Donald Southam Lawrence (17 November 1928 - 29 December 2003; London, UK)
Born in East Sheen, London, on 17 November 1928, Don Lawrence used his gratuity from National Service to attend Borough Polytechnic to study art. He became a regular contributor to the superheroic adventures of Marvelman in 1954 before producing the Western strips Wells Fargo and Pony Express for Zip and Swift.

He found work with Fleetway, drawing another Western, Billy the Kid, before finding his niche drawing historical strips Karl the Viking, Olac the Gladiator and Maroc the Mighty.

Full colour strips followed for Lion Annual and Bible Story, including the life of Herod the Great in the latter, led to him being offered The Trigan Empire, which debuted in the short-lived Ranger in September 1965 before finding a regular home in the educational weekly Look and Learn from June 1966. Lawrence was to draw this iconic strip for 11 years in all.

After 11 years on Trigan Empire, Lawrence helped create Storm, the story of a man catapulted into the distant future, for the Dutch weekly comic Eppo. Lawrence painted 22 volumes of Storm's adventures between 1976 and 1995. That year, Lawrence lost the sight in one eye and a final volume was completed with the assistance of Liam McCormack-Sharp in 2001.

Lawrence was widely respected in continental Europe (he was made a Knight of the order of Oranje-Nassau by Queen Beatrix of Holland) and won many awards. He died on 29 December 2003, aged 75.
Source: Illustration Art Gallery