Mick Anglo, British comic book writer and artist, creator of Marvelman, died he was 95.

Michael "Mick" Anglo ^[2][3] was a British comic book writer, editor and artist, as well as an author. He is best known for creating the superhero Marvelman, later known as Miracleman.

(born Maurice Anglowitz, 19 June 1916 – 31 October 2011)

Biography

Born in Bow, London, Mick Anglo was educated at the Central Foundation School and John Cass Art School, both in London.^[2] On leaving school he freelanced in fashion and commercial art until 1939, and first drew cartoons for SEAC, the official army newspaper for South East Asia Command in 1942,^[2] then for newspapers in Singapore in 1945.^[4] After completing his National Service, he became an author for a small publishing company, Martin and Reid, producing westerns, romance books and crime thrillers with titles such as "Guns & Gamblers", "My Gun Speaks For Me"/"Muscles For Hire" (1951), and "Broadway Glamour", under the pen-name Johnny Dekker.^[2][5] He also drew a small number of short humorous comic strips for the publisher John Matthew during 1946, and for two other companies, Rayburn and A. Solway in 1948.^[6] After illustrating the book jacket for one of his own novels, Martin and Reid suggested he developed strips for their comics line, and he worked on their comics imprint between 1948 and 1950; editing the line and writing and drawing western, adventure and science fiction strips and titles.^[2] He also produced a number of one-off stories contemporaneously with his Martin and Reid work for Paget Publications, one of the smaller British comics imprints of the day; producing short run, often single issue, titles containing a number of stories.^[6] Although contributing mainly short humor strips, Anglo's creations for Paget Publications included an early British superhero, Wonderman,^[7] who appeared for 24 issues in his own title from 1948-1951.^[6]
Between 1950-1952 Anglo produced a number of strips for publisher Arnold Miller's ^[8] Arnold Book Company, on stories such as "Captain Valiant" (in Space Comics) and "Ace Malloy of the Special Squadron", while concurrently producing Space Commando Comics, featuring "Space Commander Kerry," for L. Miller and Son,^[2] a major British comics company run by Arnold Miller's father, Leonard Miller^[9] and still writing novels for Martin and Reid. Early in 1954 Anglo opened his own comics production company, Gower Studios, in Gower Street, London. As "an old school editorial packager",^[10] Anglo's studio created "packets" for various publishers, usually comprising the entire content of a publication; and Mick Anglo Limited was incorporated on 21 Aug. 1954 for the purpose of Artistic and literary creation.^[11] Anglo and his staff of British artists, including Don Lawrence (who was given his first break in drawing comics by Anglo),^[12] Bob Monkhouse, Denis Gifford, Ron Embleton and George Stokes,^[13] had a hand in the creation of many British independent comic books and magazines between 1954 and 1963. "I employed a pretty large staff of freelancers: scriptwriters and artists. Most of the artists had just come out of the Forces, and were looking for something to do".^[14]
In 1954 Anglo created the character he is best known for, Marvelman. Since the mid-1940s L. Miller and Son had successfully reprinted American comic book company Fawcett Comics' Captain Marvel, Mary Marvel, and Captain Marvel Jr stories in the U.K. However, in 1953 Fawcett were party to a protracted lawsuit brought by National Comics (now DC Comics) claiming plagiarism of their Superman character.^{[citation needed]} Fawcett cancelled their Captain Marvel titles, leaving Leonard Miller without reprint material for their best-selling British titles. Miller approached Mick Anglo to create an replacement; "One day Leonard Miller phoned and said he wanted to see me urgently. His supply of the American material for the Captain Marvel series had suddenly been cut off. Had I any ideas? ... So I quickly told him I had plenty of ideas, and for my trouble I received a regular supply of work for the next six years."^[13][15] Anglo replaced the Captain Marvel family with almost identical characters, Marvelman, Young Marvelman, and Kid Marvelman. In the six years between the relaunch of Captain Marvel Adventures as Marvelman from issue #25 (February 3, 1954)^[16] and Anglo leaving L. Miller in 1960, he was responsible for scripting 736 issues of Marvelman, Marvelman Family and Young Marvelman^[17] the "best-loved and best-known British superhero"^[15] and the longest-running British superhero.^[18] Gaining further mileage from the Marvelman material, in 1954 Anglo wrote one issue of Captain Universe^[19] for Arnold Books, a near-identical character to Captain Marvel and Marvelman.^[20]
As well as the Marvelman family of titles, in the mid-1950s Anglo took over a number of L. Miller's established American reprint titles, continuing the series Jim Bowie, Annie Oakley, and Davy Crockett utilising both the English artists from his studios and a number of Spanish artists. In 1960 Anglo left Miller and the Marvelman and Young Marvelman titles went into reprint soon after for the last three years of their runs.^{[citation needed]} He set up his own Anglo Comics imprint title from Gower Studios, launching Captain Miracle,^[21] a title which utilised Marvelman reprints with changes to the artwork; Battle, Gunhawks Western and TV Features, the last of which contained reprints of material produced by the Studio for L. Miller. None of the titles lasted more than 10 monthly issues between October 1960 and June 1961;^[6] after which Anglo Comics folded. Anglo next adapted three stories by Edgar Allan Poe, Oscar Wilde and Wilkie Collins for the British Classics Illustrated imprint of publishers Thorpe and Porter, a company for which he also devised a number of 68-page hardback annuals based on television series The Avengers, Charles Rand, and Danger Man.
During 1965-1966, Anglo produced thirteen issues of Miracle Man^[22] for Top Sellers publishers - a further revamp of the Captain Miracle stories from 1960, which had in turn been altered Marvelman stories.^[23] Also in 1966, Anglo was approached by John Spencer & Co, a company that had produced crime and western books since the 1940s, latterly under the sobriquet Badger Books, to launch a series of comics. Four titles appeared in 1966, Fantasy Stories, Macabre Stories, Spectre Stories and Strange Stories, featuring, among other stories, a number of reworked strips by Gower Studios artists Ron Embleton and Bill Merrill, Spaceman (originally produced for Gould/Norman Light Publishing). With low production values, the John Spencer titles were not a success, and all folded within the year after six issues.^[24][25]
During 1967 Anglo edited City Magazines Ltd's TV series-based weekly comic TV Tornado, and contributed the short-run strips Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea and Green Hornet, before returning to Top Sellers and packaging reprints of DC Comics material, including Superman, Wonder Woman and the Batman newspaper strip, for their Super DC anthology series in 1969/1970.^[14] Anglo then worked on the weekly Look & Cook magazine in the late 1960s,^[26] co-wrote a small number of cookery books, and was a joke writer for comedian Tommy Cooper.^[2] He has also written a series of nostalgic books looking back at the decades from the 1930s-1950s, with a companion duo of quiz books, a book about Victorian magazines, "Penny Dreadfuls and other Victorian Horrors", and one on cannibalism, "Man Eats Man: The Story of Cannibalism", together with a small number of stories or features for Fleetway/IPC's war comics output between 1979–1983,^[2] before retiring during the 1980s.

