Artists' Biographies

Illustration Art | Artists' Biographies

Chris Achilleos Born in Famagusta, Cyprus, Chris moved to England with his family in 1960. With a prolific career now spanning over 30 years, Chris is famous for his celebrated paintings for book covers, posters, films, album sleeves and video covers. His work includes covers for authors Edgar Rice Burroughs, Michael Moorcock, Robert E Howard and J R R Tolkien, and for Star Trek and Doctor Who. He has worked for film giants George Lucas, Ron Howard and Ray Harryhausen, and produced concept designs for the films Heavy Metal and Willow. His poster work includes SuperGirl, Bladerunner and Jackie Chan's The Protector. Chris is most famous for his hard-hitting fantasy works and his unique representation of Amazonian women, many of whom are depicted in these posters! Chris Achilleos art.

Carl Barks (1901-2000, USA) Known as the "Good Duck Artist" for his work on Donald Duck in the days before artists were credited. He drew his first duck story Donald Duck Finds Pirate Gold in 1942 after leaving the Walt Disney studios where he worked as an in-betweener. Barks is now recognised as one of the greatest ever comic book artists, and amongst many others was responsible for the Adventures of Uncle Scrooge and Scrooge McDuck, the world's richest duck. He retired in 1965, but continued to produce paintings and lithographs on commission, with the secondary market in his early lithographs being very active. His originals occasionally surface at major auctions at Sotheby's and Christies and fetch thousands of dollars. Carl Barks art.

Frank Bellamy (1917-1976, England) Frank Bellamy was born in Kettering in 1917. His early artistic influences were the juvenile comics of his childhood, Rainbow and Chips, and he found the Tarzan strips of Hal Foster and Burne Hogarth much more to his taste than the rather static picture stories that mainly featured in British comics of the 1920s and '30s. The young Bellamy had long been fascinated by big cats and other creatures of the African plains. One frequently-told story of Frank Bellamy's boyhood concerns a travelling circus that visited his home town sometime during the mid 1920s. After school hours Frank enjoyed wandering around the circus camp gazing at the caged jungle cats and, on this particular occasion, approached close enough to pluck a few hairs from a lion's tail. He kept his prize for years afterwards safely stored in a bottle! Such an act may now be deemed foolhardy – for even a well-fed, caged lion is a daunting target. But it does serve to show the sheer determination that Bellamy possessed, a quality that was, in adult life, to take him to the very pinnacle of his chosen profession. His early work consisted mainly of spot illustrations for such magazines as Everybody’s Weekly and Outspan Magazine. His interest in ‘The Dark Continent’ was to the fore in both of these publications with an illustration to “King Solomon’s Mines” in the former and a number of African-related illustrations in the latter. Another magazine that made use of his talents early on in his career was the Boys' Own Paper. After an inauspicious spell in advertising (Gibbs toothpaste), Bellamy’s big break as a strip artist came when he was offered the opportunity to work on Mickey Mouse Weekly, the prestigious photogravure comic published by Odhams. He left Norfolk Studios and went freelance. His main contribution to the comic was Monty Carstairs, an upper-crust adventurer whose exploits had been appearing in the comic since February, 1951. 1954 was a landmark year for the young artist, marking the beginning of his long association with Hulton Press. His first work for the publisher was a picture story adaptation of The Swiss Family Robinson for Swift, followed by King Arthur and His Knights, where he progressively used striking double sized frames to depict battle scenes, and Robin Hood and His Merry Men. When Marcus Morris, editor of Eagle, offered him the opportunity to work on the comic’s prestigious back page, Bellamy was eager to begin. His enthusiasm was, however, tempered a little when he learnt that the work was to be a biographical strip of Sir Winston Churchill, The Happy Warrior. Up to that time the back page ‘historical biography’ had always concentrated on historical figures; to work on the biographical strip of, not only a living person but a great national hero as well, was a rather intimidating task and one that called for a great deal of careful research - as well as tact. Early in 1959, Hulton Press had been taken over by Odhams and the new owners wanted to see some changes. They decided that Dan Dare, the famous cover character of Eagle, looked too dated and needed a face lift. They wanted someone who would inject a new vitality into the character and asked Frank Bellamy if he would take on the job. Bellamy was uneasy about taking over a character who had been created and nurtured by another artist (Frank Hampson), but during his agreed year on the Dan Dare strip, Bellamy created some stunning pages of artwork that glow vividly with life. Also for Eagle, Fraser of Africa was one of Frank Bellamy’s greatest successes and it remained one of the artist’s own particular favourites. One feature of the strip that has contributed to its continual appeal is its philosophy of conservation, which was years ahead of its time. This was followed by the fantasy adventure strip Heros The Spartan. In January 1966, Frank Bellamy began work on a strip version of Thunderbirds, the Gerry Anderson T.V. puppet series that has recently enjoyed yet another successful revival on BBC TV. Anderson's futuristic puppets were incredibly popular in the late 1960s and their exploits were avidly followed by fans in TV Century 21, and throughout the late 1960s and early 1970s Bellamy contributed to many quality periodicals including The Sunday Times, Look And Learn and Radio Times. His work for Radio Times, all featuring the popular character, Dr. Who, is amongst his most sought-after from the 1970s. In 1971 he took over the Garth strip in the Daily Mirror. Frank Bellamy was a perfectionist who created some of the best colour work ever to appear in British comics. His meticulously-drawn strips were always vibrant and full of life and action. His artwork rarely showed any signs of changes or alterations: he would discard a piece of work and start again rather than resort to process white and paste on patches. These extracts are taken from Book & Magazine Collector no. 222 by kind permission of the publisher, and authors Norman Wright and David Ashford. Click for the complete biography courtesy of the publisher and Norman Wright and David Ashford. Frank Bellamy art.

Alfred Edmeades Bestall (1892-1986, Burma) Born in Mandalay, Burma, Alfred Edmeades Bestall (MBE) drew and wrote at least 273 Rupert Bear stories for the Daily Express for 30 years from 1935 until 1965, including 40 stories for the Rupert annuals. He also created the specially drawn endpapers of the annuals, where his imagination was given full expression. Alfred Bestall art. Please note that we also have Rupert Bear art by John Harrold.

Jesus Monterde Blasco (1919-1995, Spain) There is an air of total realism about Jesus Blasco's work. Blasco is often almost photographic in the delineation of his characters and, although occasionally this tends towards a rather static look to some frames, his fine sense of composition and sensitive drawing style more than adequately compensates. Born in Barcelona, Jesus Blasco started drawing for Spanish comics while still in his teens. The eldest of five brothers, most of whom are illustrators and who are often engaged in inking his work, he has worked in practically every genre: Historical, Western, Detective, Fairy Tales. He first appeared in British comics drawing Buffalo Bill for Comet and Billy the Kid for Sun, for which latter comic he later drew Robin Hood and Dick Turpin. In addition to Thriller Picture Library, he contributed many strips to the Cowboy Comics Library and picture strip versions of two Jeffrey Farnol historical romances for Look and Learn. He drew many strips for Lion, the best-known - and probably the most celebrated of all his strips in this country - being The Steel Claw.  Biography extract courtesy of David Ashford and Norman Wright. Jesus Blasco art.

