Robert Nixon (artist)
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Robert Nixon (7 July 1939 – 22 October 2002) was an artist who worked on several
British comics A British comic is a periodical published in the United Kingdom that contains comic strips. It is generally referred to as a comic or a comic magazine, and historically as a comic paper. British comics are usually Comics anthology, comics antho ...
.


Biography


Early life and education

Nixon was born in
South Bank, Middlesbrough South Bank is a township in the Redcar and Cleveland borough in North Yorkshire, England on the south bank of the River Tees. It is east of Middlesbrough and south-west of Redcar. The town is served by railway station. The namesake ward had ...
, in
North Yorkshire North Yorkshire is the largest ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county (lieutenancy area) in England, covering an area of . Around 40% of the county is covered by National parks of the United Kingdom, national parks, including most of ...
on 7 July 1939. He was the fifth of six children born to Arthur Nixon and Phylis Thompson. Robert's mother Phylis worked as a housewife while his father worked locally as a steelworker. As a child, Nixon spent much of his time drawing and sketching, and his artistic skills were recognised when he was seven years old by teachers at Cromwell Road School which he attended in South Bank. During his early years as an artist, and supported by teachers at the Central Secondary Modern School (Victoria Street, Southbank), Nixon won several art competitions and a scholarship to Middlesbrough Art College in 1955 when he was sixteen. Although his time at art college was cut short by the death of his father, Nixon gained employment locally as a lithographic artist and left in 1965 to pursue his career as a full-time cartoonist, initially for
DC Thomson DC Thomson is a media company based in Dundee, Scotland. Founded by David Couper Thomson in 1905, it is best known for publishing ''The Dundee Courier'', ''The Evening Telegraph'' and ''The Sunday Post'' newspapers, and the comics ''Oor Wull ...
of
Dundee Dundee (; sco, Dundee; gd, Dùn Dè or ) is Scotland's fourth-largest city and the 51st-most-populous built-up area in the United Kingdom. The mid-year population estimate for 2016 was , giving Dundee a population density of 2,478/km2 or ...
. During this transition, Nixon met and married Rita Kelly and after living in Middlesbrough for several years they moved to Guisborough, North Yorkshire, where they raised their four children Paul, Tony, Wendy and Catherine.


Career

In ''
The Beano ''The Beano'' (formerly ''The Beano Comic'', also known as ''Beano'') is a British anthology comic magazine created by Scottish publishing company DC Thomson. Its first issue was published on 30 July 1938, and it became the world's longest-runn ...
'', he started out drawing ''
Little Plum Little Plum (full name revealed to be Little Plum Stealing Varmint) is a British humoristic western comics series about a little Native American, originally created by Leo Baxendale and published in the magazine ''The Beano''. Concept The epon ...
'' in the early 1960s after
Leo Baxendale Joseph Leo Baxendale (27 October 1930 – 23 April 2017) was an English cartoonist and publisher. Baxendale wrote and drew several titles. Among his best-known creations are the ''The Beano, Beano'' comic strip, strips ''Little Plum'', ''Minnie ...
left
DC Thomson DC Thomson is a media company based in Dundee, Scotland. Founded by David Couper Thomson in 1905, it is best known for publishing ''The Dundee Courier'', ''The Evening Telegraph'' and ''The Sunday Post'' newspapers, and the comics ''Oor Wull ...
. He later took over ''
Roger the Dodger Roger "the Dodger" Dawson is a comic strip character from the comic magazine ''The Beano''. He first appeared in his eponymous comic strip in 1953, and is one of the longest-running characters, known for his tactics of avoiding responsibility a ...
'' from Ken Reid and ''
Lord Snooty Lord Snooty is a fictional character who stars in the British comic strip ''Lord Snooty and his Pals'' from the British comic anthology ''The Beano''. The strip debuted in issue 1, illustrated by DC Thomson artist Dudley D. Watkins, who designed ...
'' from
Dudley D. Watkins Dudley Dexter Watkins (27 February 1907 – 20 August 1969) was an English cartoonist and illustrator. He is best known for his characters ''Oor Wullie'' and ''The Broons''; comic strips featuring them have appeared in Scottish newspaper The Su ...
, and revived '' Grandpa'', another Ken Reid creation, in the early 1970s in the same comic, as well as ''Captain Cutler'' and ''His Butler and Esky Mo'' in '' Sparky''. He left DC Thomson shortly afterwards, and started to work at IPC Magazines (
Fleetway Fleetway Publications was a magazine publishing company based in London. It was founded in 1959 when the Mirror Group acquired the Amalgamated Press, then based at Fleetway House, Farringdon Street, London. It was one of the companies that merg ...
), drawing such characters as '' Kid Kong'', ''Frankie Stein'' (not to be confused with the ''
Monster High Monster High is an American multimedia-supported fashion doll franchise created by toy designer Garrett Sander and launched by Mattel in 2010. Aimed at children aged 7 to 14, the franchise features characters inspired by monster movies, sci-fi ...
'' character of the same name) and ''
Gums The gums or gingiva (plural: ''gingivae'') consist of the mucosal tissue that lies over the mandible and maxilla inside the mouth. Gum health and disease can have an effect on general health. Structure The gums are part of the soft tissue linin ...
''. Nixon drew ''
The 12½p Buytonic Boy ''The 12½p Buytonic Boy'' was a British comic strip, created by Robert Nixon, although Brian Walker frequently deputised when Bob was on leave. It debuted as "Half a Dollar Boy" in issue 37 of Monster Fun comic, before becoming a regular featur ...
'' for '' Krazy'', although Brian Walker frequently deputised when Nixon was on leave. The strip first appeared in issue 1, dated 16 October 1976. Nixon returned to DC Thomson in 1984 after being asked to by new ''Beano'' editor Euan Kerr, and began drawing ''Roger the Dodger'' again, as well as creating ''
Ivy the Terrible Ivy the Terrible is a fictional character featured in ''The Beano''. She is a four-year-old girl who annoys her parents with her misbehaviour. She first appeared in ''The Beano'' in 1985 in the comic strip of the same name, but has starred in ot ...
'' in 1985. Later his friend
Trevor Metcalfe Trevor Metcalfe (born May 1939 in Brotton, Yorkshire) is a British illustrator and comic book artist. Known for his comic strips in IPC Magazines comics such as Sweet Tooth and Junior Rotter in ''Whizzer and Chips''. Influences include Leo ...
drew this strip. Nixon's strips are still being reprinted in ''The Beano'', appearing regularly as recently as 2011. He would go on to draw ''
Beryl the Peril Beryl the Peril (or simply Beryl) is a fictional character created by David Law, the creator of Dennis the Menace, for issue 1 of '' The Topper'' comic (dated 7 February 1953) published by DC Thomson & Co. Limited. Like Dennis, she had black ...
'' in '' The Topper'' and
Korky the Cat ''Korky the Cat'' is a character in a comic strip in the British comics magazine The Dandy. It first appeared in issue 1, dated 4 December 1937, except for one issue, No. 294 (9 June 1945) when Keyhole Kate was on the cover. For several decad ...
in ''
The Dandy ''The Dandy'' was a British children's comic magazine published by the Dundee based publisher DC Thomson. The first issue was printed in December 1937, making it the world's third-longest running comic, after ''Il Giornalino'' (cover dated 1 Oct ...
'' later on in the decade, and continue drawing them throughout the 1990s.


Death

On 22 October 2002, Nixon died from a heart attack, aged 63.


References


External links


Robert Nixon
at Toonhound * British comics artists People from Middlesbrough 2002 deaths 1939 births The Dandy people The Beano people {{UK-comics-artist-stub