Leonard James Matthews (10 October 1914 – 9 November 1997) was a British editor, publisher, writer and illustrator of comics and children's magazines, best known as the founder of the educational magazine ''

Look and Learn ''Look and Learn'' was a British weekly educational magazine for children published by Fleetway Publications Ltd from 1962 until 1982. It contained educational text articles that covered a wide variety of topics from volcanoes to the Loch Ness ...

''.

Early life

Born in

Islington Islington ( ) is an inner-city area of north London, England, within the wider London Borough of Islington. It is a mainly residential district of Inner London, extending from Islington's #Islington High Street, High Street to Highbury Fields ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

,Alan Clark, ''Dictionary of British Comic Artists, Writers and Editors'', The British Library, 1998, pp. 107-108 on 10 October 1914, he joined the

Amalgamated Press The Amalgamated Press (AP) was a British newspaper and magazine publishing company founded by journalist and entrepreneur Alfred Harmsworth (1865–1922) in 1901, gathering his many publishing ventures together under one banner. At one point the ...

(AP) as an editorial assistantGeorge Beal
Obituary: Leonard Matthews
''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'', 5 December 1997 in 1939, starting as a sub-editor on the weekly comic ''

Knockout A knockout (abbreviated to KO or K.O.) is a fight-ending, winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, Muay Thai, mixed martial arts, karate, some forms of taekwondo and other sports involving striking, ...

'' under editor

Percy Clarke The English surname Percy is of Norman origin, coming from Normandy to England, United Kingdom. It was from the House of Percy, Norman lords of Northumberland, and derives from the village of Percy-en-Auge in Normandy. From there, it came into ...

. Matthews persuaded cartoonist Hugh McNeill, then working for rival

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 ...

's comics ''

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 ...

'', to go freelance and work for AP. McNeill contributed ''Deed-a-Day Danny'' and ''Simon the Simple Sleuth'' to ''Knockout'''s initial lineup, and remained a mainstay of AP's comics for the rest of his life;Wright and Ashford, pp. 89-102. he and Matthews remained friends until McNeill died in 1969.

RAF and WWII

Matthews served in the RAF during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, and also compiled training manuals for the

Air Ministry The Air Ministry was a department of the Government of the United Kingdom with the responsibility of managing the affairs of the Royal Air Force and civil aviation that existed from 1918 to 1964. It was under the political authority of the ...

in London. He volunteered as a

fire lookout A fire lookout (sometimes also called a fire watcher) is a person assigned the duty to look for fire from atop a building known as a fire lookout tower. These towers are used in remote areas, normally on mountain tops with high elevation and ...

, and saved AP's offices at Fleetway House from burning down during an air raid. After the war he returned to ''Knockout'', becoming editor in 1948. He featured more adventure strips, including adaptations of classic adventure novels, scripting some of them, including ''

The Three Musketeers ''The Three Musketeers'' () is a French historical adventure novel written and published in 1844 by French author Alexandre Dumas. It is the first of the author's three d'Artagnan Romances. As with some of his other works, he wrote it in col ...

'', drawn by Eric Parker. He wrote the pirate strip ''Captain Flame'' for artist Sep E. Scott,Wright and Ashford, pp. 170-180. and

Dick Turpin Richard Turpin (bapt. 21 September 1705 – 7 April 1739) was an English highwayman whose exploits were romanticised following his execution in York for horse theft. Turpin may have followed his father's trade as a butcher ear ...

serials for

H. M. Brock Henry Matthew Brock (11 July 187521 July 1960) was a British illustrator and landscape painter of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. He was one of four artist brothers, all of them illustrators, who worked together in their family ...

and D. C. Eyles. He was also an artist, drawing strips like ''Daffy the Cowboy Tec'' for ''Knockout''.

Comics career

In 1949 he became editor of a second comic, ''

Sun The Sun is the star at the centre of the Solar System. It is a massive, nearly perfect sphere of hot plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core, radiating the energy from its surface mainly as visible light a ...

'', acquired by AP from rival publisher J. B. Allen. Again, he increased the adventure content, hiring

Geoff Campion Arthur Geoffrey Campion (19 November 1916 — 18 December 1997)Norman Wright and David Ashford, ''Masters of Fun and Thrills: The British Comic Artists Vol. 1'', Norman Wright (pub.), 2008, pp. 7-21 was a British comics artist who drew adventur ...

to draw ''

Billy the Kid Henry McCarty (September 17 or November 23, 1859July 14, 1881), alias William H. Bonney, better known as Billy the Kid, was an American outlaw and gunfighter of the Old West who was linked to nine murders: four for which he was solely res ...

'', and introducing new characters like Max Bravo and

Battler Britton Battler Britton is a British comics character created by Mike Butterworth and Geoff Campion.McNeil, Jamie"Battler Britton" ''The Slings & Arrows Graphic Novel Guide''. Retrieved April 7, 2021. He first appeared in Amalgamated Press' ''Sun'' in 1 ...

