That time Geoff Campion drew Spider-Man

Geoff Campion was one of Fleetway/IPC's top adventure strip artists from the 1950s to the 1970s. You'll know his work from strips such as The Spellbinder in Lion to D-Day Dawson in Battle Picture Weekly, and the numerous covers and other strips he illustrated for the company. 

Perhaps one of his most unusual assignments was to draw the cover to the Marvel Annual in 1973. Although Marvel UK were publishing the weekly Mighty World of Marvel and Spider-Man Comics Weekly at the time it seems that IPC packaged the annuals for them for two years. 

The Marvel Annual was all-reprint inside, but the cover was new. Geoff Campion gave us a dynamic Spidey swinging in two tackle a bunch of crooks in a colourful image full of impact. He even managed to sign it (bottom right) as a name chalked on the wall. (Campion was the only artist who had a credit box in Lion, along with writer Frank Pepper, for the Spellbinder strip at that time.) 

It would have been interesting to see his take on a Spider-Man strip, but that never happened. It would be years before any Spidey strips were produced in the UK.

So, next time you think of artists in the UK who have drawn Spider-Man, and names such as Mike Collins, Andy Tong, and Simon Williams come to mind, add Geoff Campion to the list too! 

Geoff Campion in TV Comic (1983)

After posting some of Geoff Campion's work here the other day it reminded me that although Geoff was usually associated with IPC comics, he did also contribute to Polystyle's TV Comic for a short while.

In TV Comic No.1656, cover dated 16th September 1983, the weekly began a new series called Tales of the Gold Monkey, based on the American TV show. (Which was basically a Raiders of the Lost Ark for the small screen.) Geoff Campion provided the cover for the debut issue, and the artwork for the early episodes of the strip. Here's Geoff's opening episode, and a nicely drawn spread it is too...

Tales of the Gold Monkey ended with the final issue of TV Comic in 1984, and the later episodes were drawn by Keith Page. 

What Would YOU Do?

Art: Brian Lewis

Art: Geoff Campion?

In 1963 and 1964, the weekly comic magazine Boys' World ran a feature on its covers entitled What Would YOU Do? Each week the readers would be presented with a challenge to solve, with the answer revealed inside. The images featured top quality artwork by the likes of Brian Lewis, Gerry Embleton, James McConnell and more. 

Six years later, the newly combined Lion and Eagle resurrected the feature in 1969 by using the same challenges, but with redrawn artwork by Geoff Campion. Here's four of them for you to compare, along with their solutions.

Now, you might be wondering why IPC didn't simply reprint the old Boys' World covers instead of commissioning new artwork? Two reasons. One being that Boys' World had been printed on top quality glossy paper but Lion was using cheap newsprint that wouldn't have reproduced the painted artwork very well, and perhaps another reason was that they wanted covers that were in keeping with the interiors; ie: linework by one of their current artists.

Anyway, I thought it was an interesting bit of trivia, and a good opportunity to show some top class comic covers!

Art: James McConnell

Art: Geoff Campion

Art: James McConnell

Art: Geoff Campion

Art: J.H. Batchelor

Art: Geoff Campion

Looking back at VALIANT No.2 (1962) - updated

I showed a few pages from Valiant No.1 in my previous post so I thought you might like to see some pages from issue 2 today. 

It kicked off with another striking cover by Geoff Campion, with Captain Hurricane about to lob a terrified Nazi. Good for him! Inside, R.Charles Roylance illustrated the three and a half page Captain Hurricane strip. As you can see, this was before Roylance exaggerated Hurricane's physique and "Ragin' Furies" to more cartoonish levels.

The second episode of The Steel Claw by Ken Bulmer (writer) and Jesus Blasco (artist) saw Louis Crandell embark on his life of crime...

Although it was a new comic, Valiant contained a few reprint pages from the outset. One of which was Paladin the Fearless, a British translation of the French strip Belloy, drawn by Albert Uderzo. (More info: 
https://bearalley.blogspot.co.uk/2007/04/paladin-fearless.html )

Another reprint was from a source closer to home. Jack O'Justice was a renamed Dick Turpin strip that had appeared in Sun comic in 1953. Art by the very versatile Hugh McNeill.  Valiant would continue to reprint more renamed Dick Turpin strips like this for a while, before commissioning brand new Jack O'Justice strips at a later date. Towards the end of the Sixties, the strip was brought into the present day with the character's descendant, Jack Justice. 

