Artist John Patrick Reynolds has added some two great new screenprints featuring of “Alf Tupper, the Tough of the Track” to his catalogue.
Alf was the flagship character of The Victor, the boys’ own comic published by DC Thomson, which ran from the early 1960s to the early 1990s – and, in its heyday, sold many hundreds of thousands of copies a week. A generation of British schoolboys was brought up on the title … and learned to love Alf, largely drawn by Ted Rawlings.
“He was such an attractive character,” says John, “the brave and honest outsider, who battled injustice and the privileged to win out in the end, never feeling self pity, always helping others.
“And he was an inspiration to many famous runners, including Steve Cram, Steve Ovett and the late Ron Hill.”
These new prints, available here alongside earlier releases, are 26cms x 19cms in size, and are currently available at the introductory price of £40 unframed, or £74 framed, a saving of £10. They will remain at these prices until the end of the month (September 2023).
Based in London, John Patrick Reynolds was the first screenprinter to get permission from DC Thomson, to use images from its archive of British comic characters from The Beano’s Dennis the Menace, The Bash Street Kids and Minnie the Minx to The Dandy’s Desperate Dan and the Sunday Post’s Oor Wullie and The Broons.
All John’s prints are limited editions, and all are numbered in pencil.
He’s also the only screenprinter in the UK to work with French publisher Editions Albert Réné to make screenprints of its characters Asterix, Obelix, Getafix and, of course, Dogmatix.
In separate news, John has announced he’s struck a deal to produce handmade screenprints and greetings cards featuring the Moomin characters, originally drawn by Finnish artist Tove Jansson (1914-2001).
“The Moomins stories and drawings are quirky, intriguing, sometimes dark, sometimes philosphical and increasingly admired,” says John. “My first range of officially approved screenprints and greetings cards featuring the Moomins is under development and will go into production soon.”
• Buy your Alf Tupper Prints here from the Comic Art Site
• Check out John’s full range of fantastic posters at thecomicartwebsite.com
John Freeman
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. Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine, Star Trek Explorer (previously known as Star Trek 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.
Categories: Art and Illustration, British Comics, Comics, downthetubes Comics News, downthetubes News, Licensing, Merchandise, Other Worlds
Let us know what you think about this story