 |
| Images copyright relevant owner |
Back around the mid-'80s, an IPC/FLEETWAY editor gifted me with, among other items, his file copies of a two-issue series from 1966, called VALIANT STORY Of The WEST. At least, I think there were only two issues - if anyone has any info to the contrary, feel free to let me know. They were obviously trading on the name and good will of the weekly Valiant, then a popular comic for boys, but a mere two issues seems to suggest that the title never really took off.
The covers were beautifully painted and the b&w interiors had some nice art, but unfortunately the strips were rendered rather boring-looking by the use of typeset speech balloons, rather than a more spontaneous hand-crafted calligraphy which would have brought the pages to life a bit more. I've included a couple of interior pages to let you see what they looked like for yourselves, but I can't help but think they would have been vastly improved by the addition of colour.
The style of the interior artist looks extremely familiar, but his name escapes my memory for the moment. When one considers the numerous foreign artists IPC/Fleetway used, it's impressive that they were able to realistically portray so many diverse cultures in such detail, whether it be the Old West, London or wherever. One can only assume that they must have had access to extremely extensive reference files.
If you think you can identify any of the artists, please feel free to do so in the comments section. I believe in credit where credit is due, so don't let them languish in anonymity if you can shed any light on the matter. It would be nice to see these old strips given justice by being relettered and coloured up for a contemporary audience. Who knows? Maybe it'll happen one day.
I've scanned the images at quite a high resolution, so click on any of them to enlarge, then click again for optimum size. That way you'll be able to appreciate them the way they deserve to be. At only two issues, the title may have been a failure, but you have to admit that it was literally a Valiant attempt.
10 comments:
I have the first issue of Valiant Story Of The West, and I've long thought it was an English translation of the Italian series Storia Del West, created and written by Gino D'Antonio.
Your post prompted me to go looking, and I found a French translation of the first volume of the series on Amazon France. Since it says that book one stars Brett MacDonald, and a Brett features in at least one of the pages you posted, then I think that makes it certain that Story Of The West is by Gino D'Antonio.
According to Wikipedia, Bonelli did some of the art on the series, with contributions from other artists including Renzo Calegari and Renato Polese. I'd assume he drew the early episodes himself, but since this comment is based on a half-remembered title and some basic internet research, I've no way of knowing for sure.
David Simpson
Thanks for the interesting information, David - and for taking the time to share it with others. Those who are interested in further exploring the subject will now be able to do so.
According to an interview with the artist in #23 of "Comic Art" (a long-running Italian comics magazine), Alberto Giolitti says he drew "La storia del west" for IPC in the 1960s, so unless there was another story that fitted then it would seem that he may have had a hand in this too.
Interesting. Thanks for the info, Idstone.
No problem, Kid. Weirdly, he refers to it as being a "prehistoric" story and references his work on Turok as being similar to it. I can't find any other story with a similar name that IPC were putting out at the time that matches, so perhaps he just meant to highlight the similarities between his work on Turok's Native American characters and those in Story of the West?
There may also be some nuance lost in my translation of the article!
Or perhaps he was mixing up one story with another? An easy thing to do years after the fact.
Quite possible! The interview was in 1986, some 20 years after the fact. I'm working on something about Giolitti just now, so I will try and get a better translation at some point.
I'll look forward to it.
It is "La Storia del West", a series written by Gino D'Antonio. Both pages are from the first issue (in Italy "Verso l'ignoto", 96 pages, pencilled by D'Antonio & Renzo Calegari).
But the first italian publication was in June 1967. The Fleetway pubblication come before the italian one.
In Italy the series lasted 75 issues.
Link - http://www.sergiobonelli.it/news/the-60s/18318/Storia-del-West.html
Thanks for the info. It's all interesting stuff.
Post a Comment