. In 1950 he launched ''

Cowboy Comics A cowboy is an animal herder who tends cattle on ranches in North America, traditionally on horseback, and often performs a multitude of other ranch-related tasks. The historic American cowboy of the late 19th century arose from the ''vaquero'' ...

'', a digest-sized series repackaging western comics originated for the Australian market, and later became editor of ''

Thriller Comics ''Thriller Comics'', later titled ''Thriller Comics Library'' and even later ''Thriller Picture Library'', was a British comic book magazine, published in series of digest sized issues by the Amalgamated Press, later Fleetway Publications, from N ...

'', which published historical adventure stories in the same format. He scripted several of them, including adaptations of ''

Lorna Doone ''Lorna Doone: A Romance of Exmoor'' is a novel by R. D. Blackmore, first published in three volumes in London in 1869. It is a romance based on a group of historical characters and set in the late 17th century in Devon and Somerset, particu ...

'' and ''

Quentin Durward ''Quentin Durward'' is a historical novel by Sir Walter Scott, first published in 1823. The story concerns a Scottish archer in the service of the French King Louis XI (1423–1483) who plays a prominent part in the narrative. Composi ...

''. In the 1950s he became Managing Editor of Amalgamated Press's comics, including the girls' and nursery titles as well as the boys' titles. In 1958 Amalgamated Press was bought by the

Mirror Group Reach plc (known as Trinity Mirror between 1999 and 2018) is a British newspaper, magazine and internet journalism, digital publisher. It is one of the UK's biggest newspaper groups, publishing 240 regional papers in addition to the national ' ...

and renamed

Fleetway Publications Fleetway Publications was a magazine publishing company based in London. History It was founded in 1959 when the Mirror Group acquired the Amalgamated Press, then based at Fleetway House, Farringdon Street, London. It was one of the companies ...

, and in 1961 Matthews was named Director of Juvenile Publications, and launched several new titles, including ''

Princess Princess is a title used by a female member of a regnant monarch's family or by a female ruler of a principality. The male equivalent is a prince (from Latin '' princeps'', meaning principal citizen). Most often, the term has been used for ...

'', '' Buster'' and ''

War Picture Library ''War Picture Library'' was a British 64-page "pocket library" War comics, war comic magazine title published by Fleetway, Amalgamated Press/Fleetway (now owned by IPC Media, IPC Magazines) for 2103 issues. Each issue featured a complete story, ...

''. In 1962 he launched ''

'', a lavishly illustrated weekly magazine inspired by the Italian magazines ''Conoscere'' and ''La Vita Meravigliosa'', and in 1965 launched '' Ranger'', which combined educational features with comic strips, such as '' Rob Riley'' and the highly regarded '' Rise and Fall of the Trigan Empire''. Whilst

Mike Butterworth John Michael Butterworth (10 January 1924 – 4 October 1986) was a British comic book writer, best known for his comic strip ''Trigan Empire, The Rise and Fall of the Trigan Empire'' in the British weeklies ''Ranger magazine, Ranger'' and ...

is credited as the author of the ''Trigan Empire'', it was Leonard Matthews who initiated the original concept, as Butterworth explained: Nicknamed "

Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte (born Napoleone di Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French general and statesman who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led Military career ...

of the Comics," while at Fleetway, Matthews nonetheless left the company at the end of 1968 to set up his own company,

Martspress Leonard James Matthews (10 October 1914 – 9 November 1997) was a British editor, publisher, writer and illustrator of comics and children's magazines, best known as the founder of the educational magazine ''Look and Learn''. Early life Born i ...

, packaging comics and juvenile publications like '' TV21''Stringer, Lew
"Flashback 1969: TV21 & Joe 90 No.1,"
''Blimey! The Blog of British Comics!'' (25 November 2007). and ''Once Upon a Time'' for

City Magazines City Magazines was a British publisher of weekly comics and men's magazines that operated from the mid-1950s to the mid-1970s. The company's most notable publications were comics magazines based on licensed television properties, including '' TV ...

. A small man, Matthews liked to have tall men working for him. In addition, no employee was allowed to have a beard or they'd be sacked.Jack Adrian
Obituary: Leonard Matthews
''

'', 5 December 1997

Death

Matthews died in

Esher Esher ( ) is a town in the borough of Borough of Elmbridge, Elmbridge in Surrey, England, to the east of the River Mole, Surrey, River Mole. Esher is an outlying suburb of London, close to the London–Surrey border; with Esher Commons at its ...

Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...

, on 9 November 1997.

References

Notes

Sources

* Butterworth, Mike and Don Lawrence, ''The Trigan Empire: The Green Smog'', Volume 12 (Ed. staff Steve Holland, Rob van Bavel and Mike O'Doherty) Don Lawrence Collection (pub.), 2008. * Wright, Norman and David Ashford, ''Masters of Fun and Thrills: The British Comic Artists Vol 1'', Norman Wright (pub.), 2008.

External links

Lambiek Comiclopedia article.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Matthews, Leonard British magazine publishers (people) 1914 births 1997 deaths Comic book editors Comics publishing companies British comics writers British comics artists British magazine editors Royal Air Force personnel of World War II Writers from London