downthetubes pays tribute to major British comic creators who have passed in 2023, who included BEANO artist David Sutherland, cartoonists Bill Tidy and Tony Husband, independent comics pioneer Chris Reynolds, and 2000AD artist Ian Gibson
January 2023
Beano artist David Sutherland OBE passed on 19th January 2023, aged 89. You can read our tribute here. His many credits included “The Bash Street Kids” and “Dennis the Menace”.
March
Cartoonist and jazz musician Wally Fawkes, creator of the newspaper strip “Flook”, passed on 1st March 2023, aged 97. You can read our tribute here.
We also said farewell to “The World’s Greatest Cartoonist” Bill Tidy, creator of “The Fosdyke Saga” and “The Cloggies”, who passed on 11th March 2023, aged 89. You can read our tribute here.
May
While not a comic creator per se, Doctor Who artist Stuart Glazebrook, aka StuART, often utilised comic techniques in his work, his death reported in early May. He provided many illustrations for early Doctor Who Appreciation Society’s publications in the late 1970s and early 1980s, and was an integral early member of the Blackpool Doctor Who exhibition team. Our tribute is here, and in August the Blackpool Remembered fan group released a special publication in tribute to the artist, collated and edited by John Collier and available to download here.
The death of the extraordinary talent, Chris Reynolds, creator of Mauritania Comics, very much a contemporary, who passed on 4th May 2023, aged just 62, hit many independent comic creators hard here in the UK. You can read our tribute here.
August
13th August saw the passing of Space Ace publisher, comic writer and artist’s agent John Lawrence, aged 79, whose death was publicly later by his family. You can read our tribute here
Comic creator Stephen White paid tribute to Scottish artist Jim Dallas, who died on 31st August 2023, aged 64, a creator produced work in a variety of mediums, including photography, video, music and the written word. Read his tribute here
October
Cartoonist and the co-creator of OiNK! comic Tony Husband passed unexpectedly on his way to a Private Eye party, on 18th October 2023, aged 73. You can read our tribute here.
We also lost Pat Kelleher, once co-owner of the legendary Temple Art Agency, who, over several decades, gained many British comic artists their early breaks into the world of professional comics, including Oliver Frey, Tony O’Donnell, Keith Page, Mike Perkins, Geoff Senior and Chris Weston. You can read our tribute here
November
British underground comix publishing legend Lee Harris, passed away peacefully on 26th November 2023, after a two-year illness. He was at least 86 – sources differ. We cross posted tributes by comics archivist Paul Gravett and Lee’s family here
December
Sadly, we also lost brilliant comic creator Ian Gibson, who passed on 11th December 2023, aged 77. You can read our tribute here. The co-creator of “The Ballad of Halo Jones” with Alan Moore for 2000AD, his “Lifeboat” graphic novel was published just before his death, and is likely to prove his lasting legacy.
The death of Countdown, Look-In, “Garth” and 2000AD artist John M. Burns on 29th December, aged 86, was announced on New Year’s Day. Our first tribute is here
Paying tribute, comic archivist Steve Holland, publisher of Bear Alley Books, noted John was: “One of the last British artists who began working in the 1950s through Link Studios where he learned his craft under Harry Lindfield before going freelance. Over a period of seventy years, he drew too many strips to list here, but they included ‘Wulf the Briton’, ‘Wrath of the Gods’, ‘Kelpie the Boy Wizard’, ‘The Seekers’, ‘Countdown’, ‘Danielle’, ‘Modesty Blaise’, ‘Eartha’, ‘Jane’, ‘Zetari’, ‘Lilli’, ‘Dan Dare’, ‘Judge Dredd’, ‘El Capitan Trueno’, ‘James Bond’, ‘Black Light’, ‘Nikolai Dante’, ‘The Order’… and dozens of others. There isn’t a duff page amongst the thousands he drew.”
• See also: Wikipedia – 2023 in comics
• Past downthetubes tributes to British and international comic creators
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.
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