[crashryan]

 I may have made this request before, but my memory isn't always as precise as I'd like. I've read that two noted US artists drew issues of British pocket libraries.

John Severin drew some war picture library or another. I saw a page from it once but I've never been able to find the comic. Of all the American comic artists I think Severin would have been a perfect fit for war PL's. He liked drawing war stories, he was diligent in his research, he was reliable, and he was a darned fine draughtsman. I wonder how he came to draw the book and why he only did one issue. I suspect his Stateside work for Cracked probably earned enough and took up enough time that he didn't need to freelance overseas. My question: Which issue of which title??

In an article I read--and have misplaced--I learned that Alex Toth drew part of another picture library. I got the impression it was a period piece, like middle ages or something. In true Toth fashion, Alex bailed on the project partway through and the issue was completed by another artist, perhaps a Briton or perhaps one of the Spanish / Italian regulars. I seem to recall Toth finished maybe a dozen pages before dropping out. My question: Which issue of which title??

I'd love to see example pages from these stories. Can any of our British members clear this up?

[paw broon]

I can't find the Severin info anywhere but there were a lot of different war pocket libraries, apart from AP.  Others often contained reprints of European stories - Spanish or Italian - so the story could have origiated for a non-English comic.
The Toth one is Schoolgirls' Picture Library #180 which we don't have, and neither do I.  There are a couple of places I have yet to check. You never know.

[crashryan]

Thanks, Paw. I'm pretty sure the Severin was an original-for-Britain job but I may be wrong. Wish I could locate the article I read.

[SuperScrounge]

Not British, but if you go to the GCD creator's index pages they have links to stories they've done.

Doing that I found John Severin did Battle Picture Library #9.

Alex Toth worked on Schoolgirls' Picture Library #180.

I wasn't able to find either here on CB+.

[crashryan]

Thanks for the info, both Paw and Scrounge. Thanks to your help I managed to track down scans of both! The Severin job is a fine one. Toth's pages are strong, too. He lasted 19 pages. The rest of the art started okay (without Toth's signature compositions) but really went to pieces in the last few pages. Deadline problems, I speculate. I presume that being Fleetway books, they're still tied up in copyright?