Artist Patrick “Pat” Williams is probably best known for his work on TV Comic‘s “The Avengers” and the Wall’s tie-in Doctor Who “Sky Ray” cards given away in 1967, featuring the Second Doctor battling the Daleks.
Beyond the information that he was the son of fellow Eagle artist Norman Williams and was probably in his 50s in the late 1970s, when seeking work from editors at IPC, including Terry Magee, as yet, we haven’t sourced much about his life beyond his comic credits. But there are plenty of those beyond the strips and projects he is best known for.
Pat, for example, provided art for Jeff Arnold in The Bozeman Trail, published by Juvenile Publications, in 1954; and The Cruise Of The Condor, a comic strip adaptation of the second Biggles novel, which Steve Holland notes on Bear Alley was chosen by Juvenile Productions in May 1955 to turn into what we would now call a graphic novel but was then called a “strip book”. Pat Williams produced 46 pages of colour internal artwork, as well as the wraparound cover for this annual sized hardback book.
He was also a regular on Eagle, drawing short-lived stories such as “Cavendish Brown M.S.“, centred on a brilliant surgeon turned detective, published in 1958, running from Volume 9 No. 32 through to Volume 10 No. 3; and many factual strips for the leading British weekly, such as “They Showed the Way“, telling the serialied stories of pioneers such as Isambard Kingdom Brunel, Charles Lindbergh, Dr. James Simpson, and others, published across issues of Eagle Volumes 10 and 11.
He also drew “Francis Xavier” for Eagle Annual Number 2, published in 1952, the strip signed by the artist on the last page, the story of the Portuguese Navarrese cleric and missionary who co-founded the Society of Jesus, and “Champion Of The Poor” for the Eagle Annual in 1962, a story written by Godfrey Rayne, the tale of a priest who was once captured by pirates and sold as a slave.
“The Avengers” strip in TV Comic made its debut in issue 720, cover dated 2nd October 1965, concurrent with the debut of Mrs. Peel on selected TV screens around the nation. The strip was one of several comic tie-ins with the show, characters also appearing in “The Avengers” colour in the girls’ comic, Diana, drawn by Emilio Frejo, assisted at times by Juan Gonzalez, and “The Growing Up of Emma Peel” which ran in a Fleetway weekly title, June.
The exhaustive The Winger Avenger site, which has extensively detailed The Avengers comic history, notes that, in all, the strip ran for 201 issues in TV Comic, crediting most episodes featuring John Steed’s companion-at-arms Emma Peel as drawn by Pat Williams. As we noted back in 2009, these were utilised by US publisher Gold Key, but in colour, for their John Steed Emma Peel title.
Pat is also credited as providing art on various TV specials and annuals.
“I must admit I hadn’t paid much attention to Pat Williams’ work before but I really like his style,” comics archivist Lew Stringer said of his work on the strip in 2015. “It’s superb for black and white work, with a great inking technique. It’d be nice to see these strips collected…”
(“The Avengers” continued in TV Comic until its final appearance in issue 1078, cover dated 5th August 1972, albeit with one gap, a hiatus of 52 issues after No. 771, after the strip rights to the series were sold to DC Thomson who published the aforementioned Diana comic. The strip resumed its run in TV Comic with issue 877, cover dated 5th October 1968, just under two weeks after Tara had made her TV debut, the strip drawn after the “gap” largely by Tom Kerr, followed by John Canning Again, The Winger Avenger credits the artists where recognised).
Pat Williams other best known work is his colour art for various Doctor Who tie-ins published by Wall’s as promotional items for their Sky Ray ices range, providing card and album cover art: Dr Who’s Space Adventure, Dr Who’s Space Adventure Book and Dr Who’s Space Adventure were all published in 1967.
Doctor Who merchandise expert David Howe has details of these here on his indispensable Doctor Who Toybox site.
Pat is also credited as drawing various Doctor Who strips for the TV Comic annuals and specials, for the 1968 edition for example, the Second Doctor pitted against rampaging mammoth; and the Third Doctor in a strip titled “Assassin from Space”, written by Roger Cook, published in the 1970 TV Comic Holiday Special.
