I was sorry to read on downthetubes of the sad passing of Colin Whittock. I was aware of Colin's comic work (mainly Lazy Bones in Whizzer and Chips), but downthetubes' tribute gives details about his varied work as a gag and newspaper strip artist.
Colin provided a number of pages across the Cheeky canon, all of which were filling in for other artists. I believe this was known as 'ghosting', which I've always felt a rather disrespectful term because the 'ghost' artists are often in fact highly esteemed and accomplished practitioners, as is the case with Colin. I'm sure taking over the artwork on a strip involves extra effort in studying the existing episodes of a feature with which the 'ghost' artist may be unfamiliar, often just to provide irregular fill-ins.
Colin provided art for 2 of Cheeky Weekly's regular features - Speed Squad (3 episodes) and Mustapha Million (2 episodes). However, the first artwork of Colin's to be seen in the comic was during IPC's Star Guest promotion of 1979, in which characters crossed from their usual title into their IPC stablemates in the hope of attracting extra sales for their home comic. Veteran Whizzer and Chips sleepy scamp Lazy Bones appeared as Star Guest in Cheeky Weekly dated 09 June 1979.
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| Cheeky Weekly 09 June 1979 Art: Colin Whittock |
My condolences to Colin's family and friends.
Colin Whittock's Cheeky work...
| Artist | Title | Date | Page | Feature |
| Colin Whittock | Cheeky Weekly | 09-Jun-1979 | 11 | Star Guest Lazy Bones |
| Colin Whittock | Cheeky Weekly | 10-Nov-1979 | 23 | Speed Squad |
| Colin Whittock | Cheeky Weekly | 17-Nov-1979 | 16 | Mustapha Million |
| Colin Whittock | Cheeky Weekly | 17-Nov-1979 | 17 | Mustapha Million |
| Colin Whittock | Cheeky Weekly | 01-Dec-1979 | 28 | Speed Squad |
| Colin Whittock | Cheeky Holiday Special | 01-Apr-1980 | 16 | Mustapha Million |
| Colin Whittock | Cheeky Holiday Special | 01-Apr-1980 | 17 | Mustapha Million |
| Colin Whittock | Cheeky Annual 1981 | 01-Sep-1980 | 30 | Speed Squad |
| Colin Whittock | Cheeky Annual 1981 | 01-Sep-1980 | 31 | Speed Squad |
Well done. I had no idea until I saw John's piece that Colin had drawn Mustapha and Speed Squad - but I have the 1981 annual somewhere. I would almost guarantee that they and the previous year's holiday special reprinted his previous year's work.
ReplyDeleteHi Andy. Colin's work in the Cheeky Holiday Special of 1980, and in the same year's 1981-cover-dated Cheeky Annual, didn't reprint his earlier Cheeky Weekly contributions. Wouldn't reprinting material less than a year after its original appearance have been very unusual? I'm doing some research on reprints of Mustapha in Whizzer and Chips at the moment and in that case it seems IPC didn't reprint anything less than 5 years old.
DeleteI'm clearly just cynical!
Delete:)
DeleteIPC did have a five-year reprint rule - and violated it as a matter of course. Could quote examples ad nauseum from "Best of whatever Monthly" but can't be bothered. Sad about Colin; quite a blow. He took over The Champ from Jack Oliver and the difference in style wasn’t much of a jolt. I’ll always remember seeing his cover for Jackpot #22 (29/9/79), read circa 1985 via a jumble sale, featuring a big stack of baked bean tins on the cover. That’s a different kind of blow…
ReplyDeleteThanks for confirming the 'sort of' 5 year rule.
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