Bring 'Em Back Hank! (Gerald Swan Comics)

 

Litening: The Son Of The Gods

Litening was drawn by a young Ron Embleton for The Big Flame Wonder Comic published by Scion in 1948. It appears to have been another one off (check the post on Defining The Ages of British Comics where these one offs are explained).

The same fate befell the Litening pages as the Zom pages.  I live in hope that some charitable person may offer scans...?

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.