The British Football Comic Podcast team had a day to remember recently, meeting not only Ian Vosper, who worked on Scorcher and edited Roy of the Rovers comic from 1979 to 1990; they then travelled to the Isle of Wight, to interview legendary ROTR, Look-in and Doctor Who comic artist, Barrie Mitchell.
“It was an amazing day, and this show tries to put over how amazing it was!” says co-host Matt Richards.
One revelation of interest to British comic archivists (and copyright holders Rebellion!) must surely be Ian’s handwritten ledgers, detailing the creators who worked on each strip for Roy of the Rovers between 1976 until 1990, when he left the comic. This kind of information is gold dust, particularly when it comes to collecting these strips.
The interview with Barrie spans his entire career, which started with a four year apprenticeship at Link Studios near Smithfield Market, London from 1957, where he stayed until 1976, working across those years alongside artists such as John M. Burns, who provided invaluable guidance, Tony Harding, Mike Lacey and Roy Barker, among others.
Barrie not only talks about his work on Roy of the Rovers but his earlier work on Bunty, putting the record straight on what he did and didn’t draw (contrary to popular myth he never drew “The Four Marys”), and his work on the Bonanza annuals, but moves quickly to his work on football comics, starting with “Paxton’s Powerhouse” for Scorcher in 1970.
Working on football comics was a gift for Barrie, who is a lifelong football fan, revealing the first match he saw was at Tottenham in 1950, aged 11, alongside his father and brother. The match, which took place on 18th November 1950, proved memorable: Spurs beat Newcastle United 7-0 that day, the Game of the People website noting Newcastle simply had no answer to Spurs’ fast-moving play and powerful shooting as well as the form of Eddie Baily and Les Medley, who scored a hat-trick. “The media called it the ‘Massacre of White Hart Lane’ and began talking about Spurs as possible champions,” the site notes.
Barrie talks about his work ethic, always working to deadline, which made him a welcome reliable pair of hands for editors; recalling his time working on 2000AD in its early days he notes: “One fella came in. He did a morning’s work and they paid him for alterations and that’s it. He went to the pub, got drunk, never saw him again. And I thought, ‘Well, you’re not gonna you’re not gonna last long get much work if you if you act like that. So, I always made sure that I got work in on time when it was wanted. It might not have been as good as some of the other top artists, but at least you couldn’t you couldn’t print an empty page.”
The team also probe him on his work for DC Thomson on titles such as Bullet and Scoop, Roy of the Rovers, Scorer and more, and, of course, Barrie is still drawing including toward the toward the end of the YouTube version of the podcast. Quite the treat!
The British Football Comic Podcast, focused on strips and characters such as Roy of The Rovers, “Billy’s Boots”, Hot-Shot Hamish, “We Are United”, Football Picture Story Monthly and many more.
The podcast regularly offers exclusive interviews with former editors and creators, including another Special edition with Barrie Mitchell on the occasion of his recent exhibition on the Isle of Wight.
As we previously reported, the team are organising exclusive special anniversary event in September in Cambridge with Tiger and Roy of the Rovers editor Barrie Tomlinson and ROTR artist David Sque, commemorating 50 years since the launch of the Roy of The Rovers weekly comic. Tickets are on sale now.
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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: British Comics, Comic Creator Interviews, Comics, Creating Comics, Digital Media, downthetubes News, Other Worlds, Podcasts
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