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Joe Colquhoun full interview

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This is the only interview i think that Joe ever did. It appeared in the Fantasy Express fanzine by Dez Skin and it appears here courtesy to him The interviewer is Stephen Oldman
My undying gratitude for being able to bring you this interview goes to Jim Crossdale who was the only person who made it possible, thanks a million Jim.

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Joe at work in 82

Joe Colquhoun pronounced co-houn is perhaps the ultimate British comic artist. His career has covered the period from the first boom in adventure comic strips in the early 50s to the present day yet is not till recently when credit lines were added to battle that he was able to gain proper recognition for his work. For the past 30 years he has been working solidly producing strips of the highest quality across the entire range of juvenile adventure. Though he has suffered the anonymity of all British comic artists there can be few who are not familiar with his work be it on football family Robertson, saga, zip Nolan and many others he is currently working with writer pat mills on what is regarded as his best work to date Charley’s war for battle Colquhoun is a true professional, he is held in high esteem by his peers, the staff at pick and all the young lads who write in to the comic every week praising his work. The following interview with Joe was conducted in 1982. The interviewer is Stephen oldman

 

How did you enter the comic’s field?

 

Id always wanted to draw even as a kid id always wanted to be a comic artist ever since I was old enough to pick up a pencil so of course I spent a lot of my early life drawing alone. I drew in an old ledge book , I would draw stories just make them up mainly in the adventure line- desert island stuff, war, I suppose its stood me in good stead for what was to come I was brought up on the usual diet most kids were then comic cuts the truepenny bloods  magnet champion triumph wizard Hotspur which were all written stories and well written for what you paid with one off illustrations I always remember a chap ailed Simons in loin and a Chapman in triumph who stood out to me as very good artists kids who could draw were often lionised at school and one got a false sense of ones capabilities at the time because there was no competition.

 

Though I was into comic strip in a minor form it was never really my intention to be an artist The war was on the horizon anyway and we did not think much about the future to be honest, I got a place at Kingston-upon Thames art school about halfway through the war, I did a stint there and then joined the navy, which I was in till 1947 when I went back to Kingston and did a more prolonged course in book illustration this knocked the rough edges and crudities from my work I still had a hankering after the comic strip field but it was very limiting at the time eagle had just come out but at my present state of development I knew I hadn’t a hope of getting in there then suddenly I saw an advert in a trade magazine to send sample for a new project publishing independent comics and I jumped at this with alacrity I met with a couple of ex-gi's who seemed pleased with the samples I had from art school though as I later found out from the fees they paid they’d be lucky to get anybody. They paid the princely sums of 1.50 a page our work was crude and rushed it had to be the printing was atrocious and although we had a foothold in the market wed rarely see our work in print the very first publication I saw my own work in gave me the most euphoric feeling I ever had its like riding a bike or having your first woman I guess never to be repeated. We were doing just one-off stories covering war space sport very American orientated very well written all done by the yanks I was there 7 8 months and certainly never earned a fortune though I did learn speed and a certain amount of slickness the general consensus was that this outfit was going anywhere and it was ages that I hadn’t been paid- id just got married and thing were pretty grim with nothing to lose I managed to get an interview with the editor of eagle I managed to show him what I could salvage fro nth Americans and although he was very compassionate it obviously wasn’t quite what they were looking for he said why don’t you go across to amalgamated press? they’ve just started a comic called lion I saw a nice chap there, lion was a little more downmarket than eagle he mentioned about artists writing scripts as well I said of course I do that as well (in truth id never done any in my life) his ears pricked up and sent me away to write a n adventure strip, unfortunately with me being influenced by the us thing I wrote a story set in the pacific which had a very illogical beginning which then rambled on and on into a very chaotic climax- they were unimpressed we thrashed it out and they condensed it down to a half decent four page story then they promptly relegated me to working on champion which was still mainly written stories they did have a two page spread and they got me to write and draw this two page epic called legionaries terry desert war which was all very much my own war with very little influence from interference from anyone and it became very much the backbone of my writing of scripts

 

How did the Script writer/Artist arrangement work in pracatice? 

 

Well just for the record the first four instalments of Roy of the rover were written by frank s Pepper, but I suppose 'pop' was getting on a bit and just couldn’t cope so I was asked to carry on the series which I wasn’t too happy about to be honest as I knew damn-all about soccer, but they said they would help with the technical detail and strategies etc. I remember we had lots of story conferences with me going up to the office time after time dry mouthed it wasn’t a very happy time at all to be honest. Apart from the first four instalments and up to the end of my first five year stint drawing Roy of the Rovers I only wrote the scripts for the artwork that I did. I never wrote scripts for any other artist, I consider myself an artist first and foremost. Writing was a happy expedient to get into A>P with but writing never came easily for me. They seemed to like it though, although as time went on a hell of a lot seemed to get edited out and I got more and more frustrated so that in the end I eventually just hurled the typewriting in.

