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

53 which added to the jollity of the work. However, it should be understood that all Wilson’s strip work was in fact drawn in black and white and the colour was added afterwards by other hands. Wilson may have worked only in black and white for the comics but the many covers and frontispieces he contributed for the various annuals he worked on demonstrate what a splendid watercolourist he was. He painted the covers of a number of the comic annuals of the 1930s and 1940s, including all seven of the FunnyWonder Annuals and he painted charming frontispieces for the Radio Fun and Tip Top Annuals in the 1940s and ’50s. By 1937, Wilson’s family life had now established itself in two important ways, the first being that he was now the proud father of a second daughter, Judy, and the second that he and his wife had at last bought a home of their own. The house, Ridge Cottage, was to be the base for all of Wilson’s work until his death in 1965. When, in 1937, the Amalgamated Press brought out another new comic, Golden , they again turned to Wilson to design the all-important front page. His services were likewise called upon the following year when they published Happy Days . This latter comic was probably the most lavish ever ABOVE: Terry-Thomas , pen and ink on board, 1959. Another first panel from the front cover to Film Fun featuring the gap-toothed actor Terry-Thomas. BELOW: Original pen and ink on board. Bottom panels from another Terry-Thomas (mis)adventure appearing in Film Fun , 1959.