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

9 I first came across the hardboiled art of Denis Mcloughlin in the orange/ green comics that were sold in the large Woolworth’s store in my home town of Torquay in South Devon. I would have been about seven or eight years old I suppose. Not that I would have used the term “hardboiled” at that time but I certainly thought that here was an artist whose drawings were plenty tough. I knew his name right off, too, because each of the com- ics’ covers was signed “d.mcloughlin”, in small case, which was unusual. These small, twelve page, threepenny comics that I liked so much featured a tough detective or “special agent” called Roy Carson ; a time traveller, Swift Morgan (who looked not unlike a spaceman I had seen in the Saturday mat- inee serials in our local cinema and who had a rather similar name, Flash Gordon ); and a favourite of mine from other comics, Buffalo Bill . There was also in the same comic format another character called Blackhawk , featur- ing a bunch of American airmen, but this didn’t have the same appeal for me - the artist was different. In fact, for a while, the Buffalo Bill comics were also disappointing because, at this time, this strikingly tough new artist I had discovered drew only the covers, and the interior work was markedly inferior. I remember being extremely happy when, a little later, I found the entire Buffalo Bill comic was drawn by “d. mcloughlin”. The first time I saw the Buffalo Bill Wild West Annual was in a class- room at my first primary school. A classmate had brought in a book he’d just been given for his birthday and, when he showed it me, I was knocked out. I just couldn’t believe it: all the drawings - and the paintings - were by Denis McLoughlin (I knew his full name now as it was there on the title page). Looking through it, I was thrilled to see that this annual was all about the real, historical West, something about which I knew very little but was very eager to learn. I really became hooked on those annuals and, indeed, anything drawn by Denis McLoughlin. Strangely, however, it was not until I was in my late twenties that I was to discover the many hundreds of won- derful covers he did for the Boardman novels and pulp magazines. Those Buffalo Bill Annnuals really fascinated me. They were packed full of information on the Old West: the Indians, the scouts, the gunfighters, stagecoaches, old mines, forts, practically every aspect of the West you could possibly think of - unbelievable riches. And so superbly designed, with so much attention to detail and always such a feeling of rugged authen- ticity. I remember thinking, as a boy, how wonderful it would be to meet introduction ABOVE: Covers to two of Boardman’s 12 page two colour comics which ran from February 1948 until October 1951.