[mortimer]

The artist is Geoff Campion (1916-1987). He's best known for Western and WWII strips in Amalgamated Press/Fleetway titles of the 1950s and '60s, such as "Sun" and "Comet" (see posts) and "Valiant". (Among the best of these is a six-page Billy the Kid story in "Sun" No200 December 6, 1952 - unfortunately not posted here.) But he produced occasional historical strips - and covers - as well. For Thriller Comics/Picture Library he drew "Robin Hood" (story one) TCL No10 (Mar 1952) and "Quo Vadis" TCL No19 (Aug 1952), based on the MGM film. He also produced ten title pages for TPL "Robin Hood" issues (1957-59) and a full-colour serial, "Dick Turpin and the House of Secrets", for "Sun" (1958). It's surprising that anyone could find his work 'old-fashioned', even today - at the time, his clean vigorous drawing was the epitome of picture-strip modernity, and not only in Britain. His mastery of action scenes led to him being overused, to the detriment of his work. (Lambiek Comiclopedia * Ashford & Holland: "The Thriller Libraries" London 2010)

Link to the book: Dick Turpin & the Vagabond Army Knockout Fun Book 1954 (UK)