An example of ‘The Guinea Pig’ strip sometimes written by Bob Batholomew, who died earlier this month.

Steve Holland has reported on the passing of Bob Bartholomew, best known to the comics’ world as the editor of Eagle and Boys’ World in the 1960s, who died on Wednesday, 9th October, at the age of 90.

“Bob had been kind enough to share his memories of his days working at The Amalgamated Press, Odhams and IPC over the years,” notes Steve. “I first spoke to him when I was putting together a history of the old Fleetway educational magazines (Look and Learn and the like) and he was very generous with his time, offering a unique insight into the latter days of The Children’s Newspaper, which he helped to re-shape for a new generation. As a sub-editor to Sydney Warner, he introduced a sports page as Warner attempted to make the paper more attractive to children with pop features and fiction.

Bob took over The Eagle during a dark and troublesome time, as far as fans of the paper are concerned and Bob was brought in to tried to regain some of the old style of the Eagle in its heyday. (He was also the person who had to oversee 2000AD and Battle following the problems faced by Action in the 1970s.)

Bob also wrote some comic scripts including the Dan Dare story Underwater Attack, the last original story for the character drawn by drawn by Eric Kinkaid.

Steve notes  he was a regular compiler of crosswords for The Times; it was a Bartholomew-compiled set of cryptic clues that appeared alongside the wrong grid one Easter morning around 1991.

Comics writer David Motton, who wrote several strips for Eagle and other titles, recalls working with Bob with fondness.

“As you know, Bob was the Editor of Eagle for most of the time that I was writing for Eagle and Boys’ World,” he notes. “He was always a pleasure to work with, giving gentle guidance and encouragement, during a highlight of my career.”

• You can read Steve’s full tribute to Rob on Bear Alley here

• Read our interview with David Motton here on the ‘old’ DTT site: https://downthetubes.net/dtt-old/features/interviews/writers/david_motton_02_2011.html

John Freeman

The founder of downthetubes, which he established in 1998. John works as a comics and magazine editor, writer, and on promotional work for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He is currently editor of Star Trek Explorer, published by Titan – his third tour of duty on the title originally titled Star Trek Magazine.

Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine, Babylon 5 Magazine, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics. He has also edited several comic collections, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”.

He’s the writer of “Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies” for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs” with Dave Hailwood.

Categories: downthetubes Comics News, Obituaries

Tags: Bob Bartholomew, Boys' World, Dan Dare, David Motton, Eagle