Norman Worker (1927 – 5 February 2005) was a British comic book writer, best known for his work on comic books featuring
Lee Falk
Lee Falk (), born Leon Harrison Gross (; April 28, 1911 – March 13, 1999), was an American cartoonist, writer, theater director, and producer, best known as the creator of the comic strips ''Mandrake the Magician'' and ''The Phantom''. At the ...
's ''
The Phantom
''The Phantom'' is an American adventure comic strip, first published by Lee Falk in February 1936. The main character, the Phantom, is a fictional costumed crime-fighter who operates from the fictional African country of Bangalla. The ch ...
''.
Norman was born in Kent, England, in 1927. When he was 17 years old, he fought in
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
in India. After that, he worked in his father's furniture factory until it went bankrupt in the 1950s.
It was his cousin, ''
Modesty Blaise
''Modesty Blaise'' is a British comic strip featuring a fictional character of the same name, created by author Peter O'Donnell and illustrator Jim Holdaway in 1963. The strip follows Modesty Blaise, an exceptional young woman with many talen ...
''-creator
Peter O'Donnell
Peter O'Donnell (11 April 1920 – 3 May 2010) was an English writer of mysteries and of comic strips, best known as the creator of ''Modesty Blaise'', an action heroine/undercover trouble-shooter. He was also an award-winning gothic hi ...
, who suggested that Norman could become a comic book writer. This led to Norman writing stories featuring ''
The Saint
The Saint may refer to:
Fiction
* Simon Templar, also known as "The Saint", the protagonist of a book series by Leslie Charteris and subsequent adaptations:
** ''The Saint'' (film series) (1938–43), starring Louis Hayward, George Sanders an ...
'' and ''
Buffalo Bill
William Frederick Cody (February 26, 1846January 10, 1917), known as "Buffalo Bill", was an American soldier, bison hunter, and showman. He was born in Le Claire, Iowa Territory (now the U.S. state of Iowa), but he lived for several years ...
'' for
Semic, a Swedish comic book company.
It was on Semic that Norman started writing stories with The Phantom. At first, he used the pen-name "J. Bull", but he quickly started to sign the stories with his real name.
Norman was arguably the most popular writer of the Scandinavian Phantom production; who ended up writing 127 stories before he retired in 2004. Norman is credited for being responsible for providing backstories to many of the previous Phantoms of other centuries, which was a result of his love for history.
External links
Norman Worker biographyon Scandinavian Chapter
1927 births
2005 deaths
English comics writers
People from Kent
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