Marvelman/Miracleman revivals

Anglo had little to do with the revival of the Marvelman character in 1982 by Alan Moore for Quality Communications. Dez Skinn, the editor of Warrior, in which the revived series appeared, said "He wasn't crazy about our revamp, but he really didn't care either way."^[10] Eventually the Marvelman revival was terminated after legal threats from Marvel Comics over Quality Communications Marvelman Special (June 1984), which was composed of Marvelman reprints from the L. Miller days, and Eclipse Comics publishing of the stories, renamed Miracleman, for the American market. The character became "mired in a legal quagmire"^[27] for 25 years, preventing further reprint or new character development opportunities. The situation was not helped by ownership doubts, not clarified by Anglo's contractual relationship to L. Miller and Son and their status as a company.^[28]
Eventually, in 2009, Marvel Comics purchased the rights to Marvelman from Mick Anglo, together with the rights for the 1980s Miracleman revival.^[29][30] having established that Anglo owned the rights to the character.^[31] Alan Moore is on record as saying that "I'm very happy for this book to get published — because that means money will finally go to Marvelman’s creator, Mick Anglo, and to his wife ... The main thing is that I will feel happy to know that Mick Anglo is finally getting the recompense he so richly deserves."^[32]
Marvel Comics press release at the time quoted Marvel CEO and publisher Dan Buckley as saying "It is an honor to work with Mick Anglo to bring his creation to a larger audience than ever before."^[33] The press release quotes Mick Anglo as saying, "I did not think it would ever happen. It's a wonderful thing to see my creation finally back."^[33] Marvel have since announced that the first release of Marvelman material under their imprint is Marvelman Classic Primer #1 in June 2010, featuring an interview with Mick Anglo at 93, and a cover drawn by him; which will be followed by reprints of the L. Miller Marvelman stories in chronological order.^{[citation needed]}

