Blood and Hope – deluxe

Published February 2004

ABOUT THE AUTHOR  

Iain McLaughlin was born during The Macra Terror. He should have arrived towards the end of The Moonbase but a cold snap and a stubborn streak did him out of that. A pity really, because The Moonbase is a great favourite of his. That has nothing to do with anything really. He just thought he’d like to mention it.

Since being forcibly turfed out of school, screaming and kicking, at the age of 18, he has earned a living working on various D.C. Thomson comics including the Beezer, the Beano and the Dandy, where the unsuspecting management made him assistant editor. He was one of the villains responsible for trying to pension off Desperate Dan in the 1990s but hopes they’ve made things up by now. In fact he introduced Dan to his current girlfriend.

He’s written a couple of Doctor Who audio stories and is, at least in part, responsible for many heated disagreements about how long the gap between Planet of Fire and The Caves of Androzani really is and whether or not another companion could really fit into that gap, which has pleased him no end. He’s like that. A bit of a git, really.

He’s been a Doctor Who fan for as long as he can remember, though given that he has a terrible memory that’s not saying much. In large part he blames Doctor Who for his fascination with history and laments the demise of historicals from the show.

Long-term ambitions include writing a thriller, winning the lottery, seeing Dundee United go through an entire season without causing him to lose the will to live at least once and most of all, working out how the DVD player works. Oh, and if Scotland could manage to sneak in winning the world cup that’d please him no end, too.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Bolton-based artist Walter Howarth’s first professional artwork sale was in 1946 and appeared on the cover of Bolton’s Salute to a Soldier Week programme. He then contributed covers for the Bolton Wanderers football team match programmes including caricatures of the players.

In the early 1950s he started working for Manchester-based company World Distributors and contributed literally hundreds of covers and internal paintings for their extensive range of annuals and other publications.

He went freelance in the mid-sixties rather than be tied to one company, and his work appeared on every manner of book, annual, sticker book, colouring book, jigsaws and other paraphernalia from the Beatles to The Avengers, Doctor Who, James Bond, Danger Man, Steptoe and Son and many many others.

Walter is today ‘almost’ retired aged around 80 and is still creating artwork on a commission basis. In 1989 he illustrated a children’s circus pop-up book by Lillian Ryder, and he helped fundraise for the Bolton Hospice by providing portraits at the Hospice’s Christmas Bazaar in 2003.

Some of the covers and/or internal illustrations Walter has created have been for:

John Wayne Comics (run 1-82, 1950-58)
Roy Rogers Annuals (1952-56)
Lone Ranger Comic Albums (1953-56)
Lone Ranger Comics (run 1-66, 1953-58)
Phantom Ranger Comics (1953-55)
John Wayne Annuals (1953-59)
Billy the Kid Adventure Mag (1953-59)
Western Tales (1955)
Gene Autry Annual (1958)
Billy the Kid Annuals (1959-61)
Bronco Lane Annuals (1959-64)
Lone Ranger Annuals (1959-66)
Cheyenne Annuals (1960-64)
Wagon Train Annuals (1960-67)
Wagon Train Album (x4)
Maverick Annuals (1961-62)
Gunsmoke Annual (1961-62)
Maverick TV Story Book (1962-63)
Cheyenne TV Story Book (1962)
Rawhide Annuals (1963-67)
Bonanza Annuals (1963-69)
Tarzan Annuals (1963-69)
Dangerman Annual (1965)
Doctor Who Annuals (1965-70)
Superman Annuals (1966-69)
High Chaparral (1969)
Terrahawk Annual (1983)
A Team Story Book (1985)
Dempsey and Makepeace Annual (1987)
The A Team Annual (1988)

As well as these, the following were also worked on, but release years are unknown:

The Outer Limits Annual
Bewitched Annual
Batman Annuals
Cisco Kid Comics (run 1-51)
Cisco Kid Comic Albums (x3)
The Saint Annual
Space Family Robinson
Rawhide TV Story Book
Range Rider Annual
Roy Rogers Comics (run 1-100)
Tenderfoot Annual (x2)
TV Favourites (run 1-18)
TV Favourites Annuals (x4)
Western Roundup Comics (run 1-40)
Various Cowboy TV Heroes
Wells Fargo Annuals (x2)