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Ron Embleton is another
of those artists whose work I have admired, without really knowing who he was. I was (am)
an ardent fan of Stingray et al. and the way in which Ron brought the characters to life
was amazing. Whilst having a style very different from Mike Noble (I still think Mike's
forte is machinery; Ron's is people), his stories still had a feeling of "coming to
life". I'm not an expert in graphics, but I think that Mike's use of airbrushing made
a big difference to the depth of his work, whereas Ron's work is more solid looking. I
remeber his Stingray story where Troy and Phones are caught in a Scottish castle. The
shadows and dark broody rooms were so strongly portrayed I can see them yet. |
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| Ronald S.
Embleton was born in London in 1930 and studied art under painter David
Bomberg. He joined a commercial art studio and started drawing his first
comics, mostly adventure comics such as 'The Black Lion', 'Big Flame;
Black Hawk' and 'Big Indian', which he signed simply "Ron". At
the end of the 1940s, his comics career was interrupted by army service in
Malaya, and when Embleton returned in 1950, the British comics scene had
changed towards more "American-style" comics. Ron adapted,
teaming up with Terence Patrick and James Bleach to produce the 'Gallant'
series. |
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A very productive
artist, Ron Embleton contributed comics to several magazines, coming up
with weekly serials such as 'Forgotten City', 'Black Dagger' and 'Into
Strange Lands'. At the same time, he developed an interest in oil
painting, eventually combining techniques in 'Wulf the Briton', his first
painted strip, which appeared in 1957. Embleton continued to put out
historic comics (like 'Wrath of the Gods', 'Roger's Rangers', 'Marco
Polo'), his favorite, sometimes side-tracking to science-fiction
('Stingray', 'Captain Scarlet'). In 1972, he made an erotic satirical
comic for Penthouse, called 'Wicked Wanda' (written by Frederic Mullally).
Ron Embleton died on 13 February 1988, in Bournemouth. |
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