'Dr Who' (TV Comic, 19 February 1966).
Bill Mevin was a British comic artist and animator. From the 1950s until deep into the 2000s, he drew various comics in many different styles and genres. He drew he humorous sports comic 'Wee Sporty' (1956-1960) in Express Weekly. From the 1950s until the 1970s, he was most notable for creating comics based on popular TV shows, published in the children's magazines TV Comic, Pippin, Whoopee and Whizzer and Chips. Later in his career, he went into deliberate self parody with 'The Soapremes' (1986-1987) in The Daily Mail, a comic spoofing soap operas and TV characters. Between 1992 and 2005, Mevin became the second and final artist to continue the long-running children's newspaper comic 'The Perishers', also in the Daily Mail.
'Wee Sporty'.
Early life and animation career
Wilfred D. Mevin was born in 1929 in West Derby, Lancashire, and attended the Liverpool School of Art, before making a career in illustration. In the late 1940s, he worked as an animator for the British department of Gaumont. This studio was established by David Hand, but in 1949 their animation department had to close down. He contributed artwork to a 1/-flicker booklet about the bear 'Brumas' (1949), as part of Comic Movies Flicker Book series.
In the early 1950s, Mevin joined Joy Batchelor and John Halas' animation company, where he, Brian White, Harold Whitaker and Reginald Parlett were three of several people to work on the first British animated feature film 'Animal Farm' (1955), based on George Orwell's political-satirical novel of the same name. The picture was notable for being the first feature-length animated film for the general public, made on British soil. It also aimed at an adult audience, rather than children. The book revolves around a group of farm animals who revolt and establish their own society. Unfortunately they turn into a dictatorship, mirroring how the ideals of the Russian Revolution resulted into Joseph Stalin's tyranny. The plot of the animated adaptation was generally faithful to the spirit of the book. Only the ending was changed to give viewers more hope that people would/could rise against their oppression. Unbeknownst to most of the animators, the project was financed by the C.I.A., as a propaganda vehicle against Stalinism. The British animation crew learned a lot from animation director John Reed, who had worked for Disney.
'Popeye'.
Editorial cartoons
In the late 1950s, Mevin became a political cartoonist for the Sunday Chronicle. After six months, the paper merged into Empire News, but Mevin kept drawing comics and cartoons for them.
Comics in Swift and Express Weekly
The 1950s were also the decade when Mevin started drawing his earliest comics. In the children's magazine Swift, he created the adventure serial 'Sammy and his Speed Sub' (1954-1957) and also contributed illustration work to their annuals. Mevin additionally drew comics for the girls' magazine Girl. His comic gag strip 'Wee Sporty' (1956-1960) ran in Express Weekly and its successor TV Express Weekly from 1956 onwards. The main character, Sporty, is a sportive young boy, who tries out many different disciplines in every episode.
'Supercar' (TV Comic, 15 December 1962).
Comics in TV Comic
For TV Comic, a magazine published by Beaverbrook, Mevin drew several comics based on popular cartoon characters. In the 1950s and 1960s, he drew, among others, stories starring Tex Avery's 'Bugs Bunny' and 'Droopy', MGM's 'Barney Bear' and Hanna-Barbera's 'Huckleberry Hound'. He also created comics based on E.C. Segar's 'Popeye', whose adventures in TV Comic had previously been drawn by Chick Henderson and Neville Main. Mevin also drew strips with ventriloquist Terry Hall's 'Lenny the Lion' character (1958) and 'World Cup Willie' (1966), the mascot of the 1966 FIFA World, held in England.
For the magazine's color centerspread, Mevin drew comics built around the science fiction TV series 'Supercar' (1961-1964, succeeding H. Watts), 'Space Patrol' (1964-1965) and, most notably, 'Dr. Who' (1965-1966). Mevin was a good friend of Barry Gray, who wrote music for 'Supercar', which helped the comics remain close to the show's spirit. Mevin was the second comic artist to bring 'Dr. Who' to life on paper. Neville Main preceeded him in 1964, and John Canning was his successor in 1966. Writers involved were Roger Noel Cook and Alan Fennell. In 1993-1994, Mevin would create two more 'Dr. Who' comics for Doctor Who Classic Comics issue #7 (27 May 1993) and #15 (15 January 1994).
Comics in Pippin, Whizzar & Chips and Whoopee
In the 1970s and 1980s, Mevin also worked for Polystyle's children's comic magazine Pippin, which featured characters from British preschool TV shows. Mevin's worked on such features as 'The Pogles', 'Bill and Ben, the Flowerpot Men', 'The Herbs' and 'Morph'. He was additionally present in Fleetway's Whizzer and Chips with 'Happy Families'. His 'Dads and Lads' ran in Whoopee.
'Bill and Ben' (Pippin, 20 December 1971).
The Soapremes
By the late 1980s, Mevin returned to newspaper comics, this time appearing in the Daily Mail. He drew the daily gag comic 'The Soapremes' (1986-1987), a parody of American soap operas like 'Dallas' and 'Dynasty'. The series was notable for featuring a lot of cameos of popular TV stars, including Joan Collins, Bill Cosby, Leonard Nimoy and Terry Wogan.
The Perishers
In November 1992, Mevin succeeded Dennis Collins as the artist of Maurice Dodd's 'The Perishers', a strip about a gang of street kids and an Old English Sheepdog. Following Dodd's scripts, Mevin continued 'The Perishers' until his taskmaster passed away on 31 December 2005.
Final years and death
Mevin retired in 2005, though did occasionally pick up the pencil again for special occasions, like charity auctions. In 2016, he also published a novel, 'Peggy' (Matador, 2016), about a young girl who receives a flying pony from the Greek god Zeus.
In late 2019, Bill Mevin was hospitalized. He died some weeks later, at age 97.
'The Perishers'.