By Andrew Nichol & Stephen Woodman (Sphere)
ISBN: 978-0-77216-374-6
Hard to believe but sometimes the most obvious things just make you laugh out loud – and that’s never a bad thing with cartoon books. This sweet little tome takes everyday phrases and illustrates them in a fearsomely literal and more often than not waggishly amusing manner.
To see Making friends, Pulling a face, Bringing up children, Concentration Camp, Bottom Drawer and a host of others, interpreted in a crisp amalgam of Rick Geary and the fabled Mr. Benn’s David McKee, why not track down this tempting piece of eye-candy (an image not included) via your preferred internet retailer, shop or jumble sale?
By Cinders McLeod (Luath Press)
ISBN: 0-946487-99-5
Scottish by way of Canada, Cinders McLeod is an astute and empathic observer of the human condition, especially as expressed through politics. She’s also a damn fine cartoonist as these brilliant sallies against Life, The Universe and Everything from the Glasgow Herald will attest.
This tiny tome features the wary, weary observations of wee lass and habitual street urchin Broomie Law and the reactions of her doll Annie Land and diary Molly Cate. There’s also a rather cynical and uppity handbag called Hag’s Castle and just to counter the youthful views of our 5 year old star, the surly old lady Mary Hill often can be seen venting a more seasoned spleen.
Subtle and charming, these cartoons question the injustice and stupidity of the world with the kind of power that only an innocent can. This is the first of many books, and as they’re all readily available, you’ve no reason not to get them all.
By Charles Peattie & Russell Taylor (Headline)
ISBN: 0-7472-7796-6
As we’re all heading for Heck in an economic hand-basket I thought I’d take the opportunity to cover a small British cartoon success story. Alex was created by Charles Peattie and Russell Taylor in 1987 for Robert Maxwell’s short-lived LondonDaily News (February 24th – July 23rd) which flourished briefly before succumbing in a cut-throat price-war: A portentous start for a strip about the world of business.
Alex promptly resurfaced at The Independent before being poached – or perhaps “head-hunted†to use a popular theme of the series – by The Daily Telegraph in 1992, where it has lurked ever since.
Alex Masterly is – or perhaps I should say was, as the strip occurs in “real-timeâ€, and the characters live at the same speed as the audience – an obnoxious, status-hungry, right-wing yuppie oik. He is older, more successful but no wiser now. His young son Christopher is now a ghastly teen-aged oikling in the throes of higher education and his long-suffering trophy wife Penny is still with him despite his obsessions and constant philandering.
The humour in Alex derives from the daily confirmation that business types and fat-cats are as ghastly, shallow and irredeemably venal as we’ve always suspected. Despite their excesses and blunders the slickest rats always seem to float to the top where the cream is and the British psyche seems to favour this sort of chancer (everything from Alan B’Stard/Rick Mayall in The New Statesman all the way back to Dickens’ rogues and monsters like Fagin, Uriah Heap or Wackford Squeers): following them religiously, waiting for the hammer to finally fall.
There have been very few modern strip successes, but this subtle, informative and scrupulously researched creation has gone from strength to strength, with 17 collected volumes (released annually) two omnibus editions covering 1987-1998 and 1998-2001 plus a stage play which incorporates animated strip drawings with human actors. This technique will apparently be extended to a full motion picture in 2009.
Despite a close and solidly sustained continuity, Alex remains a strip that can be picked up at any point – the featured volume which contains, drink, sex, sport, betrayal, one-upmanship and naked greed is from 1995 – but the themes will never date. If you want a sustained laugh at a world you don’t want to be a part of this is the best way to go about it.
LITTLE MISS STUBBORN AND THE UNICORN
ISBN: 978-1-4052-3791-8
MR. STRONG AND THE OGRE
ISBN: 978-1-4052-3792-5
By Roger Hargreaves, written and illustrated by Adam Hargreaves (Egmont)
Just because things look simple doesn’t mean they are. The superbly pared down stories and art of the Mister Men as crafted by Charles Roger Hargreaves (1935-1988) from 1971 whilst working as an advertising Creative Director are a prime example of how much effort is needed to make things seem easy.
