Book and Magazine Collector Issue 313

By John Freeman on October 4, 2009 • ( 1 )

The long running series of articles on Great British Comics Artists by David Ashford and Norman Wright in Book and Magazine Collector has reached part 32. This issue’s subject is Alan Philpott.

Philpott was the artist who created Robot Archie for Lion in 1952. Previously he had worked on the A Classic In Pictures series which was a British attempt recreating the American Classics Illustrated. He also worked on Swift and the Air Ace, War and Battle Picture Libraries before moving over to DC Thomson. There he worked on Victor, Hornet, Hotspur, Wizard and Commando. Indeed his last published comics work was the cover of Commando issue 1978, Winger Fury, published in March 1986.

The article runs to 13 pages plus 5 pages of a very detailed bibliography. The article includes the front and back covers for Hotspur 331 from 1966 which tells the story of Custer’s Last Stand and Victor 91 from 1962 which tells the story of the Dam Busters. Each of these four comic pages get a single colour magazine page each and so are easily readable.

A reminder that Norman Wright and David Ashford’s book collecting 14 of the Great British Comics Artists series from previous issue of Book and Magazine Collector, Masters Of Fun And Thrills, is still available directly from Norman.

Book and Magazine Collector issue 313 is available for £3.50 from WH Smiths and Easons, or from the B&MC website.

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.