John Keith Geering (9 March 1941 – 13 August 1999) was a British

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 comics illustrators/artists in that they produce both the litera ...

with a distinctive, occasionally flamboyant style, most famous for his work for

DC Thomson DC Thomson is a media company based in Dundee, Scotland. Founded by David Couper Thomson in 1905, it is best known for publishing ''The Courier (Dundee), The Courier'', ''Evening Telegraph (Dundee), The Evening Telegraph'' and ''The Sunday Pos ...

comic a medium used to express ideas with images, often combined with text or other visual information. It typically the form of a sequence of panels of images. Textual devices such as speech balloons, captions, and onomatopoeia can indicat ...

s including '' Sparky'', '' The Topper'', '' Cracker'', '' Plug'', ''

Nutty ''Nutty'' was a British comic magazine that ran for 292 issues from 16 February 1980 to 14 September 1985, when it merged with ''The Dandy''. Published by D. C. Thomson & Co. Ltd, ''Nutty'' was an attempt to create a more lively and chaotic com ...

'', ''

The Beano ''The Beano'' (formerly ''The Beano Comic'') is a British anthology comic magazine created by Scottish publishing company DC Thomson. Its first issue was published on 30 July 1938, and it published its 4000th issue in August 2019. Popular and ...

'' and ''

The Dandy ''The Dandy'' was a Scottish children's comic magazine published by the Dundee based publisher DC Thomson. The first issue was printed in December 1937, making it the world's third-longest running comic, after '' Il Giornalino'' (cover dated 1 Oc ...

''. Geering's strips included: * Puss 'n' Boots (''Sparky/Topper/Dandy''), a more anarchic, surreal take on the traditional cat-and-dog strips, complete with bizarre dialogue and situations - Boots, for example, having taken a gardening job, boasts that the perks include "all the grass I can eat", whilst Puss can be found selling ice cream at the North Pole. * Smudge (''Beano''), correctly billed as the world's dirtiest schoolboy, relishing any opportunity to get covered in grime and filth that presents itself. * Bananaman (''Nutty/Dandy/Beano''), a bungling superhero whose alter-ego is a stubble-headed schoolboy. This character proved particularly popular during its run in Nutty, and spawned an animated television series voiced by

Bill Oddie William Edgar Oddie (born 7 July 1941) is an English actor, artist, birder, comedian, conservationist, musician, songwriter, television presenter and writer. He was a member of comedy trio The Goodies. A birder since his childhood in Quinton ...

Tim Brooke-Taylor Timothy Julian Brooke-Taylor (17 July 194012 April 2020) was an English actor and comedian. He was best known as a member of The Goodies. Brooke-Taylor became active in performing in comedy sketches while at the University of Cambridge and beca ...

and

Graeme Garden David Graeme Garden (born 18 February 1943) is a Scottish comedian, actor, author, artist and television presenter. He is best known as a member of The Goodies and a regular panellist on '' I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue''. Early life and educati ...

. The strip continued in The Dandy, first drawn by John Geering and then by other artists following his death. Bananaman Geering reprints briefly ran in The Beano from January 2012. He worked at Cosgrove Hall animation studios in Manchester on '' Danger Mouse'', ''

Count Duckula ''Count Duckula'' is a British children's television series, children's animated comedy horror television series created by British studio Cosgrove Hall Films, Cosgrove Hall Productions and produced by Thames Television as a spin-off of ''Dang ...

'', and the 1989 film ''

The BFG ''The BFG'' (short for ''The Big Friendly Giant'') is a 1982 children's novel by British author Roald Dahl. It is an expansion of a short story from Dahl's 1975 novel '' Danny, the Champion of the World''. The book is dedicated to Dahl's oldest ...

'' based on the 1982 novel of the same name by

Roald Dahl Roald Dahl (13 September 1916 – 23 November 1990) was a British author of popular children's literature and short stories, a poet, screenwriter and a wartime Flying ace, fighter ace. His books have sold more than 300 million copies ...

. Geering's last new strip was Dean's Dino, which he drew for ''The Beano'' shortly before his death. He also produced topical and political satire cartoons for British newspapers. He had lived in the village of

Comberbach Comberbach , deriving from the late Britonnic, or early Welsh for a "small confluence" is a civil parish and small village in the unitary authority of Cheshire West and Chester and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England, between Northwich a ...

with his wife for many years before his death. He died in

Warrington Warrington () is an industrial town in the Borough of Warrington, borough of the same name in Cheshire, England. The town sits on the banks of the River Mersey and was Historic counties of England, historically part of Lancashire. It is east o ...

, aged 58.

References

External links

Peter Gray's John Geering comic fansite
1941 births 1999 deaths The Dandy people The Beano people Artists from Warrington British comics artists British comics writers British humorists British animators {{UK-comics-creator-stub