ALL POINTS BULLETIN: The ZINE cartoonists missing in action… Can you help find them? #5: Dr Adolf Steg
We’re onto part five of the ‘where are they now?’ quest for former cartoonists on The ZINE/Charlotte’s Mag – this time round it’s Dr Adolf Steg.
I know next to nothing about Thee Doktor, except I recall that he (or perhaps even she) was somewhat prolific – loads of his (slash her) stuff piled up in the internment cell at ZINE Towers waiting for publication.
I’m not sure Dr Steg’s artwork needs much describing… Perhaps it would be best to republish Adolf’s own words, as appended to the Jamie Smart post:
I loved contributing to the zine. I still create art in all formats and give it away for free. I also create street art and produce artwork for all sorts of underground people. The mainstream is a piece of shit.
Take it away, Dok!
CLICKEN to EMBIGGEN kthxbai.
ALL POINTS BULLETIN: The ZINE cartoonists missing in action… Can you help find them? #4: Andrew Gawne
A recap: on the former Charlotte’s Mag/The ZINE cartoonist front, we’ve established that Jamie Smart went onto become a hugely successful artist on The Dandy, and that Joseph Champniss pursued comedy. We have not heard anything about Matt Saw or Alex Mason – if you know anything, please do get in touch!
Next up: Andrew Gawne. Now, I only recall him doing one strip – ‘Shit Happens’ – which unfolded across issues 9 and 10 of The ZINE. I did rather like his style, and his mix of media. I knew nothing of him then and I know nothing of him now.
My research throws up five Andrew Gawnes across the UK who might possibly be him: in Derbyshire, West London, the Isle of Man and Birmingham, plus an Andrew G Gawne, location unknown.
But enough of the stalky talky, and onto the piccy-wiccies…
As per normal, CLICKEN to EMBIGGEN.
ALL POINTS BULLETIN: The ZINE cartoonists missing in action… Can you help find them? #3: Joseph Champniss
Talk about synchronicity. Since first posting about The ZINE – which provided an early outlet for many talented cartoonists, including The Dandy‘s Jamie Smart, Matt Saw and Alex Mason – the artist I was planning on next mentioning has been (tangentially) mentioned in relation to the big British news story of the moment. So to Joseph Champniss.
In Charlotte’s Mag and The ZINE, Champniss specialised in these beautiful, almost puppet-headed caricatures of musicians, which he used to great effect in slightly unhinged biopic strips that were four-fifths feverish imagination, 15% teen bile and the rest back-of-a-fag-packet facts – in contrast to the hideously anodyne examples of the form that had previously filled the pages of Look-In, TV Tops and the like. It wasn’t just the likes of Zappa, The Smiths or Pink Floyd that were rendered in the Champniss way.
He also illustrated articles by others, including a delicious one on the nexus of tabloid papers and the royal family (which resonates rather well in the wake of the recent Prince Harry/Duchess of Cambridge furores); and his own strip ‘Verity’s Point’ demonstrated that he could easily handle the long form as well – and in painted colour as well as black line (with a lovely ‘3D’ sequence thrown in for good measure).
I never met Champniss, but The ZINE‘s editor Bo spoke glowingly of him and his talent. It wasn’t until the early 00s that I came across him again. This time it was via the Some Of The Corpses Are Amusing website he was involved in. Devoted to television comedy, SOTCAA – along with Glebe’s Thrift Funnel, Cook’d And Bomb’d and Off The Telly – was a fine way to while away the hours whilst the boss was out of the office. It was particularly good on why channel controllers were often the very worst people to have in positions of authority when it came to deciding what was funny enough to end up on television. I would imagine that this line of thinking made the young Champniss a philosophical confederate of Lee & Herring, whose own TV careers came to an abrupt halt when (despite decent ratings and a firm following) they came up against the likes of Jane Root. However the hook-up came to be, Champniss notched up his one and currently only IMDb credit through his L&H connection, with art department work on This Morning With Richard Not Judy.
Since then, though, I had heard not a jot. I know that there is a SOTCAA Twitter account, but whether that is Champniss or his oppo Mike Scott, I knew not. Then, whilst I was in the process of putting together this serious of blog posts on former ZINE artists, the Jimmy Savile child abuse thing blows up (overseas readers: find out more here). A somewhat plausible (yet also clearly faked) transcript of outtakes from an episode of topical comedy show Have I Got News For You supposedly recorded back in the 1990s, featuring an angry Paul Merton berating guest panelist Jimmy Savile in relation to underage sex, resurfaced, after years of floating around the interwebs. It had of course been cooked up on SOTCAA. However, only today did I discover the full story behind it, thanks to an excellent blog post about it by John Fleming, which features Champniss’ own account.
(On a related note, Pat Mills was only today talking about who inspired his hyper-sadistic character Torquemada.)
Anyway, so at least we have established that Champniss is still around! Let’s see some pics…
You know the score: CLICKEN to EMBIGGEN. For more Champniss delights, check the archive at SOTCAA.
ALL POINTS BULLETIN: The ZINE cartoonists missing in action… Can you help find them? #2: Alex Mason
Following on from the last post, about former The ZINE art monkey Matt Saw, this time it’s the turn of prolific cartoonist Alex Mason.
As Dandy artist Jamie Smart noted on Twitter, he was “heavily featured” in The ZINE, and “AMAZING” (yes, I know I am milking a very brief twexchange – but dagnammit, these are talented people we’re trying to trace, and every little helps!) – yet I’ve neither seen nor heard of his work since 1994, when the mag closed.
So if you know Alex Mason, know about Alex Mason, or indeed are Alex Mason, please do get in touch – either through the comments section or by emailing your estimable blog editor, Cap’n KRS.
Avast!
As ever – CLICKEN to EMBIGGEN!
ALL POINTS BULLETIN: The ZINE cartoonists missing in action… Can you help find them? #1: Matt Saw
Right, so we’ve got the introductory post about The ZINE out of the way, you’ve been hooked by the early Jamie Smart art work – now onto part two: locating all those very talented ZINE artists who just seemed to disappear…
First up: Matt Saw.
His cheeky little scrawl was all over The ZINE – big eyed wee characters, often facing some kind of trouble. Great fun!
But where are you, Matt? Did you keep the creative juices flowing? Let us know!
IF you know anything about Mr Saw’s subsequent trajectory – or indeed if you are Matt himself – please do get in touch, either through the comments below or by dropping an email to Cap’n KRS.
For the meantime, here’s some top Matt Saw artwork for y’all to enjoy (clicken to embiggen)…
Oh lawks, it's... 