Bill Lacey (1917 - 2000; UK)
Bill Lacey was one of the finest storytellers British comics ever produced. Born in 1917, he served in Bomber Command in the RAF during World War II. In 1947 he worked for Jackman Studios Bible publishers and drew amongst others The Story of Jesus. He then moved to work on the prestigious comic Mickey Mouse Weekly in which he drew Robin Alone. It was in Super Detective Library that he really made his mark, drawing #3 Bulldog Drummond, #54 The Riddle of the Blue Men, various Dirk Rogers adventures and all the Blackshirt issues starting at #103 'Wanted - Blackshirt. He also drew 4 of the John Steel Special Agent World War II issues : #157, #160, #165 and #171. He only drew two Thriller Picture Library: issues #76 The Covered Wagon and #347 Operation Freedom.


He contributed to girls comics including The Circus Ballerina for Princess. He also worked for Film Fun, Buster, Tiger, Lion and Valiant. He then went to work for the marvellous magazine Look & Learn where he drew a version of Great Expectations and Eagles Over the Western Front a Biggles inspired WW1 series that saw Lacey excelling in depicting action packed dogfights over the French countryside. His other main strips for Look & Learn included Agent of the Queen which told the adventures of a Victorian James Bond and Number 13 Marvel Street which featured a schoolboy sleuth with a supercomputer.

In the 1970s his style and expertise were also used in Battle Picture Weekly and Valiant, and numerous other annuals. He did his final comics work in Buddy in 1981, including The Wilde Boys and The Q-Bikes.