Gordon Bell (artist)
Encyclopedia
Gordon Bell is an artist who lives in the UK
. From the 1960s onward he has worked extensively for D. C. Thomson & Co. Ltd
, publishers of The Beano
and The Dandy
comics (among others). His sketchy, breezy cartoon style places the emphasis firmly on the foreground characters, with the backgrounds often consisting solely of a blank wall, a townscape silhouette or bleak scrubland. His regular strips over the years have included:
Various other Strips he drew were Tik & Tak, The Dandy Editor's little Helpers, and Fibba, a three-frame strip from the Dandy in 1992 about a boy who was very bad at lying.
Pup Parade made appearances in The Beano into the 2000s, still drawn by Bell, who had drawn the strip since it started in 1967. Most of his work involves animals as main characters, although two exceptions are Jimmy Jinx and Spoofer McGraw. In all his strips he regularly uses quirky comic details and side comments in his strips, such as smaller captions denoting to the reader (who might otherwise miss such details) that Smiffy was not only too lazy to move, but also sitting on a tack
.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
. From the 1960s onward he has worked extensively for D. C. Thomson & Co. Ltd
D. C. Thomson & Co. Ltd
D. C. Thomson & Co. Ltd, is a publishing company based in Dundee, Scotland, best known for producing The Dundee Courier, The Evening Telegraph, The Sunday Post, Oor Wullie, The Broons, The Beano, The Dandy and Commando comics...
, publishers of The Beano
The Beano
The Beano is a British children's comic, published by D.C. Thomson & Co and is arguably their most successful.The comic first appeared on 30 July 1938, and was published weekly. During the Second World War,The Beano and The Dandy were published on alternating weeks because of paper and ink...
and The Dandy
The Dandy
The Dandy is a long running children's comic published in the United Kingdom by D. C. Thomson & Co. Ltd. The first issue was printed in 1937 and it is the world's third longest running comic, after Detective Comics and Il Giornalino...
comics (among others). His sketchy, breezy cartoon style places the emphasis firmly on the foreground characters, with the backgrounds often consisting solely of a blank wall, a townscape silhouette or bleak scrubland. His regular strips over the years have included:
- Sammy's Scribbles (BuzzBuzz (comic)Buzz was an A3 British comic that ran from 20 January 1973 to 4 January 1975, when it merged with The Topper. Buzz ran for 103 Issues.-List of Buzz comic strips:...
) - The Buzzies and the Fuzzies (Buzz)
- Harum Scarem (a rabbit against a farmer's dog trying to protect the carrots etc...) (Buzz)
- Jimmy Jinx (TopperTopper (comic book)The Topper was a UK comic published by D. C. Thomson & Co. Ltd that ran from 7 February 1953 to 15 September 1990, when it merged with The Beezer....
) - Pup ParadePup ParadePup Parade was a comic strip in the UK comic The Beano. It centred around The Bash Street Kids' dogs, known as The Bash Street Pups, and their many adventures. It made its first appearance in issue 1326, dated 16 December 1967, and was drawn by Gordon Bell. The dogs were all anthropomorphic...
(AKA The Bash Street Dogs) (The BeanoThe BeanoThe Beano is a British children's comic, published by D.C. Thomson & Co and is arguably their most successful.The comic first appeared on 30 July 1938, and was published weekly. During the Second World War,The Beano and The Dandy were published on alternating weeks because of paper and ink...
) - Scoopy (NuttyNuttyNutty was a British comic that ran for 292 issues from 16 February 1980 to 14 September 1985, when it merged with The Dandy. Published by D. C. Thomson & Co. Ltd, Nutty was an attempt to create a more lively and chaotic comic compared to many on sale at the time. Its strips included:* Bananaman as...
) - Snoozer (Nutty)
- Micro Dot (Nutty)
- Doodlebug (Nutty)
- Fiends Beans (CrackerCracker (comic)Cracker was a British comic printed by D. C. Thomson & Co. Ltd that ran from the issues dated 18 January 1975 to 11 September 1976 , when it merged with The Beezer...
) - Billy the Kid (Cracker)
- Dreamy Daniel (SparkySparky (comic)Sparky was a British comic published weekly by DC Thomson, that ran from 23 January 1965 to 9 July 1977 when it merged with The Topper after 652 issues. From 1965-1980 the comic published an annual entitled The Sparky Book...
) - Spoofer McGrawSpoofer McGrawSpoofer McGraw was a strip in The Sparky and The Topper about a boy who would spoof his best friend bo. Though bo always listens to the stories, he finds a way to criticize it in the end. Drawn by Gordon Bell....
(Sparky) - Hugh's Zoo (PlugPlug (comic)Plug was a British comic that ran for 76 issues from 14 September 1977 until 4 February 1979, when it merged with The Beezer.A spin-off from The Bash Street Kids comic strip in The Beano, the comic was based around the character Plug who was a distinctive character in the Bash Street Kids strip...
) - First Ada (Plug, Dandy) *The Wabits (Beezer) *Joe Mince (Dandy *Colonel Blink (Beezer)
Various other Strips he drew were Tik & Tak, The Dandy Editor's little Helpers, and Fibba, a three-frame strip from the Dandy in 1992 about a boy who was very bad at lying.
Pup Parade made appearances in The Beano into the 2000s, still drawn by Bell, who had drawn the strip since it started in 1967. Most of his work involves animals as main characters, although two exceptions are Jimmy Jinx and Spoofer McGraw. In all his strips he regularly uses quirky comic details and side comments in his strips, such as smaller captions denoting to the reader (who might otherwise miss such details) that Smiffy was not only too lazy to move, but also sitting on a tack
Thumbtack
A drawing pin , thumbtack , or push pin is a short nail or pin with a circular, sometimes domed, head, used to fasten items such as documents to a wall or board for display. Various designs and names are used. They are inserted and removed by hand, hence the terms "thumbtack" and "push pin"...
.
External links
- See Gordon Bell's work at http://petergraycartoonsandcomics.blogspot.com/search/label/Gordon%20Bell by Peter Gray