Colourful and simplified to the point of abstraction, the first book Mr. Tickle told a solid, if basic story that instantly captured young minds, and spawned a global franchise. Within three years the series had been turned into a BBC television series (narrated by the wonderful Arthur Lowe) starring one character of the burgeoning cast per episode. The books had sold over a million copies at this juncture.
By 1976 Hargreaves had left his job and turned to full-time cartooning. In 1981 he launched the ancillary Little Miss (adapted for television in 1983) series, which continued the tried-and-tested formula of a simple picture-story starring a character whose name perfectly described them. As well as the 46 Mr. Men and 39 Little Miss books he also produced 25 Timbuctoo books, the adventures of John Mouse and the Roundy and Squary series. With more than 100,000,000 books sold he is Britain’s third best-selling author. The books have been translated into many languages: some are not available in English at all.
When Hargreaves died of a sudden stroke in 1988 his son Adam took over the franchise, creating new characters until 2004 when the family sold the rights to an entertainment company.
The two examples included here, Little Miss Stubborn and the Unicorn and Mr. Strong and the Ogre are both products of the second generation with glitter-enhanced covers designed to further captivate the young reader. In the former our heroine lives up to her name by disregarding all the evidence and refusing to believe in Unicorns, whilst trusty Mr. Strong has to be rather firm when a trio of boisterous ogres start rough-housing and annoying people…
Thirty-two pages with sparkly covers, divided equally into easy-to-read pages and colourful illustrations, designed for small hands, these addictively collectable books are a great reading experience and a marvellous stepping stone to a life-long love-affair with books and comics. Every child should start here…
Edited by Marcus Morris (Mermaid Books)
ISBN: 0-7181-22119 (trade paperback) ISBN:0-7181-1566X (hardback)
A little hard to find but well worth the effort is this upbeat pictorial memoir from the conceptual creator of arguably Britain’s greatest comic. Eagle was the most influential comic of post-war Britain, and launched on April 14th 1950, running until 26th April 1969.
It was the brainchild of a Southport vicar, The Reverend Marcus Morris, who was worried about the detrimental effects of American comic-books on British children, and wanted a good, solid, Christian antidote. Seeking out like-minded creators he jobbed around a dummy to many British publishers for over a year with little success until he found an unlikely home at Hulton Press, a company that produced general interest magazines such as Lilliput and Picture Post.
The result was a huge hit spawning clones Swift, Robin and Girl which targeted other demographic sectors of the children’s market, as well as radio series, books, toys and all other sorts of merchandising.
A huge number of soon-to-be prominent creative figures worked on the weekly, and although Dan Dare is deservedly revered as the star, many other strips were as popular at the time, and many even rivalled the lead in quality and entertainment value.
At its peak Eagle sold close to a million copies a week, but eventually changing tastes and a game of “musical owners†killed the title. In 1960 Hulton sold out to Odhams, who became Longacre Press. A year later they were bought by The Daily Mirror Group who evolved into IPC. In cost cutting exercises many later issues carried cheap Marvel Comics reprints rather than British originated material. It took time but the Yankee cultural Invaders won out in the end…
With the April 26th 1969 issue Eagle was merged into Lion, eventually disappearing altogether. Successive generations have revived the title, but never the success.
Here Morris has selected a wonderfully representative sampling of the comic strips that graced those pages of a Golden Age to accompany his recollection of events. Being a much cleverer time, with smarter kids than ours, the Eagle had a large proportion of scientific, historical and sporting articles as well as prose fiction.
Included here are over 30 pages reprinting short text stories, cut-away paintings (including the Eagle spaceship), hobby and event pages, sporting, science and general interest features – and it should be remembered that the company produced six Eagle Novels and various sporting, science and history books as spin-offs between 1956 and 1960. Also on show are many candid photographs of the times and the creators behind the pages.
Of course though, the comic strips are the real gold here. Morris has selected 130 pages from his tenure on Eagle that typify the sheer quality of the enterprise. Alongside the inevitable but always welcome Hampson Dan Dare are selections from his The Great Adventurer and Tommy Walls strips.
