My interest in this 1973 comic stems from an entry in the Mick McMahon stripography (compiled by Patrick Brown) in The Panelhoue issue #4 (March-July 1996) which has as its first entry...
1976 (or earlier?)
Jeff Gint, private detective in 'It's all lies'
The British Library records 6 issues of the comic 'It's all lies' from 1973. This is the same as is recorded in 'Nasty tales' by David Huxley. So, I'm going to go for that too.
It's all lies, issue #1, 1973
It's all lies, issue #2, 1973
rear cover
It's all lies, issue #3, 1973
It's all lies, issue #4, 1973
It's all lies, issue #4, 1973
It's all lies, issue #5, 1973 - cover art by John Hurford
It's all lies, issue #6, 1973 - cover at by John Bolton
Thanks to Victor Marsillo (check out his great Facebook group "British Underground Comix") I have a contents listing for It's all lies
#2: Matthew Freeth, Jonathan Gems, John Hurford, Justin Ward
#3: Matthew Freeth, Antonio Ghura, John Hurford, Alan Moore (script), Steve Parkhouse, Justin Ward
#4: Matthew Freeth, Heath, John Hurford, McMahon, Justin Ward #5: Matthew Freeth, Jonathan Gems, Antonio Ghura, John Hurford, McMahon, Justin Ward
#6: John Bolton, Robert Crumb, Matthew Freeth, Antonio Ghura, Steve Parkhouse, Justin Ward
Interesting to see Steve Parkhouse's name in there - but that's for another day. And Alan Moore as well.
Anyway, it's clear from the listing that "McMahon" is credited as appearing in issues 4 and 5. It doesn't say "Mick McMahon" in the issues just "McMahon".
Victor then sent me this more detailed description of the "McMahon" credited strips...
Ok, so that's not quite "Jeff Gint" but I can easily see how the names could have been confused.
Victor then sent me these interior pages from It's all lies - in the first image you can see a signature on the bin lid. Even if thse were drawn in 1973 that's still 4 years before 2000AD is published so that gives someone's art style a long time to develop. So, the question is, does these look like really early Mick McMahon artwork to you?
At the Mick McMahon signing at Forbidden Planet yesterday (Saturday 10th December 2022) Eamonn Clarke asked Mick about the strip and whether or not he'd drawn it. Mick confirmed that he HAD drawn it and he was happy to see the strip again - even though he thought the strip was completely terrible!
In 1973, would the then 18/19 year old McMahon still have been studying illustration and graphic design at Chelsea School of Art?
ReplyDeleteWould love to see my Uncle Antonio's work in issue 1
ReplyDeleteI am the Justin Ward (Harry Dude strip) mentioned above - thanks for preserving this! Jonathan Gems (screenwriter for the hit film Mars Attacks!) was writer/editor and Paul Sanders was the business manager and co-ideas man. At 17 I was otherwise homeless and jobless, living in Jonathan's basement flat (of his mother, the playwright Pam Gems) in Phillimore Place. Very posh. They put up with me well beyond the call of duty and Jonny fixed me up with a bedsit in Portobello Road, bless him. Jonathan's father was the Gems of Gems' Wax Museum.
ReplyDeleteOur main claim to fame was the day Lord Sieff, pro-Zionism Marks & Spencer chairman was attacked in his house by PLO agents. The phone number of his house was one digit different to the number of Jonny's flat, and Paul called me to talk on the phone to the Daily Express 'William Hickey' column who had called, thinking it was Lord Sieff's home number.
While reading pertinent stuff out of Who's Who, I had to tell the journo on the other end that Lord Sieff had been entertaining various hippy types in connection with his interest in our comic. It actually got in the paper! Paul was later interviewed on some radio show and did the same Who's Who thing. Fake news, eh?
That was a great summer of 1973. I'm not sure how many copies were ever sold; low hundreds at best. Matthew Freeth was my favourite contributor.