The back page of Valiant No.2 featured another Famous Fighters article illustrated by Geoff Campion.

I hope you've enjoyed these brief glimpses at the early issues of one of Fleetway's leading comics. 


UPDATE 5/9/17: My thanks to 'matrix' of the Comics UK Forum for these photographs of the free booklet from Valiant No.2. 

Front cover.

Back cover.

Interior pages.

A look back at VALIANT No.1 (1962)

Fleetway Publications launched Valiant No.1 on Saturday 29th September 1962 (cover dated 6th October). Like Buster, launched two years earlier, Valiant was part of Fleetway's determination to modernise the comics line for a new era, with a bolder, cleaner look than the dated (and long-dead) comics such as Comic Cuts and Chips that had been produced by their predecessors The Amalgamated Press. Valiant actually replaced Film Fun on the schedule when that long-running comic merged into Buster a month before Valiant debuted. There was no doubt that Fleetway intended to clear the decks for their new style comics. 

The cover of Valiant No.1 was bold and effective; a single image of Captain Hurricane welcoming the readers, set against primary colours. I've already shown the first episode of Captain Hurricane in an earlier post (see here) so I won't show that again, but I was lucky to recently win Valiant No.1 on eBay so I thought I'd show a few of the other pages today. 

Valiant's 32 pages featured adventure strips with a few humour pages added to balance things out. One of those funnies was The Nutts, drawn by Angel Nadal, that would prove so popular it would remain in the comic until the final issue in 1976. 

One of the most memorable series that appeared in the comic was The Steel Claw, written by Ken Bulmer and illustrated by Jesus Blasco. This atmospheric first episode reveals how Louis Crandell gained the power of invisibility. In these early tales, Crandall was a villain! When the strip proved popular, it was decided he should become a hero, and his evil ways were explained away as the result of the lab explosion. However, as can be seen in this first episode, Crandall was resentful and greedy before the accident...

Valiant No.1 featured a high standard of talent, including the great Roy Wilson illustrating Percy the Problem Child. Wilson was considered the main humourist of the old A.P. comics, with the "house style" that others were encouraged to emulate. By 1962 he was sadly nearing the end of his life (he passed away in 1965) and his style was no longer flavour of the day of the fickle comics industry but he could still draw as well as anyone in the business. 

The centre pages of Valiant's first issue were taken up with episode one of To Glory we Steer, distinctively illustrated by Eric Parker. I must confess I found his style too 'heavy' for my liking as a child, but now I can appreciate what a skilled and unique artist he was.

The editor's letter welcomed the readers on It's All Yours, a page inviting kids to send in their jokes and anecdotes. But how did they get submissions for the first issue? It was hardly a trade secret; they were simply made up as an example to show they type of material they wanted readers to submit.

The struggles of working class heroes were always a good theme for British comics, and in Valiant No.1 we had Kid Gloves, the story of a boxer from the rough end of town. Superb artwork by Geoff Campion, one of Fleetway's finest artists.

Campion also drew the back cover feature, Famous Fighters, that would graduate to the front cover after the first few issues. 

Valiant got off to a great start with this issue, with a strong line-up by the top talent in the business. It's no wonder the comic lasted as long as it did, running for 14 years in total before merging into Battle Picture Weekly. 

...and if you'd like to see a few pages from the second issue of Valiant, you'll find them here:
https://lewstringer.blogspot.co.uk/2017/09/looking-back-at-valiant-no2-1962.html

BATTLE cover selection 1975 to 1979

Right from its early issues in 1975, Battle Picture Weekly used a combination of terse captions and striking artwork to deliver dynamic, eye-catching front covers. Admittedly, D.C. Thomson's Warlord had been the inspiration (see here), but IPC's Battle took it to another level, making previous kids' comics look sedate in comparison. 

Here's a selection of some of the best Battle covers...

Art: Geoff Campion

Art: Carlos Ezquerra

Art: Carlos Ezquerra

Art: Geoff Campion

Art: Carlos Ezquerra

Art: Mike Western

Art: Carlos Ezquerra

Art: Ian Kennedy

Art: Joe Colquhoun

Art: Carlos Ezquerra

Art: Mike McMahon

Composite artwork.

Art: Joe Colquhoun

Art: Carlos Ezquerra

All covers scanned from my own collection of comics.

Artwork © Rebellion A/S