{"id":35131,"date":"2026-03-22T16:30:38","date_gmt":"2026-03-22T16:30:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/?p=35131"},"modified":"2026-03-22T16:30:38","modified_gmt":"2026-03-22T16:30:38","slug":"the-mirror-classic-cartoon-collection-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/2026\/03\/22\/the-mirror-classic-cartoon-collection-3\/","title":{"rendered":"The Mirror Classic Cartoon Collection"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\nBy Peter O\u2019Donnell<\/strong>, Jim Edgar<\/strong>, Barrie Tomlinson<\/strong>, Steve Dowling<\/strong>, John Allard<\/strong>, Frank Bellamy<\/strong>, Martin Asbury<\/strong>, Reg Smythe<\/strong>, Jim Holdaway<\/strong>, Jack Greenall<\/strong>, Jack Clayton<\/strong>, John Gillatt<\/strong> & various, compiled by Mike Higgs<\/strong> (Hawk Books)
\nISBN: 978-1-89944-175-4 (Album HB)<\/p>\n

This book includes Discriminatory Content<\/strong> produced in less enlightened times.<\/em><\/p>\n

Not so much now but once upon a time, The Daily Mirror<\/strong> was home to a number of great British strip seldom matched and never surpassed. That proud boast began with one of the Empire\u2019s greatest successes Tiger Tim<\/strong>, (who debuted there in 1904) and culminated with the likes of war-winning, morale-boosting naive nymph Jane<\/strong>, not to mention The Perishers<\/strong>, Garth<\/strong>, Andy Capp<\/strong> (who has frankly long outlived his appeal!) and many others.<\/p>\n

Two of the above cited feature in this beautiful compilation from Mike Higgs\u2019 Hawk Books which did so much over the years to keep British cartoon history alive. This particular triumph gathers sample selections from the newspaper\u2019s back catalogue in a spiffily luxurious oversized (280 x 180 mm) hardback stuffed with fun, thrills and quality nostalgia.<\/p>\n

The illustrious Garth <\/strong>is the first star, featured in an adventure from 1957 by series originator and longest serving creator Steve Dowling (1943-1969) – who was succeeded by his assistant John Allard, then Frank Bellamy and finally Martin Asbury.<\/p>\n

Garth is a hulking physical specimen, a virtual human superman with the involuntary ability to travel through time and experience past and future lives. This simple concept lent the strip an unfailing potential for exotic storylines and fantastic exploits. \u2018The Captive\u2019<\/em> – written by Peter O\u2019Donnell and illustrated by Dowling & Allard – is a later tale with our hero abducted from Earth as the prize of a galactic scavenger hunt instigated by bored hedonistic aliens who don\u2019t realise quite what they\u2019ve gotten themselves involved with…
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\nA second adventure, \u2018The Man-hunt\u2019<\/em>, is the last Frank Bellamy worked on. The astounding Mr. Bellamy died in 1976 whilst drawing this yarn of beautiful alien predators in search of prime genetic stock with which to reinvigorate their tired bloodlines. Written by Jim Edgar, the strip was completed by Asbury who took over with the 17th<\/sup> instalment. A tongue-in-cheek thriller, full of thrills and fantastic action, it never loses its light humorous touch.<\/p>\n

Andy Capp<\/strong> is a drunken, skiving, misogynistic, work-shy, wife-beating scoundrel who has somehow become one of the most popular and well-loved strip characters of all time. Created by jobbing cartoonist Reg Smythe to appeal to northern readers during a circulation drive, he first saw the light of day – with long-suffering, perpetually abused-but-forgiving wife Florrie<\/em> in tow – on August 5th 1957. It is not something that has travelled well, but at least proves even Brits can evolve and grow some taste…<\/p>\n

This volume reprints 37 strips from the feature\u2019s 41-year run, which only ended with Smythe\u2019s death in 1998 and if I\u2019m completely honest the sheer inexplicable magic of this \u201clovable rogue\u201d is as appallingly intoxicating as it always was, defeating political correctness and common decency alike; A true Guilty Pleasure, I guess…<\/p>\n

Romeo Brown<\/strong> began in 1954, drawn by Dutch artist Alfred \u201cMaz\u201d Mazure, starring a private detective with an eye for the ladies and a nose for trouble. The feature was a light, comedic adventure series adding some much-appreciated honestly needed glamour to the dour mid-1950s, but it really kicked into high gear when Maz left in 1957 to be replaced by Peter O\u2019Donnell and brilliant Jim Holdaway who would go on to create the fabulous Modesty Blaise<\/strong> together. Old Romeo shut up shop in 1962 and is represented here by a pair of romps from the penultimate year. \u2018The Arabian Knight\u2019<\/em> and \u2018The Admiral\u2019s Grand-daughter\u2019<\/em> combine sly, knowing humour, bungling criminality and dazzlingly visuals in a manner any Carry-On<\/strong> fan would die for.<\/p>\n

