A fan of the art of influential British humour comic artist Roy Wilson kindly shared some examples of his original, meticulous artwork online, created during the production of an episode of “Private Billy Muggins”, his cover strip for the long-running The Wonder.
The art shared – just one panel of “Private Billy Muggins” from the episode for The Wonder No. 1504, cover dated 16th September 1944, the title then published “every alternate Friday” by Amalgamated Press, shows how the much-admired British comic artist strived for perfection, in the art that he produced.
The first three images below are panels that he drew and rejected, and the final one is the panel as published, followed by the full cover, as published, my copy rather a little battered but, saved, at least, from paper rationing recycling!
The art was shared to the Mighty World of British Comics Facebook group, by Gem Christopher, who commented, “I think there are two striking things here. Firstly, how any one of these panels would have been absolutely fine to use, but still he saw something he didn’t like in each and started again from scratch.
“Secondly, how the printed artwork is let down by the poor print quality. You can’t see from this image, but of course the printed artwork is very small compared to the large original artwork.
“Roy’s animals are surely the best ever published in British comics. He gave his characters such life and joy. I love how Mousey’s tail is sat in the catapult. His work was full of tiny details.”
As author Alan Clark has commented below, the strips would have been written by freelance or house scriptwriters at Amalgamated Press or, very occasionally, by Wilson himself.
We previously suggested his wife Gertrude may have written some stories, but talent lay in other directions. For example, her stories of Inspector Stanley, Jane X etc. for Radio Fun and other and other titles.
Incredibly, many of Roy Wilson’s self-rejected panels and character designs, from “Private Billy Muggins” and other stories, have survived, including character designs. I’m lucky enough to own one myself, and Lew Stringer owns others, “All of them perfect, of course,” the artist and archivist notes.
“On their own, each panel is flawless but he seemed preoccupied with improving the composition. The one he chose in the examples you’ve shown is the best of the bunch, but not of us would be any the wiser if he’d chosen one of the others instead. So dedicated to his craft.”
Gem also posted two strips of four panels each, pre-production panels for the front cover story “Happy Andy and his Playful Pets” for another Amalgamated Press title, Tip Top, published in 1945 – and you can also compare the rejected art with the final strip as it appeared below.
“It’s quite different to the published strip,” Gem noted, “in that it is a condensed version of the published work with a fair few differences… The style is a little looser (this is about five years later) and Sugar and Candy both speak now.”
Regular readers of downthetubes will recall similar pre-production panels for “Happy Andy and his Playful Pets” was sold at auction back in 2021.
The Incredible Roy Wilson
Born in Kettering, Roy Wilson (9th July 1900 – June 1965) was one of the most important British comic artists during the 1930s. Some of his finest and funniest cartoon animals are “George the Jolly Gee Gee” and “Chimpo’s Circus”, although, artist Lew Stringer advises us, his strips for Wonder were sometimes ghosted by others.
During the 1930s, Wilson was the leading artist for Amalgamated Press humour comics like Butterfly, Funny Wonder, Merry & Bright, Sparkler, and more. However, Wilson was only allowed to sign ‘Chimpo’s Circus’ with his own name, the comic that appeared on the front page of Happy Days from 1938.
He served in the Home Guard during World War Two, capturing his experiences in the comic strip “Private Billy Muggins”, published in Wonder. In the 1940s his work continued to appear in titles like Radio Fun (“Stymie and his Magic Wishbone”) and Tip Top (“Happy Andy and his Playful Pets”). His wife, Gertrude Wilson, scripted many of the stories he drew.
Wilson would later draw celebrity strips for TV Fun and Film Fun, but slapstick work remained his favourite, such as “Pitch and Toss” and “Morecambe and Wise”.
The Wonder
The Wonder was the name of several titles published by Alfred Harmsworth and the Amalgamated Press, some running simultaneously after a bewildering array of relaunching and renaming, the publishing history hopefully disentangled here on the UK Fandom Wiki and here by Michael Carroll on his Rusty Staples blog. Also published at various times as The Funny Wonder, The Wonder and Jester, The Jester and Wonder, The Jester, The Jolly Jester, The Penny Wonder and The Halfpenny Wonder.
The Penny Wonder was launched with an issue cover dated 10th January 1912. It was renamed The Wonder with the issue cover dated 4th January 1913, The Halfpenny Wonder (21st March 1914), and then The Funny Wonder (19th December 1914). It incorporated the second incarnation of The Wonder with the issue dated 18th May 1940, and was renamed The Wonder again with the issue dated 30th May 1942. Its final issue was dated 12th September 1953, after which it was merged into Radio Fun.
During World War Two, The Wonder was, like rival titles The Beano and The Dandy, published fortnightly, “every alternate Friday”.
With thanks to Gem Christopher and Lew Stringer, and RSPCA Cambridgeshire for the copies of The Wonder featured above
Web Links
• Roy Wilson – Lambiek Profile
• Rusty Staples – The Mysteries of Wonder
• The Wonder – profiles on UK Comics Wiki and here on Wikipedia
• The Comic Art of Roy Wilson by Alan Clark and David Ashford (AmazonUK Affiliate Link)
Roy Wilson played a major role in shaping the traditional British comic art style. There are those who believe he created it. He was certainly the most influential comic artist of his time and his style of drawing surpassed that of most of his contemporaries. He was also one of the most prolific, turning our many thousands of pen and ink drawings and scores of watercolour paintings.
His artistic life, documented in this book, published in 1983, spanned more than 45 years and his work appeared in such titles as Funny Wonder, Tip Top, Jingles, Jester, Crackers, Sparkler and many other comics of the Amalgamated Press (later, IPC). A representative selection of his voluminous output appears within this volume from his formative years in the early 1920’s, through what many believe to be his finest period in the 1930’s, to the assured and skilful drawings he was producing before his death in 1965.
Children’s comics being such a perishable commodity, much of the material to be found within the pages of this book is of rare value, the vehicles for its original appearances having, for the most part, long since disappeared into dustbins, paper drives and bonfires.
- About the Author
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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, Comic Creator Spotlight, Comics, Creating Comics, downthetubes Comics News, downthetubes News, Features
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Wilson was born in Kettering, as was Frank Bellamy. Then there’s me… 🙁
“The published strip may have been written by his wife, Gertrude”
Nice article,John! But she never did any of his scripts.
They were written by freelance or house scriptwriters at Amalgamated Press.
Or, very occasionally, by Wilson himself.
His wife G,M.s talent lay in other directions: e.g her stories of Inspector Stanley, Jane X etc. for Radio Fun and other and other titles.
Alan
Thank you for the correction, Alan, much appreciate the opportunity to amend material! I’ve incorporated your information into the article.