'Garth'.
Stephen P. Dowling - also referred to as Steve Dowling - was a British newspaper comic artist, working mainly with the Daily Mirror. Between 1936 and 1943, he continued William Connor and Gloria's 'Belinda Blue Eyes'. However, he is best remembered as creator of the humorous series 'Ruggles' (1935-1957) and the time-traveling superhero 'Garth' (1943-1957), which was continued by other cartoonists until 1976. Later in his career, he also drew a newspaper comic titled 'Keeping Up With The Joneses' (1960-1961).
Early life and career
Stephen Philip Dowling was born in 1904 in Liverpool as son of a postman and a maternity nurse. He studied at Liverpool Collegiate, the Liverpool School of Art and the Westminster School of Art. After graduation in 1924, he became a freelance artist, represented by the Charles W. Hobson Agency. In the following years, Dowling worked for several art studios and set up his own shop in 1927. Through his brother Frank Dowling, who worked for Dorland's advertising agency, he managed to get a job there as assistant art director in 1928. Even though since the 1930s, Dowling was mainly doing newspaper cartooning, he continued to do advertising work, for instance a series featuring Hawkins the Butler for Rose's Lime Juice. During World War II, Dowling served in the Home Guard and was promoted to captain. His main graphic influence was Milton Caniff.
Tich
During the 1930s, Steve Dowling began his cartooning career at the Daily Mirror, where he often collaborated with his brother Frank. In 1931, Frank Dowling became scriptwriter of a pantomime comic titled 'Tich' (1931-1933), initially drawn by an artist known only as "Martin", who was a friend of Steve Dowling. Shortly after the strip's debut, the pair were involved in a car crash in which Martin was killed and Steve Dowling was thrown through the roof. Although bruised, Steve Dowling took over both the 'Tich' feature and Martin's "Dart" pen name. The final strip appeared on 25 November 1933.
'Ruggles'.
Ruggles
On 11 March 1935, Stephen and Frank Dowling launched their humorous soap opera family comic 'Ruggles' (1935-1957), starring a suburban middle-class family. In an attempt to appeal to its largely working class readership, The Daily Mirror advertised the strip with the text: "If you like to see people behaving like you, falling into scrapes like you do, and getting a kick out of life, then the Ruggles are the ones for you." Frank Dowling remained the scriptwriter until 1946, after which William Connor, Guy Morgan and Ian Gammidge took over. Under the pen name "Blik", Steve Dowling remained the feature's main artist, although Angus Scott sometimes served as ghost artist. On 3 August 1957, 'Ruggles' was discontinued.
'Belinda' strip of 23 June 1938.
Belinda Blue Eyes
Starting on 30 September 1935, Stephen Dowling was also the artist of 'Belinda Blue Eyes', a comic strip published under the name "Gloria" (a pseudonym for writer William "Bill" Connor). The feature can best be described as The Daily Mirror's version of Harold Gray's 'Little Orphan Annie', a melodramatic soap opera comic about a little red-haired girl. On 7 September 1939, the title was shortened to "Belinda". Always positive and with a philosophical bent, Belinda was accompanied by her Scottish terrier dog, guardian Daddy Pilgrim and boyfriend Desmond Dare. Popular additions to the cast were the "bad girls" Spitfire Kitty and the rebellious Suky Schoolgirl.
Aided by ghost artist Angus Scott, Dowling and Connor collaborated on the series until 1943, after which writer Don Freeman and artist Tony Royle took over until the series came to a close on 17 October 1959. Some 1952 episodes were written by Peter O'Donnell.
Strip #2 of the first 'Garth' episode (1943).
Garth
In 1943, Dowling teamed up with BBC producer Gordon Boshell to create a new adventure comic for The Daily Mirror. Launched on 24 July 1943, 'Garth' starred a big and mysterious strongman, who can travel through time. In a way, 'Garth' was the British answer to U.S. superhero comics like Siegel & Shuster's 'Superman' and fantasy adventure comics like Alex Raymond's 'Flash Gordon', although Dowling was mostly inspired by Milton Caniff's 'Terry and the Pirates'. In the debut episode, the body of the blonde giant is seen drifting on a raft. He is washed ashore and revived by Gala, the first of many girls to fall in love with the amnesiac hero, who is later revealed to be the Son of Mor. Aided by the earthbound scientist Professor Lumiere, Garth travels through the ages to fight evil High Priests, the evil Ola and the dark sorceress Karen. Garth's key word for a safe return during a crisis is "Karma".
Steve Dowling himself wrote part of the first story, until between 1943 and 1952 Don Freeman became the regular scriptwriter. Later scriptwriters were Hugh McLelland (1952-1953), Peter O'Donnell (1953-1966), Jim Edgar (1966-1997) and Angus Allan. However, since Dowling also served in the Home Guard during World War II, he took John Allard as his inker and background artist. Another Dowling assistant during the 1940s was Dick Hailstone. By 1968 Allard took over the series completely and continued until Frank Bellamy succeeded him between 1971 and 1976. Drawing 'Garth' until the final episode on 22 March 1997 was Martin Asbury. One of the longest-running comic strips in the UK, the 'Garth' series also had notable popularity abroad, with special 'Garth' comic book series appearing in Australia and Germany.
'Keeping Up With The Joneses'.
Post-war cartooning
After World War II, Dowling had joined the Daily Mirror's staff, working closely with the paper's strip editor Bill Herbert. He also had to step in when other cartoonists didn't meet their deadlines. One notable example was Bernard Graddon, whose alcoholism caused problems regularly in the production of the strip 'Just Jake'. Steve Dowling, Ron Gibbs and Tony Royle often filled in when Graddon "was too gone in his cups to ink straight." A later strip co-created by Steve Dowling and writer Ian Gammidge was 'Keeping Up with the Joneses' (1960-1961), a feature with the byline "The strip that teaches you the art of living". Launched on 6 March 1960, the feature should not be confused with Arthur "Pop" Momand's similarly titled 1913-1940 U.S. newspaper comic. Later in the strip's run, Leslie Caswell served as artist.
Final years and death
Required to retire at the age of 65 in 1969, Dowling became a full time farmer, market gardener, and riding school proprietor in Pett, near Hastings, Sussex. Stephen P. Dowling passed away on 19 March 1986, nine days after his 82nd birthday.
Self-portrait.