Zom Of The Zodiac

ZOM OF THE ZODIAC Appeared in Big Win Comic no.1,published by Scion Ltd (London) and was drawn by a future Ace Hart artist -S. K. Perkins, who began working in comics in 1925.

Zom has become a major character in the Black Tower Comics Universe where every effort has been made to keep his past a secret, though he has displayed almost god-like abilities at times.  Sadly, these are the only pages I had.  Before computers and scanning were the norm the other pages were lost.  Anyone...?

JOLLY ADVENTURES 1

Another big THANK YOU to Ernesto for this.  He wrote:

 Hi Terry,

Another 1940's scan for you.

This unnumbered issue is presumably the first issue of Jolly Adventures from Martin and Reid. According to his Wiki page Mick Anglo did a story, "Danger Inc" (Jolly Adventures #4, Martin and Reid, 1948), and he may well have done others, so there were at least 4 issues. I include a scan of the front cover of issue 3 thanks to the Comics UK site.

THe funnies strips in the issue all look to be from the same artist, but the Gaol Break and Strange Facts look decidely different. Hopefully you may have some clues in the great 'spot-the-artist' game. 

Cheers,

Ernesto

Well,  There were around 23 titles with "Jolly" in them -all by different publishers!

JOLLY ADVENTURES ran for 9 issues between 1946-1949.  H. E. Pease is credited as Artist for no.1 and 2-9 Louis Diamond.  I believe that this is actually issue one.  I think Lambiek has an entry on him as either "Charlie Pease" or Albert T. Pease.  The thing, apart from the artwork, that leads me to believe this is Pease is the lettering which is very distinctive -particularly the letter "L" with the little wave.

Let's face it, Louis Diamond's work was MUCH different.

Now whether GAOL BREAK is Pease using a serious style I have no idea. Again, far different from Diamond's style.

So, thanks for sharing a first issue of a comic I knew of vaguely but had never seen!

Note

As usual I'll leave the pages at this size for a week before reducing them. 

Joyride No. 2 1946

My THANKS once again to Ernesto for this. I had thought I'd posted it already but...

Ernesto's message read:

Hi Terry,

Just scanned this all Bob Wilkin comic from the 1940's, but no specific date on it as usual.

Didn't know he had done any small independent comics, but I guess everyone was trying their hand back then, and certainly nice to come across a copy. Obviously there were at least two issues.

Trust you might know something more on all this.

Cheers,

Ernesto

There were 5 issues in total and all published in 1946.  Now, Bob Wilkin is only credited with issue number one -I've no idea about 2-5.  The first issue is listed as "NN" -"No number". I'm guessing Wilkin must have worked on the others -the proof is here!

Never seen this particular comic  before so it's a real find.  By the art style I'm guessing this is Wilkin of seaside postcard fame?

I'm hoping to get more info on him as well as, I hope, a photo, for the Golden Age blog and the Archives Yahoo group.

And that's about all I know!!

I'm Appealing....Honestly!

I am always -always- on the look out for scans of British Golden Age Comics from 1939-1952.  Not, I need to add D. C. Thomson or Amalgamated Press as there are plenty of scans out there.

I am looking for comics by any small Independents, particularly Gerald Swan but also Philmar, Foldes and Cartoon Art Productions. These are all used to form a British Comic Book Archives at the following link:

http://www.4shared.com/folder/lEtWuKhf/_online.html

The "holy grails" are, naturally, Thrill Comics (Swan) Krakos The Egyptian and The Bat (not the 1950s Bat by George McQueen though scans of that comic The Bat Magazine would never be turned away!).  Zip Bang Comic featuring The Moon Man and Big Win Comic, Scion, 1948, featuring Zom Of The Zodiac amongst others are ones I'm sure we would all love to see.

That said, it may well be that very few, if any, copies exist today.

In the next week I'll be posting a list of what the British Comic Book Archives is looking for though, as I say, all contributions are welcome!

So, if you can help...hoopercomicsuk@yahoo.com

Thanks!

The Tornado Meets The Sea Beast

This one is from Oh Boy! No.5, which would make it...1949?  Credited, by Denis Gifford as being the work of the late Mick Anglo. Looking at the style there's not that much doubt.

The British had something about cephalopods.  TNT Tom saw off some that wanted to destroy the Earth with a huge bomb and, most famously, in film, it was a giant cephalopod-like alien-human hybrid that invaded Westminster Abbey in the film The Quatermass Experiment (on this occasion Prof. Bernard Quatermass being played by Brian Donlevy -as in Quatermass II).

So long as they are not the Octopoids from Dimension 0K2 who cares?

Enjoy.

Merry Maker Comic No. 3

Received the following scans of The Merry Maker Comic today from Ernesto Guevara, who provided the scans of the other issue posted on site.  He writes:

Hi Terry,

"Just scanned issue # 3 of this comic and as I promised here's the page scans. Will be posting it to Scanarama in the next week.

The only signed strips appear to be Basil Reynolds on 'Larry Lisp', Stanley White on 'Bob ansd Doris' and Hugh White on 'The Castle Mystery'. The latter two variations on Hugh Stanley White presumably.

No date of course, presumably after the War. One can only hope some other of the issues will eventually surface.

Cheers,

Ernesto"

Well, I can solve the date, if not the exact date (week). 

Algar/Burn published 11 issues of the title between 1946-1947.  If a weekly, then it must have begun population later in the year (1946) to reach no. 11 in 1947.  So I'm guessing that number 3 must have been published in December 1947?

Anyone who can pinpoint it exactly...you know where I am!

And, of course, THANK YOU, Ernesto!

 

  

Who Would Be In YOUR British Golden Age and UK Silver Age Teams

 I posted this to my Yahoo British Comic Books Archive and Britcomics groups today.  Interesting if I get ANY reaction!!

So I thought, let's try this on the blog...

No kidding. About 0300 hrs this morning I was working on a project and thought about this.

The thing is, all the characters would have to be British.  They would also have to come from the British Golden Age and Silver Ages publishers.  I know my team because I'm working on them right now. The question is, how well known are British Golden Age characters amongst members?

To make it easier, let's say I decided the team had to be Fleetway or Thomson:

Billy The Cat
Mr Pendragon
The Iron Fish
Red Star Robinson
Katy The Cat

That would be a BASIC team to build on.  For Fleetway:

The Iron Man
The Phantom Viking
Thunderbolt The Avenger
Robot Archie
The Spider
Spellbinder

Again, a basic team for the Silver Ages.

But the 1940s team built from non-D. C. Thomson and Non-Amalgamated Press characters and the same for the Silver Age.

Any thoughts or ideas?

Lets see what you got!

Terry