In my previous post I asked if my learned readers might have any
ideas as to the identity of the Odhams employee by the name of ‘SWALLOW’ who
wrote the letter to Ken Reid that I showed.
As it happens, I had an answer all along... I was checking my notes
for something else the other day and found out that Ken had identified Bill
Swallow as Editor of POW! in his diary.
I am aware that Alf and Bart were the official “spokespersons” for
the Power Comics in the letters section and signed their replies to readers'
questions. I also know that the Power
Pack Index by Steve Holland says
that the editor of the paper was Albert Cosser.
Ken’s notes, however, clearly suggest that POW! editor was Bill Swallow, and mention at least one phone call from the man with instructions regarding Dare-A-Day Davy strip.
I ran a search for the name in the context of Odhams comics but Google returned no relevant hits. I also checked the Dictionary of British Comics Artists, Writers and Editors by Alan Clark, and there’s no mention of Bill Swallow there either. Was he perhaps a sub-editor in charge of POW! humour strips? Or maybe he was in fact the editor who chose (or was instructed) to remain anonymous because differently from the letters section, News from the Floor of 64 (the editorial column) went unsigned (I did check my copies of POW!).
Never heard of the name Bill Swallow before, that I recall anyway. A puzzler. Perhaps it was a 'joke' name for the editor, for some undetermined reason. (Fond of a pint perhaps?) As the name seems so far to appear only in Ken Reid's diary, perhaps it's yet another indication of his zany sense of humour?
ReplyDeleteI tend to think it was the man's real name because in his diaries (or should I call them paybooks) Ken was all business, no trace of humour - just quick facts. A puzzler indeed.
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