“Matt Marriott” is a much-admired western strip first published in the London Evening News from 1955 until 1977, and comic archivist Paul Duncan has appealed again for any clippings, proofs, or originals fans may own, to assist in new English language collections of the strip.
Written by Jim (James) Edgar, as we previously noted, it’s fondly remembered for its stunning art by Tony Weare (1st January 1912 – 12th December 1994), who studied drawing at the Bournemouth School of Art but became a trooper in a cavalry regiment, where he developed a love of horses. His early comic credits also include “Pride of the Circus” and “Billy Brave” for Mickey Mouse Weekly, “Greyfriars Ghost” for Comet, and “The Colditz Story” for Junior Express in the 1950s.
“‘Matt Marriott’ was the finest and most atmospheric newspaper strip about the American Wild West that has ever been produced,” artist David Lloyd has previously enthused. “Tony Weare was one of just a very few strip artists here and in the US whose creative identities owed nothing to the heritage of stylisation which influenced many other newspaper adventure strip creators – he was primarily an illustrator who just happened to love drawing strips.”
Author and publisher Paul Duncan has been assisting Portuguese publisher Manuel Caldas with his Spanish language collections of the widely-syndicated strip, so far running to three volumes, the latest, Enfrntamiento en Dodge City “Clash at Dodge City”). Hugely popular in Spain in syndication, the strip was also collected in Italian editions.
70 “Matt Marriott” stories were created, spanning some 7000 strips in total. Paul has assembled a large amount of scans already, and been in contact with Tony Weare’s family, and he’s keen to move this project forward further.
“In 1977 Weare, aged 65, fell off a horse but continued to draw ‘Matt Marriott’ regardless of the pain he was in,” Paul, who is also working on a book about artist John M. Burns, recently noted. “Eventually, he had no choice and had to give up the daily strip. His last board was strip 50 of the 70th story, ‘Marissa’, published September 13th, 1977, six days shy of 22 years since the first published board in 1955.
“The next day, the daily was drawn by John M. Burns, who had collected clippings of the ‘Matt Marriott’ strip in the 1950s as reference to help him learn to draw. Although the approach to composition and figure work is different, you can see how Burns has applied some of the same hatching and shading techniques to make it blend in. John finished the story, up to board 96, published November 5th.”
“The strip is probably the best Western strip ever published, but unfortunately very few people have had the opportunity to read it to find that out for themselves,” Paul notes.
Can you help? Please contact Paul.
• If you have any original art, proofs, or clippings, or know of anybody who may have them, then please get in touch with Paul Duncan at MattMarriottScans@gmail.com
Also on downthetubes
• 28th August 2021: New “Matt Marriott” collection released, in Spanish
• 15th July 2022: Renewed appeal for “Matt Marriott” art as English language collections hopes soar
Further Reading…
• Tony Weare died in 1994. His obituary by David Ashford for The Independent is here
• Matt Marriott Stripography by Steve Holland
Drawing on his own research and others, Steve Holland has assembled a welcome guide to all the Matt Marriott strips. Although the original “Matt Marriott” stories were never titled in the London Evening News, Tony Weare wrote story titles onto the scrapbooks he kept of the strips.
• The Crib Sheet – Matt Marriott posts
• The Crib Sheet: James Edgar’s and Tony Weare’s Matt Marriott – Coda by Domingos Isabelinho
• Monthly Stumblings #18: James Edgar, Tony Weare by Domingos Isabelinho
• Matt Marriott page on Dan Dare Info
• Matt Marriott Story Index (in Swedish)
• “Matt Marriott” art for sale from the Illustration Art Gallery
• Doug Beekman’s Matt Marriott collection in Comic Art Fans
• Matt Marriott items on the Kuentro blog (in Portuguese)
• Matt Marriott items on the fanzines de banda desenhada blog (in Portuguese)
Matt Marriott Collections
The All Devon Comic Collectors Club – Matt Marriott Reprints
The All Devon Comic Collectors Club published collections of “Matt Marriott” as well as other newspaper strips such as “Garth” – full list here on downthetubes. The strip has been widely republished in Europe, where Western comics continue to hold a wider appeal.
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: British Comics, British Comics - Newspaper Strips, Comics, downthetubes Comics News, downthetubes News
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