Other gems include The Adventures of PC. 49 by Alan Stranks and John Worsley, Jeff Arnold in Riders of the Range, by Charles Chilton & Frank Humphris, Chicko by Norman Thelwell, Professor Brittain Explains…, Harris Tweed and Captain Pugwash by John Ryan, Cortez, Conqueror of Mexico by William Stobbs, Luck of the Legion by Geoffrey Bond & Martin Aitchison, Storm Nelson by Edward Trice & E. Jennings and Mark Question (The Boy with a Future – But No Past!) by Stranks & Harry Lindfield.
There are selections from some of the other glorious gravure strips that graced the title: Jack o’Lantern by George Beardmore & Robert Ayton, Lincoln of America by Alan Jason & Norman Williams, The Travels of Marco Polo by Chad Varah & Frank Bellamy, The Great Charlemagne and Alfred the Great (both by Varah & Williams).
Extracts from Bellamy & Clifford Makin’s legendary Happy Warrior and the less well known The Shepherd King (King David), run beside The Great Sailor (Nelson) by Christopher Keyes, as well as The Baden Powell story (Jason & Williams) and even David Livingstone, the Great Explorer (Varah & Peter Jackson), and the monochrome They Showed the Way: The Conquest of Everest by Peter Simpson & Pat Williams makes an appearance.
The book is peppered with nostalgic memorabilia and such joys as George Cansdale’s beautiful nature pages plus a host of cartoon shorts including the wonderful Professor Puff and his Dog Wuff by prolific Punch cartoonist David Langdon. Also included is The Editor’s Christmas Nightmare by Hampson, a full colour strip featuring every Eagle character in a seasonal adventure that is fondly remembered by all who ever saw it…
These may not all resonate with modern audiences but the sheer variety of the material should sound a warning note to contemporary publishers about the fearfully limited range of comics output they’re responsible for. But for us, it’s enough to see and wish that this book, like so many others, was back in print again.
By Pat Mills & Kevin O’Neill (Titan Books)
ISBN: 9781-84576-943-7
Though not strictly a graphic novel this copiously illustrated book finally collects the prose stories starring the deeply troubled superhero hunter that appeared on Nick Percival’s Cool Beans website between 2000 and 2002. A continuation of the character first published by Epic Comics and Dark Horse as well as the British Apocalypse Comics, these stories are intended for adult readers – whatever that means, these days.
In the dystopian metropolis of San Futuro, the returned dregs of America’s latest war litter the streets. Once again soldiers have been abandoned by their country as soon as the conflict ended, but his time drugs trauma and stress aren’t the only long-term problems. Genetic engineering made US troops into superheroes, but it couldn’t unmake them so now they’re just a dangerous problem the Authorities would love to ignore.
Joe Gilmore is one such returnee who took a different route. He’s a cop who uses his cursed abilities to remove the worst of the super-scum from the streets. He is Marshal Law and far too infrequently since 1987 he’s been a tool of brutal criticism and satire on the overweening cult of superheroes in American comicbooks.
In the comics incarnation the series is characterised by nudity, creative profanity, barbed parody, sexual situations (I don’t think I’ve ever typed that phrase before!) extreme violence and fabulous hilarity. O’Neill’s art is always stuffed with extras and both creators blatant dislike for costumed heroes shines out like a batsignal.
This book then is a mixed blessing. It’s great to see two more canonical tales ‘The Day of the Dead’ (a showdown with a band of superhero serial killers) and ‘Cloak of Evil’ (the suspicious suicide of San Futuro’s top Sex Worker leads to way more than anybody expected) but Mill’s choppy prose won’t be to everybody’s taste. Moreover even with O’Neill’s wonderful illustrations (19 black and white double page spreads) a vital story element is absent. On a Marshal Law page as much goes on in the backgrounds and margins and the scenery walls as in front of the camera, but that simply isn’t possible here.
This compilation is interesting and powerful, but not as effective as a new comic would be. We’re waiting…
Here’s another great activity book for three year olds (and over) that’s a huge bunch of fun and–as the subject is also that rarest of animals: a British kids franchise with his own newsstand comic–well worth a mention in my never-ending crusade to teach kids to love comics, books and reading.
