EXTRACTS: Illustrators issue 29 © 2019 The Book Palace (96 PAGES in Full edition)

51 Not onlywasWilson amazingly prolific at this time but hewas also an extreme perfectionist and, as his commitments grew, his health began to pay the price. In 1931, he came near to having a breakdown and, on doctor’s advice, gave up his work completely for a whole year. Fortunately, by 1932, Wilson had recovered sufficiently to create new front pages for the comics, Butterfly and Merry and Bright, which showed him to be at the top of his form. The Wilson/Newhouse partnership finally came to a close in 1933 and, in the autumn of that year, the Wilsons moved out of Norwich to Brockham Green near Dorking, Surrey. The last set of the partnership had been ‘Pitch and Toss’ for The Funny Wonder , a series that proved so popular that Wilson was to continue drawing it until well into the ’40s. By now the Roy Wilson style was fully developed and the deceptively simple line that delineates his characters flowed easily in every panel. His highly inventive technique for expressing violent slapstick action had now ABOVE: The Tiddleywink Family, Jingles, 1934-37. This panel is one of the finest examples in comic art of the depiction of violent action in humorous terms. BELOW: At Chimpo’s Circus , bottom tier from the cover of Happy Days , November 26, 1938. A showcase of Wilson’s zany humour where all hell breaks loose.