Sexton Blake and Some Fabulous Eric Parker artwork.

Eric R Parker first crossed the portals of the Amalgamated Press in 1921 and soon found himself working flat out for what in those days was every illustrator's wish dream come true, a client with an insatiable appetite for commissioning artwork and as Parker's style was fresh and distinctive he rapidly came to the attention of the new editor of AP's Sexton Blake publications.

His career with AP was to last over fifty years and his work still looks as fresh today as it did then, as these originals sent to me by my dear friend Malcolm Norton attest.

Images  © IPC Media 2011

More on Eric Parker and those amazing days can be read in an account of his life written in 1983 by W.O.G. Lofts here.

More of Embleton's Children of the New Forest.

The work speaks for itself. This man was surely one of the greatest illustrators and comic strip artists ever. His work matured and developed at an astonishing rate and by the late 1950's and early 1960's his work was (imo) at it's peak. Bellamy, Frank Hampson, Don Lawrence and John Burns hit their stride much later in their careers but Embleton who had an almost incendiary drive and restlessness was a phenomenon from the get go and by the time he was in his late twenties he was a star illustrator with a phone that never stopped ringing and an insane work ethic that compelled him to take on far more work than was ultimately good for him.

But enough of my blather - here courtesy of David Slinn, is some more of Ron's charming and beautiful work for Children of the New Forest from Princess comic sometime in 1962.

All images © IPC Media 2011

Achtung!!! - More Commandos are Coming!!!

These verdamdt Britischer schwein!!!

More from the HQ of Commando, the UK's last and longest running pocket war library now appearing on a fortnightly basis and in it's 50th year of publication.

Amazing really!!!

Images © DC Thomson 2011

Commando 4375.

Dairy Of A Hero

Introduction by Calum Laird, Commando Editor.


This story had been one of my favourites as a young reader, read and re-read many times. Then in 1981 — when I joined the staff of Commando for the first time — it was one of the stories I had to check over for re-issue. And re-read again. Now I’ve given myself the chance to read it through once more.
It remains a cracking tale, full of Commando heroes, and with a belting sting in the tail. It’s wonderfully constructed and, with artwork by Cam Kennedy and Penalva, looks absolutely right into the bargain.
I like it as much now as I did in1967.

Diary Of A Hero, originally Commando No 545, re-issued as No 1555.


Grenade Credits:    Story:         David Motton
            Art:        Cam Kennedy
            Cover:        Jordi Penalva

First Published 1967 No 545



Commando 4376.

Space Watch

Introduction by George Low, former Commando Editor.


Ricardo Garijo worked for Starblazer before Commando, and he brought all his sci-fi skills to this 1994 plot where Commando strayed off its usual course, taking to space…and beyond…with its linked G-Tex stories, the brainchild of writer Mike Knowles. The futuristic script (this time by Ian Clark) set the tone for Ricardo to work his magic, while Ian Kennedy took a break from Spitfires and the like to tackle spacecraft.
What’s it about? Saving whales and the world for a start. Quite an undertaking and great to read.

Space Watch, originally Commando No 2774.


Grenade Credits:    Story:         Ian Clark
            Art:        Ricardo Garijo
            Cover:        F.D. Phillips

First Published 1994 No 2774




Commando 4375

DIARY OF A HERO

This story is taken from the pages of the diary of a true hero. It tells of seven men’s fight to survive behind enemy lines with a traitor in their midst. It brings courage to life, tells of bravery of the highest order. 

Story: David Motton
Art: Cam Kennedy
Cover Art: Jordi Penalva

First Published as No 545 in 1967


Commando 4376

SPACE WATCH

A battle in outer space tests G-Tex Wolf Brady to the limit – especially when a ruthless computer hacker makes his latest challenge even more dangerous!

Story: Ian Clark
Art: Ricardo Garijo
Cover Art: Ian Kennedy

First Published as No 2774 in 1994


Commando No 4377

THE STREET FIGHTER

Not every confrontation between United States Marines and the Imperial Japanese Army took place in the steamy jungles of the South Pacific. The battle for Manila in the Philippines was a house-to-house struggle, pure and simple.
   This didn’t bother Marine Eddie Novak. In the war’s early fighting he’d lost buddies and now he was out for revenge, no matter when — or where — he got the chance.

