Over on my Blimey! blog I've been posting about Marvel UK's great 1983 comic The Daredevils. As I mentioned there, it was the first comic I sold any professional work to, so I thought I'd show those early cartoons over here on my art blog.
Encouraged by Alan Moore, who was always helpful to people trying to break into the business, I sent a batch of cartoons to The Daredevils editor Bernie Jaye. Fortunately Bernie liked them, and began running them in the comic from issue 7 (July 1983). There's that first one above. Here's the rest...
From The Daredevils No.8 (August 1983)...
From The Daredevils No.9 (September 1983)...
From The Daredevils No.10 (October 1983)...
My slot in issue 11 was replaced with an announcement saying that The Daredevils was merging into The Mighty World of Marvel. My cartoons continued in the merged comic for a few issues, albeit on an irregular basis.
From MWOM No.8 (January 1984)...
From MWOM No.9 (February 1984)...
From MWOM No.13 (June 1984)...
From MWOM No.15 (August 1984). This one was inspired by the 'Marvel Work-In' at one of the Westminster Comic Marts around that time. The caricatures of Alan Moore and Alan Davis show why I'm a cartoonist and not a caricaturist.
Of course, looking at them now I can see how crude my style was in those early days of my career. However I'll always be grateful to editor Bernie Jaye for giving me my first break, and to Alan Moore for the encouragement.
After that run of cartoons ended, new editor Chris Gill didn't commission any more but my work for Marvel UK continued on other comics, creating strips such as Captain Wally, Snail-Man, Robo-Capers, Macho Man, and of course Combat Colin!
You can read more about The Daredevils comic here:
http://lewstringer.blogspot.co.uk/2015/05/the-daredevils-1983.html
...and here:
http://lewstringer.blogspot.co.uk/2015/05/the-daredevils-posters.html
It's been 30 years ago this month since I sold my first professional cartoon. (The one shown above, which saw print in Marvel UK's The Daredevils No.7, dated July 1983.) With Iron Man 3 in cinemas this week I thought it might be appropriate to show this cartoon again.
Looking at it now, the style is
crude and the gag very lame, but seeing it in print back in 1983 gave me
a huge boost to my self esteem. At the time I was on the dole, having
quit a dead-end office job, and had been trying to break into comics for
a couple of years with no luck. (In retrospect it's understandable I
made no initial headway because my work simply wasn't professional
standard then.)
I'd been producing several fanzines and small
press comics in order to gain experience and feedback, and Alan Moore
(whom I knew from the Westminster Comic Marts and inevitable pub-meets)
suggested I try Marvel UK with some ideas. He introduced me to Marvel
editor Bernie Jaye in February 1983 and she asked me to submit some
work. I soon came up with a variation on Marvel's "What If...?" series,
sent in a bunch of cartoons, and at the April Westminster Comic Mart
Bernie told me she'd be running them in The Daredevils from issue 7. I was on cloud nine for the rest of the day.
The
rate was very low, - £5 a cartoon. Not enough to enable me to get off
the dole at that point (and yes, I did declare it) but what it gave me
was far more important, - the encouragement to carry on. Prior to that,
I'd been on the verge of giving up my ambitions to be a cartoonist, but
the euphoria of seeing my work in print gave me the confidence and
incentive I needed. After that, more work followed and I went full-time
self employed early in 1984. It's true what they say; once you've been
published it gives other editors the assurance that you can do the job.
All thanks to Alan Moore and Bernie Jaye.
I'd also like to thank all of you who have followed my strips over the years. Hopefully they provided some amusement, even if it was only to groan at the puns. Working in comics is more unstable now than it was 30 years ago, but I hope there'll be a few more years of work ahead yet.
(Part of this post was originally published five years ago on my previous blog, Blimey!)
