A lot of people confuse Graham Allen's style with that of Leo Baxendale, and I must confess I used to be guilty of that too. Allen was no doubt encouraged to imitate Baxendale's style, as were several other cartoonists, due to Odhams' attempt to give some of their humour strips a kind of house style. However there are distinct differences, and as soon as one picks up on Allen's distinct inking style and, for example, his tendency to give a lot of his characters tiny feet, it becomes more obvious. (Plus the fact that Leo Baxendale was allowed to sign the pages he drew for Odhams, so a lack of his signature is also a good indication he didn't draw it.)
Here are a few examples of Graham Allen's excellent run on The Nervs from selected issues of Smash! from 1966, starting with the story from issue 1, when 'Fatty' was depicted as an adult...
From Smash! No.3 onwards, it seems there had been an editorial decision to make Fatty a schoolboy without any explanation, which he remained for the rest of the series...
There's a few occasions where Fatty is seen to take tablets. There's no way a children's comic would depict that today. Smash! and its companion comics Wham! and Pow! could often be a bit reckless, but they treated their readers with having enough intelligence not to imitate what they saw in comics.
I've always enjoyed the work of Graham Allen, and he was one of my favourite cartoonists in those Odhams comics. I hope this short tribute to his often overlooked work on The Nervs helps others appreciate what a great cartoonist he was, and indeed still is. I understand he still contributes to the Daily Express and has illustrated children's books. You can find out more about him here:
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