Useless Eustace<\/strong> was a gag-panel (a single-picture joke) running from January 1935 to 1985. Created by Jack Greenall, its star was a bald, nondescript everyman who met travails of life with unflinching enthusiasm but very little sense. Greenall produced the strip until 1974, and other artists continued it until 1985. Selections here are from the war years and the 1960s. Another comedy panel was Calamity Gulch<\/strong>, a particularly British view of the ubiquitous Western which invaded our sensibilities with the rise of television ownership in the 1950s. Created by Jack Clayton, it began its spoofery sharp-shooting on 6th<\/sup> June 1960, and you can see 21 of the best right here, Pardner.<\/p>\n

A staple of children\u2019s comics that never really prospered in newspapers was sports adventure. At least not until 1989 when those grown up tykes opened the Daily Mirror<\/strong> to find a football strip entitled Scorer<\/strong>, written by Barrie Tomlinson and drawn by Barry Mitchell, and eventually John Gillatt. Very much an updated, R-rated Roy of the Rovers<\/strong>, the strip stars Dave \u2018Scorer\u2019 Storry<\/em> and his team Tolcaster F.C. in fast, hot, \u201csexy\u201d tales of the Beautiful Game that owed as much to the sports pages it began on as to the grand cartoon tradition.<\/p>\n

\u2018Cup Cracker\u2019<\/em> included here is by Tomlinson & Gillatt from 1994, and shows WAGS (W<\/strong>ives A<\/strong>nd G<\/strong>irlfriendS<\/strong>, non-sports fans) were never a new phenomenon.<\/p>\n

Not many people know this – or indeed, care – but before I review an \u201cold\u201d book (which I arbitrarily define as something more than three years old) I look on the internet. It\u2019s a blessing then to still see this wonderful and utterly British tome is readily available in France, Germany – most of Europe in fact and even in Britain. Surely that\u2019s a testament to the book\u2019s quality and desirability, and if that\u2019s the case maybe Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN) or some history-loving print philanthropist should expedite a new edition – or even a few proper comprehensive sequels…
\n\u00a9 1998 Mirror Group Newspapers, Ltd. All Rights Reserved.<\/p>\n

Today in 1914 cartoon genius John Stanley<\/strong> (Little Lulu<\/strong>, Thirteen Going on Eighteen<\/strong>, Melvin Monster<\/strong>)\u00a0was born, with fellow leading lights Bernard Krigstein<\/strong> arriving in 1919, and Mort Drucker<\/strong> in 1929. Steve Dillon<\/strong> (Preacher<\/strong>, Laser Eraser & Pressbutton<\/strong>, The Punisher<\/strong>) and Lew Stringer<\/strong> (Tom Thug<\/strong>, Brickman<\/strong>, Combat Colin<\/strong>, Derek the Troll<\/strong> and his glorious blog Blimey!<\/strong>) both began brightening Britain\u2019s murky shores from today in 1959.<\/p>\n

In 1937, UK private eye strip Buck Ryan<\/em> by Jack Monk <\/strong>& Don Freeman<\/strong> began in the Daily Mirror<\/strong> today, Jean Van Hamme <\/strong>& Grzegorz Rosi?ski<\/strong>\u2019s mega-franchise Thorgal<\/strong> began in Le Journal de Tintin<\/em><\/strong> and in 1997 the Daily Mirror<\/strong> published its last Garth<\/em> strip, ending a run that began in 1943.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Peter O\u2019Donnell, Jim Edgar, Barrie Tomlinson, Steve Dowling, John Allard, Frank Bellamy, Martin Asbury, Reg Smythe, Jim Holdaway, Jack Greenall, Jack Clayton, John Gillatt & various, compiled by Mike Higgs (Hawk Books) ISBN: 978-1-89944-175-4 (Album HB) This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times. Not so much now but once upon a … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “The Mirror Classic Cartoon Collection”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[191,42,90,113,75,102,125,225,127,107,210,99],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-35131","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-adventure","category-best-of-british","category-cartooning-classics","category-comedy","category-crime-comics","category-fantasy","category-humour","category-mystery","category-nostalgia","category-science-fiction","category-sport","category-westerns"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4AFj-98D","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35131","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35131"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35131\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35136,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35131\/revisions\/35136"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35131"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35131"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35131"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}