ERIC BRADBURY (b.1921, England) Eric Bradbury was born in Sydenham, Kent, but moved to nearby Beckenham at the age of ten where he gained a scholarship to the local Art School in 1936. During the War he was an airgunner flying Wellingtons. Like Geoff Campion, Eric Bradbury began his strip career drawing Our Ernie and other "funnies" characters for Knockout in 1949. Before long, however, thanks to the persuasion of Leonard Matthews, Bradbury began work on adventure strips. Starting on Knockout's Luck Logan Western strip and, later, as the best of the Campion imitators on the Buffalo Bill strip in Comet, he was soon creating his own strips such as The King's Thief for Comet based on the MGM film - a far more exciting strip than it was a movie! By the 1960s, Eric Bradbury began to develop his own idiosyncratic, dark, somewhat sinister style, with such strips as Mytek the Mighty and The House of Dolmann for Valiant, Maxwell Hawke for Buster and Doomlord for the new 1980's Eagle. Biography courtesy of David Ashford and Norman Wright. Eric Bradbury art.

Jim Burns (b. 1948) Jim Burns is probably the best known contemporary British Science Fiction illustrator. He has perfected his own style by highlighting not only the traditional elements of SF but also its organic and erotic overtones. His works are striking for their 'larger than life' portrayal of scenes of the far future and in particular his fantastic 'hardware'. His masterful technique depicts land, sky and space vehicles in gleaming metal and plastic so perfectly painted that one feels one can actually feel the cold metal touch of chrome or smell the pungent odour of plastic. He is constantly in demand for book covers. Jim has worked with Ridley Scott on Bladerunner and has books published of his work, notably Transluminal, Lightship, Planet Story and Mechanismo. Jim Burns art.

Arthur Geoffrey Campion (1916-1997) Geoff Campion brought real punch and vigour into British adventure comics. His characters would charge straight at the reader on horseback or throw an enemy bodily at him. All through the 1950s and 1960s, it was the policy at Fleetway House that their action artists based their styles on the work of Campion. As one editor put it: "When I get a prospective artist in here, I give him a handful of Campion's strips and tell him to draw it exactly like that and you've got it made." But no one could do it quite like Campion could. Geoff Campion was one of Leonard Matthews' major discoveries. In 1948, he answered an advertisement for new comic artists and, after a short spell of drawing humorous cartoon strips for Knockout, was soon "bagged", as he said, by Leonard Matthews for a new series of comics to be known as Cowboy Comics Library. When Matthews told him he wanted him to try his hand at Westerns, Geoff replied that he couldn't draw horses. Matthews' reply has gone into adventure strip folklore: "Bloody well learn then!" Campion learnt. As Campion said, "It was advice I've been extremely grateful for ever since." He became one of the country's finest horse artists, and one of the great exponents of the Western genre. Campion was never really at home with other historical periods, however, and his American Civil War saga, Stonewall Jackson Wins His Spurs (no.147) seems far superior to Quo Vadis (no.19), however accurate his portrayal of the film actors involved, and The Last of the Mohicans (no.15) more authentic than Robin Hood's Jest (no. 10). Although Campion was only responsible for one Robin Hood strip, he drew two Dick Turpin strips: his first for the Knockout Fun Book 1954, and the other for Sun, the only Turpin strip printed in the comic in full colour. He also drew a little-known strip featuring a highwaywoman, Black Velvet, for Poppet, the short-lived girl's comic. Born in Coventry, England and mainly self-taught as an artist, Geoff began his working life as a tax inspector but, during the War as a staff officer in the East India Command, he contributed cartoons to the forces' magazine, Jambo, and, in 1948, successfully answered an advertisement put out by the Amalgamated Press for new artists. For a period during the 1950s, Campion drew the majority of covers for Comet and Sun, as well as most of the long strips, Strongbow the Mohawk, Buffalo Bill, Billy the Kid and Battler Britton. He drew the opening episodes for all these series and the artists who later worked on the series were required to follow his lead. Campion's work was used as a "template", and was continually sent out to artists as examples of what was required. In the '60s he became a stalwart of Lion, drawing Spellbinder, his own favourite strip, and in the '70s, his work could be found in Battle Action, as forceful as ever. Biography extract courtesy of David Ashford and Norman Wright. Geoff Campion art.

Arturo Perez Del Castillo (1925-1992) The Chilean artist Del Castillo's pen and ink work has been highly admired for many years. In the late 1950s he worked for Fleetway Publications, defining the art of fine penmanship on such strips as The Three Musketeers and The Man in the Iron Mask. By the 1960s he was producing westerns for comics such as Top Spot, Ranger and Cowboy Picture Library: Garret (1962 - scripts by Ray Collins: pseudonym of Argentinian writer Eugenio Zappietro); Dan Dakota, Kendall (sheriff of Dodge City) , Larrigan (reprinted in both Fleetway's Lone Rider Picture Library and Cowboy Picture Library nos. 455, 463, 467), and Los tres mosqueteros en el Oeste. In 1974, again with Ray Collins he created El Cobra, and with Oesterheld Loco Sexton. His most famous creation remains the western strip, Randall: The Killer, began in 1957. Arturo del Castillo art.

Richard Caton Woodville Jnr. (1856-1927, England) Son of the painter Richard Caton Woodville Snr. (1825 - 1855), he was born in London. A painter of battle scenes, he studied in Dusseldorf, St Petersburg and Paris. He settled in London and worked for The Illustrated London News and went as an artist to the Turkish War of 1878 and the Egyptian War of 1882. He was elected RI in 1882 and ROI in 1883. From 1887 he turned mainly to oil painting. Richard Caton Woodville Jnr art.

Richard Corben (b. 1940) Born in Missouri, Richard is best known for his illustrated fantasies in Heavy Metal (Métal Hurlant) magazine, and he is the celebrated author and artist behind the popular graphic novel Den series and the the creator of Jeremy Brood. In a varied career, Corben's work also includes the cover of Meat Loaf's Bat out of Hell album. Richard Corben art.

Graham Coton (b.1926) Graham Coton's metier was the Second World War. Although he started as a strip artist by drawing Kit Carson for Cowboy Comics Library and later drew four short strips for the Thriller Comics Library (an adventure of Gulliver for no.5, a Dick Turpin strip for no. 8 and two Three Musketeer strips in issues 12 and 26), it was not until he started drawing Captain Phantom, the World War II Master Spy, for Knockout in 1953, that he really came into his own. Some of these strips were later reprinted in Thriller Comics Library with the lead character renamed Spy 13. Coton was very much a new force in comics when he first appeared, bringing with him a violent, ultra-tough approach. Coton's two short Musketeer strips are interesting mainly for their story lines- particularly the reunion with Aramis in Musketeers Ride Again (no. 26) - for the artwork is not really in tune with the swashbuckling genre. Coton will be mainly remembered as far as comic art is concerned for his car racing strips in Tiger, his superb war strips in Top Spot and, most of all, for his dynamic covers for the War Libraries. Graham Coton was born in Woolwich, London and was self-taught, although he admits to attending Goldsmith's College of Art in London, which he says was a "disaster".  Biography extract courtesy of David Ashford and Norman Wright. Graham Coton art.

