continue to do so.
Just announced at the San Diego Comic Con: Marvel Comics have acquired the rights to 1950s British comics character Marvelman!
Marvelman was created by Mick Anglo in the 1950s as a replacement for the British reprints of the American Captain Marvel comics, when Captain Marvel was forced out of existence by DC Comics over its alleged similarity to Superman. Marvelman was revived in the early 1980s by Alan Moore and Garry Leach (followed by Alan Davis) for Dez Skinn's Warrior comic. When the character was reprinted in the USA by Eclipse Comics, more litigation (this time by Marvel, over the name) saw the superhero rechristened Miracleman. Bizarrely, then Miracleman itself later became subject to copyright wrangles by various people who had been involved with it.
However, apparently Mick Anglo still owned the rights to "Marvelman" and within the last hour, Joe Quesada, Editor In Chief of Marvel Comics, announced that Marvel have now bought the rights from Mick and will be publishing the character in the future. Whatever that form will take, whether it be reprints of the Warrior & Eclipse material or brand new comics, or (my guess) both, remains to be seen.
More news on the acquisition on the Comic Book Resources website:
http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=22206
and
http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=video&show_id=130283
Update: Judging by the banner on the Marvel Comics home page (below) it looks as though Marvelman merchandise is already on the cards in the form of a T-shirt. Expect more to follow....
The new illustration of Marvelman on the left of the banner is by Joe Quesada.
Marvel Comics website: http://marvel.com/
With this being the 40th anniversary of the Moon landing I thought it would be appropriate to look back at one of the strangest adventure strips to appear in British comics. Moon Madness from Smash! in 1966.
Issue No.9 of Odhams' new weekly (dated 2nd April 1966) boasted a slight increase in pages and a couple of new strips, one was The Legend Testers (which I'll cover in a future blog) and the other was Moon Madness, illustrated by Brian Lewis, a superb artist already known for his work at Fleetway. The Odhams adventure strips were often a bit quirky, but Moon Madness would prove to be completely barmy!
The story began with the announcement that "Russians Land on Moon". Not a Cosmonaut though; just a space probe. Clearly based on the actual spacecraft Luna-9, which the Russians had successfully landed on the Moon on January 31st 1966. As it "transmits energy" to Earth, dogs and cats across the UK begin to howl and screech, a portent of things to come. Next day, a strange raised shape appears in a farmer's field in Perthshire, taking the form of a giant arm. Before long the arm springs to life and crushes the life out of a bull with its mighty clawed fingers.
Chapter two, the following week, saw the arm pulling itself across the countryside and smashing a village in its path. This episode also introduced us to Professor John Silverlight, who escapes the clutches of the arm and would eventually become the hero of the story. The chapter ends with a discovery on Salisbury Plain, - this time a pair of giant hairy legs "that seemed to have stepped straight from a nightmare"!
Who knows what Brian Lewis made of these scripts? He clearly gave his all to the artwork so one assumes he probably loved the craziness of the concept. The detail Lewis put into the pages was wonderful and it certainly came across as the work of someone who enjoyed what he was doing. A regular on Smash!, Brian Lewis was also the artist of Space Jinx and on many episodes of Charlie's Choice, proving he could also handle humour strips with ease and without any of the awkwardness that is sometimes evident when adventure artists try to do more cartoony material. He truly was one of the greatest artists of British comics and it's a tragedy he died so young, at just 49 in 1978.
With chapter three, the arm scuttled towards England, confronted by the army on the Forth Bridge who were unable to stop it. Meanwhile, an earnest caption tells us "The giant legs were striding across the Hampshire countryside!".
With chapter four the air force are brought in to tackle the rampaging thing. "Our orders are to attack those legs - and utterly destroy them!" barks a pilot in all seriousness.
The attack proves futile. "We might just as well have been using pea-shooters" says another pilot. Meanwhile, John Silverlight, who seems to have developed a mental connection with the creature, wakes from his delirium in hospital and cries "The Old Man! Go to the top of the Old Man!" The military have realised the arm and legs are heading in one direction, towards the Lake District and a mountain called The Old Man.
Chapter five shows what lies on the summit of the mountain; a torso and another arm! "It - it's unbelievable!" gasps a military officer, as though the preceding hours had been normal. The legs arrive, join with the torso and arm, and retrieve the other arm as it approaches. Now the creature was complete, except for its head.
