EXTRACTS: illustrators issue 3 © 2013 The Book Palace (96 PAGES in Full edition)

85 director, and overall boss of all the Fleetway comics in the heyday of the War, Battle and Air Ace Picture Libraries . So I think it’s fair to say the Combat Picture Library story content could stand up with the best. Most of the war and romance covers during my years at Micron were signed “P Mar”: Primo Marcarini. I know little about him but I assumed he had some sort of long-term package deal. Looking around the internet today, I see he also did covers in the late 1950s for the Fleetway “told in pictures” romance libraries. These pages show examples of both his war and romance work. The samples of interior work shown here from Micron’s Romantic Adventure Library are by unknown Continental artists, but you can see they are in the same style, and to the same standard as the many similar love story picture libraries put out at the time by Leng-Thomson and Fleetway. For the younger girls, Micron had a long-running Schoolgirls’ Adventure Library , and a short-lived, text-only Schoolgirls’ Story Library . Another text series that didn’t run to many issues was Women’s Story Library. What happened to cover artist “P Mar” after the Micron work ended, I don’t know. The other day I glanced through some art gallery and foreign languagewebsites, and it seems hewas active into the 1980s doing blackmagic/ witchcraft or crime covers for European publishers. In these, erotic appeal seemed foremost with near-naked ladies dominating, or being dominated. My boss at Micron, and immediate predecessor in the Combat Picture Library editing role, was C. T. Eriksen who moved up to be editorial director. Ron Maiden’s original Micron partner, Mike Budge, had effectively quit; I was told his interest and money had shifted to motor-sport. “Erik”, as he was known, seemed to keep dealings with Marcarini to himself. So I have no idea what special arrangements were in place. I have a vague, and possibly faulty recollection that someone told me Erik had an Italian wife. Bibliographer Steve Holland has told me he corresponded with Erik, whose real first name was Cyril, in 2004, but it wasn’t helpful: “Congratulations on your diligence in finding me. Sadly, I cannot help you. “I left publishing over thirty-five years ago, pursued another career, and have now been retired for sixteen years. You are going back a long way, too far back for me to have any recollections that could interest you. However, a very slight straw, the only person I can think of who could help you would be R. L. Maiden, who used to live in Purley. I don’t know if he is still alive, but if he is, I’m sure you will find him! He was Managing Director of our group and at one time held file copies of all publications. “Best wishes with your endeavour.” Steve found a record for the death in 1994 of a Ronald Leslie Maiden, born in 1933. So this avenue to the full Micron story is apparently closed as well. I believe another of the reasons Micron had for shifting part of its operation to Wallington in 1962, and taking on a new editor, was its expansion into western comics. After a 12-year run, Fleetway Publications ended its Cowboy Picture Library in September 1962. The swelling ranks of war picture libraries were taking over news-agents’ racks, leaving little room for anything different, especially if it was starting to look a little passé. In this regard, years of Kit Carson and Buck Jones had put a juvenile, make-believe stamp on Fleetway’s Cowboy Picture Library , despite a cover makeover. War was ostensibly TOP: Macarini cover art for Love Is Forever. ABOVE: Romance art in archetypal 1960s girl comics style from Dive Into Danger.