Monday, September 29, 2014

WHO DO YOU THINK DREW THESE BADTIME BEDTIME BOOKS?




Further to the previous post covering the Leo Baxendale period of Badtime Bedtime Books in MFC weeklies, here are all three BBBs from 1975 whose authorship raises some doubts. Perhaps together we can work it out who drew them…

Sherlock Bones (MFC No. 15, 20th September, 1975). Not mentioned in A VERY FUNNY BUSINESS and looks like it may have been drawn by someone else. It may be by Tom Paterson (the general feel of the artwork looks like Tom’s), but it may also be by Peter Davidson (the daft-looking dog in the foreground was his trademark). It may also very well be by Mr. Baxendale: for example, Sherlock’s face looks a lot like the Headmaster’s from the first BBB (see both characters side-by-side at the top of the post). What do you think?






Ghoul Dilocks and the Three Scares (MFC No. 16, 27th September, 1975) – not mentioned in A VERY FUNNY BUSINESS. The story itself is very “Baxendale” but there is something suspicious about the artwork.  Two “clues” which suggest it may be Mr. Baxendale’s work are bits of hand-written text in two panels and Don Martin noses of some of the characters (Leo imitated Don Martin in a few of his drawings in the first Willy the Kid book):






Dick Twerpin (MFC No. 24, 22nd November, 1975). In his comment to the previous post Lew suggested it may have been drawn by Bob Dewar. Was Bob Dewar already in the comics industry at that time (summer of 1975)? If that’s indeed Bob Dewar’s work, then it is quite a good imitation of Leo’s style and the editor would have probably given him more BBBs to draw but for some reason he continued experimenting with others until Mike Brown became his final choice. Any thoughts on this?






All Images 2014 © Egmont UK Ltd.  All rights reserved. Used with permission.

13 comments:

  1. Just as well I decided to visit, as this new post isn't showing up in my Blog list yet. I think you're just as likely to be able to identify the artists as anyone, Irmantas, so there's no need for me to muddy the waters with my guesses. However, I'd say that Tom Paterson is a likely candidate for some of them.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Damn, this is a time when I really hope for people’s input, and blogger does this again…

      Delete
  2. I agree with Kid these do look like the hand of Tom Paterson to me as well

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'll have to disagree with you here - Sherlock Bones may be by Mr. Paterson but I don't think he had anything to do with the other two.

      Delete
  3. I found this like that says (no idea of its validity though :

    Sherlock bones was by Mike Brown
    Dick Twerpin was by Terry Bave

    http://zak-site.com/Great-American-Novel/badtime_checklist.html

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The site is an excellent resource for Badtime Bedtime Books, I remember helping the guy with some scans a few years ago. Excellent as it is, it does contain a few inaccuracies, such as the above credits both of which are clearly incorrect :))

      Delete
  4. Its come up on my blog list just now...
    Bob was in the comic industry at that time drawing for Bimbo comic..Little Star then Plug in the 70's..
    the first one looks like Tom's work..

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That's a relief then :)
      So do you think Mr. Dewar may have illustrated Dick Twerpin? I am not suficiently familiar with his style to decide.

      Delete
  5. I'd suggest that Dick Twerpin is drawn by the artist who did the illustrations for Detective Fumbly in Krazy - the horse and a few other bits remind me of his style. I don't know the Fumbly artist's name.

    ReplyDelete
  6. An update to my earlier comment - according to Toonhound, the Fumbly artist is Hitch http://www.toonhound.com/detectivefumbly.htm

    ReplyDelete
  7. Tom definitely drew the first one, it’s his handwriting.

    I think Bob Dewar drew both the others. The guy operating the rack is clearly related to Emlyn the Gremlin, and while Bob is clearly trying to ghost Leo, other bits look very much like his 1980s and 1990s work.

    I think I found a Bad Penny drawn by Bob on one of these blogs a couple of years ago. Who did that blog...

    ReplyDelete
  8. I agree with Andy. Look at the first Scare of the Three Scares. It looks just like a Bob Dewar creation.

    ReplyDelete
  9. I think the second one might possible be Colin Whittock - looks like a few of his tell-tale signs are in there.

    ReplyDelete