In case you haven’t seen the stop-motion adventures of Shaun the Sheep let’s recap: He first appeared in the Wallace and Gromit film A Close Shave in 1997 (he’s the one that got shorn – get it? – in the knit-o-matic machine). After a guest-shot on the 2002 series Cracking Contraptions he finally graduated to his own show on the BBC in early 2007.
Shaun is a sheep of singular intellect yet he lives on a farm where he has worryingly surreal adventures which pay mute tribute to those timeless silent classics of slapstick comedy. They are extremely entertaining for both adults and kids alike.
This attention-riveting tome is a Sticker Activity Book, which means that there are full colour peel-off adhesive images which can be placed in relevant – or not – places to great effect. The body of the book is a series of black and white pages stuffed with colouring puzzles, spot-the-difference tests, mazes, join-the-dots, finish-the-picture scenes, tracing games, word-searches, hidden-object quests, counting games, comparison quizzes and even a fold-out race-track. I’m nearly three hundred and fifty-two and even I found this to be a dazzling display of captivating teasers. And some of the kids who get this book will want to graduate to the comic afterward…
In a world where books are increasingly alien to people, the combination of great characters, compelling stories and pictures, plus every darn trick in the book, is a welcome tactic in getting kids reading. Forget video games, buy that child a book!
I haven’t covered anything specifically created for the very young for a while so let’s rectify that omission with this great activity book for three year olds (and over) that’s a huge bunch of fun and a great introduction to graphic narratives and themes, especially as the subject is also that rarest of animals, a British kids franchise with his own newsstand comic.
In case you haven’t seen the stop-motion adventures of Shaun the Sheep let’s start with a quick biography. He first appeared in the Wallace and Gromit animated feature A Close Shave in 1997 (he’s the one that got shorn – get it? – in the knit-o-matic machine). After a guest-shot on the 2002 series Cracking Contraptions he finally graduated to his own show on the BBC in early 2007.
Shaun is a sheep of singular intellect yet he lives on a farm where he has worryingly surreal adventures which pay mute tribute to those timeless silent classics of slapstick comedy. They are extremely entertaining for both adults and kids alike.
This lovely book uses the best of modern paper technology to tell the eerie tale of annoying aliens who invade the farmhouse where, as usual, the humans and Bitzer the sheepdog are useless. Naturally, Shaun has to deal with the invasion in his own inimitable manner…
This robust hardback is a great introduction to the magical world of books, and especially pictorial narrative. It is augmented by the coolest thing I’ve seen in years: a number of the illustrations are printed on transparent cels, and by the deft application of a torch the pictures come fantastically alive.
In a world where books are increasingly alien to people, the combination of great characters, compelling stories and pictures, plus every darn trick in the book, is a welcome tactic in getting kids reading. Forget games, buy that child a book!
By George Studdy, with an introduction by Mary Cadogan (Hawk Books)
ISBN: 0-94824-52-1
The history of popular culture is studded with anthropomorphic animals that have achieved legendary, almost talismanic status. Mickey Mouse, Tiger Tim, Garfield, Smokey (the) Bear, Bonzo…
If that latter causes a puzzled frown that’s a shame because for a while this playful, charming dog-of-dubious-pedigree was a British animorph that rivalled Disney’s mouse and duck combined. Only the artistic integrity and creative drive of his creator George Earnest Studdy prevented the mutt from attaining the global domination (and subsequent tawdry commercialisation) of the Disney duo.
Studdy was born in 1878 in Devon of a military family, but a childhood injury prevented him from following that path, and his prodigious artistic talent moved him to an unsatisfactory position as an engineer before he eventually found his niche as an illustrator and animator.
His first artistic success was a series of Boer War pictures of the Royal Artillery, followed by cartoons and illustrations for such comics as Big Budget, Funny Pips, Jester and Wonder and others, plus papers and magazines including The Graphic, The Humorist, Little Folks, London Magazine, Punch, Windsor Magazine, The Tatler, The Bystander, Illustrated London News, The Field and especially The Sketch. A superb general stylist he was most widely known for his animals although he was an early proponent of science fiction themes as well. He worked extensively in the budding field of advertising.