Cecil Langley Doughty (1913-1985, England) C.L. Doughty became the Thriller Comic's number one Dick Turpin artist and all his full-length adaptations of the Aldine/Newnes stories are superb examples of historical adventure. It was Doughty who introduced into the comic strip Turpin's the band of stalwart comrades (created for the Aldine story papers at the turn of the century) who included Jem Peters of the red whiskers and Beetles, the giant Negro. Cecil Langley Doughty was born in Withernsea, Yorkshire, and trained at the Battersea Polytechnic. From an early age, he admired the work of Brocks, Hugh Thomson and Fortunino Matania and their influence can be clearly seen in his work. His earliest picture strip work appeared in P.M. Productions' Starflash and Challenger comics and, a little later, in adaptations of Oliver Twist and Lorna Doone for Amex's A Classic in Pictures (P.M. and Amex were, in fact, the same publisher). A short two-page complete strip for Knockout, Buffalo Bill - Rescued from the Redskins in 1948, was, strangely enough, the only strip he did for Amalgamated Press until his long-running detective series, Terry Brent, for School Friend (beginning in 1950). Doughty's debonair style, ideal for the swashbuckling costume/action strip, found its true home in the pages of the Thriller Comics Library. It is only surprising that he was not used for any of the Library's covers as his paintings for Look and Learn show him to be admirably suited for such work. Perhaps his finest historical strips are those he contributed to A.P.'s "teenage comic" of the late '50s, Top Spot . Biography courtesy of David Ashford and Norman Wright. Cecil Doughty art.

Will Eisner (1917-2005, USA) The Spirit is his greatest creation and is still being reprinted regularly, despite being created in 1940. Reknown for his cinematic style and unusual panel layout and angles, Eisner is highly respected by his peers. Born in 1917 in Brooklyn, he formed a partnership with Jerry Iger to produce comic strips for the voracious comic book publishers of the 1940s. His Hawks of the Sea was a tremendous pirate adventure strip. Lou Fine, Bob Powell, Jules Feiffer, Wally Wood, Jerry Grandenetti, plus many other respected artists have worked for and with Eisner throughout his career. Over the past few years he has produced a series of innovative graphic novels beginning with the award winning A Contract with God. His book Comics and Sequential Art is one of the top selling books on how to draw comics and is continually being reprinted. See also our Will Eisner books and graphic novels. Will Eisner art.

Ron Embleton (1930 - 1988) Born in London in 1930, Ronald Sydney Embleton studied art at the South East Essex Technical College under the painter, David Bomberg and, in 1947, began working in a commercial art studio. He submitted adventure strips to a small London publisher, Scion, who were putting out a series of American-style adventure comic books, some of whose titles give an indication of the variety of strips that Ron Embleton was writing and drawing: Big Indian, Big Jungle, Big Pirate, and Big Tong. By the time he was called up for military service, the teenage Ron Embleton was already a seasoned strip artist. An interesting example of his work at this time was Buffalo Bill and the Phantom  which he wrote, drew and lettered in 1951 for T.V. Boardman & Co. At the same time, he was also painting covers for science fiction paperbacks such as John Carstairs - Space Detective, published by Cherry Tree. There followed a further series of comics for Scion, with titles such as Smoking Guns, Five Star Western, Gunflash, Gallant Adventure, Gallant Detective, Gallant Science, Gallant Western and Prairie Western. The Embleton style was unmistakable in its confident, easy-going, pleasing line and for the familiar 'Ron' signature, written in broad italic capitals. Ron's work appeared in the "albums" of Gerald Swan (as Swan called his annuals). For the Swan comics, Embleton wrote and drew a fascinating series of true-life western strips which he called Lore of the West, including Frontiersman!, a one-off tale of Colonial America. Embleton also began drawing the occasional Kit Carson  western strip for the back page of Comet,a comic that would soon be at the forefront of the Amalgamated Press' "adventure strip revolution". Ron Embleton was always a true freelance, never dependent on any one publisher. And, being a naturally fast worker, he was able to work on any number of strips at the same time. His output during the 1950s was prolific. In 1953 alone, in addition to his work for the Amalgamated Press, Ron was drawing for DC.Thomson's Hotspur (The Singing Sword); DCMT's Lone Star (Steve Larrabee, Lore of the West; Jet (the space hero, Captain Atom); Gould-Light's Spaceman Comics (Bill Merrill of the Scientific lnvestigation Bureau); Comyns' Star Rocket (The Robot and They Came from Uranus) World's Western Super Thriller Comics and Odham's Mickey Mouse Weekly (Rogers' Rangers). By the mid-1950s, Ron was also drawing full-length strip versions of John Hunter's famous drifting cowboy, Lucky Lannigan, for Amalgamated Press' Cowboy Picture Library In 1954, he began the long-running Robin Hood-type series, Strongbow the Mighty, for Mickey Mouse Weekly. This was a quality strip, still fondly remembered. In 1957, he began work on what is probably his finest black and white strip, Don o' the Drums for Mickey Mouse Weekly. 1957 was a halcyon year for Embleton for it also saw him blazing forth, for the first time in full colour, on the front page of the new Express Weekly comic with Wulf the Briton. In 1960, W.E. Johns' flying ace, Biggles, took over the front page of the now retitled TV Express, drawn and painted by Ron Embleton. The editor of TV Express decided that Second World War adventures were more commercially popular for their front page and, as Ron Embleton was their number one artist, he was given first Battleground and then Colonel Pinto. Both series show, not only his love for action, but his ability to research a subject thoroughly and get the uniforms and hardware absolutely right. Ron moved to the new weekly, Boy's World, where again he worked on a full-colour strip, Wrath of the Gods, scripted by Michael Moorcock. Moving on to TV Century 21, in 1965, Ron began to draw Gerry Anderson's puppet creations, Stingray and Captain Scarlett in strip form. In the early 1960s, Ron's work was to be found in the ever-expanding girls' comic market: Children of the New Forest  for Princess,  My Girl, Mary  for June Book of 1964; and Zizi and the Dacoits  for the Girl's Crystal Annual  of 1964. These publications were successful and Ron became a major contributor to both Once Upon a Time and Look and Learn. By the end of the '60s, Ron Embleton was becoming an illustrator rather then a strip artist. In 1960, he had been elected a member of the Royal Institute of Oil Painters and the National Society of Painters and Sculptors. In 1972, Ron began a long association with Newcastle publisher, Ron provided around 140 paintings of the North-East to illustrate Graham's publications. This work includes 80 pictures of life on Hadrian's Wall. One particular painting of life at Housestead Fort, produced as a postcard, has sold more than one million copies. It is acknowledged that Ron Embleton's illustrations are among the most authentic reconstructions of Roman life ever produced. Embleton had not deserted strip work altogether for, in 1973, he began work on a picture strip, which was to achieve an enormous following: Wicked Wanda. Ron Embleton graduated from a comic artist to become a much-respected illustrator of historical, social and military life; from the humble "Ron" to "Ronald S. Embleton". It is as "Ron", however, that he will be mostly fondly remembered - as the artist of Wulf the Briton and Rogers' Rangers and countless other marvellous strips and story illustrations in which he took young readers into an exciting world which, although painstakingly researched, remained the product of one man's highly personal and imaginative vision. Precis of a much fuller biography from Book and Magazine Collector  no. 216 by permission of the publisher, and the authors, David Ashford and Norman Wright. We also have books featuring Ron's work. Ron Embleton art.

Esme Eve was born in Sydenham and designed book jackets, fabrics and beautiful greeting cards for the Medici Society. !! !!<Frances Olive Esme Eve art.