Chapter six has the creature continue its path of destruction, trampling villages under its feet. Following its progress, John Silverlight sees it walk into the sea and submerge itself beneath the water. Three days later Whitehall decides the menace is dead, but Silverlight has a different opinion: "Don't you see - that thing has walked into the sea for only one reason... it's seeking its head on the bed of the sea!"
True enough, two weeks later, a mighty hand reaches up out of the North Sea sinking a trawler, and the creature emerges... complete with head!
That chapter promised us a surprise ending... one we received the following week in Smash! No.15, although kids who may have been expecting a big battle scene would be disappointed as the conclusion was quite low key. Suddenly we were expected to feel sympathy for the creature which we're told is "alone amid a bewildered terrified mankind which prayed for its destruction" and that it's "like a lost and frightened child seeking help".
John Silverlight confronts the creature, having formed a bond with it because (we're now told) the monster's spiky fur punctured his skin. Silverlight senses that the creature came here via electronic impulses so he finds a way to send it back to the Moon. Leading the now-passive creature to a telegraphy station, the process begins to make the monster vanish, as it breaks down into radio waves and is transmitted back to its Lunar home.
Curiously, the strip ends on a teaser. With his blood stream tainted by the creature's fur, we're informed that Professor Silverlight now has a connection with the Moon. "One day," states the final caption, "the strange, almost unbelievable story of Silverlight the Moon Man may be told. And if told it is, it will be in the pages of Smash!"
However, that's the last we heard of the character. If a series of Silverlight the Moon Man was ever on the cards it doesn't seem to have developed any further than that brief mention. The following week Odhams introduced their first Marvel strip - The Hulk, which instantly delighted many of Smash's readers.
Over the last 43 years fans have fondly remembered Moon Madness, even though they often forget its title (referring to it more often than not as "the one about the giant arm and the legs"). The strip was written by the group editor of Odhams' comics Alf Wallace and I'm sure it was done tongue in cheek even though the tone was deadly serious. Even though the strip appeared for only seven weeks its concept was so uniquely outlandish, and Brian Lewis' artwork so powerful, that it made quite an impression amongst kids of the Sixties.
A recent blog on The Guardian website lamented the demise of the traditional comic Summer Special, and they were right to do so. After almost fifty years, the bumper seasonal editions seem to have finally ceased to be. D.C. Thomson hung on the longest, but the Beano Summer Special closed a few years ago, replaced by the monthly BeanoMAX, and last year's Dandy Summer Special appears to have been the last one.
What went wrong? Apparently today's retailers dislike them because they occupy valuable shelf space for too many months. The other reason is down to how comics themselves have evolved. With regular UK comics now being full colour glossies, how can a Summer Special stand out as "special"?
The idea of weekly comics having a once-yearly Summer Special spin-off only appears to have gained popularity in the 1960s. There was a glossy colour Mickey Mouse Holiday Special as early as 1937 (priced 6d - a small fortune for a kid back then) but British comics of pre-war years would sometimes have a themed summer edition as part of their regular run, in the usual 8 page format. Here's an example from 1934; the "Jolly Summer Holiday Number" of The Joker, published by Amalgamated Press. Artwork by John L. Jukes...
...and the "August Holiday Number" of A.P's Funny Wonder from 1939, with a wonderful cover strip by the great Roy Wilson...
Inside that same issue of The Funny Wonder, Charlie Chaplin indulges in some seaside slapstick...
As the 1960s rolled around, Fleetway launched a Jack and Jill Summer Special for the pre-school audience in 1961. The following year saw Odhams launch an Eagle special and also in 1962 TV Publications Ltd published a TV Comic Holiday Special; a 48 pager with mostly new material. Not to be left out, D.C. Thomson tested the market with a combined Dandy/Beano Summer Special in 1963 featuring reprints from the weeklies. That same year also saw City Magazines publish a Huckleberry Hound/Yogi Bear Summer Extra. These sharply printed photogravure publications established the format for such Specials for the next few years.
The Specials must have proven to be very successful. The following year (1964) saw Thomsons devote individual Summer Specials to both The Dandy and The Beano with brand new material, and TV Comic continued with its Specials too.
Trumpeting the comics as "special" certainly wasn't hyperbole. Freed from the limitations of the weekly newsprint format the Summer Specials offered painted full colour strips bursting with life. (Although my copy of the first Dandy Summer Special from 1964 shown here is unfortunately browned with age.)
