Mike Western

Mike Western was a British comics artist born in Southampton on 4 February 1925, who died on 13 May 2008. After serving in the Second World War, he began his career as a clean-up artist for GB Animation, later working at Halas and Batchelor on the 1954 film adaptation of *Animal Farm*. In the early 1950s, he joined Amalgamated Press alongside fellow former GB Animation artists Ron "Nobby" Clark and Eric Bradbury, drawing adventure strips such as the western *Lucky Logan* and the aviation series *Johnnie Wingco* for *Knock-Out*.

Western is best known for his long association with *Valiant*, where he worked for thirteen years starting in 1962. His most notable strip there was *The Wild Wonders* (1968–1973), written by Tom Tully, which featured a semi-cartoony style that was widely imitated. He also drew over 500 historical covers for the title. In 1975, he moved to *Battle Picture Weekly*, adopting a grittier style for strips like John Wagner's *Darkie's Mob* and *HMS Nightshade*, as well as *The Sarge* and Tully's *The Team That Went to War*. He later worked on *Roy of the Rovers* for four years and its daily strip in the *Daily Star* in 1992–93.

Western retired from comics in the mid-1990s, returning only for a theatre magazine strip from 1997 to 2000, and focused on painting and illustration. He was confined to bed for several months after a heart attack and stroke before his death at age 83.