Derek Charles Eyles (1902-1974) Derek Eyles was born in North Finchley, London, and had an artist brother, Geoffrey, with an uncannily similar style, although, according to Leonard Matthews, of no use when it came to "our sort of thing", i.e adventure strip work. Derek Eyles was the Amalgamated Press' number one horse artist and all new artists were given his work to help them learn to "do horses properly". He worked for Knockout from number one, having previously been working on Wild West Weekly, producing some of that paper's superb full-colour cover paintings as well as many of the interior illustrations. Eyles' first strip work was for Knockout in 1947: a Western serial, The Phantom Sheriff (a strip featuring the same character appeared in the Knockout Fun Book for 1949 and is one of his best pieces of work). This was followed, in 1948, by his masterly Dick Turpin's Ride To York and then by a complete Western story, Buffalo Bill's Close Call, in January 1949. His Kit Carson strips for the early issues of Cowboy Comics Library rank with the very best examples of the genre and his wonderful Western plates graced many of the A.P. annuals throughout the 1950s, including Comet. As well as contributing to a myriad of comics and annuals, Derek Eyles was a prolific book illustrator working for many publishers, painting covers and illustrations for a wide range of subjects. Biography extract courtesy of David Ashford and Norman Wright. Derek Eyles art.

Frank Frazetta (b. 1928, USA) Probably the greatest name in fantasy/sword and sorcery art. Born in 1928 in Brooklyn, he studied fine art in New York and started work as an assistant to John Giunta. Influenced by Hal Foster his work for various comics publishers in the 1940s culminated in 1952 with the only comic completely drawn by Frazetta, Thun'da Tales 1. Following a few short pieces for DC his cover work began for Famous Funnies #209 - #216 featuring Buck Rogers. During the 1950s he worked on the daily strip Johnny Comet with brief periods on Flash Gordon and Li'l Abner. In the 1960s he began his painted covers for Eerie and Creepy magazines, the Ace paperbacks for Tarzan and the Lancer Conan series of novels. Today his original paintings are sold at Sotheby's for tens of thousands of dollars. See also our Frank Frazetta books. Frank Frazetta art.

John Harrold (b. 1947) John Harrold first drew Rupert for the Daily Express in 1973 for Fun to Cook with Rupert, and his first Rupert the Bear story and annual work was in 1976. John is still illustrating Rupert today, almost 30 years later, and although living and working in France, he makes time to be at Canterbury (Rupert's birthplace) for Rupert's Birthday celebration in November each year. John Harrold art. Please note that we also have Rupert Bear art by Alfred Edmeades Bestall plus other Rupert Bear art.

Reginald Cyril Webb Heade (1901-1957, UK) Heade only produced a few covers for the Thriller Comics Library but they were of quite exceptional quality. He is, of course, noted for his 'girlie art' covers for the Hank Janson series of paperback "hard-boiled" thrillers for the author/publisher, Stephen Frances, but he also produced some superb Western paperback covers for Archer Books in the late '40s, four sensitively painted colour plates for The Adventures of Robin Hood published by Collins, powerful illustrations in bold colour for a series of children's classics for Partridge Publications Ltd., dust jackets for W.E. Johns' Worrals books, some covers for A.P.'s Sexton Blake Library and later, under the name "Cy Webb", extraordinarily-detailed work for Pan and Panther. It was a pity he did no strip work for the T.C.L. for he was an excellent exponent of the art as can be seen in his strip work for Knockout in the late '40s, the Robin Hood strip he did for Sun in the early 1950s and his beautiful version of When Knights Were Bold that he painted in monochrome for Playhour, filling in for Arthur Horowicz. He was born in Forest Gate, London, and it appears that the name "Heade" was, in fact, a pseudonym and that the artist's true name was simply Reginald Cyril Webb. Biography courtesy of David Ashford and Norman Wright. Reginald Heade art.

Jim Holdaway (1927 - 1970, England) Born in Barnes, London, Jim Holdaway became a freelance illustrator in 1950, working for publishers such as Odhams and Farrington Press. He worked on all types of artwork, adverts, cartoons, book illustrations and covers. His first full length stories were for Gallant Detective in 1952, and then went on to strips for Comic Cuts, and Swift. His first newspaper strip was Romeo Brown in the Daily Mirror. Sadly none of the original art for this strip has survived. This association with Peter O'Donnell led to the creation of Modesty Blaise which he drew from 1963 until his untimely death in 1970. Jim Holdaway art. We have been selling art to collectors for over 20 years, and the most regularly requested art has been Jim Holdaway's fabulous pen and ink artwork for Modesty Blaise, written by Peter O'Donnell. We also have Modesty Blaise original signed artwork by Romero, John M Burns, Patrick Wright and newspaper strip reprints and novels!

Ernest Michael Hubbard (1904-1976, Ireland) Michael Hubbard was one of the most talented artists ever to draw for comics. Perhaps best known for taking over Jane from Norman Pett in the Daily Mirror, he drew superbly atmospheric illustrations for The Thriller in the 1930s, including some sensational covers. As would be expected from the artist who drew "Jane", his delineation of the female form was second to none, equalled only by Heade. This talent was not exploited in the Thriller Comics Library as his only strip to appear in the series was Treasure Island (no.3) and that was not an original but adapted from the serial, which had appeared in Knockout some years previously. The only woman to appear in this was Jim Hawkins' mother! His strip work for the comics can be seen to its best advantage in Ranger and Princess Tina in the 1960s where he not only drew but painted lavish versions of the classics, notably King Solomon's Mines and Coral Island (a version of which he had previously drawn for Knockout in 1946) for the former and The Secret Garden for the latter. An unfinished version of Lorna Doone, perhaps also destined for Princess Tina, was probably the last work he produced before he died. The colour is radiantly jewel-like and atmospheric, and the drawing of exceptional quality, beautifully evoking the world of Blackmore's novel. Michael Hubbard was born and trained as an artist in Dublin before starting work in Dean's Studios. He was an excellent portrait painter and an expert on the history of architecture. Biography courtesy of David Ashford and Norman Wright. Ernest Michael Hubbard art.

Geoff Hunt Geoff Hunt is one of the leading marine artists of his generation. After formal art school training Geoff worked in marine publishing where he acquired a love of marine history. A Member of the Royal Society of Marine Artists since 1989, and a trustee since 1992, he was responsible for the RSMA's book A Celebration of Marine Art and The Tall Ship in Art. His work hangs in public and private collections around the world. There are 12 of his paintings in the Royal Naval museum in Portsmouth. Geoff Hunt art.

Peter Charles Geoffrey Jackson (b.1922) Peter Jackson is a master of historical illustration, second to none in his ability to bring any period to life. His wonderful London Scrapbooks drawn for the Evening News from the 1940s onwards, some of which were collected in two memorable volumes, "London Explorer" and "London is Stranger Than Fiction", are legendary. Born in Brighton and trained at the Willesden School of Art in London, Jackson's first published work was an illustration for True Story in 1945. In the late '40s, he drew a series of adventure classics, one of which, Sir Walter Scott's Ivanhoe, was printed as Thriller Comics Library no. 29 with additional frames by Patrick Nicolle (taken from his 1952 Sun strip). Jackson is the first to dismiss this strip and it is certainly not in the same league as his version of Treasure Island, part of the same series, which was published in book form by Pitman, or any of the wonderful work he was to do later. Never a prolific strip artist, much of his working life being taken up with historical reconstructions, etc., his work for Express Weekly, Swift, Mickey Mouse Weekly and Eagle confirm that he could have been a great asset to the Thriller Comics Library.  Biography courtesy of David Ashford and Norman Wright. Peter Jackson art.