This was the perfect time for the Summer Specials to arrive. With The Dandy going through a peak in 1964, the Special featured some of the best artists in the business. Here's Eric Roberts on Dirty Dick and Ken Reid on Big Head and Thick Head...
...and Bill Holroyd on Joe White and the Seven Dwarfs...
Charlie Grigg was the resident cover artist, always producing memorable images of Korky the Cat. Here's the cover for the 1966 edition ( a bit torn, sorry). The image featured an inventive but simple novelty. By holding the cover in front of your eyes and rotating it it seemed as though Korky's bike wheels were spinning...
...and another Grigg cover for the 1969 issue...
The back cover of the same special is a fine example of how the quality printing gave artists the opportunity to go to town with colour work, as this Korky the Cat strip by Charlie Grigg demonstrates. (Korky's brutal remark to the mice in the final panel is a cracker, and shows how much more abrasive the dialogue could sometimes be in comics of the 1960's)...
The Beano Summer Special had the benefit of the great Dudley Watkins on covers for its first few years. Here's the cover for the 1967 edition...
(Don't worry folks. Biffo wasn't plunging to his doom after all. The back cover showed he was only diving towards a trampoline!)
Inside that same issue, a fantastic centrespread story featuring The Iron Fish...
Usually the centre pages would be reserved for a board game, ideal for those wet days sat inside a holiday guest house. Here's one by Eric Roberts from the Dandy Summer Special 1969...
The Summer Specials were clearly intended to be read by kids whilst on holiday, and the strips reflected the holiday environment of the 1960s, whether it be a journey in a train carriage...
...or the favourite destination of the time, Blackpool...
...watching a Punch and Judy Show...
...building a sandcastle...
...going on the fair...
...having a donkey ride...
...or simply relaxing in the sun with a cigar. (Er, well, maybe the readers' Dads could relate to that one!)...
Both the Dandy and Beano specials featured 32 glossy tabloid pages; quite a leap from the 16 newsprint pages the weekly editions had back then. City Magazines also seized the potential of the Summer Special by issuing the 48 page whopper TV21 Summer Extra in 1965 which featured a free gift (the "Cosmic Capers Kit") giving it the advantage over its rivals.
Here's the cover to the 1966 edition...
Inside, the adventure strips had little connection to a holiday theme but at least the "special" aspect was evident in futuristic articles such as this spread (by Eric Eden I think)...
Odhams also joined the party, releasing the Fantastic Summer Special in 1968, a 52 pager. Although mostly Marvel reprint, it did feature a handful of new pages including The Cloak by Mike Higgs...
Fleetway decided to hop on the bandwagon on Thursday June 23rd 1966 with the publication of the Valiant Summer Special...
This policy continued when Fleetway came under IPC control in 1968. The format IPC chose was different to the now-standard tabloid glossy. Instead, they went for quantity (sometimes over quality) with chunky 96 page specials, mostly in black and white. Here's the Lion Summer Special for 1969...
A large percentage of pages in the IPC specials were filled up with reprints from old Fleetway weeklies, sometimes with the characters' names changed in a futile attempt to make the strips seem new. However, the reprints were not entirely unwelcome as they collected together serials into nice complete chunks (albeit edited for space). Ideal summer reading indeed.
Here's the first Buster Holiday Fun Special, (1969), with a cover by Reg Parlett...
Reg also contributed new material inside, including this seaside two pager featuring Freddie (Parrot Face) Davies, a popular stand up comic of the period...
A striking Mike Western cover to the Valiant and Smash Summer Special 1971...
Inside that same edition, Banger and Masher, an often overlooked Ken Reid strip...
TV Comic continued its run of Holiday Specials throughout the Sixties and right up to 1986. Here's the cover to the 1970 edition by Dick Millington...
Inside, the traditional board game, with artwork by Barry Glennard...
From these early days, the Summer Special became a familiar sight in newsagents throughout the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s. Seaside resorts would order extra copies as they were guaranteed sellers. (I remember bookstalls along Blackpool's prom selling them in the Sixties.) So popular were the specials that they'd often carry on for years after the parent comic had folded.
Sadly, the demise of the specials has been on the cards for several years and now, with the format eclipsed and sometimes bettered by the regular comics themselves there seems no place for them in the 21st Century. A great shame, as for many of us they definitely made our summers special.