 

How were the Payments arranged? 

 

Although writing didn’t come easily it took a lot less time. Compared to drawing three full pages of Roy of the Rovers the script certainly took far less time. The ratio of pay was less but I think it was about right per hours work

 

In those days who were your artistic influences? 

 

The artist who was the most influential in those days was good old Alex Raymond of 'Rip Kirby' fame. His distinctive style, his ratio of black to white, his economy, his minimum of cross-hatching he was the quintessence of what I would be happy to emulate and his influence stayed with me such a very long time until I eventually developed my own style. If his influence was still visible in my stuff id be bloody happy.

 

Have the changes and reconstruction of  IPC/Fleetway affected you at all?

 

The two or three times, I can’t recall exactly whether it was the changes from AP to IPC or Fleetway to IPC and there have been several changes in the hierarchy but a few good heads have rolled from time to time. This was very disconcerting. The changes affected me adversely initially. Though in the end I came off better financially. At the time of the change from AP to Fleetway, a lot of strange new faces appeared in the editorials and caused upheaval in an attempt to modernise and update what were becoming rather pedestrian publications. As freelancers we worked in varying degrees. Far away from the office and didn’t know what the hell was going on. I at the time was working on 'paddy Payne' for my second or third year and I never realised anything was in the offing until suddenly I was told to delay my last wok and stop the instalment I was doing, and that was it. No explanation- I was out of work!  Finally what we were told due to reconstruction of lion and tiger they were calling in as trouble shooters a lot of continental artists I presume the new regime thought these guys a lot slicker and technically superior to us and possibly they were, though ultimately I was returned to Paddy Payne! With a slight increase in the fee. It caused a fair amount of resentment amongst the British guys. We thought they were pretty good but they didn’t seem to offer much more than we were able to supply and they were being paid less. The rate of exchange being favourable to me at the time. Thereafter I felt pretty insecure I was shaken out of my complacency. It has never occurred in that degree since- though ive had other upsets. Though those new faces never intentionally did the dirty to me they weren’t adverse to insisting I drop a steady job, case in point- 'the football family Robinson' which I really enjoyed they asked me to drop that and pilot a great new project and in time this great new story would be shelved indefinitely. There I was no job, and no apology. In the end I made my feelings known, I told them; this is bloody ridiculous, this is jeopardizing my career! I came up to a good agreement with them but no contract. They never signed any contract since then though ive never had any trouble.

 

How do you view the realism of Roy of the Rovers today?

 

I must admit i haven't kept up with roy of the rovers over the years, but i believe it was Harris tomlinson who was editor until recently was responsible for pushing Roy into a realistic and sophisticated level. Barrie did a lot to liven up the storyline but i don't think it would hold much sway with the average reader i have an open mind about it, it wouldn't have been allowed to happen in my day, due to the policy at the time.

 

Were you submitted to a lot of editorial pressures

 

Yes, we were really limited, a lot of it was sub-edited. Perhaps they played down to the readers too much then or they play up too high to the readers now perhaps compromise is the thing i got awfully frustrated because i think its extremely difficult for an adult writer to relate to the mind of a youngster at that time there was an almost boarding school, monastic mentality at the time with this strict censoring. You were never allowed to mention women!  One time i managed to bring in Roys landlady and even that was suspect its unbelievable in this day and age but that's just how it was.

 

Have the weekly schedules caused you many problems?

 

From the beginning yes; serialisation is one of the worlds worst ways to make a living. Deadlines and pressure become pretty punintive from time to time. The worst is trying to get ahead for a holiday, and up comes bloody easter and the office are on the phone saying you have to gain four days. When your working six to seven days a week its nearly impossible, but you do it somehow. There were periods when i was a bit more ambitious, or needed to earn a bit more money, that i took on the annual jobs as well, and even though you could be more slapdash, it ws still very much a dash. I now try to take on as little work as possible and still remain solvent i try to work monday to friday 9am to 6pm, but it all depends. If there a cast of thousands are in Charley, or the 15th ablutions are going over the top it can take a hell of a lot longer.

 

Does your attitude to the work change with each job you do? 

 

 

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I can say with a certain amount of satisfaction that ive done the very best in every job ive done. You know theres a readership out there somewhere do you not want to do the best you can as personal pride, do well and so justify your wages. Of course- bad scripts have a very depressing effect I feel happier if I know I have a rapport with the author, even if I have never met the guy. The time when I was least interested in my own work was when I was on Buster. I enjoyed Zarga very much but it was relatively short-lived I was then relegated to childish material such as 'The ski-board squad' and 'the runaway Robinsons' a little orphan Annie type thing which wasn’t my thing, it wasn’t the authors fault it just wasn’t my scene at all.

