Hart Amos (2 December 1916 – 8 June 2000), was an Australian comic strip writer and artist.

Biography

Hartley Vincent Amos was born in

Lindfield, New South Wales Lindfield is a suburb on the Upper North Shore of Sydney in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is 13 kilometres north-west of the Sydney Central Business District and is in the local government area of Ku-ring-gai Council. East Lindfi ...

on 2 December 1916, the eldest son of an insurance company manager. Amos attended Artarmon Public School and North Sydney Boys High School before joining the brewing firm of

Tooth and Co. Tooth and Co was the major brewer of beer in New South Wales, Australia. The company owned a large brewery on Broadway in Sydney from 1835 until 1985, known as the Kent Brewery. It was historically one of Australia's oldest companies, having be ...

as a clerk in the firm's advertising department. In 1933 he enrolled at

East Sydney Technical College The National Art School (NAS) is a tertiary level art school, located in , an inner-city suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The school is an independent accredited higher education provider offering specialised study in studio arts p ...

where he studied life drawing and oil painting until the end of 1937. He was close friends with his cousin,

Paul Brickhill Paul Chester Jerome Brickhill (20 December 191623 April 1991) was an Australian fighter pilot, prisoner of war, and author who wrote ''The Great Escape (book), The Great Escape'', ''The Dam Busters (book), The Dam Busters'', and ''Reach for the ...

(the best-selling author of '' The Great Escape'', '' The Dam Busters'', and ''Reach for the Sky'') and

Peter Finch Frederick George Peter Ingle Finch (28 September 191614 January 1977) was an English-Australian actor of theatre, film and radio. Born in London, he emigrated to Australia as a teenager and was raised in Sydney, where he worked in vaudeville ...

(

Academy Award The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

winning actor).

Later in life

Due to the shortage of work Amos joined the army in 1938, enlisting as a signaller in the 7th Field Artillery but eventually becoming the unit’s camouflager, serving in New Guinea and Borneo, and obtaining the rank of Lieutenant, before he was discharged on 21 December 1945. Still wanting a career in the art world he sold cartoons to ''Rydges'' and ''Quiz'' before worked freelance for

K.G. Murray Publishing Company K.G. Murray Publishing Company is an Australian publisher primarily known for its publication of DC reprint comics. Established in 1936 in Sydney, Australia by Kenneth "K. G." Murray, the company was a family-owned and run business until its sale ...

. Amos' first assignment for K.G. Murray was to draw a full comic book, ''The Lost Patrol''. The strip dealt with Australian soldiers fighting in New Guinea against the Japanese, for which he was able to call upon his own first-hand experience. Amos went on to produce a further series of comics, including ''The Moon Mirror'', ''Stark, The Stoneage Man'', ''Kidnap Cavern'', ''Queen of the Green Men'' and ''Hurricane Hardy'', at which time he was offered the job of illustrating the ''Devil Doone'' comic strip, written by Ron Carson-Gold, which appeared in the ''Man Junior Magazine''. ''Devil Doone'' was a soldier of fortune strip that had previously been handled for a brief period by June Mendoza and Carl Lyon. Amos took over the strip in April 1946 and continued to draw the monthly strip for 44 issues until the middle of 1969. ''Devil Doone'' was also reprinted in comic book form. Writing in ''Cartoonists in Australia'' (View Productions, 1983), Amos recalled: "During all this time...I had not taken a holiday and was slipping into the trap of work overload. And one morning the trap snapped shut...I hit a psychological block and found I couldn't draw a damn thing! Frightened stiff, I had to quit Murray magazines and ease off from the pressure of publishing deadlines." After leaving K.G. Murray, Amos was persuaded to take on the illustration work for John Dixon's comic strip, ''

Air Hawk and the Flying Doctors ''Air Hawk and the Flying Doctors'' was an Australian comic strip created by John Dixon. The strip began publication on 30 May 1959, premiering in the Saturday issue of Perth's '' Weekend Mail''. It was subsequently published by other Australian ...

''. His first pages for ''Air Hawk and the Flying Doctors'' appeared in March 1970 with his last one published in June 1977, when he decided to retire from comic strip illustrations.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Amos, Hart Australian comic strip cartoonists Australian comics artists Australian cartoonists 1916 births 2000 deaths People educated at North Sydney Boys High School National Art School alumni Australian Army personnel of World War II Australian Army officers