Pat’s other credits for TV Comic include work on “Adam Adamant”, a strip based on the TV series Adam Adamant Lives! starring Gerald Harper, the first episode making its debut in Issues 788, cover dated 21st January 1967, the series continuing to Issue 835, cover dated 16th December 1967. He didn’t draw every episode – Bill Titcombe, who also drew “My Favourite Martian” for TV Century 21, drew some.
Commercial commissions seem to have been regular thing for Pat, who, as we noted previously, also worked on an eponymous comic for Unilever’s Signal toothpaste, presumably distributed to dentists surgeries, handling the art on strips such as “Castle Glorious and The White Knight”.
Former Battle Picture Weekly editor Terry Magee tells us that he also drew a short strip for that weekly war title during his tenure, sometime between 1979 and 1986.
“This chap turned up in my office, in his 50s or thereabouts, thin and nervous, desperate for work as an artist,” Terry, who had a long and varied career in comics, recalls, in a comment to this post, below. “It was Pat Williams.
“I didn’t know him or his history in comics then,” Terry continues. “He’d probably be sent along by Gil Page, group editor, who would have known Pat. Anyway, I felt sorry for him and gave Pat a three-page complete story to draw. It was published though his art wasn’t really suited to war stories. Can’t remember the story now.”
There are also suggestions he also drew some strips for early issues of Warlord.
If anyone has further information about this artist, do comment below, or get in touch (comments are automatically switched off after fourteen days of publication). Thank you
Head downthetubes for…
• The Winged Avenger – The Avengers Comics | SiteMap
• The Winged Avenger – TV Comic – The Emma Peel Stories
• The Winged Avenger – TV Comic – The Tara King Stories
Tom Kerr is credited as the artist on the early “Tara King” tales
• Blimey! It’s Another Blog about Comics – The Avengers by Pat Williams (1966)
• “Orlando” Splash page, featuring Sam Kydd, by artist Pat Williams
An unpublished, possibly spec piece, splash page drawn by Patrick Williams. This follows the script of the strip ‘Rumours of a Monster’ published in the Orlando Annual 1968, but which was drawn by a different artist. This is the first of four consecutive pages by Williams. Shared by comic archivist Shaqui le Vesconte
• Nothing But A Fan: Did Patrick Williams draw for Warlord?
Back in 2016, our much-missed friend Colin Noble posted a feature on Warlord No. 3, cover dated 12th October 1974, noting a suggestion from Shaqui le Vesconte that Pat drew “Deadshot Davie”, a “Weapons in Action” tale, but we don’t have confirmation of this and the style seems different. (Colin himself pondered that it might be Doug Maxted, as the same artist appears to have drawn the “Weapons in Action” adventure in Warlord No. 2).
This item was last updated on Friday 11th July 2025. With thanks to Steven Flanagan and Terry Magee
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John is the founder of downthetubes, launched in 1998. He is a comics and magazine editor, writer, and Press Officer for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He also runs Crucible Comic Press.
Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine and Overkill for Marvel UK, Babylon 5 Magazine, Star Trek Magazine, and its successor, Star Trek Explorer, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics; and has edited several comic collections and graphic novels, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”, and Hancock: The Lad Himself, by Stephen Walsh and Keith Page.
He’s the writer of comics such as 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: Art and Illustration, British Comics, Comic Art, Comic Creator Spotlight, Comics, Creating Comics, Doctor Who, downthetubes Comics News, downthetubes News, Features, Merchandise, Other Worlds, Television
When editing Battle Picture Weekly, this chap turned up in my office, in his 50s or thereabouts, thin and nervous, desperate for work as an artist. It was Pat Williams. I didn’t know him or his history in comics then. He’d probably be sent along by Gil Page, group editor, who would have known Pat. Anyway, I felt sorry for him and gave Pat a 3-page complete story to draw. It was published though his art wasn’t really suited to war stories. Can’t remember the story now. Now I know Pat’s long career as a comic artist and actually have Eagle Annuals including his work: ‘Francis Xavier’ in Eagle Annual Number 2 and ‘Champion Of The Poor’ in Eagle 1962.
Thanks very much for that, Terry! I’ve added examples of the strips you have mentioned from the EAGLE annuals. Hopefully our Battle reading fans might be able to identify the strip he drew for you.