Jeffrey (Jeff) Jones (b. 1944, USA) Born in Atlanta Georgia, he studied geology in college before moving to New York in 1967 where he became an illustrator. In 1971 he created the strip called Idyll for National Lampoon magazine. His early comic included work for Charlton and DC, but his vocation is painting. He has illustrated many paperback covers for Ace and Bantam including many Robert E Howard works. In 1976, along with Barry Windsor Smith, Mike Kaluta and Berni Wrightson, he founded The Studio, where he produced a number of high quality extremely limited edition prints. His black and white strip I'm Age appeared in Heavy Metal magazine. He continues to paint and has had several major exhibitions in America. See also our Jeffrey Jones books. Jeffrey Jones art.

Michael Kaluta (b. 1947, USA) Born in Guatemala (of U.S. Citizens), he has been influenced by Al Williamson, Frank Frazetta, and Maxfield Parrish, amongst others. He began his comics work in the 1970s for DC and it was during this time that he first illustrated The Shadow. In the late 1970s he joined with Barry Windsor Smith, Bernie Wrightson and Jeff Jones at The Studio where he produced a series of limited edition prints and photoprints. In the 1980s he produced a a number of book covers and record sleeves, and in 1985 illustrated Elaine Lee's SF satirical play/graphic novel Starstruck. More recently he has returned to painting covers for the new Shadow and Tarzan comic books for DC and Edgar Rice Burroughs' Minidoka book for Dark Horse. Michael has also illustrated covers for DC's new Aquaman (issues 64-75). See also our Michael Kaluta books. Michael Kaluta art.

Charles Ian Kennedy (b.1932, Scotland) Best known as a superb cover artist for DC Thomson - most of the Thomson adventure annual covers of the '80s were by him as are, to this day, all the best Commando Library covers - Ian Kennedy also drew many strips for the Amalgamated Press in the '50s and was the best of the new Dan Dare artists in IPC's New Eagle. He is extremely versatile and, as well as being a thoroughly convincing War artist in his many Battler Britton stories, he drew excellent Western strips. He drew Billy the Kid for Sun and Hopalong Cassidy and Davy Crockett for Knockout, the latter being of particular interest for its authenticity as well as for its backwoods humour. Ian Kennedy was born in Dundee, Scotland, and, on leaving school, worked for five years in DC Thomson's Art Department which he said was the best training an apprentice comic artist could possibly wish for. Biography courtesy of David Ashford and Norman Wright. Ian Kennedy art.

Bill Lacey (1917-2000) Bill Lacey was one of the finest storytellers British comics ever produced. Born in 1917, he served in Bomber Command in the RAF during World War II. In 1947 he worked for Jackman Studios Bible publishers and drew amongst others The Story of Jesus. He then moved to work on the prestigious comic Mickey Mouse Weekly in which he drew Robin Alone. It was in Super Detective Library that he really made his mark, drawing #3 Bulldog Drummond, #54 The Riddle of the Blue Men, various Dirk Rogers adventures and all the Blackshirt issues starting at #103 'Wanted - Blackshirt. He also drew 4 of the John Steel Special Agent World War II issues : #157, #160, #165 and #171. He only drew two Thriller Picture Library issues #76 The Covered Wagon and #347 Operation Freedom. He contributed to girls comics including The Circus Ballerina for Princess. He also worked for Film Fun, Buster, Tiger, Lion and Valiant. He then went to work for the marvellous magazine Look & Learn where he drew a version of Great Expectations and Eagles Over the Western Front a Biggles inspired WW1 series that saw Lacey excelling in depicting action packed dogfights over the French countryside. His other main strip for Look & Learn was Agent of the Queen which told the adventures of a Victorian James Bond. In the 1970s his style and expertise were used in Battle Picture Weekly and Valiant, and numerous other annuals. We are pleased to offer some outstanding 1972 episodes of original art from Eagles Over the Western Front. Bill Lacey art.

Robert A Maguire (August 3, 1921 - February 26, 2005) Robert Maguire painted over 600 covers for such publishers as Pocket, Dell, Ace, Harper, Avon, Silhouette, Ballantine, Pyramid, Bantam, Lion, Berkeley, Beacon and Monarch - virtually every mainstream publishing house in New York - making his original cover art a tour de force in the last half of the twentieth century. Robert Maguire began his education at Duke University, but like so many others of his generation, left for service in World War II. Upon his return, his interest in art led him to the Art Students League, where his instructor was the famed Frank Reilly. Two of Maguire's more noteworthy fellows included Clark Hulings and Jimmy Bama, graduates all of the class of '49. Mr. Maguire is a Member Emeritus of The Society of Illustrators. Bob Maguire's career took off immediately with his first work for Trojan Publications: cover art for their line of small pocket pulps, with titles like Hollywood Detective Magazine (Oct. 1950). Maguire did three of the eight covers for this pocket pulp series. From then on, his career blossomed. His classic period of the 50s and 60s grew out of his skilled female images, some of the best and most memorable of the period. Maguire's mastery of the femme fatale created a vintage paperback icon: his women are passionate yet somehow down to earth, approachable, though sometimes at your own risk. These images compel one to wonder what led up to that instant in time and where it will lead next, the very stuff of timeless art. Robert Maguire continued evolving and his contributions to the golden age of noir art are legion. That period, fraught with reaction and change, produced extremes. Life in the 1950s was set against a backdrop of Joe McCarthy, Ezekiel Gathing and their ilk, ranting of fear and hatred, while the USA was experiencing a social revolution that reverberates to this day. R. A. Maguire's work is a window on the birth of that revolution. Robert Maguire art.

Fortunino Matania (1881-1963) Born in Naples in 1881, Fortunino Matania trained at his father's studio and illustrated his first book at the age of 14. He studied in Paris, Milan and London, where he worked on The Graphic. He returned to Italy at the age of 22 for military service in the Bersaglieri. He then returned to London where he joined the staff of The Sphere. With the outbreak of World War I he became a war artist and spent nearly five years at the front drawing hundreds of sketches. His work was admired by military experts and critics alike for his technical accomplishment and scrupulous accuracy. His war art features in virtually every history or encyclopaedia of WW1 ever produced. At the end of World War I Matania illustrated numerous ceremonies in London, including the coronation of Edward VII. During the first half of the 20th century he literally illustrated history as it happened. He was made a Chevalier of the Crown of Italy, and exhibited regularly at the Royal Academy and The Royal Institute of Art. In his studio he maintained an enormous collection of artefacts to aid him in his work. He rarely made preliminary sketches, preferring to begin an elaborate illustration without previous preparation. It was as if he had a exact mental photograph of the art before he began to paint or draw. His reputation was such that he was visited in his studio in London by Annigoni, Russell Flint, and John Singer Sargent, and his work is collected and admired by many of today's greatest artists and illustrators. He was an expert at historical scenes from all periods of history and his Ancient Roman and classical illustrations are particularly admired and collected. During WW2, many of his paintings and drawings were destroyed when his studio was bombed in the Blitz. He was so prolific, however, that many examples of his art still survive. He pictures were published every week in Illustrazione Italiana from 1895 - 1902, in The Graphic from 1901 - 1904, and in The Sphere from 1904 to 1963. He also contributed regularly to Britannia & Eve, and The Passing Show, where his Edgar Rice Burroughs illustrations appeared amongst others. His work has been used in numerous magazines and books such as Look & Learn, London Life and many others. Fortunino Matania art.

