John Edward Barker (31 May 1950 – 18 April 1997) was an English

cartoonist A cartoonist is a visual artist who specializes in both drawing and writing cartoons (individual images) or comics (sequential images). Cartoonists differ from comics writers or comic book illustrators in that they produce both the literary and g ...

, best known for his work in ''

International Times ''International Times'' (''it'' or ''IT'') is the name of various underground newspapers, with the original title founded in London in 1966 and running until October 1973. Editors included John "Hoppy" Hopkins, David Mair ...

'' and ''

The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the ...

'' in the late 1960s and early 1970s, including the comic strip "The Largactilites" (later renamed "The Galactilites"). He was described as "the wittiest and most idiosyncratic cartoonist to emerge from the British underground press". His cartoons were usually signed simply "Edward".

Life

Born in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the We ...

, he studied at

Moseley School of Art The Moseley School of Art () on Moseley Road, Balsall Heath, Birmingham, England was built as the first municipal branch School of Art in Birmingham. The Moseley School of Art was closed by the City of Birmingham Education Committee in 1976. The ...

, and was a regular at the forerunner of MAC, The Midlands Arts Centre for Young People, before joining an avant-garde project, the

Birmingham Arts Lab The Birmingham Arts Laboratory or Arts Lab was an experimental arts centre and artist collective based in Birmingham, England from 1968 to 1982 – an "arts and performance space dedicated to radical research into art and creativity". Loosely or ...

. He moved, with friends from Midlands Arts Centre to a house in Muswell Hill where they tried to succeed in the pop world, Barker playing tablas. In 1969, he was recruited by Graham Keen to join the staff of underground newspaper ''

'' (''IT''). There, he introduced a regular cartoon, "The Largactilites" – "a collection of cone-shaped creatures who did very little and said less".Obituary by Roger Hutchinson
''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers '' The Observer'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the ...

'', 19 April 1997 . Accessed 30 November 2009 In 1970, he was offered the opportunity to draw the series for ''The Observer'', but faced immediate criticism over its title – Largactil (also known as chlorpromazine or Thorazine) being a drug used clinically to treat mental illness. The strip's name was changed to "The Galactilites". However, after a few weeks Barker was released from his contract after submitting a four-frame strip which consisted solely of four horizon-lines, becoming the first cartoon to appear in ''

Private Eye ''Private Eye'' is a British fortnightly satirical and current affairs news magazine, founded in 1961. It is published in London and has been edited by Ian Hislop since 1986. The publication is widely recognised for its prominent critici ...

''s "Pseuds Corner". He continued to work for various underground and music journals, including ''IT'' and ''

New Musical Express ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...

'', also designing album covers and publishing comic books. These included ''Edward's Heave Comics'', published during the government of

Edward Heath Sir Edward Richard George Heath (9 July 191617 July 2005), often known as Ted Heath, was a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1970 to 1974 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1965 to 1975. Heath a ...

; and '' Nasty Tales'', co-published with

Mick Farren Michael Anthony Farren (3 September 1943 – 27 July 2013) was an English rock musician, singer, journalist, and author associated with counterculture and the UK underground. Early life Farren was born in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, and aft ...

in 1971, which was prosecuted but cleared of obscenity charges in 1973 in the first such trial of a comic book in British history. Barker and Farren also organised the 1970

Phun City Phun City was a rock festival held at Ecclesden Common near Worthing, England, from 24 July to 26 July 1970. Excluding the one-day free concerts in London's Hyde Park, Phun City became the first large-scale free festival in the UK. History Or ...

free festival and co-published ''Watch Out Kids'' (1972), "a handbook of youth rebellion tracing the rise of youth culture from Elvis and

James Dean James Byron Dean (February 8, 1931September 30, 1955) was an American actor. He is remembered as a cultural icon of teenage disillusionment and social estrangement, as expressed in the title of his most celebrated film, '' Rebel Without a Caus ...

through to the MC5, the

White Panthers The White Panthers were an anti-racist political collective founded in November 1968 by Pun Plamondon, Leni Sinclair, and John Sinclair. It was started in response to an interview where Huey P. Newton, co-founder of the Black Panther Party, w ...

and

The Angry Brigade The Angry Brigade was a far-left British terrorist group responsible for a series of bomb attacks in England between 1970 and 1972. Using small bombs, they targeted banks, embassies, a BBC Outside Broadcast vehicle, and the homes of Conservati ...

". Barker was art director for ''Seed, The Journal of Organic Living'', from 1976 to 1977. He created the Whole Earth brand logo in 1976. Barker illustrated and designed the original packaging for the Realeat 'Vegeburger' in 1981, the first vegetarian burger. Barker later lived in Cornwall and Kent, before his death from heart failure at the age of 46. Farren wrote: "Edward may have drunk himself to death in 1997, but he was also one of the gentlest and most innocent beings who ever walked this Earth, which is possibly why the same Earth proved too much for him."Tribute by Mick Farren
. Accessed 30 November 2009

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Barker, Edward English cartoonists Underground cartoonists 1950 births 1997 deaths Artists from Birmingham, West Midlands