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Keith Chapman is these days best known as Chap O'Keefe, western writer and the creator of the popular series Misfit Lil. Keith's latest book can be bought on both Amazon UK and US
Sunday, 13 September 2009
THE SAINT SETTLES THE SCORE BY KEITH CHAPMAN - CONCLUDING PART
As always click any image to enlarge or download by right clicking and select save image.
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Keith Chapman is these days best known as Chap O'Keefe, western writer and the creator of the popular series Misfit Lil. Keith's latest book can be bought on both Amazon UK and US
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Keith Chapman is these days best known as Chap O'Keefe, western writer and the creator of the popular series Misfit Lil. Keith's latest book can be bought on both Amazon UK and US
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8 comments:
Surprised there are no comments. It's an interesting look back at simpler times. When words were king and drawings were secondary, it seems. Nowadays, the editor would cut the words down drastically and go for more action scenes...
Course the lack of comments are no indication of how popular the strip is - 500 downloads today. And with today's visits the Saint weekend has now gotten well over 2000 hits.
That's a lot of downloads! Wasn't querying the popularity, just thought the story and artwork worthy of comment from several aspects... The weekend was a great success, I think. I recently re-read an early Saint book and still enjoyed it, Ace of Knaves.
No I knew what you meant Nik. I too was surprised at the lack of comments but as I say the downloads speak for themselves. But it is a great story and very wordy for a comic strip. No doubt Keith will have something to say when he wakes up in that land down under.
Absolutely -- very wordy and quite different from the war and western libraries I was also scripting at the time. The intended audience was more adult, for a start. An indication: The back cover ad wasn't for more comics, but for a range of western paperbacks distributed by the same company: Max Brand, Al Cody, Paul Evan Lehman, Dean Owen, etc.
The brief was nothing "too hackneyed and worn out" and that "the lines on which these Comics should be created are The Saint Versus Scotland Yard, The Saint and Mr Teal, The Saint in London and Ace of Knaves."
You're familiar with those early Saint books and will know that language was a huge part of their appeal. I did what I could within the constraints of a "picture story".
I don't believe detective stories lend themselves as well to comic-strip treatment as war, SF, horror or even western. Those other genres allow larger scope for spectacle. Maybe that's why crime stories in comics quickly adopted costumed heroes and flamboyant villains. Black Mask didn't have a comic-book successor.
Looking back with the detachment allowed me by around 45 intervening years, I'd say The Saint Settles a Score achieved what it set out to do. Take out the Saint and replace him with some other protagonist, take out the mock-Charteris flavour, replace both with anything else, and I'd say the result would be good for nothing but the reject pile.
Ian Dickerson tells me: "I think you did a good job . . . indeed very reminiscent of the Saint’s early adventures."
But I agree with what you say about a modern editor. Then again, would a comics editor today be able to produce a story that would satisfy Charteris readers, let alone Charteris himself? A later Saint comics scriptwriter, Donne Avenell who wrote for the Scandinavian Helgonet (Saint) series, said: "Charteris could sometimes let six or seven stories pass without comment, but then all of a sudden for no apparent reason he would send an awful letter that would rip you to shreds."
Thanks very much for this. Can you please tell us which issue this strip is from? One of the 1966 Top Sellers run?
Slinky, The strip is from The Saint No. 1. There is no cover date, but it would have been before 1966.
The front cover says simply "THE SAINT No. 1" and "1/-" (i.e. price one shilling) and the spine (it was perfect-bound like a paperback) repeats the same info.
The price is printed as part of the cover and is not a sticker/label/rubber-stamp mark added to an import of, say, an Australian printing.
The back cover says "For the best in Western reading select a novel from our exciting new range!", lists titles, and finishes at the bottom with "Thorpe & Porter Ltd, East St. Oadby, Leics." Investigations show these westerns, imports, had US publishing dates circa 1962.
The inside front cover is a Classics Illustrated ad finishing again with the Thorpe & Porter address, and in the bottom margin are skimpy "printing history" details with not even a copyright symbol or date. These say: "Published by Top Sellers Ltd., London." (first line) and "Printed in England." (second line)
No dates anywhere -- I even looked closely through the Charles Atlas ad (inside back cover) for clues. "Dept. 20-T, Chitty Street, London, W.1."
I probably wrote the script in 1962 or 1963, since I joined Micron in August 1962. Once I'd sold it to the Spanish agent, I didn't follow what happened to it. I was employed in a senior position by another, supposedly "competing" publishing company, for whom I was also scriptwriting.
I understand "Top Sellers" had an address in Wardour St, London W.1, but was later said to be in Leicester. I believe it was part of the Thorpe & Porter set-up. Researcher and bibliographer Steve Holland tells me "Thorpe & Porter went into liquidation around June 1966".
I've got this issue, and another by the same publisher.
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