I think ive always put more into my work than my colleagues; they are wise and have learnt the economy of line. Omission is always more difficult than over working, I think my main failing is that I put in everything AND the kitchen sink. Most of it gets lost in the printing as well so in effect its a waste of time, and as time is money in this game im a bit of a mug really, but the leopard cannot change it's spots.

 

You obviously put a lot of time into your colour strips, a football family Robinson and kid chameleon, would you like to do more?

 

I really enjoyed the colour work in a lot of ways it’s a lot more fulfilling than black and white the next best thing is line and wash which I was able to do for a fair while when I was a t lion because of the litho printing. with letterpress it’s a very limited medium , with the cross hatch and the moulding, im not as happy with that as I am with the colour wash and colour techniques but it is the old story of economics again. If there was an opportunity to go back to colour work I would still like to do it, but only if they paid a greater amount of money for the work and skill it requires.

 

Do you have a lot of trouble getting work if say you get bored of the strip you are working on?

 

Since ive worked on Battle ive found I have no desire to leave but I must say I found the attitude of the editors pretty prevalent when I was on Roy of the rovers around that period, I found Roy a boring subject not being a fan of football after five years of drawing hairy arsed footballers tearing left right and centre that got me down a bit.. I wanted paddy Payne in lion a lot and it took me a hell of a long time to get off of Roy. The ploy was ‘we cant get no one to do it’ But if it had to come to the crunch they would have got another bloke in five seconds flat. I’m sure of it. In fact when I insisted I wanted out they found someone. They did it successfully as far as I could see; the harder thing was making someone leave the slot you wanted. This was a much bigger problem than the interest of editors. The inertia did exist around the late fifties to mid sixties there definitely seemed a conspiracy of editors who tried to keep you on the same slot if it was successful. This happened on buster and it took a lot of wangling to get work on Battle.

 

Was your agent helpful?

 

To be honest I have never had one, as they take 20 percent of ones earnings which is a fair old slice after tax and national insurance

 

In the sixties your work was published along side the greats Eric Bradbury, Mike Western and Geoff Champion were you aware of them?

No, because up to very recently IPC insisted on absolute anonymity, I mean even if you signed at the bottom of the page because of sheer pride in your work they whited it out. We were anonymous until recently when battle put the credits up; I gradually got to know who the various artists were, if only by reputation and formed a few opinions. I wasn’t familiar with westerns work in the sixties, but Bradbury Lawrence and champion I thought were excellent. Campions work has fallen off recently and I hate to say that but it may be he’s been ill, or he’s getting on a bit.

 

What about the newer artists.

 

I never seem to get time to read the other publications although im very aware of Cam Kennedy's stuff which is really really top notch. With one exception, he tends to leave backgrounds very vacant, but I love his presentation is superb, his detailed well researched drawings of war material is spot on, to my mind, and he’s a damn good figure draughtsman, theres a very good action and attitude about his figures they could almost be stills from a film.

How about the Europeans?

 

I’m not familiar with any of them apart from Equerry, who has a strong gritty type of style that doesn’t appeal to me personally, I can see very well why he has a following it’s a unique style he has there.

 

You’ve worked on many scripts are there any you would have liked to have done more on?

 

That’s easy, football family Robinsons was cut off in its prime, even though it was football it was done with tongue in cheek ribald humour and offered some good characterized of the whole family. The saneness of it really plus it had a good author – tom Tully  another was capn cods mouth my first ever slapstick comedy strip that I was quite pleased with actually, also I wrote the script which was the first id done since I packed in Roy. It was cut off in its prime I think, the only other one is saga, and the rest I think had reached saturation point and im happy to move on

 

Obviously you have a leaning toward humour have you a favourite humour artist that appeals to you?

 

Yes Nobly Clark who drew in tiger I also believe he did do butlers diary, he had a smooth clean, flowing line and drew amiable little characters but also drew stunning little dolly birds when they were allowed, the other characters he did was wild bill hiccup, and a ww2 pilot in the Luftwaffe called mealy Schmidt I thought he was an absolute scream. I would like to do more humour work, I like Charley’s war but it can be a sombre subject and doing it seven days a week can be a little depressing. It would be nice if I could find the time to do another capn codsmnouth or the goodies to relieve the tension once in a while.

 

Charley’s war is considered by it s fans and professionals in the business to be the best strip in Britain at the moment, how do you feel about that?

