Artists Assembled! An amazing anniversary montage of classic British comic artists art

By John Freeman on October 11, 2022 • ( 1 )

Back in 1994, comic artist Mike Perkins was just starting out on his illustrative career and was represented through Patrick Kelleher of Temple Rogers Artists’ Agency, aka Temple Art Agency. At the time, Pat was celebrating 40 years in the business and, as a surprise, fellow artist Jon Haward rounded up some of his artists to contribute to this illustration for Pat.

A Tribute to Patrick Kelleher (Various Artists)

Featured in this terrific montage is work by Ron Smith (2000AD), Jon Haward (EAGLE), Mike White (Action, 2000AD), John Gillatt (Roy of the Rovers, Billy’s Boots), Jim Eldridge (Bunty, Roy of the Rovers), Mike Perkins (The Swamp Thing), Don Lawrence (Trigan Empire), Barry Glennard (The Beano, Buster), Mike Western, who wasn’t one of Pat’s artists, but he wanted to contribute, and Chris Weston.

While it’s a little sad that many of the artists who contributed are no longer with us… what a wonderful line-up!

As the late Roger Perry recalled here for downthetubes in a feature on artists’ agents, Pat Kelleher and his father – and then, later on, Pat’s son Danny, too – had operated out of an office in Chancery Lane, London.

“The structure in which their office had been situated was a rabbit-warren called ‘Breams Building’,” Roger related, “and due to the high cost of renting office space, a second artists’ agency called Rogers & Co – run by brothers, Jack and Dick Wall – had shared the running costs. I believe that in later years, the two agencies had become amalgamated. Dick Wall (of Rogers & Co) was the father of Sheila Wall who had worked alongside Dennis Bosdet and Bernard Daniels at Linden Artists – wheels within wheels within wheels, huh?”

Special thanks to Mike Perkins for sharing this ahead of his Lakes International Comic Art Festival appearance this weekend

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.