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[mortimer]

The artwork, plus lettering, is by Geoff Campion (1916-1997). He's best known for his Western and WWII strips and covers for Amalgamated Press/Fleetway titles from the 1940s to the 1980s, 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 the title pages for ten 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-style 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 art - he was given too much to do, including pencilling for strips, drawings and paintings by other artists. But he always produced some excellent work. He was undoubtedly one of Britain's best adventure-strip artists. (Grand Comics Database * Wikipedia * Lambiek Comiclopedia * Google Images * Ashford & Holland: "The Thriller Libraries" London 2010)

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