Angus McBride (1931-2007) Angus McBride is one of the world's most respected historical and fantasy illustrators, and contributed to numerous books, magazines and articles, including the classic Look & Learn, JRR Tolkein's Lord of the Rings, and more than 70 Osprey titles (see our Illustrated Military History and Angus McBride books sections) in the past three decades. Born in 1931 of Highland parents, but orphaned as a child, he was educated at Canterbury Cathedral Choir School. He worked in advertising agencies from 1947, and after National Service, emigrated to South Africa where he lived for several years, before relocating to Ireland before his sad demise in 2007. Angus McBride art.

James E. McConnell (b.1903) Well known as a paperback and book jacket artist, particularly for Westerns, James McConnell never turned his hand to picture strips. Leonard Matthews, seeing his paperback work on display in a bookshop, soon had him working as a cover artist for Amalgamated Press, doing the majority of covers for the all text Western Library, a great many of the Cowboy Comics Library covers and a fair number of covers for Thriller Comics Library. His robust, action-packed style is instantly recognisable. He always seemed more at home with cowboys rather than historical swashbucklers, his covers for the Western Library being of a particular high standard. Nonetheless, some of his historical covers for Thriller Comics Library are very satisfying for he is a great professional and can turn his hand to any genre. He is a first class water-colourist and his colour technique has often been compared with - and even, on occasion, confused with - that of Reginald Heade. McConnell was an incredibly prolific artist, frequently completing a cover painting and the rough for another painting in the same day. Biography courtesy of David Ashford and Norman Wright. James McConnell art.

Hugh McNeill (1910-1979) Hugh McNeill was born in Manchester and apprenticed at an Art studio, the Kayebon Press, attending evening classes at the Manchester School of Art. Hugh was best known as a brilliant "funnies" artist for Knockout but his "straight" strips are a delight and his Dick Turpin work is amongst his best. McNeill was chosen by Leonard Matthews to start off the long series of Dick Turpin strips, which were to appear on the back page of the original large-page format Sun. Called "Highway Days", the strip introduced a new companion for Turpin - a girl comrade, Moll Moonlight (a character created by Leonard Matthews). These strips were originally light-hearted affairs but soon after the format of the comic changed, so too did the Turpin stories. The readers were suddenly plunged into the Gothic horror genre of the "penny bloods" and Turpin and Moll Moonlight found themselves in a series of adventures set in haunted manor houses where weird happenings were very much the order of the day and the chief villain was the splendidly evil master criminal "Creepy" Crawley. McNeill based his Dick Turpin on the actor Richard Greene (whom he had portrayed earlier in his strip version of the film The Fighting O'Flynn for Sun), and the 'gothic' Turpin adventures had an atmosphere akin to that in the 1953 Richard Greene film, "The Black Castle". McNeill was given examples of Derek Eyles' work to help him in drawing horses and the occasional frame of a horseman shows clearly how big a debt he owed to Eyles. Biography extract courtesy of David Ashford and Norman Wright.

Philip Mendoza (1898-1973, England; active 1948-1970) Born in Hackney, London, Philip Mendoza was a descendant of the great bare-knuckle pugilist of the Regency days, Daniel Mendoza, and was, by all accounts, a most colourful character in every meaning of the word. He was dark and swarthy and usually wore a bright-hued neckerchief, which added to his gypsy-like appearance. During the 1940s he illustrated a number of books, including Biggles Charter Pilot (1943), and a great many paperback covers of all genres (signing his work under many aliases, including Gomez, Ferrari, Garcia, Grimaldi and Zero) before turning to comics. One of his greatest achievements occurred early on in his career: The Mighty Atom (1948), an all colour strip comic, designed and drawn in its entirety by Mendoza. This publication, from the tiny firm of Denlee Publishing Co., can probably lay claim to being the first all-colour, all picture, British comic. It certainly shows Mendoza's versatility, containing as it does strips featuring highwaymen, cowboys, detectives, space-travellers and funnies. It was written and published by the author/publisher, Stephen Frances, for whom he later designed the silhouette logo of Hank Janson for the famous series of "hard-boiled" paperback thrillers. Mendoza drew the comic, Captain Vigour, for Miller's Sports Cartoons series before starting work for the Amalgamated Press. He drew strips for Sun, Comet, Cowboy Comics Library, Super Detective Library and, during its early years, for Thriller Comics Library; first contributing a number of short strips, in issues 4 and 6, and then the splendidly drawn Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves (number 7). His ability to capture a brooding atmosphere was admirably displayed in The Green Archer (no.16) and Phantom Footsteps (no. 20, for which he also contributed the cover painting) and his Rogues' Moon (no.66) is an entertaining piratical adventure. His one piece of work for the Super Detective Library: The Island of Fu Manchu (no. 9) is generally accepted as one of the best issues of the series. Mendoza was a true professional who would turn his hand to almost any style of strip. During the latter part of his career, a great deal of his output was for the nursery comics. His version of Kenneth Graham's Wind in the Willows was published in book form, in full colour, by Leonard Matthews' Martspress. Biography extract courtesy of David Ashford and Norman Wright. Philip Mendoza art.

John Millar Watt (1895-1975) Born at Gurrock on the Clyde, educated at Ilford, studied art at The Sir John Cass Institute and The Slade. In 1915 he joined the Artist's Rifles and was later commissioned into the Essex Regiment. Serving on the Western Front in the line at Dedville, Beaumont Harnell and the Somme, he was gassed at Virny Ridge. Demobbed in 1919 he became a student at the Slade. While still at art school he drew some sports cartoons for the Daily Chronicle and the Christmas cover in colour for the Sphere in 1920. In 1921 on May 21st, the great comic character, Pop appeared in the Daily Sketch. In 1925 the first Pop annual appeared and continued annually until 1949. He painted front covers for Sphere for Royal weddings, Coronations, state funerals as well as Christmas numbers, The Illustrated London News, Readers Digest and many other publications. As a water colourist and oil painter he exhibited at The Royal Academy of Art as well as many galleries. In the late 1950s, Millar Watt turned his talents to adventure comic strips and historical illustrations. His work appeared in Thriller Picture Library (covers and interior art, especially Robin Hood and Dick Turpin), Robin Hood Annuals (covers and full colour plates), Look & Learn magazine (colour and black and white illustrations for many famous historical scenes and events), Ranger ( Treasure Island serial) and historical work for Topper annuals. Sadly, much of his original work has disappeared over the years, lost or destroyed. John Millar Watt art.

Moebius (Jean Giraud) (b. 1938, France) Born in Paris, in the 1960s Jean Giraud (also known as "Moebius" and "Gir") worked with Jije on the Western character Jerry Spring. When he teamed up with Jean Michel Charlier, they created the hugely popular Lt Blueberry series, which have been successfully translated into English editions. Moebius has long been a Sci Fi fan, and began drawing in a more experimental style under the name Moebius. In the 1970s, the ground-breaking French magazine Métal Hurlant (later an English language version Heavy Metal) proved to be the perfect vehicle for this new style of art and story-telling, including his famous Arzach. He moved to Tahiti, and then to America, and has been involved with movie storyboards and animation. Much of his work has been translated into English, both as regular priced soft cover editions and deluxe limited collectors' editions. Many extremely high quality lithographs and prints have been produced over the years, especially by Starwatcher Graphics and Stardom. We also have a wide selection of books about Jean Giraud (Moebius) and his work. Moebius art.