Further reading:
What became of comics' summer specials: A blog on guardian.co.uk by David Barnett:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/booksblog/2009/jul/13/comics-summer-specials
Summer Special cover gallery:
http://www.comicsuk.co.uk/Specials/SpecialWhole.asp?FirstTime=Yes
Thanks to Ray Moore for the updates and corrections on the 1961/62 information.
UPDATE: Although the Summer Specials are no more, some publishers have launched the Summer Annual in its place, - hardback books in the traditional children's Christmas annual format, albeit thinner. Egmont currently have several out, tied into licensed properties, including the Power Rangers Super Legends Summer Annual and the Disney Princess Summer Annual.
(My thanks to Rik/KlownKrusty for this info.)
Last week's issue of Retail Newsagent, a magazine for the newstrade, ran a feature on the current state of British comics and found the market still had potential.
However, a sad sign of the times was that at no time did the article mention the word "comics", preferring to refer to them all as "children's magazines". Even The Beano wasn't exempt, with the 71 year old title being called a "children's publication".
The two page feature, by David Harris, covered how the titles were faring in the recession, with quotes from various publishers to say how resilient children's magazines are. Apparently there are an incredible 156 children's titles currently being published, with overall sales of 64.1 million. Whilst most of those titles do not feature comic strips (so cannot be classed as comics) it's obvious they are still considered by the trade to be of a similar ilk to comics, - all falling under the "children's publications" banner. The emphasis of the article was mainly on the younger end of the market; an area which retailers seem to consider to be the main arena for comics today.
Jaynie Bye, joint Managing Director of BBC children's titles, responded to retailer's "bugbear" over bulky cover mounts, explaining how they boost sales and that buyers now expect them. "We have now reached the stage where if there is not a covermount, parents think it must have fallen off."
The recent development of occasional higher cover prices for certain issues was also addressed (such as Spectacular Spider-Man and The Beano increasing their prices by 50p or more on some weeks). James Willmott, head of group advertising at Titan said "Retailers like this because if there is a larger margin to be made they want a piece of it."
Recent new laws restricting certain advertising in children's magazines seems to have benefited the titles. Alison David, commercial director of Egmont, relates in the article how, because the titles' incomes are now more dependent on cover price than advertising, any advertisers pulling out due to the recession shouldn't damage the magazines' profits too much.
The article concludes that "the magazine market might be struggling, but children's is definitely one of its strongest sectors" and that "this is one well-established sector upon which retailers can rely".
It's great that an influential trade magazine such as Retail Newsagent is giving out such a positive message about kids' comics, even though the message is solely about profit not content. Unfortunately it seems that bulky cover mounts, overcrowded shelves, a "younger" tone, tv-centric titles and price hikes are here to stay for the foreseeable future.
A few interesting revelations came to light in the advertising features surrounding the article; looks like Panini are launching a new GI Joe comic later this month, and are soon to revamp The Mighty World of Marvel, relaunching from issue one.
The biggest news however was mentioned in a sidebar to the main article: this September The Beano is being "restyled" to reflect the upcoming new Dennis and Gnasher tv series on CBeebies. No further details of the relaunch were forthcoming, except that it would feature "a series of free gifts" to coincide with the tv show. Watch this space for further developments.
Network DVD, a company dedicated to classic British tv series who have made many old favourites available on disc, are giving fans of Fireball XL5 a unique opportunity to own an exclusive new art print by veteran comic artist Mike Noble.
Although now aged 79 and retired from comics, Mike has clearly lost none of his talent for producing dynamic artwork in striking colour, as can be seen by the image above. One of the greatest comic artists the UK has ever produced, Mike had a long and distinguished career in British comics, drawing strips such as The Lone Ranger for TV Comic, Robin of Sherwood for Look-In, and of course Fireball XL5 for TV Century 21.
The brand new print taken from Mike's artwork will be limited to just 25 copies, and will be sold on a first come, first served basis at £39.99 each. Each print will be individually numbered and is a one-time only deal. The offer starts from next Friday, July 17th 2009, and no pre-orders will be taken.
Network recently released Fireball XL5 The Complete Series Special Edition as a DVD boxed set (see box art below) and its bonus features included an item on the comic strips with contributions from Mike Noble, Bill Mevin, and Colin Page.
For more info visit the Network DVD website here:
http://www.networkdvd.net/index.php
With his Brickmobile accidentally colliding with thought captions, Brickman plunged to his doom off a big cliff five months ago but his partner Tina Trowel seems to have moved on since she suddenly announced she was dating Superbloke in last month's issue of Elephantmen (issue 20).