Bibliography

Comics

The following is an incomplete list of those stories/comics known to have been written, drawn or edited by Mick Anglo:

• "Ace High" (The Sheriff and Elmo's Own #2, Screen Stories Publications, 1949)
• "Ace High, Special Investigator" (Merry-Go-Round #5, Martin and Reid, 1947)
• "Ace Malloy of the Special Squadron" #50-65? (Arnold Books, 1950-1952?)
• "Alfie the Elfin" (Paget's Bumper Tot's Comic, Paget Publications, 1950)
• "Andy the Office Boy" (Jolly Chuckles #6, Martin and Reid, 1948)
• "Arresto" (Happy Yank #1, Rayburn 1948)
• The Avengers (Thorpe and Porter, 1966) 68 page TV tie-in annual
• "Barney Clouter" (Happy Yank #1, Rayburn 1948)
• Battle #1-9 (Anglo Features, Nov 1960-July 1961)
• "Bilbo" (All-Fun Comics v6#3, Soloway, 1948)
• "Boyo" (Paget's Spree Comics, Paget Publications, 1948)
• "Brace Morgan" (The Pioneer Western Comic, Wyndham House, 1950)
• "Buffalo Bill" (The Pioneer Western Comic, Wyndham House, 1950)
• "The Candy Kid" (Squibs Fun Comic, Martin and Reid, 1949)
• "The Canterville Ghost" (Classics Illustrated #150, UK Edition, 1962) adaptation of Oscar Wilde story
• "Cap'n Scamp and Flamper" (The Comic Wonder #2, Paget Publications, 1948) (reprinted in The Pagent Pinnacle Comic, Paget Publications 1949)
• "Captain Justice" (Dynamic, Paget Publications, 1949)
• "Captain Miracle"^[21] #1-9 (Anglo Comics, 1960–1961) editor/artist (redrawn Marvelman stories)
• "Captain Savage" (The Windjammer, Martin and Reid, 1950)
• Captain Zenith^[34] (Martin and Reid, 1950) editor/artist
• Cartoon Capers Comic (Martin and Reid, 1949) editor/artist
• "Charles Cole's Magic Chalks"^[35] (Captain Zenith, Martin and Reid, 1950) (Power Comic, Martin and Reid, 1950)
• Charles Rand^[36] (Thorpe and Porter, 1966) 68 page TV tie-in annual
• "Chuck Chance" (Power Comics, Martin and Reid, 1950)
• "Colonel Braggs" (The Paget Plus Comic, Paget Publications, 1948)
• "Colonel Jodhpur" (Merry-Go-Round #5, 1947, Martin and Reid)
• The Comic Ledger (Martin and Reid, 1949) editor/artist
• "Crackey" (Merry-Go-Round #5, Martin and Reid, 1947)
• "Dan Druff" (The Paget Pageant Comic, Paget Publications, 1948) (The Paget Prince of Comics, Paget Publications, 1949)
• "Danger Inc" (Jolly Adventures #4, Martin and Reid, 1948)
• Danger Man (Thorpe and Porter, 1966) 68 page TV tie-in annual
• "The Dangermen" (Battle Picture Weekly 15 Sept.1979-?, Fleetway/IPC)
• Davy Crockett #1-50 (L. Miller, 1956–1960)
• "The Dead Men of Calais" (Battle Picture Library #1583, Fleetway/IPC, 1983)
• "Dick and Flick" (Funny Tuppence #2, John Matthew, 1947)
• "Doc Quacker" (The Comic Ledger, Martin and Reid, 1949)
• "Dr. Knewall (Happy Yank #1, Rayburn, 1948)
• Fantasy Stories 1-6? (John Spencer, 1966) editor/artist
• "Fido" (The Paget Prince of Comics, Paget Publications, 1949)
• "Frosh" (The Comic Wonder #7, Paget Publications, 1949)
• "Froshy" (Amazing Comics, Modern Fiction, 1949)
