'Smasher' (Dandy Summer Special 1992).
Brian Walker was a British jazz musician, illustrator and comic artist, notable for his weird and busy comic features with gimmick characters and much visual slapstick. He was a notable presence in various children's magazines published by D.C. Thompson and IPC. Starting in the late 1960s, he had regular stints on 'I Spy' in Sparky (1970-1973), 'Scream Inn' in Shiver & Shake (1973-1979) and 'The Smasher' in The Dandy (1987-2004). He was also the creator of the long-running comic series 'Mike's Bike' (1979-1992) in Jackpot and later Buster. The British artist Brian Walker should not be confused with the American comic writer and historian Brian Walker (b. 1952).
Early life
Brian Walker was born in 1926 in Brislington, Somerset. His father ran a scale-making business, and his mother was a teacher. In 1939, the family moved to Simonsbath on Exmoor. Alfred Munnings, a notable painter of horses, lived nearby and encouraged Walker to become an artist. Walker took the Pitman's Press correspondence course for press artists and then studied art at the Royal West of England College of Art in Bristol.
At age sixteen, during World War II, he joined the Bristol Evening World, where he drew cartoons and war maps. Between 1944 and 1947, Walker was drafted, serving in the RAF's photo reconnaissance unit. After peace returned, Walker went back to finish his academy courses and eventually graduated in illustration and design in 1949. In 1952, he moved to a cottage in the Mendip Hills in Somerset, where he lived and worked for the rest of his life.
Cover for 'How To Be a Motorist and Stay Happy' (1967).
Early career
In the early 1950s, Walker went on a 2,000-mile cycling trip through Continental Europe and made illustrated articles of the land- and cityscapes he encountered. These articles were published in Cycling Weekly Magazine, paving the way for commissions from other magazines, like Farmers Weekly and the satirical magazine Punch. As a writer, he also submitted articles to magazines such as Picture Post, Lilliput and London Opinion, and wrote the serial 'Fiord and Flack and Fear' for DC Thomson's story paper Rover and Adventure.
Walker additionally became notable as an illustrator, providing the graphics for books like George Haines' 'How To Be a Motorist and Stay Happy' (1967), Colin Willock's 'Landscape With Solitary Figure' (1966) and Max Hardcastle's 'A Countryman's Lot' (1990). Among his graphic influences were Charlie Pease, John Jukes and Reg Parlett.
'I Spy' (Sparky Annual 1973).
Comics
Brian Walker's 1960s humorous illustration work caught the attention of editors of the Scottish publishing house DC Thomson, who invited him to come and work for their several children's comic magazines. While ghosting for various artists during his trial period, he started out doing notable work for the comical espionage spoof 'I Spy' (1969) in Sparky for almost three years, a feature written by editor Peter Clark, and originally drawn by Les Barton.
Around 1970, Walker also started working for the rival publishing company IPC (formerly the Amalgamated Press), drawing 'Three Storey Stan' and 'Wizards Anonymous' for Whizzer and Chips, 'Fun Fear' and 'Ghost Train' for Whoopee!, and 'Misery Buckets', 'Box-a-Tricks' and 'Our Gran' for Buster. His most popular work at the time was 'Scream Inn' (1973-1979), which he drew in Shiver & Shake for about six years. The feature was set in a hotel run by ghosts, which offered a million quid to any guest who manages to stay an entire night. Readers were invited to suggest guests who could stay at the Inn, with any used suggestion winning the lucky reader one pound. Several of Brian Walker's IPC comics were written by his close friend and neighbor Cliff Brown.
His comic 'Mike's Bike' (1979-1992), about a boy and his racer bike with artificial intelligence originally started in Jackpot, and was continued between 1982 and 1992 in Buster and its specials. For his other Buster comic, 'Boxatricks' (1979-1982), Brian Walker could use his detailed, busy style for all the strange items and gimmicks that came from a magical box.
'Scream Inn' (Shiver and Shake, 19 June 1976).
During the 1970s, Brian Walker was also present in the Bristol Evening Post with the newspaper strip 'Ar Little 'Uns'.
By 1987, he was back at DC Thomson drawing 'The Smasher' for The Dandy, a comic about a clumsy boy who accidentally causes mayhem wherever he goes. Originally created by Hugh Morren in 1957, and then continued by David Gudgeon, Walker drastically revamped the character's design, giving him a more teenage appearance (and eventually dropping "The" from the feature's title). By request of his editor, Walker also toned down the Smasher's malicious streak, and returned to more accident-prone narratives. 'Smasher' ran in The Dandy until 2004.
Between 1987 and 1990, Brian Walker was also the final artist of the feature 'Pop, Dick and Harry' in The Beezer, succeeding Peter Moonie. This gag-a-day comic was about two twins, Dick and Harry, who always engaged in bad behavior and disobeyed and tormented their overweight father, Pop. During the 1990s, he also returned to The Beano with 'Go, Granny, Go!' (1992-1998), a spin-off feature starring the grandmother of Beano mascot Dennis the Menace as a feisty old woman, very fit despite her age.
'Go, Granny, Go!' (Beano Summer Special 1994).
Musical career
Brian Walker was also active as a jazz tuba player, being educated by the legendary musician Acker Bilk during the 1950s. Walker played in Bilk's Chew Valley Jazz Band and performed sousaphone in various amateur jazz bands in and around Bath and Bristol. He also played as a member of The Wurzels, a group of session musicians dressing up as the furry characters from the popular children's TV series 'The Wurzels'.
'Johnny Fartpants' (Viz #103, 2000).
Later years and death
When children's comic magazines started selling less well, Brian Walker became a house illustrator for The Countryman, a publication for nature and countryside lovers, livening up many of their articles and short stories. He also continued to work in book, magazine and advertising illustration.
In the early 2000s, Walker created his final comic book work for the adult comic magazine Viz, drawing 'Johnny Fartpants', about a boy with such extreme flatulence that it is destructive to those around him. Viz also ran Brian Walker's own creation, 'Goldfish Boy', about a schoolboy who lives in a goldfish bowl.
In 2009, Brian Walker was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease and retired. He died in June 2020.
Self-portrait of Brian Walker, an avid cyclist.