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[Downunder Dan]

Tim Valour was the first comic series that John Dixon produced. Australian comics historian, John Ryan, had this to say about it: "The first issue of Tim Valour appeared early in 1948 and in three different series managed to notch up over 100 issues. It took Dixon a few issues to find direction for his character but soon he became Tim Valour - Defender of the Peace, working as a trouble-shooter for National Security. The designation gave Dixon the freedom to allow his character to roam far and wide in the quest for slam-bang adventures. And he found them as he disposed of such villains as The Vulture, The Scar, The Ghost, The Red Skull, The Mongol, Dr Drisco and sundry others. But while TV was the nominal star of the comic, the real stars were the aeroplanes, submarines, ships and other weaponry. With a keen eye for detail and a love of ’planes in particular, Dixon was able to give his stories an added dimension with his skilful drawings in these areas. Dixon was quick to learn that to sell comics, in the first instance you had to have an attractive cover and the symbolic covers of the Tim Valour Comics of the early years are an outstanding example of how to produce eye-catching covers for adventure comics."