Patrick Nicolle (1907-1995, England) Pat Nicolle was the supreme Medievalist of the British Adventure Strip. His life-long passion for Arms and Armour (the title of his well-known Puffin book) - he was a founder member of the Arms and Armour Society at the Tower of London - found superb expression in his great strip of Norman Invasion, Under the Golden Dragon, together with his Robin Hood and Ginger Tom/ Firebrand strips. Later he found himself in his element working for Look and Learn, illustrating, in his inimitable, highly detailed style, countless historical articles and series, as well as painting a glorious full-colour version of Conan Doyle's historical novel, Sir Nigel. Patrick Nicolle was born in Hampstead, London, but the family moved to Birmingham when he was still very young and he spent his boyhood in the Midlands. His elder brother, Jack, was a well-known artist and book illustrator of whom Pat was justifiably proud. The earliest of Pat's work for boys' papers so far discovered was for the Boys' Own Paper in the mid 1930s - he even painted a cover for one issue - and probably his earliest work for the Amalgamated Press was the cover painting for The Modern Boy's Book of Pirates, published in 1939. His earliest strip appears to be Astra, The Mystery Air Ace, the cover strip for Zoom, a one-off comic published by The Children's Press in 1947. In 1950, his illustrations for a Robin Hood book were seen by Leonard Matthews in a Woolworth's store and he was commissioned to draw a two-page complete Robin Hood strip for Knockout. The rest, as they say, is history! Biography courtesy of David Ashford and Norman Wright. Patrick Nicolle art.

Keith Page Keith has been involved in comics since 1976, being represented by The Temple Art Agency. He has worked on most Fleetway and DC Thomson titles over the years including Thunderbirds, Sonic the Comic, Eagle, Mask, Supernaturals, Wildcat, Football Picture Library, Dandy, Starblazer, 2000AD, Starlord and Revolver. He also worked on Mighty Max for Marvel UK. He is currently working for DC Thomson on Commando. He has produced science fiction book covers and has worked on a variety of book illustration commissions. Keith occasionally works on scripts and writes magazine articles. Keith Page art.

Eric Robert Parker (1898-1974) Eric Parker is probably best known as the Sexton Blake artist, being responsible for hundreds of full-colour covers for the Sexton Blake Library as well as countless covers and interior black and white illustrations for Union Jack and Detective Weekly. He was a consummate draughtsman, at home illustrating any period of history, and the few strip stories he drew for Thriller Comics Library are amongst the best in the entire series. With the exception of The Children of New Forest (no. 38), which was mainly a reprint of his 1945 Knockout strip with some new material added, and The Secret of Monte Cristo (no. 14), which originated as a superb Parker Sexton Blake strip in Knockout but which for the Thriller Comics Library version was so extensively re-drawn by Reg Bunn that it could scarcely be classified as a Parker strip at all, Parker's contributions were all especially drawn for the Library. His artistic ability was discovered early on and the young Eric had an article about his talent and the scholarship it had won for him, together with his photograph, in the Boy's Own Paper in 1913. From the outset of his career in illustration, he was prolific and his work can be seen in a wide variety of publications throughout the 1920s and '30s. His first strip work was for Knockout, starting with whimsical fantasy strips such as The Queer Adventures of Patsy and Tim, before going onto a Western strip, The Adventures of Bear Cub. This was followed by a long series of excellent adaptations of adventure classics including Gulliver's Travels (1942-3), Kidnapped (1945-6), "The Black Arrow (1948) and The Three Musketeers (1946). The work of Parker can be seen in many publications other than those of the Amalgamated Press, notably the evocative historical illustrations, painted in two-tone colour, for the Daily Mail Annual for Boys and Girls. Latterly he worked for the educational magazine, Look and Learn, writing and illustrating such superb historical series as The Scrapbook of the British Army and The Scrapbook of the British Navy, and also producing "visualisation" - sketched-out roughs detailing composition, etc - for other artists to complete. At the time of his death he left the full-colour artwork for an uncompleted series he had created called A Thousand Years of Spying. An unfinished Napoleonic strip of excellent quality was also never published. Biography courtesy of David Ashford and Norman Wright. Eric Robert Parker art.

Reginald Parlett (1904-1991, England) Born in London, Reginald, with his brother George, inherited the artistic talents of his father. His father, Harry Parlett, was a prolific artist for many Victorian publications and drew for Film Fun, Funny Wonder, Chuckles and Chips. Reg soon followed his father into comics, working on Jester Annual, Crackers, Funny Wonder Tip Top and Jingles. In 1932 Parlett started drawing Charlie Chaplin, also for Funny Wonder. His first newspaper strip work was for the Daily Mirror with Just Jake. He followed this with work for most of the Amalgamated Press titles such as Eagle, Lion, Swift, Buster, and Film Fun. He continued with contributions for Cor, Wow, and Whoopee well into his 80s, and his humorous strips are still much loved. Reginald Parlett art.

Miguel Quesada (1933- ) Spanish artist, born Miguel Quesada Cerdán in Albacete on 4 January 1933. Became interested in drawing cartoons whilst at school and, in late 1945, began assisting Manuel Gago, a family acquaintance, on his strip La Pandilla de los 7. He then collaborated with his brother Pedro on a number of strips for Valenciana and Bruguera publishing houses. For the publisher Maga he created Pacho Dinamite and Tony y Anita as well as briefly taking over the popular Pentera Negra strip. He worked with his one-time school friend Luis Bermejo in Valencia through whom he began working for British comics. He was a regular contributor to Air Ace Picture Library and Commando as well as producing occasional weekly strips, including a run of stories featuring The Iron Man for Eagle and The Trigan Empire for Look and Learn. In later years Quesada concentrated on book illustration. Miguel Quesada art.

Nadir Quinto (1918-1994) Nadir Quinto's contributions to the Thriller Picture Library were strips featuring the adventures of Robin Hood. Nadir Quinto was born in Milan and attended the Accademia di Brera and, immediately after the War, began contributing picture strips to most of the top Italian comic journals such as Dinamite, Albi di Salgari, Festival and L'Intrepido. In 1946 he began drawing and lettering strips for Corrieri dei Piccoli. After his brief time drawing Robin Hood strips for the TPL, he left comics to concentrate on illustration, only to return to drawing strips for the Italian comic journals in the 1970s.  Biography courtesy of David Ashford and Norman Wright. Nadir Quinto art.

Enric Badia Romero (b. 1930) The celebrated Spanish artist launched the comic Alex in 1953 and in 1970 took over the illustration of Modesty Blaise, the long running syndicated newspaper strip of Peter O'Donnell's adventurous sexy heroine, for longer than any other artist. He is also famous for his full colour and pen and ink illustrations of the scantily clad heroine Axa. Enric Badia Romero art.

