Frank's work has been succinctly summarised (here) thus...
...the original radio serial “combined music and drama to tell stories about the
cowboys of the 6T6 outfit from Pecos, Texas, aiming to present an authentic picture
of the wild west, with the stories being set against a background of real
events, including the opening up of the Chisolm [sic] Trail and the story of
Billy the Kid.” Sadly, all the episodes were performed live and not recorded so
we cannot listen to them now, though the scripts survive.
The hero
of the series was the Texas Ranger Jeff Arnold, played by the Canadian singer and
actor Paul Carpenter, chosen for the role, apparently, because he sounded like
John Wayne.
The
serial was both written and produced by Charles Chilton (1917 – 2013) and in
1950 Chilton was approached by Marcus Morris, owner of Eagle, to make Riders of the
Range a weekly feature of the comic. Morris even paid for Chilton to make
his first visit to the American West. The strip was beautifully drawn by Frank
Humphris (1911 – 1993) and became very popular. It lasted till 1962.
From here on ComicArtFans - thanks
As well as Riders of the Range Frank would also go on to illustrate the Blackbow the Cheyenne strip in Eagle in the 1960s
Most of the images I've never seen before, some certainly pre-date his time on Eagle - I'll highlight them on the blog today and tomorrow.
No idea where this was from - a spot illustration in a magazine like Lilliput maybe??
A much simpler illustration style than we're used to seeing from Humphris
this image (above) has now been identified (below)...
...as being from this book...
A negative of Humphris magisterial illustration of Custer's last stand
Unclear if Humphris illustrated the book cover or just liked the book
From 1942 - the earliest piece of Humphris art I've ever seen
Probably a partner to the 2nd image (above)
Come back for more tomorrow!
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