• "Fun and Larks at St. Narks" (The Premier #5, Paget Publications, 1948)
• The Funfair Comic (Martin and Reid, 1949) editor/artist
• The Funstar Comic (Martin and Reid, 1949) editor/artist
• "Gail Garrity" (Dynamic, Paget Publications, 1949) (Oh Boy! and Wonderman #22, Paget Publications, 1951)
• "Glup" (The Premier #7, Paget Publications, 1948)
• "The Gold Bug" (Classics Illustrated #84, UK Edition, 1962) adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe story
• "Good Deed Gus" (The Paget Parade Comic, Paget Publications, 1949)
• "Green Hornet" (T.V. Tornado #7-17, #19, City Magazines Ltd, 1967)
• "Grey Fowl" (Merry-Go-Round #5, Martin and Reid, 1947)
• "Gunhawks Western" #1-10 (Anglo Comics, 1960–1961) editor
• "Gusher" (The Outpost Adventure Comic, Martin and Reid, 1950)
• "Gypsey Doodle" (Merry-Go-Round #5, Martin and Reid, 1947)
• "Hank Riley" (Happy Yank #1, Rayburn, 1948)
• "Harmless Horace" (The Comics Wonder #2, 1948)
• "Happy Joe" (The Paget Plus Comic, Paget Publications, 1948)
• Happy Yank #1-3 (Rayburn, 1948) editor/artist
• "Indian Justice" (The Pioneer Western Comic #2, Wyndham House, 1950)
• "Jesse James" (Jolly Western, Martin and Reid, 1948)
• "Johnny Jules" (The Windjammer, Martin and Reid, 1950)
• "Johnny Tiddler" (Paget's Bumper Tot's Comic, Paget Publications, 1950)
• Jolly Western #5-9 (Martin and Reid, 1948–49) editor/artist
• "Kamba the Jungle Boy" (The Pioneer Western Comic, Wyndham House, 1950)
• "Ken Dale" (The Scoop Western, Martin and Reid, 1950)
• "Kid Kelly" (The Windjammer, Martin and Reid, 1950)
• "Killer Miller" (Jolly Western #6, Martin and Reid, 1948)
• Kit Marain (Martin and Reid, 1949) editor/artist ^[37]
• "Koko the Clown" (Happy Moments #1, John Matthew, 1946)
• "Konga" (Cartoons Capers Comic, Martin and Reid, 1949) (The Rancher, Martin and Reid, 1949) (The Outpost Adventure Comic, Martin and Reid, 1951)
• "Lance Riordan" (Captain Zenith, Martin and Reid, 1950)
• The Lariat (Martin and Reid, 1949) editor/artist
• "Lejeune of the Legion" (The Outpost Adventure Comic, Martin and Reid, 1950)
• "Les North" (The Rancher, Martin and Reid, 1949)
• "Little Clancy" (Paget's Bumper Tot's Comic, Paget Publications, 1950)
• "Little Tich and Tichy" (The Premier #6, Paget Publications, 1948)
• Macabre Stories
• "Mac Riordan (The Lariat, Martin and Reid, 1949)
• "Malu" (The Windjammer Martin and Reid, 1950)
• "Marji the Jungle Girl" (The Lariat, Martin and Reid, 1949) (The Scoop Western, Martin and Reid, 1950)
• "Malloy of the Mounties" (Captain Zenith, Martin and Reid, 1950)
• "Marlowe of the Mounties" (The Pioneer Western Comic, Wyndham House, 1950)
• "Marmaduke" (Jolly Chuckles #5, Martin and Reid, 1948)
• "Marshal Zenith" (The Rancher, Martin and Reid, 1949)
• "Martin Power" (Power Comics, Martin and Reid, 1950)
• Marvelman #25-370^[38] (L. Miller, 03.02.1954-Feb 1963) numbering continued from Captain Marvel
