Artist Tony O’Donnell – who is himself retiring! – came across a Looking After Yourself in Retirement pamphlet in his collection, featuring art by the late John M. Burns.
The leaflet was commissioned by Britain’s Health Education Council, and publication information on the back page suggests it was published in 1982. Copyright information identifies Reid & Ramsay, Editorial/Design Consultants as providers of the work.
The Council had a long running Look After Yourself campaign, promoting various healthy living options, and this leaflet, featuring “Custom Comic” art by John, appears to be part of that. The life choices of newly retired “George and Edna” and “Fred and Sally” serve to illustrate the dangers of stagnation once you reach retirement age – which impacted older people sooner in 1979 than today.
Sadly, artist John M. Burns himself passed away shortly after retiring last year.
John’s two comic strips front the pamphlet, which offer guidance on healthy eating, cautions about alcohol intake and smoking, fitness tips (“You can buy health insurance, but fitness is the best insurance you can have), some “Exercises to Keep You Supple”, a book list and contacts directory, which includes details of The National Federation of Old Age Pension Associations, whose records are today held by the Labour History Archive and Study Centre in Manchester, and The British Pensioners’ and Trade Union Action Committee, which was stablished to defend the interests of pensioners, assist in creation new branches for pensioners and trade union retired members. The records of that organisation are held by the Working Class Movement Library.
Established in 1968, the Health Education Council was concerned with the planning and promotion of health education at a national level in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, used comic strips regularly.
Campaigns included an anti smoking campaign featuring DC Comics Superman between 1980 and 1983, and a dental hygiene campaign featuring Marvel’s The Incredible Hulk, the latter featuring art by Frank Langford.
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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, downthetubes Comics News, downthetubes News
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