EXTRACTS: The Art of Denis McLoughlin © 2013 The Book Palace (272 PAGES in Full edition)

12 Denis McLoughlin died in 2002 at the age of 84. Tragically, he shot himself with a revolver, the only non-replica gun that he possessed and for which he had only the one bullet. He was evidently keeping that bullet for just such a deadly purpose when the time came. It appears that he might have been worried about the loss of feeling in his right arm and feared that he wouldn’t be able to draw again. This makes sense, as drawing to Denis McLoughlin was his life’s blood. Shortly after his death, I received an A4 envelope in the post from one of his relatives. Inside was a page of Commando artwork, together with a scrawled message he had written in capitals on a page of blotting paper. It simply said: ‘Last page, don’t send to Thomson’s - David Ashford might like it’. He must have written this shortly before he picked up the revolver. David Ashford 2012 ABOVE: Magnificent endpapers from the eleventh (and final) Buffalo Bill Wild West Annual published autumn 1961. ABOVE: Posing for another reference photo with a gun that might have been a replica or might have been the real thing. (Note the tie pin!)