Septimus Edwin Scott (1879-1965) In the course of a long and varied career, Sep Scott exhibited in the Royal Academy and was a member of the Royal Watercolour Society. He became a book illustrator and one of the highest paid and respected of all British poster artists. Towards the end of his life, during a period when his style had gone somewhat out of vogue, he began working for Leonard Matthews and his trio of comics, Knockout, Sun and Thriller Comics Library. At first, Scott was used for picture strips, drawing all the adventures of the pirate hunter, Captain Flame, and proving to be a natural born strip artist. Then, when Matthews took over Thriller Comics Library, Scott began to paint the covers. He drew scores of full colour cover paintings, which would, as Leonard Matthews commented, "grace the walls of any stately home", and were, in all probability, largely responsible for the success of the Library and the fact that these comics are so valued today amongst collectors. Scott also drew a number of short Robin Hood strips for the Library and some fine full-length adventure picture stories including Jane Eyre (no. 31), Pride of the Ring (no. 53), Secret Operator (no. 73) and the splendidly atmospheric, The Dark Shadows of London (no. 156). For a short period, he also painted the occasional cover - and back page - for Comet and Sun and also contributed some paintings for the first Buck Jones Annual (colour plates as well as the cover) and the covers for both issues of the Billy the Kid Book of Picture Stories. Toward the end of his life, Sep Scott drew occasionally for Look and Learn. Biography extract courtesy of David Ashford and Norman Wright. Septimus Scott art.

Barry Windsor Smith One of the superstars of the comics industry, he was born in London and travelled to America in 1968 to get work with Marvel Comics. Much influenced by Jack Kirby, his early work was on X-Men 53 and two Daredevil issues. Starting work on a brand new title Conan the Barbarian, he developed his own unique style. Conan became highly acclaimed critically and an award-winning best seller but, disillusioned with the editorial restrictions imposed by Marvel at the time, he left after issue 24. Founding his own publishing company Gorblimey Press, he published a series of his own limited edition prints, lithographs and portfolios. During this period away from comics, Smith joined with Mike Kaluta, Jeff Jones and Bernie Wrightson in a loose association producing lithographs and prints from The Studio, culminating in the book of the same name. Returning to the comics field in 1985 Smith drew the Machine Man mini series, X-Men and the Weapon X story. Leaving Marvel again, he helped to put Valiant on the map with the origin to Solar Man of the Atom and Archer & Armstrong.In 1993 he left Valiant due to contractual differences and moved to Malibu to create Rune. Since the demise of Valiant he continues to work in comics and has produced two volumes of his autobiography (Opus 1 and Opus 2, both available here) featuring many of his superb paintings. Nearly all of his prints and portfolios are now long out of print and much sought after by collectors. Barry Windsor Smith art. See also our selection of BWS books.

Reg Smythe (1917-1998) Born in Hartlepool, the son of a boat builder. He left school at 14 and worked as a butcher's delivery boy, joined the Northumberland Fusiliers in 1936, submitting cartoons to Cairo magazines during the war. He worked as a post office telephone clerk before freelancing as a cartoonist for the Daily Mirror in 1954. Influenced by his mentor Leslie Harding ("Styx") he produced a regular feature Laughter at Work before creating Andy Capp in 1957. Syndicated worldwide to 1400 newspapers in 31 countries, read by 175 million people in 13 languages, the strip based on the flat-capped Northerner has become an institution. Reg Smythe art.

Dave Stevens (b.1955) Born in California, USA, his first work in comics was a back up feature in Starslayer called Rocketeer, a character and theme nostalgic for the 1940s. Subsequently made into a full length feature film by Disney, it propelled Stevens into the limelight. Never a prolific artist, he takes great care to produce fascinating art, and his superb portrayals of cheesecake are justly admired. Dave Stevens art.

David Sutherland (UK) Long associated with The Beano, David Sutherland took over responsibility for the Bash Street Kids in 1963 and created the popular strip Billy the Cat. Sutherland took over Biffo the Bear following the death of Dudley Watkins in 1969, followed by Dennis The Menace in 1970. David retired from Dennis in 1998, after 27 years, and continued to draw the Summer Specials and Annuals, as well as the occasional strip, for the comic. David Sutherland art.

Ferdinando Tacconi (b. 1922, Italy) Of all the European artists to contribute to British comics in the 1950s and '60s, two stand out as being the most popular: Jesus Blasco and Ferdinando Tacconi. Although Tacconi became known as a really first-rate War strip artist, it was for his superb rendition of the famous Charles Chilton radio serial, Journey Into Space in Express Weekly (in which all the main characters were based on actual likeness of the radio actors) which first brought him to prominence here. Born in Milan, Tacconi has had two great interests in life, both of which he has been able to indulge throughout his career: drawing and aeroplanes. His first comic strip, published in 1947, was not typical of the work he was to pursue later, being a story of Morgan il Pirata. In the mid '50s, Tacconi began working for British comics. Besides his work for Express Weekly, he drew the war strips, War Eagle and Commando One for Comet and Battler Britton for Sun as well as scores of War libraries. His work was wide-ranging and included a great amount of full colour work, strips and covers, for Look and Learn. His most famous European strip is Gli Aristocratici ("The Gentlemen") which features a group of bowler-hatted English crime fighters in London's "Swinging Sixties". In 1989, he wrote and drew, together with Gino D'Antonio, an eight volume series of books on the Second World War. Tacconi continues to produce high quality artwork for the adult comics market in Italy. Biography courtesy of David Ashford and Norman Wright. Ferdinando Tacconi art.

Geoff Taylor (b. 1946, England) Born in Lancaster, England, Geoff worked as an "Adman" for 5 years before turning to illustration and bookcover art. His first commission was in 1976 for Counter Clock World by Philip K. Dick. In turn this has led to him doing covers for some of the top Science Fiction and Fantasy writers of our time, including Jack Vance, Isaac Asimov, M.K Wren, David & Leigh Eddings, Raymond E. Feist, Jane Welch, Katharine Kerr, Robert Holdstock, Juliet E McKenna and J.R.R Tolkien. He was one of the illustrators for Jeff Wayne's legendary War of the Worlds album. Since 1994 Geoff has added to some of the rich imagery of Games Workshop Warhammer World, who are probably the largest hobby war games company in the world. Their monthly magazine White Dwarf sells 250,000 copies worldwide! Reflecting his passion for painting and photographing wildlife, Geoff has published several fine art prints of wolves including The Last Wolf, based on a local story of the supposedly last wolf in England, reputedly killed at Humphrey Head, Cumbria in the 14th Century. Geoff Taylor art.

Simon Thorpe, UK Simon's portraiture featured on the set of James Bond The World is Not Enough, and he has published work based on Stargate and Star Trek amongst many credits. Look out for his work in the Harry Potter movies, in which he painted many distinguished Wizards' and Witches' (moving) portraits! Simon Thorpe art.

Mark Evan Walker (b. 1956, USA) This Texas-born artist was a stage designer and scenic artist before becoming an illustrator in the late eighties. His career has included murals and fine art, advertising, story boards for commercials and films, illustration for books, comics, magazines and newspapers. Look for his graphic novel Fishhead in the near future. He is proud of his long association with Ellery Queen, the world's oldest Mystery Magazine. We are pleased to present some of the forty pulp illustrations Mark has produced for EQ. All are handsomely matted, and each comes with the original Ellery Queen edition in which the illustration appeared. Mark Evan Walker art.

Robert Williams (b. 1943, USA) Born in Albuquerque, New Mexico he moved to Southern California in 1963 at age 20 where he self taught and studied art. His art revolted against conformity, which led him to join Crumb, Moscoso, Wilson and Shelton in producing underground comics and in particular ZAP. A product of the 50s, his art is set around Hot Rods, rock and roll, motorcycles and comic books. Now a highly respected and much sought after painter his paintings have been exhibited in numerous exhibitions.