Astonishing Frank Haseler art, rescued from destruction

By John Freeman on December 5, 2022

Comic artist and archivist David Roach has been sharing some stunning artwork by the great British illustrator Frank Haseler (1928 – 1996) over the past few months. Incredibly, all of it has been rescued from a house clearance that could have seen the paintings end up in a skip.

“Haseler was a fantastic talent, as you can see, working for the leading women’s magazines and paperback publishers,” David notes, “as well as Fleetway and DC Thomson.”

He also worked for numerous European publishers.

Cover art by Frank Haseler for the Mills and Boon romance novel, The Enchanted Ring, by Lucy Gillen — *Side by side: cover art and final cover for the Mills and Boon romance novel, The Enchanted Ring, by Lucy Gillen. Cover by Frank Haseler*

*Side by side: cover art and final cover for the Mills and Boon romance novel, The Enchanted Ring, by Lucy Gillen. Cover by Frank Haseler*

Earlier this year, during a house clearance several bin bags were discovered, full of Haseler’s paintings, which were then passed on to a local photographer, who is now selling them privately and on ebay. Altogether an astonishing 170 paintings were found, mostly from the 1960s and 70s, all of the highest quality.

The seller is keen to sell the remaining paintings – over 100 are still left – and ill health means he would like to do it soon.

• Anyone interested in information on the remaining paintings should contact David via Facebook Messenger

With thanks to David Roach for the scans

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.