Sad news via Steve Holland’s Bear Alley: one of the giants of British comics, Mike Western, has laid down his pen for the last time.
Mike, who suffered a heart attack in 2007 and was laid low by it for several months, died late on Tuesday, 13 May, at the age of 83.
His credits included The Wild Wonders for Valiant, HMS Nightshade and The Sarge for Battle and many, many more fantastic strips.
It’s no secret that Steve Holland was a huge fan of Mike’s work and over the last few months had begun putting together a new edition of The Mike Western Story. Read his tribute in full here.
“I’m sure you’ll all join me in sending his family your best wishes,” Steve writes. “Mike still has a lot of fans and, whether he realised it or not – and I hope he did – he brought a lot of laughter and thrills into our lives through his work.”
For my part, Mike was one of many British comic creator who enthusiastically supported the fanzine Eagle Flies Again, edited by downthetubes contributor Ian Wheeler, and sent us wonderful notes thanking us for mentioning him.
The fanzine paid a special tribute to him in 2005 and as soon as I can, I’ll post articles from that on the main downthetubes site. Tributes and memories from downthetubes readers would be welcomed: we’ll pass these on to Mike’s family.
Mike Western, 4th February 1925 – 13th May 2008
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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, Comics, Creating Comics, downthetubes Comics News, downthetubes News, Features, Obituaries
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Mike Western was truly one of the great British comic artists. I hope one day he gets the recognition and accolades he deserves and that perhaps he was denied in life. The sketch of Joe Darkie he did for me is one of my most treasured possesions.