A SUDDEN GUST OF WIND BLOWS IN WITH SOME SAD NEWS...

Well, what can you say and how do you say it?

As most of you will know by now, LEO BAXENDALE

passed away recently.  Leo was an influential creator in the

world of comics, but due to leaving mainstream comics in the

mid-1970s, is known mainly to diehard fans who read his stuff

in the '50s, '60s, and '70s.  News of his sad demise will bring him

a wider recognition among the great British public, but it's a poor

trade-off at the end of the day.  Some people you think will live

forever, some people deserve to live forever, and Leo probably

deserved it more than most.  True, he has attained a kind

of immortality through his comics creations, but even

that seems less of a reward than it should be.

Anyway, there's little point in me repeating facts

and figures about his career;  that's already been done

on other blogs, in far more detail than my tendency to the

superficial can match.  Suffice to say that, when it comes to

comics, Leo was a lion.  There have been other lions of course,

and there'll be others again, but he was among the first.  Sadly,

I never met him, but he very kindly replied to several of my fan

letters over the years, and, at my bold request in the position of

assistant editor of The ILLUSTRATED COMIC JOURNAL

back in the '90s, supplied an article for publication within its

pages.  True, it had appeared elsewhere first, but Leo

didn't think the readership of both 'venues' would

overlap, and we were glad to have it.

With each passing day, another little piece of our

childhoods is eroded away, and with Leo's passing, quite

a large chunk has been chipped off in one fell swoop.  For

what it's worth, if anything, I'm sure readers of this humble

blog extend their condolences to Leo's family and friends at

this sad time.  We're frowning at the moment, but we'll all

laugh again after an appropriate interval, especially when

we read again some of Leo's comic creations that we

enjoyed as kids, teenagers, and adults.

Rest in peace Leo Baxendale.  He may be gone, but

he'll never be forgotten as long as unruly kids indulge in

mischief and mayhem in any school playground.

Posted in: Cartoons