Richard E. Jennings (20 May 1921 – 19 January 1997) was a

comic book artist A cartoonist is a visual artist who specializes in both drawing and writing cartoons (individual images) or comics (sequential images). Cartoonists differ from comics writers or comic book illustrators in that they produce both the literary and ...

who lived and worked in the United Kingdom.

Biography

Richard E. Jennings was born in Hampstead, England. In 1937 he won a free place to the Central School of Arts, London. After 2 years his studies were interrupted by the outbreak of the Second World War, during which he served in the Air/Sea Rescue service of the Royal Air Force in the Middle East. Following demobilisation he travelled around England before taking work as a fisherman, and decorating public houses and hotels in the Devon area for a brewery company. Moving to London in 1950, he secured a position with the newly launched ''

Eagle Eagle is the common name for many large birds of prey of the family Accipitridae. Eagles belong to several groups of genera, some of which are closely related. Most of the 68 species of eagle are from Eurasia and Africa. Outside this area, just ...

'' comic. His first work was on the ''Tommy Walls'' strip (advertising

Wall's ice cream Wall's is formerly an ice cream and meat products brand, now split into two businesses: *Wall's (ice cream), a brand owned by Unilever that makes ice cream *Wall's (meat), a British sausage brand owned by Kerry Foods See also * Walls (disambiguati ...

). He worked on this for the next three years, eventually writing the scripts as well as providing the artwork. In October 1953 Jennings commenced work as the artist on the new Eagle '' Storm Nelson'' maritime adventure strip, in collaboration with film screenwriter Guy Morgan. After Morgan left he continued both drawing and writing the strip until its cancellation in March 1962. Further work for the Eagle followed during that year, with his last strip for the comic being 'Island of Fire' which ran from July to October 1962. Jennings' work was not confined to the ''Eagle''. Other commissions included strips for the ''Junior Mirror'', ''

Swift Swift or SWIFT most commonly refers to: * SWIFT, an international organization facilitating transactions between banks ** SWIFT code * Swift (programming language) * Swift (bird), a family of birds It may also refer to: Organizations * SWIFT, ...

'' and early episodes of ''The Daleks'' comic strip for ''

TV Century 21 ''TV Century 21'', later renamed ''TV21'', ''TV21 and Tornado'', ''TV21 and Joe 90'', and ''TV21'' again, was a weekly British children's comic published by City Magazines during the latter half of the 1960s. Originally produced in partnership ...

''. He also provided artwork for several annuals. By the late 1960s Jennings had ceased working as a comic strip artist. At one point he was employed as a long-distance lorry driver, supplementing his income by travelling around the Yorkshire Dales during his spare time painting pub signs and portraits. In later years Jennings retired to Cornwall. He died of pneumonia on 19 January 1997, aged 75.

Bibliography

Comic works include - *''Tommy Walls'' (in

, 1950–1953) *'' Storm Nelson'' (with Guy Morgan in Eagle, 1953–1962) *''The Fighting Tomahawks'' (in Junior Mirror, 1954) *''The Further Adventures of Robinson Crusoe'' (in

, 1957–58) *''Adventures of the Bovril Brigade'' (advertising strip, in various publications, 1961) *''The Lost World'' (script, with

Martin Aitchison Martin Henry Hugh Aitchison (21 November 1919 – 22 October 2016) was an illustrator for the ''Eagle'' comic from 1952 to 1963, and then one of the main illustrators for Ladybird Books from 1963 to 1990. Aitchison was born in Kings Norto ...

in Eagle, 1962) *''Island of Fire'' (in Eagle, 1962) *''Seeing Stars'' (in Eagle, 1962) *''Tornado Jones'' (in

Wham! Wham! (briefly known in the US as Wham! U.K.) were an English pop duo formed in Bushey in 1981. The duo consisted of George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley. They became one of the most commercially successful pop acts of the 1980s, selling more ...

, 1964–68) * ''The Daleks'' ** ''Genesis of Evil'' (with Alan Fennell, David Whitaker in

#1–3, 1965) ** ''Power Play'' (with Alan Fennell, David Whitaker in TV Century 21 #4–10, 1965) ** ''Duel of the Daleks'' (with Alan Fennell, David Whitaker in TV Century 21 #11–17, 1965) ** ''The Amaryll Challenge'' (with David Whitaker in TV Century 21 #18–24, 1965) ** ''The Penta Ray Factor'' (with David Whitaker in TV Century 21 #25–32, 1965) ** ''Plague of Death'' (with David Whitaker in TV Century 21 #33–39, 1965) ** ''The Menace of the Monstrons'' (with David Whitaker in TV Century 21 #40–46, 1965) ** ''Eve of the War'' (with David Whitaker in TV Century 21 #47-49, 1965) Annual & graphic novel works include – *''The Dalek Book'' ( Panther Books Ltd. / Souvenir Press Ltd., 1965) *''The Dalek World'' (Panther Books Ltd. / Souvenir Press Ltd., 1966) *''The Dalek Outer Space Book'' (Panther Books Ltd. / Souvenir Press Ltd., 1967) *''The Dalek Chronicles'' ( Marvel UK Ltd., 1994. ISSN 1353-7628)

References

External links

LAMBIEK.NET
- Lambiek comic shop website: Jennings' biography.

- Examples of Jennings' artwork.
ComicBookDB.com
- The Comic Book Database entry for Jennings. {{DEFAULTSORT:Jennings, Richard 1921 births 1997 deaths Alumni of Central Saint Martins British comics artists British comics writers Deaths from pneumonia in England