Story: Ferg Handley
Art:
Cover Art: Janek Matysiak


Commando No 4378

THE FIGHTING JUDGE

As a High Court judge, Mr Justice Jardine had a fierce reputation as a hard man. Hard but fair. His judgements were respected even by those on the receiving end of a verdict.
   When he joined the Army’s legal branch he remained the same hard but fair man. His working environment changed, though. Gone were the wood-panelled courtrooms, replaced by tents or makeshift offices.
   And another thing changed too. He picked up a rifle…to deadly effect.

Story: Alan Hebden
Art: Mike White
Cover Art: Mike White

Children of the New Forest - Ron Embleton's Princess Illustrations

In response to Phil Rushton's mention of Ron Embleton's work on an adaption of Captain Marryat's "Children of the New Forest"  here are some sample pages from Princess comic as it was published in 1962.

These pages are provided by non other than David Slinn, whose input into the Wulf the Briton Book was crucial as regards providing names and background to the comings and goings at the Racquet Court Studios. This was the studio that was responsible for coordinating and commissioning the work that went into each and every issue of Express Weekly.

Many thanks David!!!

All images © IPC Media 2011.

Gerry Embleton, The S.A.S. and the Weirdest Sign Off in Comicsdom.

OK here as promised is a sample of Gerry Embleton's work from what was the very last story to appear in TV Express's S.A.S. strip. Embleton's predecessor on the strip had been another doyen of rugged and gritty action strips - the redoubtable Graham Coton.

Embleton's previous story on the series had been set in the far east as the S.A.S. chaps waged war on the forces of Hirohito. His artwork as with elder brother Ron, was stunning, full of punch, aided and abetted by well researched historical accuracy to make the action that much more credible.

But this very last story although it starts plausibly enough is completely and utterly sabotaged in the very last episode. How this thing got past the TV Express editorial staff beats me. Mr Slinn (sage and sometime witness to the goings on at Racquet Court) if you're reading, this your opinion on what might have occurred would be most gratefully received.

After all the schoolboy audience who this stuff was aimed at would have twigged the OTT farcical touches immediately.

All images © Express Newspapers 2011

What Would YOU Do?????????????????????

I almost hate to make another posting for fear of interrupting all the converse and exchange of ideas going on below.

So what I'm going to do is continue Phil's thread vis a vis What Would You Do?, as it appeared on the covers of Boy's World all those years ago.

So here's a couple more life or death situations for you guys to get your heads around.

The one with the safari truck is definitely Gerry Embleton, but the wolves picture is a real test. To me it's always looked like big brother Ron on the main figure, the cabin, the wolves and the layout but traces of Gerry on the wolf rendering and the far background especially as regards the colors, looks like Gerry.

I've also included the pre-clean up scan of the wolf cover, as many of the problems that manifest themselves when scanning comics of this vintage and print provenance manifested themselves on this occasion.

And just for the hell of it and hoping that this is one of the spreads that Georges hasn't seen, here again is a truly stunning spread from Wrath of the Gods.

Images © IPC Media 2011.

The English Civil War - Ron Embleton's Artistry At It's Peak!!!

Artwork doesn't get any more exciting than these paintings which Ron Embleton created during his amazing first few years working for Leonard Matthew's Look and Learn. Matthews like Embleton was a man of extraordinary vision and drive. He wanted the very best artists and writers for his brainchild, but even he was blown off his feet when he saw these paintings.

There were a total of six paintings that Embleton created for this series, all six have survived, but for some strange reason one of them has still yet to be scanned.

However I can at least share the following examples with you including the truly amazing full color Battle of Marston Moor, which also features in Ron Embleton's Wulf the Briton The Complete Adventures, which should be arriving on these shores the end of next week.

As with yesterday's selection, all these painting were created by Ron in a really loose and lively manner.
Look closely and you will see the biro under-drawing showing through. The monochrome examples are especially effective, with the black ink creating an almost sepia effect on the off white paper which with the detail picked out in whites and greys, the titanium content of the white paint giving a very cool bluey grey contrast.

Simply superb!!!


I hope Georges (whose English is much better than my French) will enjoy this post as much as I have in bringing it to you all.


All images © 2005-2011 Look and Learn