PARCELS IN THE POST...

One big highlight of my career as a comics

contributor was lettering the art of comics legend

TERRY BAVE.  I lettered quite a few of his strips,

but it was a particular thrill one day when I was given

a SAMMY SHRINK page of Terry's, as I had enjoyed

the strip in WHAM! back in the '60s.  DAVE JENNER

had been the original artist, but Terry took over, ghost-

ing Jenner's style remarkably effectively until he was

allowed to gradually phase in his own artistic stamp.

(Sammy went on to feature in KNOCKOUT,

and then WHIZZER & CHIPS.)

Quite a few years ago, I was able to supply

Terry with a copy of the Wham! issue in which

his very first Sammy strip had appeared.  He kindly

sent me some autographed comics he'd worked on as a
thank you, each and every one of which I still retain to
this day.  He even graciously supplied art and articles
to The Illustrated COMIC JOURNAL when I was

depute editor of the magazine for a while in the '90s.
I've got huge respect for Terry, both as a car-
toonist and the gentleman he is.
  

I hadn't heard from him in a while, so you

can imagine my surprise and delight when I re-

ceived a call from Terry out of the blue a couple of

weeks or so back.  We chatted about old times, and

have spoken another few times since.  I was also de-

lighted today when a pair of cardboard tubes arrived

from Terry, containing several comics and a page of

Sammy Shrink artwork, all personally autographed

by his good self.  (His wife Shiela kindly signed
the artwork as well.)  That's a scan of the

published page at the top of this post.

It's interesting to note that Terry's name

was removed from the middle picture of the

central tier, as I thought that IPC/FLEETWAY

had abandoned the practice of deleting artists' sig-

natures by then.  (It remains on the original art.)  I'm

bowled over by Terry's generosity, because amongst

the gems he sent me are MONSTER FUN #1 (with

BADTIME BEDTIME STORYBOOK, COR!! #1,
and KNOCKOUT #1, as well as a few other first
issues.  No, none of them will be going on eBay,
'cos I'm keeping them forever.  After all, our
man Terry's one of comics' finest.

There are some good (and even great)
cartoonists working in comics today, but un-
fortunately, there are also far too many lacklustre
ones, who've taken comics back to the level of stick
drawings on cave walls.  However, although he had
a seemingly simple style, Terry was a superb story-
teller and a consummate cartoonist, and it's just a
shame that he no longer draws for comics today.
He deserves his retirement, but comics would
certainly benefit from his talents.

So here's to Terry - one of nature's
gentlemen.  Comics would've been so much
poorer for his absence, as they would also have
been without devoted Shiela helping him over the
decades.  A few years back, Terry wrote about his
career in the world of weekly comics, and if you
don't have a copy of his fascinating volume, you
should add one to your collection as soon as
you can.  (Buy one at this link.)

Posted in: Cartoons