Reg Parlett - 110 Years

Today is Reg Parlett's would-be 110th birthday. Reg is one of the all time greats and has illustrated thousands of pages in a career that lasted for over 60 years. I suspect he has drawn more pages than any other British comic artist ever. His first artwork appeared in Merry and Bright when he was 19 and he would go on to draw many well-loved and long running characters such as Billy Bunter, Buster and Ivor Lott and Tony Broke.

Sadly, Reg passed away on 18th November 1991 but I'm sure the love and appreciation for his artistic talent will live on for a long time yet. 

50 Years Ago This Week: Valiant's Humour Strips

Despite being a primarily adventure strip comic Valiant featured a good number of humour strips as well. We'll head back to the issue that was on sale fifty years ago this week to see what humour strips were on offer in its pages. The first appears on page five under the title The Nutts, about a family that lived up to their name. The artist is Angel Nadal Quirch.

The next character needs no introduction. He first appeared in 1908 and was still popular all in the 60's and even as late as the 90's. For Valiant he was illustrated by Reg Parlett - I speak of course of Billy Bunter.

Next up is a half-page Sporty strip, which is credited to Reg Wootton.

Next up is The Crows, which works out to be roughly a half-page strip but actually goes around the edge of the page, around an advertisement for the Royal Navy. This is another page by Reg Parlett.

The final humour strip is called It's A Dog's Life and it appears in full colour on the back page. This is a reprinted Belgium originally entitled Boule et Bill, illustrated by Roba.

This Week In... 1950 - Knockout

Let's head back to the newsagents shelf this week in 1950, and take a look at just one of the many comics that was on sale at the time - Knockout. The cover star of Knockout is the ever-popular Mike, who would be reprinted many times in the future, most famously under the name Smiler. This particular episode shows Mike offering a cigar to Sergeant Flopp, a scene that would never even get close to appearing today! Art by Eric Roberts.

Knockout's most famous character has to be Billy Bunter. First appearing in the Magnet in 1908, the bloated, loveable buffoon was so popular that at one point Knockout was even named Billy Bunter's Knockout! That hadn't happened yet though, and at this point Billy still appeared in black and white on an inside page, illustrated by Frank Minnitt.

Comic historian and cartoonist Denis Gifford also drew for Knockout, illustrating Steadfast McStaunch. This was McStanch's first appearance, and Denis later revived the character again, using the same storyline, when Whizzer and Chips was launched in 1969. Here are both episodes, the first one from (this issue of) Knockout, and the first one from Whizzer and Chips.

From this issue of Knockout.

From #1 of Whizzer and Chips (1969).

Freddie Frog is an interesting strip. Illustrated by Peter Woolcock, it's the story of a frog and his friends who, following an age-old idea, dress, talk and act just like humans! What doesn't make sense though, is why the horse doesn't, instead it acts like... well... a horse!

Sexton Blake also stars inside, which is a surprise to me but interesting to see nonetheless. His strip is the first one in the comic and takes up two pages. Art by Hal Meredith.

And finally, my personal favourite strip in this particular issue is Sporty, by Reg Wootton. This episode had me laughing out loud - and I'm sure it will with you too!

We'll be taking anyother step through the comics time portal soon, and who knows where we'll end up!

Just a Couple of Books!

As well as picking up the intresting Black Bob book I mentioned about in the previous post, the same bookshop also had a few other intresting books on it's shelves. But since I had little money on me I decided to settle for just two of them. The first is Billy Bunter's Own, published by Oxonhoath Press in 1956.

The book cost 8/6 and for your money you got 132 pages, and, apart from the covers, only one was full colour. And there no comic strips in this book, either - what you get is an excellent selection of text stories! There are seven in total, six written by Frank Richards and one by Owen Conquest, and they are all accompanied with some excellent illustrations! The artist isn't credited, but Bunter's regular artist is Charles Henry Chapman, and his signature also appears on the front cover illustration.

Charles at the drawing board!

The second book is also a text story book! I hadn't heard of this book before, and since it was associated with I comic I decided to grab it. It's title was 'The Eagle Book Of Modern Adventures' and was published in 1952 by Hulton Press Ltd.

Unlike Billy Bunter the stories inside Modern Adventures are true, and I haven't read all of them yet, but the ones I have are very exciting! There were 17 stories in total, and all for just 6/-!

The stories inside were:

• The Wooden Horse by Eric Williams
• The Kon-Tiki Expedition by Ronald Syme
• Man of Mystery by Ronald Syme
• Attack on Everest by John Nance
• Super-Speedman by Dennis May
• The Past Comes to Life by Ronald Syme
• Grim Journey by A. M. McLean
• Men Against the Atlantic by John W. R. Taylor
• Three Thousand Feet Deep by Martin Chisholm
• Ten Thousand Miles on Horseback by Ronald Syme
• Special Mission of a Genius by Ronald Syme
• Wanderlust by Duncan Hall
• Twelve Years in the Heart of a Mountain by Ellam Hall
• The Farthest North by Ronald Syme
• The Forbidden Land by R. Motson Thompson
• Round the World on a Bicycle by Bernard Newman
• Adventure Walked Beside Him

It aslo has an excellent wraparound dustjacket!