However, already cracks seem to appearing in the relationship faster than a quick-baked brick. Can Tina really find true love with a man who loves his pecs more than her? Can Superbloke trust a woman who once dated arch-villain Mister Cheese?
Find out all the juicy goss in The Secret Diary of Tina Trowel, the latest page in the ongoing Brickman saga, in this month's special edition of Elephantmen, War Toys: Yvette on sale now from all discerning comic book stores. ($3.50).
The other 35 pages of the comic are pretty good too. More details of those here:
http://www.hipflask.com/issues/wartoys_yvette/index.html
After 40 years in the comics business, including an impressive 22 year stint as editor of The Beano, Euan Kerr has left D.C. Thomson.
The news came to light on the Comics UK forum, where it was erroneously reported that Euan had been sacked! Only when Euan himself posted a comment to put the record straight was the title of the thread corrected.
Euan took over as Editor of The Beano in 1984, at a time when the so-called "traditional" British comic was on its decline. Regardless of comics falling by the wayside, and a change in style for comics in general, Euan managed to keep The Beano forging on as a popular top-selling title. He also became the public face of the comic, appearing on tv programmes such as Blue Peter to promote the title.
In 2006 Euan handed The Beano over to his Chief sub-editor Alan Digby and moved on to become Deputy Manager of Children's Publishing, creating a new title, - BeanoMAX, - a monthly comic/magazine hybrid which included contemporary features and slightly longer stories of Beano favourites. (Alan Digby will be editing BeanoMAX from now on.)
Commenting on his departure on Comics UK Euan said "After 40 years in the business and with my health and sanity almost in tact, the lure of the golf course was too much! I've loved my time in comics and hope to do some part-time writing."
Best wishes to Euan on his retirement and here's looking forward to his future projects. The Beano Memoirs perhaps? ;-)
Read a 2006 interview with Euan Kerr on the FP website here:
http://forbiddenplanet.co.uk/blog/2006/07/british-comics-month-%E2%80%93-the-beano-and-the-dandy/
As you may have already read on other blogs the second in the series of Egmont Classic Comics is out now, this time spotlighting Battle Picture Weekly.
Only available from branches of WH Smith, the 52 page £3.99 special contains a good selection of reprints from the old war comic. Characters such as Johnny Red, Major Eazy and The Sarge are represented, with artwork by Joe Colquhoun, Carlos Ezquerra, Mike Western and more.
Reproduction of the strips is great considering the pages are probably scanned from the comics rather than from original art. Paper quality is superb; a heavy matt stock, much better suited to such strips than light-reflecting glossy paper.
Unfortunately some of the strips end with cliffhangers which will never be resolved as this is a one-off edition. The conclusions saw print 30 years ago of course, in the original printings, but for new readers it's very much a case of "For you Tommy, the war is over". Particularly evident in the Day of the Eagle cliffhanger which has Hitler victorious over our apparently dead hero.
As stated above, this comic is only available from WH Smith. Sadly, my local store seems to be a slave to its system these days and as they shelve comics alphabetically this Battle special was crammed into an already stuffed top shelf, wedged behind Beano, Beano Max, and Ben 10. I only found it by accident when I pulled out The Beano. (As mentioned here before, unless publishers' sales reps get store managers to tidy up their act I foresee major sales slumps for UK comics.)
Egmont Classic Comics: Battle Picture Weekly is on sale until 15th September. Replacing that on the shelves, the next Classic Comic, Buster will be published, followed by Misty in December.
Brickman is dead and there's a NEW Brickman patrolling Guffon City, - ex-Marvel UK hero of the 1980s Combat Colin! The bobble-hatted bucaneer ditches the bobble hat for a black cowl and cape in Elephantmen No.20 on sale now from all comic shops that are smart enough to stock it!
Visit the official Elephantmen website at:
http://www.hipflask.com/issues/elephantmen20/
****************************
My apologies for a lack of blogs of late. I'm currently undergoing hospital eye tests for a potentially serious problem so it's quite a worrying time and probably best to keep away from the computer except for work. Hopefully normal service will be resumed shortly.
Ryan's work in television continued in the 1970s when he devised Sir Prancelot and Mary, Mungo and Midge. The rights to Captain Pugwash were bought by HIT Entertainment in 1997 and a brand new Captain Pugwash cartoon series was created, this time more sophisticated, but somehow lacking in the original charm.
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