KEN REID’S SELF-PORTRAIT IN JINX

I once did a series of posts featuring various strips with artists’ self-portraits in them. I recently discovered another nice example in the opening episode of JINX – Ken’s last new strip that he illustrated for the BEANO before leaving DC Thomson. 

It can be found in the BEANO issue No. 1108 cover-dated 12th October, 1963.

The self-portrait is not as detailed as the one in POW!’s Dare-A-Day Davy (that appears on the slipcase of my POWER PACK OF KEN REID collection and in Rebellion’s CREEPY CREATIONS album), but I was still happy to have found it! Click to enlarge:

 Images © DC Thomson Ltd

 

Click on the POWER PACK banner in the right-hand column and get your copy of the POWER PACK OF KEN REID - the deluxe two-volume set of Ken’s strips in WHAM!, SMASH! and POW! comics of the ‘60s.

HAVING FUN ON EBAY

After quite a long while, I spent some time on eBay tonight.

Beano No. 1242 is the only one I don’t have from 1966. It is the famous ‘Eric Clapton’ number that appears to be in very high demand among fans. The copy offered by the seller was described as Very Good, so I knew it wasn’t going to go cheaply, but the winning bid of £101.55 was nearly £10 more than I was prepared to offer this time… I know I will get my copy one day; in the meantime, here are the covers from the auction site, front and back:

Another seller had quite a selection of good-looking copies of WHAM! in batches of 10 issues or so. These stirred little interest on eBay tonight and went for less than a pound per issue! Quite a contrast to the prices that I paid in the process of collecting my complete run a few years ago, but that’s eBay for you… Someone got himself some good bargains!

BASH STREET KIDS: ANOTHER DISASTER AT THE PRINTING WORKS

The other day I received a copy the Beano No. 1257 dated 20th August, 1966 with another story of The Bash Street Kids visiting the Beano printing works. I like strips in which characters are self-conscious of their fictitious nature and especially the ones involving play with colours (you can read another one like this HERE). 

ARTIST SELF-PORTRAITS (Part 9)

In the few photos of David Sutherland that I managed to find on the web he looks like a lean clean-shaven bloke, unlike the Beano Artist in these episodes of The Bash Street Kids and Biffo the Bear that I believe came from his brush. Has Mr. Sutherland lost some weight since then, or were they his caricatures of a “generic” Beano artist rather than his self-portraits? Can anyone shed some light on this?

This one is from The Beano No. 1236 dated 26th March, 1966:

This Biffo the Bear strip comes from The Beano No. 1924 cover-dated 2nd June, 1979:

And this beautiful set appeared in the Beano No. 1991 dated 13th September, 1980. The Beano artist here looks a lot like the one from issue No. 1236 shown above (note the beret, slippers on bare feet, artist’s gown and facial hair). I have cropped the episode into sets of panels for your viewing convenience:

While I am on the subject of Dave Sutherland and The Bash Street Kids, the episode in THE BEANO issue No. 2155 cover-dated 5th November, 1983 in which the Bash Street Kids visit Beano offices, includes a portrait of Little Plum artist (Ron Spencer ?):

P.S. I’ve just found this Beano from the late 60s. Dave Sutherland replaced Dudley Watkins as the illustrator of Biffo the Bear after the old master passed away in 1969, so The beano Artist on this particular cover must be Mr. Sutherland. Here he looks different from the examples shown above: