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| Frank Hampson | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1918-12-21)21 December 1918 Audenshaw,Lancashire, England |
| Died | 8 July 1985(1985-07-08) (aged 66) Epsom,Surrey, England |
| Area(s) | Writer, artist |
Notable works | |
Frank Hampson (21 December 1918 – 8 July 1985) was a Britishillustrator. He is best known as thecreator and artist ofDan Dare and other characters in the boys' comic, theEagle, to which he contributed from 1950 to 1961.[2]
Hampson was born at 488 Audenshaw Road,Audenshaw, near toManchester (nowTameside), and was educated atKing George V School, agrammar school inSouthport. His brother Eric was killed in a naval action during theSecond World War. He married Dorothy Mabel Jackson in 1944 and in 1947 they had a son, Peter.
In 1949, in collaboration with Anglican vicarRev. Marcus Morris, he devised a new children's magazine, theEagle, which Morris took to theHulton Press. In April the following year, a revised version of theEagle hit the bookstalls. Its most popular strip was Hampson's creationDan Dare, Pilot of the Future.[3] He wrote and drew Dan Dare's Venus and Red Moon stories, plus a complete storyline for Operation Saturn. However, Hampson drew only part of the Saturn story and his script was altered when he passed the strip to assistants.[citation needed]
LikeAlex Raymond andMilton Caniff in the U.S., Hampson instituted a studio system where, originally in Southport and later from his home inEpsom, Surrey, as many as four artists might work on two pages of the strip at any one time. When Hulton Press was bought up in 1959, and theEagle moved to a new publisher, Hampson's studio system was disbanded due to its cost.[citation needed]
He drewThe Road of Courage, a carefully researched and meticulously crafted telling of the life of Jesus, with the help of his longtime assistant, Joan Porter, which concluded at Easter 1961. Hampson then began to devise seven other strip cartoon ideas, which he intended to offer to theEagle. Partly through his own mismanagement (he told no-one what he was doing) Longacre Press accused him of breach of contract.[citation needed] He was forced to resign, his new strips were impounded by the legal department, and he rarely drew for comics again. The remainder of Hampson's life was spent working as a freelance commercial artist[4] for various publications includingLadybird Books: one such book was ' The Stories of our Christmas Customs ', 1964, Series 664, written by N.F.Pearson. Between 1964 and 1970 he also illustrated ten books for Ladybird Books, includingNursery Rhymes,Kings and Queens, andPeter and Jane.
Hampson was votedPrestigioso Maestro at aninternational convention of strip cartoon and animated film artists held at Lucca, Tuscany in 1975. A jury of his peers gave him aYellow Kid Award and declared him to be the best writer and artist of strip cartoons since the end of the Second World War.[4] In 1978 he graduated from theOpen University. He celebrated by drawing a Dan Dare strip for the university's internal magazine. The punch line of the script involved the university getting an application from Dare's nemesisThe Mekon.
In ailing health, Hampson died from astroke and the lingering effects ofthroat cancer in July 1985, in Epsom,Surrey, England.[citation needed]