• Marvelman Adventures (annual) (L. Miller, 1961, 1963)^[38]
• Marvelman Annual (L. Miller, 1954–1960)
• Marvelman Family #1-30 (L. Miller, Oct 1956-Nov 1959)
• Marvelman Family Album (L. Miller, 1963)^[38]
• Marvelman Jnr Album (L. Miller, 1963)^[38]
• Merry-Go-Round (Martin and Reid, 1946–1949) artist #2-8, 10 editor #13-14
• "Meyer" (The Premier #7, 1948) (The Paget Pinnacle Comics, Paget Publications, 1949)
• "Mick Jordan, Space Investigator" (Merry-Go-Round #4, Martin and Reid, 1947)
• Mick Martin (Martin and Reid, 1949)
• "Mike" (Paget's Snips, Paget Publications, 1948)
• Mick Martin (Martin and Reid, 1949) editor/artist
• Miracle Man^[22] #1-13 (Top Sellers, 1965) redrawn Marvelman stories
• Monte Hall Western #106 (L. Miller, 1957?) cover artist
• "Mystery at the Farm" (The Pioneer Western Comic, Wyndham House, 1950)
• "Nights of Terror" (Classics Illustrated #148, UK Edition, 1962) adaptation of Wilkie Collins story
• "Nip McGee (Wonderman, Paget Publications, 1948) (Oh Boy! and Wonderman, Paget Publications, #22, 1951)
• "Norman Harper" (The Funstar Comic, Martin and Reid, 1949) (Wonderman #20, Paget Publications, 1950)
• "Ocean Capers" (Paget's Spree Comics, Paget Publications, 1948) (The Premier #7, Paget Publications, 1948)
• "Oh, What a Lovely War" (Battle Picture Weekly 28 April 1979-8 Sept. 1979, Fleetway/IPC)
• "The Old Soldier" (Battle Picture Library #1364, Fleetway/IPC, 1980)
• "P.C. Percy" (The Paget Picnic Comic, Paget Publications, 1949)
• "Police Patrol" (Power Comics, Martin and Reid, 1950)
• "Potty the Professor" (The Paget Plus Comic, Paget Publications, 1948)
• Power Comic (Martin and Reid, 1950) editor/artist
• The Rancher (Martin and Reid, 1949) editor/artist
• Rangeland Western (Martin and Reid, 1949) editor/artist
• "Razzan" (All-Fun Comics v6#3, A Soloway, 1948)
• "Rex Valiant, Atomic Avenger" (Merry-Go-Round #4, Martin and Reid, 1947)
• *"Rip Cord" (Jolly Adventures #4, Martin and Reid, 1948)
• "Rockbottom and Pancake" (Comic Capers v6#4, A Soloway, 1948)
• "Rodeo" (The Sheriff and Elmo's Own #2, Screen Stories Publications, 1949)
• "Roy the Office Boy" (Paget's Gusto, Paget Publications, 1948)
• "Rub and Dub" (Happy Moments #1, John Matthew, 1946)
• "Sam King" (The Lariat, Martin and Reid, 1950)
• "Secret Agent Joe" (Happy Moments #1, John Matthew, 1946)
• "Sheriff Johnny Dennis" (The Sheriff and Elmo's Own #3, Screen Stories Publications, 1949)
• "Sky Devils" (Battle Picture Library #1427, Fleetway/IPC, 1980)
• "Sleepy Town" (The Comic Wonder #3, Paget Publications 1948)
• "Soapy Sam" (Happy Moments #1, John Matthew, 1946)
• Space Commander Kerry #50-55 (L. Miller 1953)
• "Space Commander Kerry" (Space Commando Comics #50-59, L. Miller, 1953–1954)
• "Sparky Malone" (Space Commando Comics, L. Miller, 1953–1954)
• Spectre Stories 1-6 (John Spencer, 1966)
• Squibs Fun Comic (Martin and Reid, 1949) editor/artist
• "Stone-Age Pete" (All-Fun Comics v6#4, A Soloway, 1948)
