THE COMICS THAT MEN LETTER LIVE AFTER THEM...

I've now not worked in comics for longer than

I worked in comics.  Wow!  A few people will regard

that as just cause for dismissing my 15 year career as in-

significant, and my place in the scheme of things as equal-

ly without note, but I think I had quite a presence back in

the day in weekly and monthly magazines - especially

for someone who was 'only a letterer' (as my small

band of detractors are fond of describing me).

Fact is, no one in comics is ever 'only' anything.

Quite a few writers can also draw (and vice versa),

and some letterers are involved in artistic areas outside

of the world of comics.  But I digress.  The reason for this

post is not to justify myself, but to express my amazement

that li'l ol' me worked on some of the most famous British

titles of the time.  EAGLE, TIGER, BUSTER, WOW!,

WHIZZER & CHIPS, 2000 A.D., WHOOPEE,

etc., to say nothing of characters from deceased

comics that continued in other periodicals.

SAMMY SHRINK, for example, started in

WHAM!, GUS GORILLA started in COR!!, and

JOKER started in KNOCKOUT.  Because I was also

a 're-size artist', I worked on the back catalogue of many

old characters, adapting them from larger-sized pages to

smaller ones for their reprint appearances in some of the

IPC comics libraries.  This involved not just 'cutting

and pasting', but actual drawing to facilitate a

seamless fit of diversely-shaped panels.

I sometimes feel like pinching myself when I

remember that I contributed to many comic charact-

ers of my youth, and that my name regularly appeared

in the best-selling IPC weekly boys comic of the time.  I

still get a bit of a thrill at seeing my name in new reprint

collections, and even in old comics in charity shops and

jumble sales.  So my comics career may be no more

('though I've been invited to return a few times),

but the fruits of my labours live on.

Hey, I'm happy with that!

Posted in: Cartoons