Leonard James Matthews (10 October 1914 – 9 November 1997) was a British editor, publisher, writer and illustrator of comics and children's magazines, best known as the founder of the educational magazine Look and Learn.
Early life
Born in
Islington,
London,
[Alan Clark, Dictionary of British Comic Artists, Writers and Editors, The British Library, 1998, pp. 107-108] on 10 October 1914, he joined the Amalgamated Press (AP) as an editorial assistant
[George Beal, Obituary: Leonard Matthews, The Independent, 5 December 1997] in 1939, starting as a sub-editor on the weekly comic
Knockout under editor
Percy Clarke.
Matthews persuaded cartoonist
Hugh McNeill, then working for rival
DC Thomson's comics
The Beano and
The Dandy, to go freelance and work for AP. McNeill contributed
Deed-a-Day Danny and
Simon the Simple Sleuth to
Knockout's initial lineup, and remained a mainstay of AP's comics for the rest of his life;
[Wright and Ashford, pp. 89-102.] he and Matthews remained friends until McNeill died in 1969.
RAF and WWII
Matthews served in the
RAF during the Second World War, and also compiled training manuals for the
Air Ministry in London. He volunteered as a
fire lookout, and saved AP's offices at Fleetway House from burning down during an air raid.
After the war he returned to
Knockout, becoming editor in 1948. He featured more adventure strips, including adaptations of classic adventure novels, scripting some of them, including
The Three Musketeers, drawn by Eric Parker.
He wrote the pirate strip
Captain Flame for artist Sep E. Scott,
[Wright and Ashford, pp. 170-180.] and
Dick Turpin serials for H. M. Brock and D. C. Eyles.
He was also an artist, drawing strips like
Daffy the Cowboy Tec for
Knockout.
[Denis Gifford, Encyclopedia of Comic Characters, Longman, 1987, p. 57]
Comics career
In 1949 he became editor of a second comic,
Sun, acquired by AP from rival publisher J. B. Allen. Again, he increased the adventure content, hiring
Geoff Campion to draw
Billy the Kid, and introducing new characters like Max Bravo and
Battler Britton.
In 1950 he launched
Cowboy Comics, a digest-sized series repackaging western comics originated for the Australian market,
[Wright and Ashford, pp. 8-9.] and later became editor of
Thriller Comics, which published historical adventure stories in the same format. He scripted several of them, including adaptations of
Lorna Doone and
Quentin Durward.
In the 1950s he became Managing Editor of Amalgamated Press's comics,
Nicknamed "Napoleon of the Comics," while at Fleetway,["Men Only," Magforum. Archived at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved Apr. 20, 2021.] Matthews nonetheless left the company at the end of 1968 to set up his own company,[Stringer, Lew. "Flashback 1969: TV21 & Joe 90 No.1," Blimey! The Blog of British Comics! (25 November 2007).] and Once Upon a Time for City Magazines.
A small man, Matthews liked to have tall men working for him. In addition, no employee was allowed to have a beard or they'd be sacked.[Jack Adrian, Obituary: Leonard Matthews, The Independent, 5 December 1997]
Death
Matthews died in
Esher,
Surrey, on 9 November 1997.
Notes
Sources
-
Butterworth, Mike and Don Lawrence, The Trigan Empire: The Green Smog, Volume 12 (Ed. staff Steve Holland, Rob van Bavel and Mike O'Doherty) Don Lawrence Collection (pub.), 2008.
-
Wright, Norman and David Ashford, Masters of Fun and Thrills: The British Comic Artists Vol 1, Norman Wright (pub.), 2008.
External links