• Strange Stories 1-6 (John Spencer, 1966) editor
• Super DC #1-14 (Top Sellers, June 1969 - July 1970) editor
• Super DC Bumper Book (Top Sellers, 1970) editor
• "Syd Smart and Sonny" (Happy Yank #1, Rayburn, 1948)
• "Tancy the Terror" (Happy Yank #3, Rayburn, 1949)
• "Tex Reno" (Cartoon Capers Comics, Martin and Reid, 1949)
• "Texas Kid" (Happy Yank #1, Rayburn, 1948)
• "Texas Ranger" (Rangeland Western, Martin and Reid, 1949)
• "Timpo Tim" (The Pioneer Western Comic #1-2, Wyndham House, 1950)
• "Tony West" (The Pioneer Western Comic, Wyndham House, 1950)
• "Tornado" #5-12 (Oh Boy! Comics, Paget Publications, 1949–50)
• "Trigger Lee" (Wonderman 1948) (Oh Boy! Comics #16, Paget Publications, 1950)
• "True Life Heroes" (Battle Picture Weekly 27 Jan. 1979, 10 Feb. 1979, 24 March 1979, Fleetway/IPC)
• TV Features (Anglo Features, 1960–61) editor/artist
• TV Tornado #1-88 (City Magazines Ltd/World Distributors (Holdings) Ltd, 1967–68) editor. Titled 'TV Tornado and Solo' #37-45
• "Vasco Kid" (Jolly Western #6, Martin and Reid, 1948) (The Outpost Adventure Comic, Martin and Reid, 1950) (The Scoop Western Martin and Reid, 1950)
• "Vik the Viking" (Happy Moments #1, John Matthew, 1946)
• "Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea" (T.V. Tornado #1-6, City Magazines Ltd, 1967)
• "Wally Wolf" (Paget's Bumper Tot's Comic, Paget Publications, 1950)
• "Wild Bill Hickok" (The Pioneer Western Comic #2, Wyndham House, 1950)
• "Willy Wong (Happy Yank #2, Rayburn 1948) (Merry Moments #1, Martin and Reid, 1948)
• The Windjammer (Martin and Reid, 1950) editor/artist
• "Wonderman"^[39][40] #1-24 (Wonderman, 1948–1951, Paget Publications) titled 'Oh Boy! and Wonderman' for issue #22 only
• "Wye Wait" (Happy Moments #1, John Matthew, 1946)
• "Young Sammy" (The Funfair Comic, Philmar, 1949)
• Young Marvelman #25-370 (L. Miller, Feb 1954-Feb 1963)^[38] numbering continued from Captain Marvel Jnr.
• Young Marvelman Annual (L. Miller, 1954–1960)
• Young Marvelman Adventures (L. Miller, 1961) annual^[38]
• "Zig Wig" (Paget's Bumper Tot's Comic, Paget Publications, 1950)
• "Zip Leroy" (Jolly Adventures #4, Martin and Reid, 1948)
• "Zomby" (The Paget Parade Comic, Paget Publications, 1949)

Books

• International Restaurant Cuisine, Rasmussen, Janet and Anglo, Michael (World Distributors (Manchester) Limited, 1973) ISBN 0-7235-0588-8
• Man Eats Man: The Story of Cannibalism, Anglo, Michael (Jupiter, 1979) ISBN 0-904041-76-X
• Penny Dreadfuls and other Victorian Horrors, Anglo, Michael (Jupiter, 1977) ISBN 0-904041-59-X
• Nostalgia - the 1920s (Jupiter Books)
• Nostalgia - The 1930s (Jupiter Books)
• Nostalgia - the 1940s (Jupiter Books)
• Nostalgia - the 1950s (Jupiter Books)
• The Forties Quiz Book (New English Library, 1978) ISBN 0-450-03841-6
• The Thirties Quiz Book (New English Library, 1978) ISBN 0-450-03840-8

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