 

First of all let me say how flattered and surprised I am that its been talked about like that by so many upmarket intellectuals, I was astounded when one learned professor said it stands equal with all quiet on the western front as a social document.’ That seems a bit high flying for me to be honest but im beginning to understand it in a way. I think that’s due to the inspiration and dedication of Pat Mills which I think has really rubbed off on me. I don’t want to let him down and again im very interested in the subject even though it can depress me and is very emotive. In particular the sequence at the end of the Somme you will find it hard to believe but re-reading that I was almost in tears. Just shows you how involved you can get. When I was first asked by the editor during Johnny red to take on Charley’s war, I said ‘my god how can you take as something as static and non-moving as trench warfare and make any kind of subject matter for a script? And Dave Hunt (editor at the time) said don’t worry we’ve got a great author he'll pull it through id never met Pat or knew of him, I was still very sceptical but as it developed I began to realise we were really onto something, it seemed to catch on. I’ve been very dedicated to the detail in the trenches and most of the stories are actual factual history, which leads to a certain amount of authenticity that’s lacking in the more blood and gut s ww2 stories. Finally, and this is only my own opinion, it illustrates a period that was already dying then-a time when words like honour and duty and patriotism actually meant something, I believe that kids today when reading this epoch, will have a sneaking almost atavistic feeling that in this sick and rather selfish world where violence and amorality seem to pay dividends, they might actually be missing out on something. It sounds very pretentious, but just think about it.’

 

How do see charley developing?

 

Its really up to Pat , I think the best has gone though- the Somme sequence had the greatest impact, and were now on the greater horrors of paschcendale after that there’s 1918 and the armistice however I think Pat may pull something out of his tin hat.

 

Since the sixties there’s been a steady decline in the number of publications why do you think that is?

 

I would think or rather guess the decline is due to A/ the ever increasing costs of publication, B/ inept management by releasing things at the wrong time without the proper market research, C/ also some started to repeat stuff and duplicate subject matter a case to prove that Lion and Tiger, companion papers came to prove that in a way, they survived together long time.

 

 

One question I meant to ask earlier I’ve never seen any science fiction work by you would you like to work on 2000ad?

 

No, not that ive studied it greatly, this seems to imply awful indifference its not its just lack of time in which to study these things- I don’t think id be creative enough for some things not enough to draw the weird and wonderful situations characters in these stylised stories, not by any means I prefer things like Charley’s war and Johnny red, where there’s easily obtainable reference material!

 

Before you wrote the profile for Dez Skins fantasy express were you aware of fandom?

 

I had absolutely no idea before dez skins profile and I was quite intrigued by it, however before you contacted me I had no idea whatsoever of any other fanzines apart from his, I assumed there had to be some around at some point or other but no idea whatsoever whether they were limited or extensive

 

Do you think fandom is useful anyway?

 

It serves as a recruiting ground, and a good training ground for up and coming artist who turn professional I don’t know how developed it is in this country I must admit im glad to see that FE is geared towards the British market. From my point of view and im sure im not alone amongst British artists when I say that its helpful being in touch with chaps like you because it’s a kind of barometer as to what is happening, the current trends and the general gossip in this particular trade. I for one don’t get information from any other source in particular the office its like getting blood from a stone they are always so busy.

 

How do you see your own future?

 

In these uncertain times I really don’t delve too deeply into the future, being self-employed offers very little security even in this welfare state, You get no pension other than the basic one, even you’ve paid high earnings related insurance. You get no fat golden handshake when we decide to hang up our brushes. Finally after 30 years of concentrated comic work I have no desire to continue for another 15 years which is about all ive got left in active life. I think the ideal way to bow out is to gradually reduce my output of work and enjoy a steady increase in my leisure time till my official retirement age.

 

And how do you see British comics developing.

 

If costs can be kept at a reasonable level; and inflation don’t go out of hand I would hazard a pessimistic guess they will stay exactly the same story content and layout. I’ve got this feeling comics have passed their heyday and will never be as prolific ever again. In an ideal world id like to see some more vigorous companies take up the challenge like eagle did in the fifties. Id like to see another batch of publications challenge the stagnation. Lots of full colour work, good artists, good writers with an abandonment of letterpress which ive been particularly restricted by, in favour of photo litho, and on that note here endeth the first lessons…

 

Thanks for the interview especially as you are so busy on Charley’s war

 

Thanks for your interest.

 

 

Joe Colquhoun 1982

This site is an unnoficial site, not connected with the artist or writer or owners of the material. This site is non-profit and all the material ive used remains, of course, the property of Titan publishing and appears courtesy of them. Everything else in written form is by Neil Emery and belongs to ME. Everybody's copyright remains intact.