Robot Archie and the Time Machine

Before entering the comic industry Ted Cowan worked as a lab assistant at Shell-Mex then enlisted into the RAF as WWII broke out. Forced to re-enlist with the army after a crash, he became a dispatch rider, but another accident saw an end to his career in the services. After picking up a comic and being unimpressed by the writing inside, Cowan wrote to Stan Boddington, then editor of Champion. Boddington gave him a chance and Cowan started on Ginger Nutt – a successful strip about a young Australian boy, which ran for almost seven years. Cowan’s next strip - The Jungle Robot – appeared in the first issue of Lion. Many adventures featuring Robot Archie were to follow. While working for Lion, Cowan scripted many popular strips including Paddy Payne, Adam Eterno and of course The Spider which he co-created and wrote the first two complete stories for. Ted Kearon was a prolific artist who contributed many strips to IPC, particularly in the 1950s. Best known for co-creating Robot Archie for Lion in 1952, he also illustrated Zip Nolan, The Day the World Drowned and Steel Commando. Kearon also provided strips for DC Thomson, including Morgyn the Mighty for the Victor. Widely regarded as one of the best artists to ever grace the British comic industry, Mike Western began his career on Knockout, having already spent time working for GB Animation. During the 1950s he shared art chores with Eric Bradbury on the popular western strip Lucky Logan. In 1960 he moved onto TV Express where he drew No Hiding Place and Biggles. Buster and Valiant followed where Mike found himself drawing long-running strips such as Wild Wonders. In the 1970s he was very prolific, illustrating Buster's Leopard from Lime Street and several key strips for Battle, including Darkie's Mob, The Sarge and HMS Nightshade. Mike made an impact on the iconic Roy of the Rovers, illustrating the newspaper strip which ran in the Daily Star during the 1990s.