Deemed unfit to fight in the Great War, he pioneered animation propaganda films that are still acclaimed for their quality and effectiveness. He first began producing pictures of a homely, engaging dog for The Sketch in the early 1920s, which were immensely popular. Eventually “the Studdy dog†became a permanent fixture and was christened Bonzo in the November 8th issue of 1922. The luxuriously painted or drawn single panels became a full gag-strip with the talking dog and his long-suffering lady-friend Chee-Kee captivating young and old alike with their playful yet slyly mature antics.
Bonzo was a merchandising miracle of his time, featuring in games, puzzles, toys of all types, figurines, china and dinnerware, cups, cruets and host of other household objects and all manner of advertising campaigns. He even had his own neon sign in Piccadilly Circus.
Although Studdy voluntarily moved on from his creation to create many other pictorial marvels and to serve his country again in WWII as a draughtsman for the Royal Navy, the dog continued under other hands in strips syndicated worldwide by King Features and in a series of wonderful books and annuals. These began in 1935 and continued until 1952, with translations into many foreign editions. For a spectacular view of these you should see the superb websites at http://www.studdying-with-bonzo.co.uk/books.htm and http://www.bonzo.me.uk/ as well as this magical and far too short commemorative edition produced by Mike Higgs under his much-missed Hawk Books imprint.
Funny, charming, brilliantly illustrated, overwhelmingly successful and still as entertaining today as it always were, Bonzo is long overdue for an extensive repackaging job. Until such a happy event this little gem should act as a tantalising taster.
By Thelwell (Eyre Methuen)
ISBN: 978-0-41329-340-4
Norman Thelwell is one of our most beloved cartoonists – even though he sadly passed away in 2004. I was going to astound you with my knowledge here but frankly his work has always been its own best advocate, and if you want to know more about this brilliant creator – and see more of his work – you should crank up your search-engine of choice. I specifically recommend the official website (www.thelwell.org.uk/biography/biography.html) as well as Steve Holland’s excellent Bear Alley .
Thelwell’s superbly gentle cartooning combined Bigfoot abstractions with a keen and accurate eye for background detail, not just on the riding and countryside themes that made him a household name, but on all the myriad subjects he turned his canny eye and subtle brushstrokes to. His pictures are an immaculate condensation of everything warm yet charged and resonant about being Post-War, Baby-Booming British, without ever being parochial or provincial. His work has international implications and scope, neatly achieving that by presenting us to the world. There are 32 books of his work and any aficionado of humour could do much worse than own them all.
From 1950 when his gag-panel Chicko first began in the Eagle, and especially two years later with his first sale to Punch, he built a solid body of irresistible, seductive and always funny work. He appeared in innumerable magazines, comics and papers ranging from Men Only to Everybody’s Weekly. In 1957 Angels on Horseback, his first collection of published cartoons was released, and in 1961 he made the rare reverse trip by releasing a book of all-new cartoons that was subsequently serialised in the Sunday Express.
A Leg at Each Corner was a huge success and other books followed. Eventually this led to the strip collected in the book reviewed here. Thelwell’s short obnoxious muses originated in the field next door to his home, where roamed two shaggy ponies…
“Small and round and fat and of very uncertain temper†– apparently owned by “Two little girls about three feet high who could have done with losing a few ounces themselves….â€
“As the children got near, the ponies would swing round and present their ample hindquarters and give a few lightning kicks which the children would side-step calmly as if they were avoiding the kitchen table, and they had the head-collars on those animals before they knew what was happening. I was astonished at how meekly they were led away; but they were planning vengeance – you could tell by their eyes.â€
Penelope and her formidable steed Kipper ran – or at least reluctantly trotted – (sorry, I have no will-power or shame) through the pages of the Sunday Express where Thelwell toiled from 1962 to 1971. This wonderful book is readily available, as is the sequel Penelope Rides Again, and I trust that anyone with an ounce of decency and taste will treat themselves to the work of this master as soon as humanly possible.
