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Philip Mendoza Art

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PHILIP MENDOZA (active 1948-1970)
Philip Mendoza was a descendant of the great bare-knuckle pugilist of the Regency days, Daniel Mendoza, and was, by all accounts, a most colourful character in every meaning of the word. He was dark and swarthy and usually wore a bright-hued neckerchief, which added to his gypsy-like appearance. During the 1940s he illustrated a number of books, including Biggles Charter Pilot (1943), and a great many paperback covers covering all genres (signing his work under many aliases, including Gomez, Ferrari, Garcia, Grimaldi and Zero) before turning to comics.

One of his greatest achievements occurred early on in his career: The Mighty Atom (1948), an all colour strip comic, designed and drawn in its entirety by Mendoza. This publication, from the tiny firm of Denlee Publishing Co., can probably lay claim to being the first all-colour, all picture, British comic. It certainly shows Mendoza's versatility, containing as it does strips featuring highwaymen, cowboys, detectives, space-travellers and funnies. It was written and published by the author/publisher, Stephen Frances, for whom he later designed the silhouette logo of Hank Janson for the famous series of "hard-boiled" paperback thrillers. Mendoza drew the comic, Captain Vigour, for Miller's Sports Cartoons series before starting work for the Amalgamated Press.

He drew strips for Sun, Comet, Cowboy Comics Library, Super Detective Library and, during its early years, for Thriller Comics Library; first contributing a number of short strips, in issues 4 and 6, and then the splendidly drawn Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves (number 7). His ability to capture a brooding atmosphere was admirably displayed in The Green Archer (no.16) and Phantom Footsteps (no. 20, for which he also contributed the cover painting) and his Rogues' Moon (no.66) is an entertaining piratical adventure. His one piece of work for the Super Detective Library: The Island of Fu Manchu (no. 9) is generally accepted as one of the best issues of the series. Mendoza was a true professional who would turn his hand to almost any style of strip. During the latter part of his career, a great deal of his output was for the nursery comics. His version of Kenneth Graham's Wind in the Willows was published in book form, in full colour, by Leonard Matthews' Martspress. Biography extract courtesy of David Ashford and Norman Wright.

Wind in the Willows Art (Philip Mendoza)
Wind in the Willows

Other Philip Mendoza Art
Water Babies; Gulliver Guinea Pig; ...

Home | ART (originals and prints) | Philip Mendoza Art

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