Art by Geoff Campion, whose credits include “Captain Condor“, for Lion, “Spellbinder” for Valiant, and “Johnny Cougar” for Tiger, is currently up for auction on Catawiki – but the nine-page strip is a lot racier than the work you would expect of him!
Titled “Sentence of Death“, the nine-page horror strip has been inaccurately credited to publisher Leonard James Matthews, formerly of IPC, the art noted as being commissioned by “L.J.M.” in the 1960s, with no other details provided.
Offered on Catawiki by the Turin-based Little Nemo Gallery, fans of Geoff Campion have been left wondering not only where the unlettered art might have appeared, if it was published at all, but how it turned up in Italy.
Artist David Roach drew our attention to the mystery art, noting “we know Leonard was an editor and packager, not an artist. In fact, the strip was drawn by Geoff Campion (though a note at the top mentions Gene Colan – which it clearly isn’t!).
“There’s also a mention of Martspress, the packaging and publishing company run by Leonard, which explains who commissioned the strip…which is rather saucy!
“Sentence of Death” is in fact a sexy horror story of the sort that IPC most definitely were not publishing so it’s not at all clear who this was intended for.
Although David notes Martspress published the adult magazine Men Only for a time, he feels the work was never published, judging by the lack of dialogue on the art, and was put together for a project that never happened, sometime in the 1970s.
“Intriguing stuff though,” he comments – and he’s not wrong. We have to wonder if the strip might have been intended as competition for Ron Embleton’s “Oh Wicked Wanda”, which ran in Penthouse.
On one page there’s a note from Geoff in the margin, to explain why he redid that particular panel, as he had drawn the vampiress with stockings and found it too absurd… as if the entire story wasn’t a trifle bizarre already!
Artist John Peter Britton, who worked for Matthews at Martspress, and has fond memories of the publisher, says he “vaguely remembers” the work by Geoff. “I used to collect [Geoff’s] artwork from Liverpool Street Station, Leonard Matthews used him a lot as i recall. If I remember [correctly] there was [once] some artwork by Geoff Campion that was just blue pencil and we had some one ink it instead of Geoff… it was over 55 years ago now!
Although Leonard Matthews is not the artist on these pages, comic art collector and archivist Philip Rushton has thinks Leonard did start out as an artist, notably drawing some illustrations for early editions of the Daily Mail annual.
“Funnily enough I just acquired a couple of pages of ‘Jason January – Space Cadet‘ from Ranger, which Matthews commissioned Geoff Campion to redraw when he repackaged it for a hardback book in the 1980s,” he notes, “presumably the originals must have been missing when he ‘borrowed’ the rest of the pages from IPC’s archive.” (Philip notes that, oddly, whatever agreement he had with his former employer, neither edition of the Jason January book, Space Wars Fact & Fiction, mentions Fleetway or IPC in the copyright details).
Philip is referring here to Matthews “acquisition” of an estimated 19,000 art boards from IPC, loaned at a time, it’s suggested as part of an agreement he had with Fleetway/IPC to re-use old strips. (Matthews’ company produced a lot of their nursery titles for them for years after he retired).
The redrawing of some boards for these projects led some, including the late Roger Perry, to believe that the artwork in Matthews’ possession all consisted of duplicates that he’d paid artists to produce alongside the original pages that belonged to Fleetway. There is no evidence to suggest this is the case, which led to a substantial reworking of some later parts of Perry’s “Eagle Daze” account of his time working in comics publishing, featured here on downthetubes.
• The art is being offered here on Catawiki with bids currently at €270 (note import duties will be charged on top of any final hammer bid and postal costs if buying in the UK
• Geoff Campion: Lambiek Profile
Roger Perry’s Eagle Daze: The Life and Times of Leonard James Matthews
• Eagle Daze: The Life and Times of Leonard James Matthews – Part One
Roger explores the beginnings of the destruction of the Eagle…
• Eagle Daze: The Life and Times of Leonard James Matthews – Part Two
The comic magazine Top Spot, published in 1958, was Matthews’ brainchild – but it was the male counterpart of an already existing magazine and it was a title that faced plenty of problems as it ran its course before merging with Film Fun after just 58 issues…
• Eagle Daze: The Life and Times of Leonard James Matthews – Part ThreeRoger outlines how Matthews jealousy almost destroyed the Eagle…
• Eagle Daze: The Life and Times of Leonard James Matthews – Part Four
Roger reveals a possible mole working on the Eagle and trouble behind the scenes on Girl…
• Eagle Daze: The Life and Times of Leonard James Matthews – Part Five
How a Marks & Spencer Floor Detective Became Managing Editor of Eagle…
• Eagle Daze: The Life and Times of Leonard James Matthews – Part Six
Roger reveals how Dan Dare co-creator Frank Hampson was thorn in Leonard Matthews side…
• Eagle Daze: The Life and Times of Leonard James Matthews – Part Seven
Trouble at the top for ‘The Management”, the troubled debut of Boys’ World – and the demise of Ranger
• Eagle Daze: The Life and Times of Leonard James Matthews – Part Eight
On the creation of Martspress, the company that would publish TV21 in its later, cheaper incarnation…
• Eagle Daze: The Life and Times of Leonard James Matthews – Part Nine
Moving from the sublime to the ridiculous, Roger recalls how Men Only was given a new lease of life – and Leonard Matthews’ ignorance of Star Wars…
• Eagle Daze: The Life and Times of Leonard James Matthews – Part Ten
A phone-call out of the blue brings about a closer relationship with the one man Roger had once feared the most…
• Eagle Daze: The Life and Times of Leonard James Matthews – Part Eleven
A search for elusive promotional film stills end in the middle of nowhere in a one horse town without a horse – and Eagle‘s production methods are recalled
• Eagle Daze: The Life and Times of Leonard James Matthews – Part Twelve
Roger clarifies points made in past chapters, looks back on Leonard Matthews career – and sums up his contribution to British comics – and publishing in general…
This post was updated on Wednesday 13th November 2024 to correct a comment on margin notes which erroneously ascribed them to an editor, not the artist. With thanks to Tristan Lapoussiere – see comments below
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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, Auctions, British Comics, Comic Art, Comics, Creating Comics, downthetubes Comics News, downthetubes News, Other Worlds
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A correction : the note is not to Geoff but from him, and it is not to make the scene more absurd but to explain why he redid that particular panel, as he had drawn the vampiress with stockings and found it too absurd.
Also, a note in the upper margin of page 7 and another one on the back of page 9 says “LJM or EF”. Could it be the Italian publisher Edifumetto, which could explain why the art ended up in Italy? Could it also be the reason why the story title was left uninked, in case the story should be published in Italian? It would also place the story in the 1970s, not 1960s.
Thanks, Tristan, good suggestion re. The publisher. I’ve updated the item to correct our error about the margin notes. (I’ve got new glasses on the way)